Music Stuff - Cool Stuff

Fender Blues Jr Once upon a time I bought a used Fender Blues Jr.  It was an okay amp, but I wasn't happy with it.  I did some online research and discovered Bill M's mods for Blues Jr amps.  This was before Bill M's mods were available as kits; all that was provided was information on what parts to buy and directions how to do the mod.  I also learned that I had a second generation circuit board, which apparently was a good thing.  Anyway, my favorite mods were upgrading the output transformer and switching from EL84 tubes to 6V6 tubes.  I also put a Celestion G12H30 Anniversary speaker in the cabinet.  I was able to squeeze some good sounds out of that amp. Eventually, some of the knobs started to go out and when I tried to replace them I messed up and killed the amp.  Marshall DSL15C On a whim, I decided to try a Marshall DSL15C (used) to replace the Blues Jr.  I had to do some mods to the ultra-gain channel to tame it a bit and remove som...

Frankie Who? Frankie is a guitar. Before Frankie became Frankie, it started life as an Aims Telecaster.  It was a gift from a drummer in a band I played in back in 1980.  Here is what the guitar looked like before it became Frankie, when it was an Aims Telecaster, with and with out the ashtray guard.  These aren't pics of the guitar I had, but they look exactly like it.   Frankie Rises Frankie 1 The first life of Frankie happened when I took out the Telecaster lead pickup and put in a Dimarzio Super Distortion humbucker.  I used a skill saw with a steel cutting blade to hack out the tailpiece plate so a humbucker would fit. I also bypassed everything and put in mini toggle switch so the guitar was either on or off.  Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures. Frankie 2 & 3 I decided to bring Frankie back as a Fenderish Telecaster.  That meant a  lipstick neck pickup and a single coil Telecast bridge pickup.  The lipstick was a standard...

Something New!  I've never posted new song lyrics on my blog, so this is something new for me.  I wrote lyrics for a new song "Life Is For Living" during February 2021.  I can hardly wait to play and record the song with my band mates.  I have no idea if it will make the cut for the album we are working.  Time will tell.  Life Is For Living When I look back on the things I've done I have to admit that I've done wrong But I don't let that worry me none Cause there's a day ahead and it's just begun Life is for living Yes life is for living And I'm for living my whole life long Thinking about some friends I've had And how many times I've been stabbed in the back But I can't' let that slow me down Cause there's a day ahead and it's just begun Life is for living Yes life is for living And I'm for living my whole life long Reflecting back on the life I've led On the women I've loved when it was a sin I won't let th...

Catchin' Up Yes, I am still alive and well. I hope you and your family and friends are too.  The past year has been, well, it was.  Like many musicians most of our shows were cancelled. We were fortunate to have booked a monthly date for a summer series Burgers & Blues at Pfeiffer Winery in Oregon.  The gig was outside with a large garden and grass lawn, with tables far apart so that everyone could stay safe while enjoying a night out listening to Blues. The Pfeiffer Winery gig is one of my favorites because we get to play all Blues, with Bluesy Blues, Jump Blues, Blues-Rock and Soul Blues.  Selling out every show was awesome!  Another favorite gig was on the Front Lawn Stage outside at Mac's Restaurant and Lounge, another all Blues gig, with spacing outdoors so people could stay safe.    Most of the other venues we perform at want more Rock with some rockin' Country and some Blues-Rock tossed.  Don't get me wrong, I dig playing Rock and some ...

 Win Some, Lose Some 2020 has been a roller coaster of a year for my music projects.   First, the Eugene Saturday Market had to downsize for the season which meant no music at the Market.  As the Stage Manager (which includes booking the entertainment, running sound and the stage) there was no work to do.  The worst wasn't being laid off due to a lack of work, the worst part was losing all of the community social interaction.   Next, the cancellations started to roll in for my band's gigs, as well as gigs with the Jesse Boden Band.  Then came late spring and summer when several of the venues where I booked my band had large outdoor spaces.  The venues put up outdoor stages with tables spread out across large lawn & garden areas so people could come out and be safe with social distancing.  Rewarding Experiences So, from June through September 2020 the Jimmy Haggard Band will have played several outdoor, safe shows.  It is amazing how ...

