summer patriot, winter soldier

guitar clearance sale ....

huge "black friday" guitar sale.  friends, (and potential customers  ...   well, of course you are friends, i want your money for my guitars!!), i have found the guitars with which i wish to spend my dotage, and that i enjoy playing.

so, it is time to part with those guitars upon which i honed by soldering skills, by which i learned about the circuitry and other subtleties of the electric guitar.   and, oh yeah, i played them while i became, well,  and enthusiastic & not very skilled guitarist.   i enjoyed my time with these guitars, but it is time to liquidate my joy in them.

pictures --  got a new phone, saving about $45 @ month over the old carrier, but i cannot figure out how to get pictures of the guitars to this post.   i'll get it figured out in a couple of days or so, and i'll get the pictures into this space.  i think, we'll see.

you want more pictures of a particular guitar, then send me your email address, and i can get the pictures to you that way.

 

1.)  an epiphone limited edition custom shop sg look-alike.    serial number 0910180700.   the original pickups were replaced w/ ibanez s-58's, which i took off an ibanez am93 replacing them w/ seymour duncan sh-2 and sh-4 pickups.  i've looked this little jewel up on the net, and the "asking prices" range from cheap to moderately expensive.   quite frankly, i don't know what to make of this guitar, as it does not produce any sound whatsoever that pleases me, and it is quite difficult to tune.   price --  $125.00 and it is yours.

a good first guitar for a kid, who won't care one whit that the tone is, well, not something that would appeal to someone who enjoys jazz guitar.  a distortion pedal of some sort would be a good bet here. 

you had best become accustomed to odd noises if you buy this guitar.

 

2.)a crate guitar, a good solid asian knockoff of a fender strat.  (i think, but i am not sure, that they call it an "electra" model.  this is a guess.) when i got it, i had two single coils and a humbucker in front of the bridge, which i replaced with seymour duncan pickups, 3 narrow humbuckers on a five way switch:  the switch works very well, giving five distinct tones, with clarity and no buzzes.  i haven't played it in a good long while, it's been leaning in a corner in the bedroom, but it was in very good tune.   it's got some used winders, which started life as a good brand (feder), but one winder was a bit weak in the knees so the whole set was "sacked."  the neck is straight.  now, the bad news  ....   when i was replacing the winders i bollixed the whole job, and had to repair the head stock by putting a layer of walnut over the head stock  ...  it looks pretty good to me.  (it may not to you.)   but, if crates ever had any collector cachet, it's gone with this one.   and, it has been repainted, but in a local mechanic's paint room  ....   it is a dark cherry (gm part no. ____ something or other), with bunches of black in it, very nice, but as the context might suggest, it's got some minor pits and dimples where i didn't fill dings in very good.   price --  $250.00, because it is nice, and it sounds and plays very well.

update, 11.23.2021.  i am playing it right now.  it's a nice little guitar, it chimes a bit for my tastes, but no distortion.  you can fix this with some different strings, is my thinking.  but, it plays well, and has good tone.  end update.

 

3. an sx rock & rose guitar (don't ask me where they got the name.)   this guitar, you can pick up brand new on the net for summer's 'round $100.00 .   i am asking for considerably more, namely $250.00 or so.

now, hear me out.   this is a good little guitar, well made, and attractive.   the neck is straight, it has what appears to be rosewood for the fret board.  somewhere i acquired a used set of fender tuners, and they grace the little devil.   and, it is equipped with 3 seymor duncan single coil pickups, with a five way switch.   and, it has a nice solid tone  .....  nothing spectacular, but nice and even.   finally, it plays very easily, and the intonation is solid, with no fret buzz.   i hate to part with it, but, i've nicer guitars now, and what's the point of having it gather dust?

this would be an extremely good kids guitar: a good guitar to start with, with no bad habits, and a good clear tone.   it is smallish, being a strat knock off but with a smaller body and not weighing a little shy of a ton like the crate guitar above.   and, it has a very nice even black finish with little silver sparks, and the pick guard and plate where the neck is attached by screws have nice little red roses on them, very nicely done.

