LOVED BOX:
A glorious day in the sun at Southend-on-sea. A stroll along
the promenade, walking in rhythm with the beautiful melodies
of Essex conversations. Dog wakers smile as we light up to
see them cut along pavements like experienced arctic sledgers.
Families, the old with the young, conversations in cafe’s
about new casinos & online gambling. Fish-n-chips, pots of
tea & doorsteps of crusty white buttered bread, it gets
no better for me than this. On an ‘almost day off’ as we dropped
our tired Fenders with master amp builder Dennis Cornell,
enjoying his stories & feasting on his decades of irreplaceable
knowledge about guitar amplifiers. I love the amps he builds
& tried out several of his 10 watt models, small & sparkling,
just the way I like ’em. It was hardly work, but needed to be
done as my amps have started to sound harsh during rehearsal,
not the warm, round sound I’m used to them making & I can’t
understand what’s happened to them (if you have any clues).
These masters of ancient tech are so few & far between
we willingly travel miles to take our cherished toys to be
nurtured back to rude health by them. These wonderful people
are keepers of old knowledge, stuff you can’t download in seconds,
skills learned through years of trial & error & working as
apprentices alongside master crafters. Where is this knowledge
being recorded? Will it become the indecipherable hieroglyphs
of the 22nd Century or will someone begin the process of
lovely documenting their stories & experience so that future
generations might dip into the deep wells & become enlightened?
Listening to Pond’s ‘Giant Tortoise‘
(I like downloading in seconds too)
(K)
Karl Hyde 
It definitely is getting more and more difficult to find the old school masters of technology. I have a pair of original 1200s that im convinced there isnt a living human being within 100 miles around me that knows how to repair and/or clean them properly. On another note, today was a good day. Took my daughter (8 yrs) to her first guitar lesson. Great fun…looking at her with her pink electric Squier Fender mini with the hot pink furry strap…if anything, she looked cool! thanks for the heads up on Pond’s Giant Turtle…really dig it. I’m into an 80s thing lately…been listening to all The Jesus and Mary Chain I can get my hands on. The latest single,which I’m late on, caught me by surprise, All Things Must Pass is absolutely solid…hope the Reid brothers can put their indifferences aside and complete one more album in my lifetime…as always..thanks again for sharing your world.
That makes me want to get up first thing tomorrow morning and brave the Morecambe Bay breeze, finish up with a cup of sugary tea and a bacon roll at Brucianni’s cafe. Even though we lose an hour tonight. Thanks for the inspiration.
I saw a studio pic with you and a Marshall. I don’t know much about them other than this is how my hearing was damaged by Jimi Hendrix. My ears are still ringing. I’m going with Gallen-Krueger tube amp for basses, keep a solid state model in the rack for back up. Tube amps sound great just before they blow. Vibrant, glowing tone as a tube is about to go.
Goldfrapp has my first Silvertone amplifier and I know exactly how they got it. http://tw.gs/P1V7g2 They actually used it in the song, “Melancholy Sky”….unmistakable tone and tremolo. Reckon I’ll have to go there if I want it back.
Finished my taxes, I can make out with Karen now.
Hi Karl,
I really like crusty white buttered bread too.
Mmmmm…