Triple Threat

I played three shows this weekend, and all of them had the threat of extreme weather in the forecast.

The first show was a late Thursday afternoon affair on the grounds of the Mass Mutual Center. While thunderstorms narrowly missed us, the extreme heat did not.

The staff gave us plenty of cold water and towels. We also got free food from a BBQ truck, which was a nice surprise.

The following day was supposed to be an indoor event, but the weather had other plans for us, and so we set up inside, and had a nice cooling experience with the AC and some cold beers.

Finally, our Saturday event was held in the bright sunshine with temperatures in the low 90s. Luckily, the event provided us with a pretty good sized canopy tent, which covered over half the stage, and made all the difference.

Once again, we were treated with plentiful ice cold water, a few mic ultras, and some cheesburger/hot dog combinations, which spells SUMMER. We survived. and I even managed to stop by JJ's Tavern in Florence to catch a few bands with my partner. We're not even two weeks into June, and I have 5 shows checked off, with many more remaining!

 

Mansion on the Hill

 

I've lost track of all the beautiful historic buildings I've performed in over the years. When I pull up to the next one, I'm never quite certain if I've played at it already. Such was the case last week when I arrived at the Wadsworth Mansion in Middletown, CT to perform at my first Wedding gig of the season (we play less than a half-dozen of them per year, so it is still a fun thing to do now and then)

I strolled around the property, where I discovered a patio/terrace that connected with some steps to the back of the mansion, where the band was setting up.

I don't have much free time on the weekends because of all the shows that are booked for the next few months. It makes up for the very slows months in March and April, however. It still beats a regular job!

A Few Small Repairs

A year ago, I bought a very oddball guitar (which is one of my hobbies) in a Squier Paranormal Custom Series Nashville Stratocaster. Basically, it's a Telecaster and a Stratocaster all in one. The pickup in the middle is a Strat, but the other two are Teles, The outline of the guitar is a Strat, but the bridge and tone contols are a Tele. 

Bought for a low end price of around $300, the previous owner had already upgraded the bridge saddles, and now I was starting to upgrade the pickups. I had already swapped the Strat pickup for a single coil Quantum (from a busted Ibanez my brother stripped and gave the parts to me for possible re-use). Now I was replacing the stock bridge pickup with a higher quality Fender 62 pickup to give it a softer, more natural tone.

I had to re-wire things a couple of times, after discovering it was out of phase. Only burned myself once!

In the process of all that, I decided to replace the stock neck pickup with the middle pickup I had just removed. By the time I was finished, the guitar had a higher quality Telecaster pickup in the bridge, an equally well-balanced Ibanez pickup in the middle, and a brighter stock Strat pickup replacing the muddier stock Tele pickup in the neck.

I got rid of the now useless chrome cover that was on the former neck pickup, and after jamming the slightly larger Strat pickup in its place, I then switched the color of the middle pickup from white to black - making all three match (even though they are even more different than before!) The previous tones were a little to bright and harsh for my taste and the modifications now balance the tones and soften things up to give the guitar a fuller sound.

Let the games begin!