"The Measure of Your Grace" is ever changing

This past Sunday I recorded more vocals, redoing the melody in places and adding a high harmony.  Then on Tuesday night I was playing it for my wife and decided to place the capo back one fret changing it from A# to A.  It was much easier to sing and eliminated the strain on the higher notes.  So, I may go back and record the whole thing a half step lower now.  It keeps getting better all around.  Hopefully, this makes the vocals more pleasing.

Tele Build: Day 1

The girls and I went through the snow to the garage at about 10:00 Saturday morning.  It was cold in the garage.  If I had cut a finger off I wouldn't have known it and I am sure the blood would have been as viscous as pudding. I finished at 4:00 and went in to thaw out.  The video below explains what I was doing.  My breath and layers of clothing give an indication of the temperature.  Ultimately, the redwood was a failure.  I got it all glued together and realized that it needed to be planed.  Planers are about $300.  I considered this briefly, but in the end opted to buy a piece of pine for $5.  My wife acknowledged my profound wisdom.

Bandcamp and Russ Mohr

As I have mentioned before, Bandcamp is a great site for discovering people who are exceptionally talented (and some who aren't).  Most of these people are independent and offer their music for download or the purchase of a cd.

Today I found Russ Mohr.  He is from Greenville Illonois where he is a worship director for City Church.  He and his wife adopted a child this Spring, and to help pay for that wonderful blessing he is selling his EP called "Hymns and Spiritual Songs. "  I highly recommend it!  Several songs are original and others are arrangements of classic hymns.  Who could imagine that a rolling snare and double-bass drum rhythm on the classic hymn "My Jesus" could sound so good?  "What a Friend in Jesus" begins with an effect that sounds like you are listening over a telephone connection.  It gets your attention.  The only song I didn't like was "My Jesus (Reprise)."  It ends the EP and is done differently from the first "My Jesus."  It sounds like the recording went above 0db because it distorts slightly and his voice begins to hurt your ears.  I am not sure why it does that.  My recordings probably do that all the time.  Other than that it is cleverly done and for a good cause.  Take a look.

The Measure of Your Grace Draft 1

I talked about recording this song in relation to its tricky 6/8 time signature.  I have it close to liking it.  The vocals (I had a cold) and electric guitars (goofing around) need to be redone.  There is also a spot where the drum track is off (editing mistake).  However, this is getting better.  Through it I have learned quite a bit.

Telecaster Thinline Build

So, here it begins.  On Wednesday I remembered that I had store credit at Home Depot.  You may ask, "what does that have to do with anything?"  Well, they sell wood.  I found 1/4 inch poplar that they were discontinuing and bought enough for the top of the guitar.  It only cost about $5.  I didn't think that was even possible!

 I also found a template on the Internet for telecaster thinlines.

 You can see the drawing on the wood here.  It is hard to tell but the middle piece has a beautiful grain that is going to look great when finished.  I was able to find three different pieces that transition somewhat seamlessly from one to the next.  We'll see how it looks when it is finished.

I made a drawing of it with a parchment pick guard that is typically found with single coil thinlines.  This one will be a bit unique with its P-90's.

So, what is next?  I have three pieces of redwood 2/6 that will form the body underneath the poplar.  I need to glue things up and then cut, sand and finish.  Of course, it won't be that simple.  When that is done I will be using the Cort neck from the guitar you see to the right.  I plan to order a tortoise shell pick guard and hard tail bridge from Guitar Fetish (http://www.guitarfetish.com/). 

It is amazing what a little thought on the way to work can turn into!

Telecaster Body?

I have been working on my telecaster copy for a while now.  This is not a steady project.  It happens in little punctuations.  Anyway, I have an idea reborn.  I thought about making a semi-hollow body for it.  Of course, that involved buying new wood for it.  That does involve money which I don't want to spend at the moment.

So, my mind traveled to what I already have (these thought journeys occur in the 1/2 hour drive to and from work).  In the deep and dark recesses of my garage I have pine headers from building our house and also a fair amount of redwood.  I am not sure which to use.  Telecasters have been made from pine at various times in history, but redwood?  The only redwood guitar I am familiar with is made by Breedlove.  It costs an amazing amount of money, so maybe there is something to it. 

It would have three parts to it.  The middle would be hollow in the upper bout, while the center would be solid and the lower bout would be open for electronics.  It would involve much cutting, gluing, sanding, and finishing, but it would create a body much nicer than the one I currently have.  It would also have that great "jangle pop" tone of a semi-hollow Tele.  Perhaps this weekend.

Luke Parker: Home

I search through the website called bandcamp while I grade papers.  Tonight I discovered Luke Parker and his EP called "home."  If there is anyone out there who reads this, do yourself a favor and look him up.  His songs are wonderful.  He writes mellow worship songs that stir your heart toward your creator.  I was blessed by his lyrics and voice.  I hope you are, too.

Perseverance

Do you ever feel like you can't get on the right track with a song?  I wrote several lines for "Overflow" which I  can't decide whether to make the verse or the chorus.  I also am having trouble finding the right chords for the melody.  I can hear what I want in my head, but when I get my guitar out and play, the melody changes.  I'll keep working on it.  I really like what I have right now even though it seems to be a hard process.  Some songs seem to write themselves in a course of 5 minutes, others seems to take 5 weeks.  Perseverance!