4.)  this one hurts, i hate to part with this guitar, but, it has to go.   it is a schecter diamond series (they don't make them anymore), black hawk model.    it sounds wonderful, and it plays very easily, the neck being "just right" to my way of thinking.  (a relatively deep "c" profile.)  it comes with a hard case.

the body and head stock are a flat black.   all the dials, switches and bells and whistles are black.  i am thinking that maybe that's why is called the "black hawk," eh.

it is not perfect.   somewhere along the line it was owned by someone who attracted sharp corners with the top edges on the guitar, mostly on the bottom bout  .....  don't ask me why.  but, it took divots out of the paint and the body of the guitar.   somewhere along the line, i discovered that black friction tape, (what we call when i was a kid "electrical tape") is a perfect match to schecter guitar flat black.  put a little on the edge, rub vigorously, and after a while you never even notice that it is there.   trust me on this.

and, yes, it has got seymour duncan pickups, the aforementioned sh-2 and sh-4 model, controlled by a volume and tone dial.  neck and bridge "allocation" is controlled by a three way switch.  the price is $350.00.   quite frankly, i really don't care if it sells or not.

it's a nice guitar.  and, keeping it will not be a burden.  it's good insurance for any reversals, and i've experienced those, trust me.

5.) a breedlove discovery concert ce ny, nylon stringed accoustic guitar "with electricity."  the pickup is a  piezo pickup in the bridge.   it is a mahogany body with a spruce top, and it sounds pretty nice.   i am not much into acoustics, but, it looks nice on the wall, and i don't want to part with it very much, as it is only slightly used and looks brand new.

if nothing else, it is a beautiful addition to my "man cave" "decor."   laughing.

price  --  $450.00  .   this isn't carved in stone.   let me know what you are thinking.

 

john jay  @ 11.22.2021

p.s.  i live in n.e. oregon.  the prospect of having to box, ship and insure these items during shipping leaves me a bit cold.   you have to bear the cost, i have to bear the bother.  it's really not a fair trade.   but, shipping and insuring is your dime.   period.   if that is a deal stopper, then, so be it.

if you are nervous about your money (as i would be), i have a lawyer friend or two in two, and we can set up a trust account for you to send your money (it goes into the lawyer's trust account), where it will stay until you approve the purchase/sale of the guitar.  keep in mind, you don't get the guitar until i get the money.

oh, it's cupcake time in the s.e. conference ....

in the great majority of college football conferences it is crunch time, when teams face old rivalries and when conference titles are played for.

but, in the south eastern conference, this week and next are cupcake times.   that is when almost every team in the conference has a game with an over matched opponent (sometimes ridiculously so), to fatten up on.   it is a time to rest the starters, and let the little aches and pains that accumulate over the course of the season heal up.

there is a reason that s.e.c. teams look rested during the bowl season, and a very large part of that reason is "cupcake time."   take a look at the scores this week and next for the s.e.c., and you will see the s.e.c. teams playing the minor league louianna teams, and the likes of tennessee state, and so on and so forth.

most college teams face a minimum of 9 conference teams during the season, but the s.e.c. teams almost uniformly face only 8.   and, when you couple that with the "cupcake season" for the s.e.c., that means an extra win, and rest and healing.

now, the s.e.c. gets away with it.   so, why shouldn't they do it if it gives them a competitive advantage during the bowls and the college football playoffs?   well, from their vantage, there is no reason to change.   and, if the rest of college football wants to be patsies to the s.e.c., well, i guess then so-be-it.

and, if it rankles me, find a packed phone booth somewhere in this great land that gives a hoot.  it's just the way it is.

john jay @ 11.20.2021

dear donald ..... do not seek apologies from our enemies .....

i have seen several emails from "the donald" lamenting the fact that the times/post/dimbulbs have never apologized for the insults, japes and outright lies they have told about him.

well, that's politics.

and, that is also war, in which we are engaged with the left.  it is a battle for the soul of this country.   and, we should wage this conflict as war is to be waged  .....  no quarter asked, no quarter given.   and, no apologies.   when you have a bayonet in another guy's innards, you do not say "i am sorry," you simply twist it, and kick your enemy in the neck as he expires.

give them hell, donald.   give them hell, and give them no quarter.   and, every time one of those twerps asks you what you think of biden, say simply, "he is a first class idiot, thief and he stole the office he wrongfully occupies.  may god protect us from him."   simple as that.

and, tender no words of compassion for the dope, as he deserves none.

john jay @ 11.19.2021

rittenhouse jury verdict ... "not guilty" of all charges ...

as much as anything, i think this verdict clearly signals that most americans are just tired of the b.l.m. and antifia riots (and other leftist misbehaviors), and, furthermore, that it approves of private citizens defending private property and public safety.

if my reading of the situation (especially on my second point) is correct, perhaps it signals a return for the respect of property and individual liberties.  

