Obsidian Noise

Last minute traveling is OK by me. I’m tired right now, but being suddenly on a bus, headed somewhere for some purpose is a nice feeling. I wonder if I’ll ever get tired of it.

Sometimes I think back  to when my back was broken and try to remember that level of pain. It seemed that nothing could be worse. No amount of pain could be worse because of two main characteristics of the injury. First is that the injury was about as centrally located as is possible in a human body. This makes finding neutral positions in which to turn the pain off almost impossible. It also means almost all movement will trigger it. Sitting was impossible so I would either be lying flat or standing, and neither of those were particularly good either. The second characteristic is the electrical nature of a nerve root injury. Feeling a searing, paralyzing sensation actually move around your body, especially down your legs, is one of the most concerning things a person can experience.

And all of that was months ago, now. By Feb I was doing much better and now it’s the end of May and things seem to be progressing still.

Some sad news is that I’ve learned that spending time on my bike, the Red Fantom, is too risky. I took it for a tune-up (where I was propositioned by a fancy-pants biker guy) and spent some time riding around my area, having a great time exploring and coasting. But the next morning my back was stiff and sore, particularly above the injury. I thought maybe it was just a matter of not having been in that half-crouched position in a long time, so the next day I took it up to work, about a 5 minute ride only. The result is that I was noticeably sorer throughout the day and night.  I let it get mostly back to normal for a day or two and then tried riding to work once again, and the result was the same as before:  soreness and stiffness.

So, riding is pretty much out of the question for now.

It’s difficult to get into a good posture on a non-dorky bike.

Sad.

My first real guitar was the Ibanez Xiphos. It was a perfect starting point– narrow neck, neck-through and string-through design, and maybe most importantly for my playing, two ceramic dimargio DeActivator pickups– very hot. I have it tuned to Open-C because I like the layering effect and it’s easy to play.

When I first got the new guitar, my first high quality guitar, a Gibson Les Paul Baritone, I really liked the feel. The difference in quality was very apparent, from the weight and balance, string responsiveness and overall resonance, it was superior. I have it tuned to Open-B because of the extended scale length– it lets me keep it low without the strings getting wobbly.

But as much as I like playing the Les Paul,  the tone was just too soft for me. It sounded tamped down, maybe muffled. Aficionados might call it “smooth and buttery” or whatever, but my guitar playing is meant to destroy entire universes, not butter my bread. I could send the signal through a bunch of processing and get it close to the chunk and bite of the Xiphos, but it was tough. I’d often find myself wailing on the strings during jam, sometimes probably a bit too much, in search of the tone I like.

After about two months of playing the Les Paul, two weeks ago I began playing the Xiphos again and found it to be better. The crunch and harmonics were just so satisfying and effortless, and I was cruising on it, psyched, re-motivated and productive. What to do?

The LP is a superior guitar in just about every other way– from the wood used to the rest of the hardware and overall design and balance. It stays in tune amazingly and feels like a tank, which I like. So the only real option was to swap the standard Gibson pickups out for something more powerful. A friend recommended hand-wound pickups by a UK company called Bareknuckle. Great name.

I corresponded with a person there about my style of playing and my guitar and we settled on the Warpig model— their highest power pickup. I grabbed a calibrated set, bridge and neck, and installed a couple days ago.

They’re freakin’ hot. Easily as hot as the D Activators and with a ton more bass response. I’ve played for about 6 hours with them now and I’m relieved and excited. The tone is fantastic and I think overall it’s just a superior match for the baritone. At jam a couple days ago, I was all over the place, loving all the surprises and capabilities that emerged. Especially with high-gain, high-distortion processing, the Warpigs are a whole new experience. I’ll post tracks up soon.

I might now have the perfect axe for my playing and my desired playing and am ready for a summer full of composing and recording.

Rainy mosquitos last night.

A bug-netted hammock in the room would have made everything fine. Here’s me a couple weeks ago:

I had to keep the window open because it was too hot, that’s how the skeeters infiltrated. I have an AC, but the first use every year produces a puff of dust and soot that accumulates from the neighborhood and coats everything in my room, awfully. Tomorrow, the unit is being serviced for the first time in probably 7 years.

I like climate control when indoors. Just a digital panel that I can set to 70 and keep it that way indefinitely. In the winter, colder indoors is fine with me. When air is slightly cold, coffee feels better in the hand. Hot eggs in the morning taste better. Sleeping becomes fantastically restful.

Summer sleeping is the worst.

Hot mornings are miserable. I hate the feeling of hot morning air, I hate the smell, I hate thinking about how the temperature is just going to rise throughout the day. The highlight of miserable summer is rain. In NYC, we don’t get enough.

Enough blather. Time for your feedback loop map of the day: