If you want education reform then turn off the TV and take away your child’s cell phone and video game systems and make them do their homework and study. The Buck stops with you! You children are not miniature adults so get over it and act like a parent.
Feb 182011
Electric 4 string CigarBox Guitar
Cigar Box Guitars, Geek Stuff, Music-Thangs
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Nov 082010
The plan is to build a custom electric 4 string cigarbox guitar. I want to do this as cheaply as possible. I bought this Fender Mini Guitar from Musiciansfriend.com to use for parts for $42.00. I will be reusing the wiring and parts from the mini-guitar including the bridge. I ordered a Ashton Cabinet #7 Cigar box (2-5/8″ X 7-3/8″ X 8-1/4″) for $7 from Ebay.com for the body of guitar.
The first step after disassembly of the mini-guitar was to sand the neck and reprofile the headstock. The new neck is 1 1/4″ at the nut, and 1 1/2″ at the 12th fret. The next step is to buy some 5/16th” dowel to plug the top and bottom tuner holes (I only need 4). I will also be buying some spruce 1″X2″ to use for cross bracing the neck and bridge.
Reprofiled headstock
reshaped neck for cigarbox guitar
Stay tuned for more cigarbox guitar building fun.
I’m still waiting for my cigar box, but I plugged the top and bottom tuner holes with 5/16th” dowel and Titebond wood glue. I also did some hand sanding to smooth out the neck.
headstock plugged
I decided on wiring a single neck pickup and a single 45mm piezo electric transducer. I found this wiring plan.
pickup and piezo wiring diagram
11/9/2010
I managed to break the first cigar box, but I ordered more. I put in cross-bracing for the bridge-tailpiece, cut the hole for the single coil pick-up and cut the neck slot and glued in the mounting block for the neck.
Interior of cigar box
front of cigar box
I am in the process of gluing the neck onto the neck block. When it is dry I will run four 2″ screws through the back to add strength to the neck.
Neck in place
Back showing screws holding neck
Piezo in place
The neck was dry enough to screw down. I ran 4 screws through the back into the neck. I reused the screws that I took out of the neck on the mini-guitar. I bought some 45mm piezo transducers. I glued one between two pieces of thin wood from the inside of a cigar box to act as a sound cushion. The completed piezo has been glued in to place directly in front of the bridge, cheating a little to the bass side.
12/01/2010
I finally ordered the electronic components to finish the gitar from www.stewmac.com. After the electronics are installed all I need to do is add the tuning pegs and strings.
0032 1 Wiring Kit for Jazz Bass $18.98 $18.98
3789 1 Self-adhesive Shielding Kit – Standard kit $14.35 $14.35
0554-G 2 Speed Knob – Gold $3.37 $6.74
0070-G 1 Oval Jack Plate – Gold $7.93 $7.93
Tax $0.00
Shipping $8.50
Your order total $56.5
Once again they missed the point
WTF!
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Sep 032010
Wouldn’t our tax dollars be better spent educating our children rather than teaching them to pass a yearly exam? School buildings that are well maintained and comfortable. Improved salaries and benefits for teachers so that the best and brightest are recruited. Music classes, art classes, etc..
Fado (Portuguese:destiny, fate) music is the heart of the Portuguese soul. It is arguably the oldest urban folk music in the world. Portugal, since the moment of its birth, emerged in a crossroad of cultures. This makes difficult to point out a precise origin of Fado, but all scholars agree that its origins go back many centuries, maybe even to times before the existence of Portugal as an independent country.
One possibility puts the birth of Fado back to the middle ages, to the time of the minstrels and the jesters. Already in that time one could find the characteristics that even today it conserves. For example, “cantigas de amigo” (friend songs), that were love songs for a woman, have great similarities with diverse subjects of the Fado of Lisbon. The love songs, that were sung by a man to a woman, seem to find kinship in the Fado of Coimbra, where the students intone their songs beneath the window of the loved one (serenades). We still have, in the same time, satire songs, or of disdain that are still today frequent themes for Fado, in social and political critics.
In popular belief, fado is a form of music characterized by mournful tunes and lyrics, often about the sea or the life of the poor. However, in reality fado is simply a form of song which can be about anything, but must follow a certain structure.,But fado only appeared after 1820 in Lisbon, at that time only fado marinheiro (sailor fado) was known and was sung, like the cantigas de levantar ferro, only by sailors. Fado was not known in the rest of the country, not even in the Algarve, and it was not known in the south of Spain where the Arab influence stood until the end of the 15th century. Until the beginning of the 19th century there was no written record of fado.
The Fado is usually linked to the Portuguese word saudade which means to miss or to long for someone or something. Whatever its origins its themes have remained constant: destiny, betrayal in love, death and despair. A typical lyric goes: “Why did you leave me, where did you go? I walk the streets looking at every place we were together, except you’re not there.” It’s a sad music and a fado performance is not successful if an audience is not moved to tears.
Since Fado is the blues music of my ancestors (yes, I’m Portuguese), I became interested in listening and playing Fado. I have a new Fado page where I will be posting sheet music and midi files for other people interested in Fado
It’s a very stupid game for the iPhone, but fun and very addictive.
iLaunch - Sheep flinger
Cornish May Carol ‘Oss, ‘Oss, Wee ‘Oss
Geek Stuff
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Mar 242010
‘Oss, ‘Oss, Wee ‘Oss
| Unite and unite and let us all unite For summer is a-come unto day And wither we are going, we will all unite In the merry morning of May With a merry ring and The young men of Padstow, The young women of Padstow, |
Where are those young men That now here should dance? For some they are in England And some they are in France O where is St. George? With a merry ring |
I married Elizabeth Ann Morgan today at the San Bernadino Hall of Records. The witness was a kind face from the crowd. Lunch after-wards at an India Clay Oven.
Elizabeth Machado
March 22, 2010
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Libra (9/23-10/22)You have every right to smile that smile for as long as your facial muscles can stand it — especially if you happen to be in the vicinity of someone who’s wearing a matching expression. Don’t feel obligated to share your secret with anyone else, and don’t even try to tear your eyes away from the object of your affection. The rest of the world may be a bit jealous, but they’re also happy for you.
Welome to the monkey house
Doh!
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Mar 132010
A pair of cows were talking in the field.
One says, “Have you heard about the mad cow disease that’s going around?”
“Yeah,” the other cow says. “Makes me glad I’m a penguin.”
testing in schools
WTF!
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Mar 092010
I’ve been reading many articles lately from across the United States that deal with under-performing schools as defined by the No Child Left Behind Act. One thing that stood out for me is that the majority of the schools being targeted have a large population of ESL students.
Is it fair to hold teachers and schools to the same standard for these students? Questions that I feel should be asked are many. Among them are; How many ESL students in K-12 schools are American citizens, How many of the ESL student’s parents are illegal immigrants? Are the resources needed to teach students that are not native English speakers having a detrimental impact on the education of American citizens?
Think about it!
Elizabeth in Pismo Beach
Doh!
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Mar 092010
Elizabeth in Pismo Beach
Forgot this photo was on my iPhone. 