the fact is, we could use more rittenhouse's in our midst.  imho.

john jay @ 11.19.2021

p.s.   and, i hope mama and son continue in their efforts to sue brandon biden for defamation.  i suspect that there are prohibitions against suit brought against a sitting president, but, if so, the lawsuit should survive until biden is out of office, which, providence willing, will be sooner than later.

the rittenhouse prosecution is a disgrace .....

i was a practicing lawyer for 26 years.***  i worked at various times as a prosecuting attorney, and at various times as a defense attorney over the span of those years.  i know the ethical & legal obligations of both kinds of practice.

now, the practice of law is a series of decisions that require weighted and considered judgments and assessments of human acts and motivations, and no two lawyers should ever be expected to look at a given set of facts and arrive at the same precise understanding of them  ....   that is why a host of legal decisions ended up being tried before a court, and the facts of the matter ultimately decided by a jury.

and, i am going to say something that will surprise most non-lawyers.   justice is not necessarily expected from this process  .....   what is expected is that the trial process and its ultimate rulings are expected to put an end to a given controversy.   what the law promises is an end to controversy, so that people and society can get on with the business of life.

that being said, the law intends the process to be as fair and above board as humans, and those who administer and practice the law, can make it.   to reach that goal, certain rules and procedures are set forth, to try insofar as humans are capable, to make sure that the conduct of trials (including the trial proper, and all of the things leading up to it, such as discovery, the gathering of evidence, etc.) is proper.

it appears to me that in this trial the prosecuting attorneys have fallen very far short of the standard of behavior and conduct expected of prosecuting attorneys.   it appears that they have withheld providing evidence to the rittenhouse defense team that they are ethically, morally and legally obliged to provide the defendants and his lawyers.  to wit, that they have altered some of the evidence seemingly to withhold evidence tending to exculpate rittenhouse from the charges brought against him.

to put it plainly, they have "phonied up" & altered their case in an attempt to fabricate a version of facts more likely to obtain a conviction.   they have done so to withhold evidence from the defendant that they know is likely to exonerate and exculpate rittenhouse's conduct  ....  they "edited" a tape to remove evidence damning to the prosecutor's case.

this was not a matter of "judgment."   this was simply an effort to deceive.   it was an effort to avoid their obligations as prosecutor's to present a fair case.   in short, they cheated.   unforgivably. 

it is, in my mind, as simple as that.

john jay @ 11.18.2021

 

*** i no longer practice.  years ago, i applied for and was granted "inactive status" by the washington state supreme court because of heart health reasons.  i paid "inactive" bar dues for one year, and then decided that was silly.    the washington state bar association did not think it was silly to not pay my bar dues for being "inactive," so the bar association suspended me from inactive status.  it is their club, so, i guess they can run it the way they think best.   but, the up-shoot is that i am no longer permitted to practice law in any form, whatsoever.    i think it only fair that you know that, in this context. 

 

 

"brandon" biden wants all american's to take "the jab" ..... but, he is exempting all illegals and refugee mexican's and south/central americans from that requirement .....

i don't know if there are any limit's to the bastard's cynicism. 

if you were inclined to think that biden had any real health concerns for citizen's of the u.s.a. driving his vaccination agenda, this ought to convince you that the inoculation drive is not driven by any real concern for public health, but is just a political tool to try and keep a lid on american's very real rage about what this administration is up to.

biden's vaccination agenda is simply to keep crowds off the streets, crowds which the demo progressives/radicals/communists fear will tear biden's sham governance to pieces.  (they, being the "dimbulbs," live in absolute mortal fear of jan. 6, 2021.  they are terrified of our righteous anger.   they are terrified of large public gatherings:  you can be sure that they will try to suppress "crowds" in the next couple of election cycles.   you can take that to the bank.   period.  end of discussion.)  they are afraid, as well they should be.

the prospect of violent overthrow of this regime is very real, and still very present.

john jay @  11.16.2021

 

appeasing bullies ....

i am something of an amateur when it comes to assessing diplomatic performance, in a very large world.   but, even so, it seems painfully obvious that u.s. diplomacy vis a vis the communist chines regime has been rather weak-kneed.   it is a harsh assessment to be sure, but one can look at the performance of vice-president kamala harris, and dismiss her simply as a non-player.  in looking at the secretary of state's performance, one is rather compelled to come to a similar conclusion: he has done very little.***  and, in judging joe biden's conduct of world affair on behalf of the united states (he is working on behalf of the united states, is he not?) as related to the red chinese, it appears that he conceives his role as being the agreeable & affable punching bag for the thug that runs the chinese state apparatus.

