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

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...am here to tap through the walls.


Wed May, 11 2011

"A Good Day At The Monkey Cages"

"It was a slow day at the zoo. A couple of patrons watched quietly as a couple of monkeys examined a broken object and worked out that they could fit it through the bars and probably get it to go in the light socket. One patron said 'Look, this is why I come here. They're smart, they're going to use that as a tool.' One patron, named Billy, stepped between them, put a hard boot to the cage and shouted 'KNOCK IT OFF, MONKEYS.'

The other patrons were taken aback, as were the monkeys. They rose up shrieking, some at Billy, but most at each other, as monkeys do when confused. One of the monkeys ran to the back of the cage, hoping the zookeeper would be there to chase Billy off. Some of the patrons tried to make soothing noises. These weren't the noises the monkeys were used to, they didn't sound like monkey noises, so they got even more upset. These patrons persisted, sometimes with monkey-speak, and occasionally in plain english, so the other patrons might know what they were trying to say.

By now a lot more patrons had come to see what the commotion was about, as there was quite a bit of shrieking and feces throwing. Those patrons knowledgeable about monkeys tried to explain what was happening over the noise. The zookeepers, knowledgable about patrons, quietly remarked to themselves, 'It's a good day at the monkey cages.'"
I can't help it: this must go into the All-Time Golden Treasury of Blog Comments because of how it so picturesquely catches what happened over there.

(this reminiscence brought to you on this announcement)

May 11, 11 | 5:17 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}