The Smitty Jr.
Every Saturday morning I look forward to going to our local swap meet to feed my vintage tool addiction. I have a few folding allen wrench sets but I’ve never seen this brand before. Some of my friends have always called me “Smitty”, for obvious reasons, so for $2 I had to get it. A quick Google Search showed that B.H. Smith, no relation, was the first person to file a patent on this design in 1948. Like my other American made tools, this one was built to last.
Napa Valley Installation
For a while, TK’s been fabricating a new work for Andrea Zittel called the “Workstation”. It’s a functional piece of furniture made to go between two home offices and holds the printer, other electronics, files etc. We took a road trip this week to Yountville, in the Napa Valley to install it. The trip took an entire day to drive there, a day to install and a full day’s drive back. The location was an amazing Winery that features not only great wine, but some of the most beautiful and interesting architecture we’ve ever seen. The vineyard has a long, rich history in the area and the current winery was completed in 1997. The home on the property, where the installation took place, and which you can see in the upper left photo above, will be finished this fall.
Considering that the piece was disassembled before it left the shop and then reassembled on site, Read The Rest
Monthly Motivation-Chuck Wayne
I purchased the Guitar Arpeggio Dictionary by Chuck Wayne and Ralph Patt at a music store by my house back in the early eighties. The book is out of print now but if you ever see it, you should get it. At the time I had no idea who Chuck Wayne was, Read The Rest
Pat Capocci’s Modified Telecaster
I was in Australia last April with Big Sandy, filling in for Fly-Rite Boy, Ashley Kingman, and ended up bringing home Pat Capocci’s Tele for an overhaul. We shared the bill in Melbourne with Pat’s band, where he played my Tele that I had just set up with one of my new pickups. Originally we were just going to add a Blade Pickup in the neck position, but then he decided to go all the way. Following is a list of what we did:
1. Blade Pickup in the neck position
2. Pole Piece Pickup in the bridge
3. Cut down the Fender bridge
4. Custom bakelite Pickguard with Pat’s name inlayed
5. Back of the guitar was chambered for tone and weight
6. Bakelite cover made for the back
7. Refinish in blonde nitrocellulose lacquer
This job was allot of fun and the guitar is heading back to Australia this weekend. While in Melbourne, Read The Rest
Pickup Demo
I plan on going into the studio in the next few weeks to get a clear recording of what my pickups sound like. In the meantime, here is a clip made with our Canon G-10 camera with no additional mic. The pickups are mounted in a pine bodied tele with Thomastik-Infeld flatwounds JS113 with tone and volume fully open. Played through a 1956 Gibson GA-70.
We’re now carrying my favorite guitar strings, Thomastik-Infeld flatwounds. In my opinion, Read The Rest
