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

image
...am here to tap through the walls.


Wed Dec, 10 2003

Who Won?

"The Bixby family had decided that they would defend their land to the death, authorities say."
(Jeffrey Collins -- Associated Press)

Gee, Jeffrey. Does that mean that these "authorities" set out with that in mind?

State Law Enforcement Division Chief Robert Stewart is quoted: "I've never seen so much force." One might almost think that -- if he were not a highly-trained professional, having risen so eminently -- Stewart hadn't realized what his life's work comprised. Jeffrey, the AP'ster, cites "authorities" and says, "None of the family members tried to negotiate with officers during the standoff."

Notably, no one offers a reason why the family might even consider that. What did they have to win, and when did they have it? A smaller bite of their property before the bulldozers rolled up? That sort of agreement with idlers who pen-stroke peoples' lives? Well, guess what: those people didn't see the percentage. And every now and then, the idlers -- and the types who take their coin to just do their jobs on the bulldozers -- are going to run into people who really are going to stand their lives, fortunes, and their sacred honor against them.

It's a horrible thing to see, but the right of it is bloody obvious.

(Michael Schneider sent me that link)

Dec 10, 03 | 12:41 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}