Live Music has not Died. As you all know, it has been a rough few months for musicians in the USA, and I am sure around the world.  The COVID-19 pandemic shut down bars, clubs, concert halls, festival venues, and any place where people would gather together to enjoy love music. So far, I've lost a lot of gigs in March, April, May, June and July, and I am sure there will be more cancellations to come. Enough of my crying about it.  Live Music is making a comeback in Oregon, with very carefully crafted safety plans in place so that people can come out and be safe. Band Mates Getting Together Luckily, my band mates have been able to get together once a week for a few hours to rehearse and unwind.  It's not the same as playing music for people, but it sure beats the hell out of nothing.  We have been safe.  The place where we rehearse has enough room where we can all stay 6 feet apart Inspiration! One thing that came out of the down time was the inspi...

Next Life of my Franken Tele Hi everyone, it has been awhile since my last blog post. Well, I thought my Franken Tele was done and ready to live forever with the last set of changes.  It sounded great.  I had the frets leveled and finished, and had the intonation set.  Did I say it sounded great? But something was wrong. What the hell was wrong? It just didn't feel right when I played it.  I would pick up my favorite guitar, a Gibson CS-366 and would sound and feel great.  Yet, the Franken Tele felt a lot different.  For some reason I had an AHA moment. AHA! I realized the big difference in FEEL was the neck scales of Fender vs Gibson.  The Fender neck scale is 25.5" and Gibson neck scale is 24.75".  While 3/4 of an inch does not seem like much, it makes a major difference.  I use D'Addario XL Nickel Wound 11-49 strings because of the tone, longevity and that the wound strings are easy on the fingers.   The strings on ...

After several tries, I finally found the speaker for my Marshall DSL 15C. Speakers I tried include a Celestion G12H30 Anniversary and a Celestion Vintage 30. I also tried a Warehouse Guitar Speaker (WGS) ET65 and HM75.  None of those speakers nailed it for me. I recently bought a used WGS Reaper (the standard 30 watt version) that had about 10 hours of use.   OMG!   It is perfect! I had a tone in my head that I was looking for and the WGS Reaper turned out to be spot on. No high spike. The highs are there, but not ear piercing. No overdone mids (nice sweet mids). Bass that is there without being too much. Just the right amount of break up when driven. Very responsive to touch and attack. Very responsive to the guitar volume being turned down (less drive, without the bottom dropping out of the volume). I can hardly freaking believe it. I was able to stop using the mid-scoop and the bass boost buttons on the DSL 15C. Plus, I was able to turn t...

JJ to Tung-Sol to JJ and.... In a previous post I went on and on about switching 6V6 power tubes in my modified Marshall DSL15C little monster.  The last thought was that I liked the JJ 6V6S tubes because they sang.  However, the more I played the 6V6S tubes the more the singing started to sound too high pitched, almost glassy.  After learning a lot more about the characteristics of the Marshall DSL15C, it looks like the amp is a little on the bright side.  Since I have an old Celestion Vintage 30 which is also on the bright side, the brightness of the JJ 6V6S power tubes got to be a bit too much. On top of that, listening to the album I recorded and released earlier this year, I thought, damn, I like the tone of the guitar work on the recordings.  Guess which 6V6 power tubes were in the amp during the recording sessions?  Give up?  The power tubes were Tung-Sol 6V6GT. Recently, I was able to get individual tracks recorded at a blues festival....

Hey peeps!   It has been awhile since I last wrote.  Not that you have been waiting with bated breath for my next post, or anything like that.  Something interesting happened at the last gig with my band. We were hired to perform at a private party.  It was a surprise birthday party at a big house on a hill.  Literally. Anyway, we played the first set and took a short break.  After the first song on the second set, the host wanted to make an announcement.  That took awhile.  Then the party wanted to cut the cake for the birthday girl.  By the time they wrapped that up, it was time for the band to stop and for the DJ to kick in. So, instead of playing two full sets, we played one long set and one song in the second set.  I noticed that my band mates were standing around looking at each other with a wtf look on their faces.  I said it looks like that's a wrap (It was time anyway). After awhile, the host and several ...

