The HGTV channel makes home remodeling look a little easier than my sixty-five year old body finds it nowadays. Have just finished patching, sanding and painting in the newly formed walk-in closet in the master bedroom. Very happy with how it's turned out. Wanted to share it with our daughter Tracy in England, but decided to post the little video I made here for all to see.
Enjoy?Sunday, March 14, 2010
Thursday, February 25, 2010
My Hofner Committee
After retiring in 2005, I found myself so wanting to own a Hofner Committee again. I say again, because on two separate occasions, when I was much younger and living in England, I owned a Hofner Committee. The first was a brunette acoustic Committee that I coerced my Dad into buying for me when I was in my teens. I was an only child and my Dad, more than my Mum, was so soft, and I was spoiled! The guitar was a beauty and my pride and joy. It had it's own special armchair in my bedroom and was surrounded by cushions. I remember the trauma for me when a string broke once and embedded itself in the front of the guitar, leaving a mark that I'm sure only I saw. I wasn't the best of guitarists though and still to this day am limited in what I can play. But I had a good friend, Chris Hills, at Steyning Grammar School, who shared my interest in guitars. Chris had this very basic roundhole guitar with a terrible action. But it wasn't long before Chris was playing the most amazing Chet Atkins style music on this guitar! He and I played in public a few times. This was us in the early 60's playing at his Dad's works Christmas party:
By this time I had added a Bigsby tremolo arm and a DeArmond-style floating pickup to the guitar. You can see a small Watkins Westminster amp., on the right, that we were using.
Soon after this, I traded in the Committee for a solid electric .... oh the folly of youth. We then teamed up with two of our friends at the the school and formed Peter and the Wolves:
We were now using a Watkins Dominator amp., all 17 watts of it! And a Watkins Copicat. Chris was the star of the group. There are few recordings of us. But my cousin Geoff did make a recording at one of our gigs in the 60's using a reel-reel Akai recorder he owned. Several years later he transferred the recording to cassette tape and then in the 90's my sons, without me knowing, transferred the audio to CD and gave me a Peter and the Wolves album for my birthday ... that remains one of the best gifts I've been given. I remember that moment so well. My wife had told me that I was going to be really thrilled with my birthday present. When David and Warren handed me my present, I saw it was a CD, and I remember thinking , oh a CD, that's nice. Then I looked at it and saw what it was. I was in tears, a priceless moment! Just recently I took one of the tracks, our cover of "Pipeline", and added video to it, to share with others:
But I digress. My plan had been to talk about my Hohner Committee's. Now you can see why I called my blog "LORDH's rambles". Oh no, now I'm thinking I should explain "LORDH". That can be for another day. So, to recap, my first Hofner Committee was gone. However, just a few years later, married with two sons, another opportunity arose. An elderly lady, who lived next door to us in Shoreham-by-Sea, Sussex, gave me a blonde acoustic Committee. I was so lucky! But life was no longer just about me, and after keeping the guitar for about a year or so, I sold it so that we could buy Christmas presents for our sons.
It wasn't until I got older, and nostalgia began to set in, that I yearned to own a Hofner Committee again. With the Internet now part of our lives, searching the world for a Committee was feasible. Of course eBay was one of the sites I would often visit. But what I found there were so expensive! More than the 48 guineas I remember my Dad paying for my first Committee. My search for a Committee really heated up when I retired in 2005. One day, during my daily Google search I came across a 1959 Hofner Committee for sale at an auction house in Herefordshire, England. The suggested price range was reasonable. I contacted them and via e-mail they gave me a thorough report on the condition, action, fretting etc and sent me very detailed pictures to show any blemishes. It was a fine guitar indeed, a blonde electric with Bigsby tremelo and what appeared to be a brand new hardshell case. I decided to place a commission bid for the guitar. I set an upper limit I would go to. I struck gold, I obtained the guitar for less than my upper limit! Shipping the guitar to my home was quite expensive though, but it arrived safe and sound. It actually arrived while we were picking up my cousin Geoff and his wife from the airport. They were visiting from England. So I wasn't the best of hosts when we arrived back at our home. Our neighbor had kindly received the shipment for me. The guitar was a joy to behold.
