(second block, fourth letter of the prisoners' quadratic tap code...)

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...am here to tap through the walls.


Thu Jan, 24 2008

Touchdown

Okay; from my door in Daisy Hollow to room M529 at the Hotel Okura, that only took twenty-four hours and thirty-one minutes. That's how my day went, yesterday. Or... the day before yesterday or whatever that was. (Memo to Dryden kids: when I walked into my room, it was almost five o'clock in the morning where you are. B.C. -- you remember when I spoke to you on the telephone. Do the math.)

I didn't sleep a lot on the airplane, so I was pretty much piled-up by the time I got here. I gave up on trying to stay awake at about 8:30pm Tokyo-local, and woke up at about 5:00am. Rolled around for a while, did breakfast, etc., and now we're in the room (The Blue Note), makin' art. It's 12:30pm right now, and I'm starting to hurt for a nap, but the first day here is always like this. I'll sleep like a rock, tonight.

Right. That's the check-in, for now. More later.

(memo to Bill J. in Tokyo: I'm here. If we're going to get together, it's on you, mate: ring me at the Okura. Leave a message. Tonight might be out of the question, but tomorrow during the day should work for you.)

('nother memo to B.C. -- shoot me a note at wjbeckiii@yahoo.com, so's I have your e-mail.)

Jan 24, 08 | 10:14 pm

AxeBites

Various guitars I see floating by, mostly Gibson and mostly eBay.

Early Norlin ES-335 -- 1970, in Walnut ("ES-335TDW"). This is a period-piece look and feel, and arguably the sound as well but that's to cut things very finely. A "classic" 335 would be the original of 1958 in the Sunburst or Natural finish, or the Cherry Red of 1959; the Walnut of 1970 (second year of that finish offering) is not really a "classic" 335. In the history of the Gibson aesthetic, this is analogous to, say, vertically-striped polyester bell-bottoms or Bahama Blue shag carpeting. None of this is to say that they're not cool guitars, and this is a nice one. Excellent photographs.

Chrome hardware, featuring the trapeze tailpiece (like my L-47 and I've always liked it) and ABR-1 bridge with period-typical nylon saddles. Bound rosewood fretboard, with small block markers, and then the crown inlay at the machine head. These would be the T-top Humbuckers. Vintage Nazis would moan that the upper bouts are pointy (the body templates were wearing-out in the factory) and the fourteen-degree machine head with the volute signals a sometimes not-fun era of the line, but these things really do rock or moan or whatever you want a 335-type semi-hollow to do. ...which, of course, is because it really is a 335.


In the months since I've let AxeBites languish all to bleedin' hell, Gibson's Robot Guitar technology has sifted out to other models than the original Les Paul application. I don't know how it's going: I still haven't even seen one of these self-tuners. I don't see piles of them burning on the sides of the highway, nor reverent hangings in display cases over bars, so who knows? This 2008 Robot SG is ready to rock in the Metallic Red. Nickel hardware; it's the stoptail wired for data to send to the tuners, with dual Humbuckers. It's a bound rosewood fretboard, but I really like the single-bound machine head with the crown inlay. That's a real cool old-school look, right there, to set off that crazy-ass color. {nod}