Cascade Blues Association's Journey to Memphis Each year the Cascade Blues Association (CBA) in Portland Oregon holds its annual Journey to Memphis Blues Challenge.  Because CBA is an affiliate of the Blues Foundation (blues.org), the winners of the CBA blues challenge qualify to compete in the annual International Blues Challenge (IBC) in Memphis TN.  IBC has affiliates around the world, and the annual IBC is the largest gathering of blues musicians in the world each year. It Was May 11 2019 The Jimmy Haggard band decided to enter the Journey to Memphis and see how well our band from Eugene Oregon would fare competing against the heavy hitters from Portland.  The Portland metro area is TEN (10) times the size of the Eugene metro area, so Portland has a much bigger talent pool to draw from.  Well, we found out there is definitely some major talent in Portland Oregon. And The Judges Said Last week, the Jimmy Haggard Band received the judge's score...

12AX7/ECC83 Heater Cathode Voltage with a Cathode Follower SAY WHAT? In my Marshall DSL15c, I love the tone and responsiveness of the Tung-Sol 12AX7 pre-amp tubes, coupled with the singing quality of the JJ 6V6s power tubes. Recently, after replacing the pre-amp tubes, a pre-amp tube burned out after a couple of months, and it was in the middle of a gig.  OUCH!  The high pitch squealing was horrible.   So, I did some research.  Good old fashioned research, read, read, read, read, and read some more.  Eventually, I figured out that the tube was probably the V3 pre-amp tube.  You see, the V3 tube in the pre-amp section of the DSL15C has a cathode follower in the circuit.  As a test, I pulled the V3 tube out and dropped in a JJ ECC83 that I had laying around. I rehearsed with my band for over an hour and there was no squealing or other weird noises.  Conclusion: it was definitely the V3 tube that died. OKAY, But What Does a ...

NO POLITICS HERE. Sorry to burst your bubble, this isn't a political post.   This article is about Fender Telecaster style right handed and left handed bridge plates.  It can apply to Fender Stratocaster style guitars too, but this article focuses on Telecaster style guitars. (Fender, Telecaster and Stratocaster are trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation) What Is The Difference? Have you ever looked closely at a Tele style bridge plate?   Have you ever wondered why the bridge pickup is at an angle?  Here are pictures of right handed and left handed Tele style bridge plates.  Take a look at the angles of the slot for the pickup. LEFT HANDED BRIDGE PLATE RIGHT HANDED BRIDGE PLATE           (The bridge plates pictures are Gotoh hardware sold by Warmoth Guitar Products) Why Angled? I have always thought the story behind the pickup angle is interesting, at least the version I've re...

In the previous blog post, I talked about going all in with Tungsol Tubes, 12ax7 (pre-amp and phase inverter) and 6V6 power tubes in my little Marshall DSL15C combo. For me, while the Tungsol tubes in the preamp section are perfect, the Tungsol 6V6 power tubes didn't work out for me.  They sounded pretty good, but just didn't do it for me. As advertised the Tungsol 6V6 tubes broke up earlier, and they were kind of creamy.  At first, I enjoyed the sound.  After a few hours and some recording sessions, I noticed something about the creamy sound.  It was creamy like creamy grits with something gritty in the grits.  The next thing I realized is that the Tungsol 6V6 power tubes did not sustain notes very long. Notes faded away too fast for my playing style. So, I put JJ 6V6s tubes back in.  Ahhh... No more gritty grits.  The JJ 6V6s tubes are cleaner sounding than Tungsol 6V6 tubes, mainly because they don't break up as early or as much. Perhaps the...

Tubes Tubes Tubes For many years I used TungSol 12ax7 tubes for pre-amp and phase inverter tubes.  I loved the sound of my amps.  Somewhere along the line i started using JJ 12ax7, JJ ECC823 in pre-amp slot V1, and JJ 5751 for the phase inverter slot.  The reason for switching to JJ tubes was the reputation as being super tough and very road worthy.  I even had myself convinced I liked the tone.   After a few years I noticed a few things about the JJ pre-amp tubes that I had been ignoring.   First, my guitar sound had a strong midrange tone that overpowered some areas of tonal harmonics and sustain.  No matter what I did I could not dial out that tone.  There was also a high edge that almost screeched sometimes.  I had to be very careful.  It got to the point that it irritated me.  Next, I noticed that I was replacing the phase inverter tube more often than before, and the 12au7 half of the ECC823 (use...