This is a picture of the Hofner Committee, together with my other guitar, a Gretsch G5120 Electromatic.
As I mentioned earlier, my guitar playing skills I would describe as mediocre at best. But the Hofner has inspired me to keep practicing. It's neck is not as wide as the Gretsch and is definitely more challenging in that respect. The single coil pickups are much brighter sounding than the Gretsch's, but of course don't have the "quiet background" the Gretsch's humbuckers provide.
When I went to register the Hofner (serial no. 3186) at the "Hofner Guitars Internet Community", I found it already registered to someone else. This got me interested in tracing the history of my Committee. With help, initially from the website folks, I was able to speak with the previous owner a Jim McGregor of Stirling, Scotland. He told me had bought it from a Jack Rump of Bermondsey, London. I traced Jack and he told me, he bought it used from Selmer in ~1967 for £78. He had Hanks Guitar Shop in Denmark Street, London fit a truss rod to cure the warped neck. There is a brass plate on the head, with the inscription "Music House '75 Reborn". Jack played the guitar for 20 years in a duo, but sold it to Jim McGregor in ~ 2005 for £1000, with a beaten-up case. So I feel pretty good about my purchase: £850 (+shipping) and with an almost new case. Jack thinks the guitar may have been previously owned by Denny Wright. Denny is famous and I saw may have been part of the design committee for the Committee. Denny played with Diz Disley, Stephan Grappelli, Lonnie Donegan and many others. I have been in e-mail contact with a guitarist who played with Denny for some while but haven't yet confirmed he owned my Committee. I find this all quite fascinating.
I play the Hofner each day and am gradually improving my playing skills. Recently I have been trying to master a few bars of "House of the Rising Sun":
By this time I had added a Bigsby tremolo arm and a DeArmond-style floating pickup to the guitar. You can see a small Watkins Westminster amp., on the right, that we were using.
Soon after this, I traded in the Committee for a solid electric .... oh the folly of youth. We then teamed up with two of our friends at the the school and formed Peter and the Wolves:
We were now using a Watkins Dominator amp., all 17 watts of it! And a Watkins Copicat. Chris was the star of the group. There are few recordings of us. But my cousin Geoff did make a recording at one of our gigs in the 60's using a reel-reel Akai recorder he owned. Several years later he transferred the recording to cassette tape and then in the 90's my sons, without me knowing, transferred the audio to CD and gave me a Peter and the Wolves album for my birthday ... that remains one of the best gifts I've been given. I remember that moment so well. My wife had told me that I was going to be really thrilled with my birthday present. When David and Warren handed me my present, I saw it was a CD, and I remember thinking , oh a CD, that's nice. Then I looked at it and saw what it was. I was in tears, a priceless moment! Just recently I took one of the tracks, our cover of "Pipeline", and added video to it, to share with others:
But I digress. My plan had been to talk about my Hohner Committee's. Now you can see why I called my blog "LORDH's rambles". Oh no, now I'm thinking I should explain "LORDH". That can be for another day. So, to recap, my first Hofner Committee was gone. However, just a few years later, married with two sons, another opportunity arose. An elderly lady, who lived next door to us in Shoreham-by-Sea, Sussex, gave me a blonde acoustic Committee. I was so lucky! But life was no longer just about me, and after keeping the guitar for about a year or so, I sold it so that we could buy Christmas presents for our sons.
It wasn't until I got older, and nostalgia began to set in, that I yearned to own a Hofner Committee again. With the Internet now part of our lives, searching the world for a Committee was feasible. Of course eBay was one of the sites I would often visit. But what I found there were so expensive! More than the 48 guineas I remember my Dad paying for my first Committee. My search for a Committee really heated up when I retired in 2005. One day, during my daily Google search I came across a 1959 Hofner Committee for sale at an auction house in Herefordshire, England. The suggested price range was reasonable. I contacted them and via e-mail they gave me a thorough report on the condition, action, fretting etc and sent me very detailed pictures to show any blemishes. It was a fine guitar indeed, a blonde electric with Bigsby tremelo and what appeared to be a brand new hardshell case. I decided to place a commission bid for the guitar. I set an upper limit I would go to. I struck gold, I obtained the guitar for less than my upper limit! Shipping the guitar to my home was quite expensive though, but it arrived safe and sound. It actually arrived while we were picking up my cousin Geoff and his wife from the airport. They were visiting from England. So I wasn't the best of hosts when we arrived back at our home. Our neighbor had kindly received the shipment for me. The guitar was a joy to behold.
