Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Galaxy Guitar is Sick Again

Just now there was kind of a pop from the bridge and then all the strings went out of tune.  The guitar can't be re-tuned as it seems something has broken within the bridge.  There's no question she needs to go back to the Guitar Doctor as this isn't something I can fix.  This was the second time playing today and the twang bar was a significant part of it.  That matters as the twang bar works through the bridge so that may be what broke it.  I wasn't doing Irving the Heavy Metal Hammer God so ... fuck it, just call it karma.

This isn't a plea for money but a break wouldn't be bad about this time.  There's a pay gig tomorrow night so that's flushed and blah, blah ...

(Ed:  do try to avoid whining, please)

My thought exactly.

So, sticking with the news, I estimate it will gain take about two weeks to get her fixed up.  Don't think badly of her or the Guitar Doctor as the Galaxy Guitar has lived very hard and the Guitar Doctor is a luthier, not a clairvoyant.  There's no way he could anticipate something that would happen.  He set her up perfectly as she was again quick to tune, very good at staying tuned, and she was sounding perfect.

The 'lemonade' part of this is that the Guitar Doctor will have to go into the bridge anyway so I will ask him to review the situation with the synth access and then I will find out for sure where it's failing.  The worst answer is that it's in the synth as that can't be repaired and it's $800 US to get another one.  If it's the cable, that's $80 US and that's at least survivable.  The last possibility is that it's in the MIDI 'pickup' in the bridge.  It sucks if that's broken but this is the time to repair it if that's true.  All of those answers suck but the lemonade is finally knowing for sure.

Minimalism is all very well if you're Picasso ... but I ain't.  In any case, I consider what I do to be highly minimal relative to what it was in my original vision.  The keyboard is present but it's fairly restrained and so is the bass.  I may do it in the future but right now the vocal mike doesn't even go into the looper.  I don't consider the guitar excessive as even when I'm playing as fast as my fingers will go, it's still only because that's what is needed at that moment.  I would consider it excessive if there were nothing else but other moments call to hold a single note for as long as it will sing and, happily, with the Galaxy Guitar that can be quite a long time as it has outstanding sustain.  (It's a bitch that she's so heavy but she sure can hold a note.)

The segue from a broken MIDI pickup to minimalism is that getting the synth access working might compound a problem whereas I don't see it that way at all.  The trick with using guitar and synth at the same time is finding the balance rather than to create something overpowering as it will be powerful in any case.  It can also create something very delicate as in playing a clean guitar sound with maybe a flute or an airy voice.  Why I perceive this as minimalism is that it cannot possibly be reduced beyond what it is and still say the same thing.  Acoustic musicians will likely disagree with that and it's their privilege but that's my position and I'm holding it.

I can't believe I broke my fucking guitar.

Time to check out for a while.


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