his approach appears to be that of the kid who comes to school with a messy diaper every day, and gets kicked around by the schoolyard bully, all the while proclaiming that he is afraid of no one, including the kid that kick's his butt every day, and then extorts his lunch money for good measure.

i can think of no historical parallel for all of this ineptitude, except for that supplied by neville chamberlain and his fellow idiots at the british chancellery in charge of dealing with nazi germany prior to world war ii.  (technically, world war ii had started some time before it was officially convened, but it was going on diplomatically from the first day hitler won the plebiscite that placed him in charge of the german government  .....  at least in the mind of adolf hitler & minions.   they knew what they were up to.)

and, grovelling and speaking softly & with obsequious servility does very little to deter aggression on the part of state agents.--  in today's world, the "biden policy" has had application to the islamic terrorist regimes, and to communist red china.   and, i don't see putin as being very cowed by biden either, although i think he can get simply by acting in russia's interests without having to overtly confront the u.s., ... , which just meekly gets out of his way without fuss.

i see no place for biden's diplomacy to lead us, in the long run, except to war.

so, among other "accomplishments" of biden's reign, expect one version or another of world war iii to top the list.   it is, to my mind, pretty much inevitable.   cowardly idiots more or less inspire adventuresome idiots into war.   just understand that in all of this, the united states is supplying about 95% of the idiot "ingredient."   and, that, dear friends, is a generous assessment. 

john jay @ 11.13.2021

 

*** who is the u.s. secretary of state, by the way?   i do not know, and looking it up would just be a waste of time, as the u.s. has no foreign policy that i can discern.   can you?

 

a.o.c. is in a bit of a pissing match with james carville over the word "woke" ....

it is quite probable that if she is ever to learn, she will learn with james carville that getting shrill is no match for a scarred old veteran like james carville.   he's got layers of mean that she's never even conceived of, let alone experienced, and when he lays a claw on one's posterior it hurts.

i don't much care for "old spittle," as i call him, but there is no denying that he is one tough old bird.   i doubt very much that he will be the one ducking out of this fight.   and, she'll have a scar or two on her butt when he is done with her.  he'll hardly notice a little dust up like this.

that's my bet, anyway.

john jay @ 11.09.2021

someone posted that they had just made synonym buns. i replied, "you mean, like the ones grammar used to make." i am now blocked.

what more is there to add?   i didn't make this up.   randy ron sent it to me by email.  when i stop laughing, i will probably let you know.   to my warped little mind, this is absolutely the funniest thing i have read in a long long long time.

john jay @ 11.08.2021

anybody got an idea as to why the d'angelico excel mini xt (viola) has no purfling joining top & bottom to the sides of the guitar .....

semi-hollow body guitars have been joined top & bottom to the sides of the guitars by purfling since, well, time immemorial.   or, if you will, from the time that gibson developed/invented the gibson 335 and 339 series of hollow body guitars.  they set the standard.

and, almost every guitar maker on the planet either outright copies the 335 & 339, or imitates them as closely as humanly & mechanically possible.    semi-hollow body guitars dominate the blues and jazz, and are used in every conceivable form of music.  to say that the gibson pioneered guitar is successful is a gross understatement.

so, why does the d'angelico excel mini xt (mine is in the color of "viola") not have purfling.   mine has not the hint of a "purfle" anywhere, and it ("the purfle") has been the standard way of putting semi-hollows together.  since "always."

i cannot get a tone out of the d'angelico that either pleases, or soothes, or gratifies me.  or, sounds good, in my estimation.  [please understand, i am hardly a gifted musician.  not even average.]  but, it has an annoying hum and rumble which drives me nuts, and which i cannot be rid of.

is it the lack of purfles?   or, the use of seymour duncan humbuckers made to emulate the famous gibson 59 humbucker.  i don't know.

anybody out there have any ideas on the topic that they would like to share?

now, i know that such things are a matter of taste.  just as i prefer marlyn monroe to jane mansfield, i prefer an ibanez am93-trs w/ sh-2 and sh-4 duncan pickups to the d'angelico.  (or, the "d'ang" me, as i am given to call it.  sorta.)

is it the lack of purfling?   i suspect so?   does my thinking need correcting, or, am i on the right track.

your thoughts and observations, please.

john jay @ 11.07.2021