Chicago Blues is Dead?   I almost laugh when someone claims to be an expert on Chicago Blues, and insists that Chicago Blues music is almost dead.  And then they go on about how they are going to resurrect Chicago Blues.  And then they try to tell you exactly what Chicago Blues is, as if Chicago Blues music is one specific style.   GIVE ME A BREAK. Chicago Blues has so many different forms and styles that is impossible to say Chicago Blues is any one thing.  Say What? You heard me, or, you read that right, there are many different styles of Chicago Blues, not one distinct thing. Think about some of the great Chicago Blues artists and think about the significant differences in many of their Blues music styles.   Listen to their music. Here is a quick list off the top of my head. Big Bill Broonzy Sonny Boy Williamson (not Rice Miller) Junior Wells Magic Sam Little Walter Bo Diddly Willie Dixon Muddy Waters Hubert Sumlin Howlin Wo...

This well be short and sweet.  FrankenTele first came to life back in 1980, and it has seen some major changes over the years.  The only original parts are the control plate and the jack plate, that were from an old Aims Tele. After countless lives and new parts and pieces, FrankenTele has survived another major operation.  This time, a Lindy Fralin Hot Vintage Stratocaster neck pickup was added, and the Lindy Fralin Blues Special Stratocaster pickup was moved to the middle slot, bumping the Lindy Fralin Pure PAF humbucker out of the middle slot.  The Lindy Fralin Pure PAF was removed and will be looking for a new home in a future project.  Why was the Pure PAF pulled?  Well, it just didn't work out.   The Lindy Fralin hum-cancelling P90 is still driving the bridge pickup slot. Now the FrankenTele is more like a Strat, with a funky, quacky P90 in the bridge.   But... overall the rosewood fret board on the maple neck, coupled wi...

Not Again So, there you are, a semi-pro or pro musician who owns a PA system. It has worked great for several years.  You start to notice that the speaker cables seem to be loose, or don't connect correctly when you plug them in.  And then, your speakers start to cut out in the middle of a show.   What The Hell Happened?  Several things can cause the problem.  1> a cable goes bad If you are lucky, it is just that the wire has come loose by the connector end, or maybe a wire was broken from repeated yanking of the cable out of the speaker cabinet when you are in rush to pack up and go.  Those are easy and inexpensive repairs to make.  If you are not so lucky, a wire broke somewhere in the cable other than the end, and it is next to impossible to find the exact spot, and if you did, your cable would be too short.  That sucks.  Buy a new cable.  2> a speaker-out jack on the PA head goes out This really sucks....

Status Quo I think I have some really great speakers for my guitar amps.  I have a Celestion G12H Anniversary (8ohm), a Celestion Vintage 30 (16 ohm), a WGS HM75 (16 ohm) and a WGS ET65 (8ohm). The Celestion G12H Anniversary has been in my Marshall DSL 15C combo, the WGS ET65 has been in my Marshall DSL 40C combo, and the Celestion Vintage 30 and WGS HM75 have been in a 2x12 cabinet that I used with my HEAT head (a point-to-point hand-wired 50watt head based on a Marshall JCM800 2204). Changes in Amp Preferences A while back, my preferred amp was my Marshall DSL 40C.  Lately,  I've been using the Marshall DSL 15C combo a lot.  After some mods and changes in tube selection, the DSL 15C amp is dialed in.   After I added a post phase inverter volume control the HEAT head and switched to JJ 6V6S power tubes, instead of EL34 power tubes, I have excellent control of volume levels and can drive that amp harder, which delivers clean to crunchy, with a li...

What Does That Mean?  Maybe I should start by telling the story about an amp that I built.  It started with a JCM 800 2204 kit and a chassis from Triode Electronics.  It was a hand-wired kit, with a turret board and silver connectors.  Triode Electronics sends a box of parts (excellent quality, high end parts), with instructions and a layout diagram.  The builder sorts through all of the parts, including a pile of resistors and caps, and a boat load of different colored wires, knobs, transformers and a bunch of other stuff.   I built a custom cabinet for the kit and branded the head, HEAT. So anyway, after putting the kit together I made a few modifications to the standard grounding circuit and dropped the white noise level down quite a bit, and changed the values of some resisters and caps in the preamp circuit to give it just a little more gain (not much more, just a touch).  After playing the HEAT amp for a few weeks I quickly learned t...