This is a picture of the Hofner Committee, together with my other guitar, a Gretsch G5120 Electromatic.
As I mentioned earlier, my guitar playing skills I would describe as mediocre at best. But the Hofner has inspired me to keep practicing. It's neck is not as wide as the Gretsch and is definitely more challenging in that respect. The single coil pickups are much brighter sounding than the Gretsch's, but of course don't have the "quiet background" the Gretsch's humbuckers provide.
When I went to register the Hofner (serial no. 3186) at the "Hofner Guitars Internet Community", I found it already registered to someone else. This got me interested in tracing the history of my Committee. With help, initially from the website folks, I was able to speak with the previous owner a Jim McGregor of Stirling, Scotland. He told me had bought it from a Jack Rump of Bermondsey, London. I traced Jack and he told me, he bought it used from Selmer in ~1967 for £78. He had Hanks Guitar Shop in Denmark Street, London fit a truss rod to cure the warped neck. There is a brass plate on the head, with the inscription "Music House '75 Reborn". Jack played the guitar for 20 years in a duo, but sold it to Jim McGregor in ~ 2005 for £1000, with a beaten-up case. So I feel pretty good about my purchase: £850 (+shipping) and with an almost new case. Jack thinks the guitar may have been previously owned by Denny Wright. Denny is famous and I saw may have been part of the design committee for the Committee. Denny played with Diz Disley, Stephan Grappelli, Lonnie Donegan and many others. I have been in e-mail contact with a guitarist who played with Denny for some while but haven't yet confirmed he owned my Committee. I find this all quite fascinating.
I play the Hofner each day and am gradually improving my playing skills. Recently I have been trying to master a few bars of "House of the Rising Sun":
Sunday, January 11, 2009
The night sky in the Smokies
I have never had much luck at getting a halfway decent night shot of the sky with our camera, mainly, methinks, because I never took the time to use a tripod. Well on this night, with no city lights to "contaminate" the sky, the view deserved to be captured . Using the camera pre-programmed night setting and a tripod kindly lent by my daughter-in-law Christa, I got a good shot from the back porch at the cabin. The illumination in the foreground is from the cabin.
Where's my shed in the back garden?
So here I am in the Smokies, in a cabin, with family for a few days. Normal routines are far from my mind. As always, when staying at this cabin, I think how wonderful it might be for Carol and I to live here. Yes, the view from my seat right now is wonderful, nothing but the tops of pine trees spread across the valley, with Cove Mountain in the distance; actually right now it's obscured by clouds. That's another fascination of this place; the weather seems to be constantly changing, one minute sunny with Cove Mountain in view, then the clouds roll in, the wind "runs" through the trees, and soon the rain is coming down hard. But I digress, I think one of the main attractions of being here is that forced break from normal routines.So how do we achieve that at home. I should be clear. Home is the place that Carol and I always look forward to, as we return from any "adventure". And the place we love to be; our "little cabin in the woods". But being able to escape from those normal routines on a daily basis always seems elusive at home. There's the draw of our normal means of enjoyment: the computers, the movies and TV programs we enjoy to watch together etc, etc. But for me sketching, reading, playing guitar seem to always take second place to the others things, and don't often happen. In the cabin the "other things" aren't there. How do I change my routine at home to include those "second place" activities? In our living room there's a comfy chair by the french door leading to the deck. It faces away from the TV and is nowhere near
the computers and other techno stuff. That chair invokes similar feelings to the cabin, but on a smaller scale. I think back to "my parents time" in England. Many men had a shed in the back garden, that they would potter around in and escape their normal routines. Maybe that's what I need to find in some form or another "my shed in the back garden".
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