Ramblings…
It’s that time of year, where all of my joint-musical creations get to come to life. Chris Jackson and I have been working diligently on a lot of music, despite not having a ton of waketheday things going on. This has spurred an entire catalog of stuff we are going to record in a few weeks in Lexington, KY and Nashville, TN.
Yesterday, I had a day off somewhere in the lands of Michigan. I rode my bike around, washed some clothes and got my hair cut. Afterwards, we hung out a little bit with John Warne for his birthday (which was one day prior). Sitting on the curb by the bus, he zooms by and skid stops on a fixed gear. I suppose that I had it coming, as I did it like five times to him earlier as Hoopes and I gave the ‘blue steel’ look while doing the same thing. All in all, a relaxing day off as we head back to the grind in Green Bay, WI. The accent here is prominent and interesting, I caught onto it almost immediately after arriving at the venue. The word ‘bag’ isn’t supposed to sound like ‘beg’. But then again, I suppose ‘cold’ shouldn’t sound like ‘code’. Tomato Tamato!
Allison and I have a list of ‘to-do’ things when I get home, which is soon. Some include trespassing, public indecency and arson. Oh, wait – I guess we can cross one of those off. If you haven’t tried Morton’s Steakhouse you are missing out! I had a porterhouse with Thiessen somewhere in Canada on Warped Tour 08′ – but my filet definitely topped it somehow. Hands down the best steak I have ever had in my entire life. But we might stumble on something better, you never know.
In other news, please remember to dis-infect your keyboards, cellphones and bars of soap – - as they contain more bacteria than a toilet seat in grand central station, or so I hear.
Tyler’caster – 1963 Custom Project
She is finished! Oct. 19th 2008 to June 18th 2009 was the length of the entire process. I couldn’t be more pleased with the quality and pure beauty of this telecaster. After all of the parts arrived, I drove to Nashville to have it assembled with James Hedges at Shiloh Music. Currently on the neck, is a Lollar 52′ accompanied by (soon to be) Antiquity II Bridge pickup. The plate is a NOS Fender bridge with Callaham compensated brass saddles. String ferrules are also Callaham which match with the tone plate (500k pots, tophat switch), kluson aged tuners and slotted screws. The decal went on beautifully and is virtually flawless in design compared to an original decal. There are several things that are noticeable to distinguish this guitar as a ‘custom’ and not original telecaster. However, it is closely based off a 1963 model from body shape (Brian Poe multi-piece swamp ash), hardware, neck size and of course color. This thing plays absolutely amazing, and sounds even better!
Big thank you to RS Guitarworks for painting and relicing the guitar, as well as Ethan Luck for the outstanding pictures.
Tyler’caster Part Four
Parts have arrived! I went with Callaham vintage hardware all the way around. I’m really stoked on the quality of the stuff they sent me. The bridge plate is actually a NOS bridge that I relic’d myself. I use the muratic acid technique, leaving it sit in a tupperware box for about 4 hours. I took it out, and it did exactly what I wanted, tarnished the outer metal and added some brown dark spots all over. I then put the bridge in another plastic box, and taped it shut with screws, coins and some small rocks I found in our driveway. After 15 minutes on air-fluff in our dryer, this is what I got.
Tomorrow, I’m heading down to Nashville to assemble the guitar with James Hedges. Pickups are Lollar 52′ on the bridge and a stock Fender single up front. Here are some other pics of the guitar, pre-assembly. Please excuse the poor quality of my macbook isight.
Tyler’caster Part Three
I am finally closing in on my guitar project. The body has been with RS GuitarWorks since October. You don’t realize exactly how long it takes to paint and cure a guitar body until you are waiting on one. The wait was worth it though, because Scott finally sent me some pictures of the guitar after it had been relic’d. I am going for an early 60’s look on the body, and trying to keep a lot of the specs ‘pre-cbs’. The neck is as close to a 54′ as I could get – solid maple, capped truss, 1.650″, nitro. I’m hoping this thing is playable in the coming weeks!
