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Showing posts from December, 2009

More Guitar Bits

I discovered that the machine head I was given at the guitar shop last week wasn't going to fit.  If they were all the same, they'd slot in together nicely, but because the odd one was a slightly different shape than the other five, they simply woudn't fit together. So, being adventurous, I decided to go ahead an order a new set.  They were only a few bucks each so it's not a big deal. They arrived on the morning of Christmas eve (nice one!) and I proceeded to fit them.  But : turns out the neck of the guitar had non-standard holes for the machine heads.  They're too small (at least they're not too bit: that woud have been harder to remedy).  I went to Mitre 10 (again) to buy a drill, an appropriate drill bit for the new machine heads and a set of other drill bits for future use. When we got back to the house I eargerly drilled the slightly bigger holes and was very pleased with the results.  The guitar really is taking shape : it's now got the full com

Bits arrived

I can make a start on getting my Strat Copy purchase from last week functional.  The bits I ordered from Guitar Parts arrived this morning (very rapid delivery - thanks guys ! ). The scratch plate doesn't fit exactly.  I guess these copy companies alter the shape of the guitars in such a way that Fender don't sue (or they just don't cut accurately).  However, it's not a problem.  It's close enough, and won't look too out of place. Anyway, check it out:

The English 'language'

It's only when trying to learn another language (I'm determined to improve my Spanish)  that I've noticed how ridiculous English is. I'm sure there's hundreds of examples of this, but the one which has been keeping me occupied today is this. Let think about the following phrases : I open the door. I am opening the door. I opened the door . I will open the door. All makes good sence.  The first two are in the present tense - the first being the simple present tense and the second the present progressive.  The thrid is simple past tense, the fourth is simple future.  Of course there are lots of other tenses, but that will do for my example. Let's see what happens when we want to negate these phrases. I don't open the door. I am not opening the door. I did not open the door I will not open the door. Some of these are sensible.  The future tense makes good sence.  We simply put a "not" after the will. The second also works well : p

Making the old new, and a new guitar!

The old stratolike  (Stratocaster Lookalike) guitar is starting to look pretty good. Jacqui managed to get the old stickers off using some dark magic.  I cleaned the neck, and removed the old machine heads.  I'll keep an eye out for some new ones. Anyway: looking good so far: We decided to go on a bit of hunt around wellington for more bits.  We visited several guitar shops in the city and managed to find: 1) A machine head to replace the missing one.  They guy gave it to me for nothing, which was nice :) 2) A Jack cover ( the bit where the cable goes ) 3) Pickup covers to brighten the old pickups. 4) A little plastic bit for the pickup selector. I asked about a new scratch plate, but no-one had one.  One guy said he could order one, but I reckon I'll get one online. These guys  specialise in guitar bits, so I guess I can get it from there. While we were in Music Warehouse , we spotted a pretty good acoustic guitar. I hadn't intended to buy one, but

Restoring an old Strat copy guitar

Yesterday we went to Dunbar Sloan auctions in Wellington to see if they had anything interesting.  We hadn't been before, but I'd been told by a friend that it's worth a look. The list contained 407 items and number 401 was the one I wanted to make a bid on (I'll come to that shortly..).  We arrived about an hour before it was due to start, and had a good wander around the various lots.  There was lots of lots ;) They had (from memory) 10 or so boxes of old books, boxes of old electrical items,  china, glassware, kitchen stuff, fridges, beds, old stereos and pretty much everything else you might think of :) A few things caught our eyes.  Jacqui liked the look of a porcelain doll, there was a pretty little single chair and number 401 was a guitar & amp.  There was also a box of microphones that I liked the look of. First up was the box of mics.  I put a bid of $30 on it (how exciting!) but someone went up to $50, and that was too much. There were several nic

History Deniers

I'm currently reading Richard Dawkins' latest book The Greatest Show on Earth .  It's been described as a book that really shouldn't need to be written.  The evidence for evolution is everywhere we look, and having to point it out to people like this seems like overkill.  People should already know this stuff! However, since a very large percentage of the educated world (and an even larger percentage of the uneducated one) seem to think we were all poofed into existence "around the time of the domestication of the dog" it seems that this book is not only important, but vital. I've been engrossed since the first page.  OK : there might be a certain amount of preaching to the converted here (I love that phrase when applied to atheism!) but it's excellent reading well written prose by someone who knows their subject well.  It's obvioulsy not my first Dawkins book, and I'm 100% sure it'll not be my last. One of the terms the book introduce

Posada

Well, I experienced my first Mexican Posada on Saturday night.  I have to admit, I was a little trepidatious before it.  As you may know, I have little time for all thing religious.  It just gets under my skin, and makes me feel like my brain is being sucked out.  Don't get me wrong : I have a lot of respect for the kind of person who can, in the face of mountains of contradictory evidence, still insist on believeing the various tenents of any of the world's religions.  I mean : talking snakes? Jeeeeze... Anyway, I digress.  I was very nervous about people coming into my house to take part in what is, after all, a religious cermony. I really needn't have been.  As I might have guessed, most people where only really interested in the food, the drink, the dancing and the piñata.  Yes, there was the part where they ceremoniously re-enact the nativity.  But it was actually very pleasant. This is where some of the the people go outside and sing a special "let us in&quo

Piñatas finished, and making tamales.

We worked long into the night finishing the Piñatas and the tamales for the posada party. Our good friends Tom and Alfa came round, and helped us - then (finally - after getting a bit lost) Michaela arrived to lend a hand too.  The 5 of us worked hard - mixing the dough, making the mole & salsa roja, constructing the tamales and finally getting them cooked.  But even after everytone left, Jacqui and I stayed up, finishing the tamales and putting finishing touches to the Piñatas.  While waiting for the tamales to finish, I also made several batches of Fairy Cakes (or cup cakes - same thing I reckon).   Hard work, but absolutely worth it. Here's some photos of the preparation.  I'll do another post after this one with some images from the posada proper. The Piñata; complete. Isn't it beautiful? Tom getting his hands messy - making the tamale goo (thanks tom!)   Mole - delicious chocolate & chilli sauce.  Goes in the tamale. These are the corn hu

correction

My da (hi da!) has pointed out that the reason our First Conchas Attempt didn't work out so well might have been because : ...the yeast didn't get fed enough or long enough & the paste was  overworked.   This is usually the reason for hard bread etc.   Well, that's interesting.  We've managed to improve our conchas quite a bit, but the actual reason has always been something of a hit & miss mystery.  I'm going to make 'em again in a few weeks, I'll bear dad's advice in mind when I do.

And the piñata continues to develop...

I must say jacqui's making excellent progress with the piñata.  The colours look great, and it's really starting to come together! She carefully cuts the tissue paper, and uses a spoon to make it curly. The coloured tissue paper gets glued to the base. And more colour gets added... I reckon it's looking great.  It's a bit of a shame that it's going to get smashed to bits come Saturday ;)

Making Piñatas!

This month we're preparing for posada, the Mexican pre-Christmas party. We've decided somewhat rashly to invite "The Entire Mexican Population Of New Zealand" to our house on saturday. We're expecting anywhere from 10 to 600 people... Anyway, A big part of this is the piñata , and jacqui is hard at work making two excellent examples of the art. Here's the progress so far: This is the first step - papier mache over a balloon. At least 4 layers : allow each layer to dry c ompletely before applying the next. Pop the ballon, and pull it out! Make some cones from card. We used this shiney stuff. Stick the cones onto the balloon base at these sorts of angels. It's hanging in our garage here... That's a far as she's got up to now. The next steps will be to decorate it with coloured paper: This is the coloured paper we'll use. We'll post some more when there's more to post!