Recording a New Album -- Part 2

I'm documenting the process of making my 2nd album -- this is part 2:

My First Re-finish

So this is a bit guitar-geeky, but I enjoyed doing it, so I'm sharing the experience.

A couple weeks ago my good friend forwarded a Craigslist ad selling an '89 Carruthers S6 (strat), which is something I've been wanting for a while. There were EMG pickups in it, but the guy had the original pickups that came with it, Seymour Duncan SSL-1's. It had a pretty psychedelic paint job, the neck felt a little funny (like its back had been sanded down), and the clear pickguard had been badly damaged, but the price was a steal so I bought it. My thoughts were: buy a new neck from Carruthers, replace the pickguard with a black one, take the paint off and make it a natural finish. After that, I would have a John Carruthers S6 for less than half of what it costs to order one new.

I didn't jump right to that idea -- I did bits and pieces slowly to see what was worth going ahead with. In hindsight I could have done things more efficiently, but I wanted to make sure each step I did worked and felt right after it was done before doing anything else. A little cautious, but smart, I felt.

The first thing I did was to play the guitar a lot to decide if I really wanted to invest in a new neck. I A-B'd it with the neck on my Carruthers tele, and headed in to John's shop after a couple days. They quoted me a new neck (which I got to pick out, btw), a new pickguard, and a pickup replacement (after putting the SSL's in I had discovered one was dead). It felt right so I put down a deposit. A week later I came back to pick up the guitar. While I was there I also probed Carruthers about how one might go about removing the finish. He told me to sand it down with 220 grit... for a long time. Sounds fun.


I successfully forgot to take a picture of the guitar in the condition I bought it in, but here's a picture of the guitar with the new neck and pickguard on (and the old neck next to it):


Next, I played the new neck and got acquainted. It felt great, so I started contemplating the finish. It had a "thing," I guess you could say, but the overly craziness of it was simply too much. I thought about how much work it would take to re-finish it myself, and decided that I was capable enough to do a decent re-finish to a natural finish. Plus, it sounded like it could be a fun project. I went out and bought some materials and sanded a test area on the back of the guitar.


After about an hour of sanding by hand I had barely made a dent, and I decided a new tactic was needed. I borrowed a powered palm sander from a friend and planned on taking the guitar apart so I could go to town with the power sander. Before diving into tearing the neck off, I called up a friend who used to work at Carruthers to ask him for any cautions or pointers on taking the guitar apart. He gave me his advice, which included taking the body itself back to Carruthers to have him run it through his planer. This thing could remove the paint off the flat surfaces in only a couple minutes. He suggested I then ask John what kind of paint stripper to buy to take the rest off. Lastly, he told me what kind of lacquer to get (Bar Top) and how to finish it myself.


Excited about the prospect of saving myself a lot of work, as well as being stoked about the fact that I might pull this off, I took the guitar apart. I left the entire pickguard assembly together since there was no need for it to be taken apart. I also took measurements of pickup and bridge height to make sure I was able to put it back together just as it was. Hopefully it wouldn't lose the brand new setup it had just gotten when I bought the new neck.


I then took the body back to Carruthers shop, exactly one week from the day I picked up the new neck. I got some funny looks from one of the guys (understandable -- I just took apart a guitar they had set up), but after a quick inquiry about using the planer, John took me into the shop and I watched as he worked his magic. He had the front and back completely sanded down just below the paint line in about 2 minutes. Then, he took it over to a large belt sander that he used to remove the large areas of paint on the contours (that bit saved me another hour of work at least). He recommended a paint stripper for me, and I thanked him for the help and headed to the local paint store. I picked up some lacquer, sandpaper (600 grit), steel wool (#0000), and some black spray paint to paint the red, blue and yellow pickup covers and knobs.

When I got home I set up a little MacGyver-inspired rig so that I could strip the remaining paint. I wish I had taken a picture of it, because it was pretty awesome. I took a hanger and ran the hook end through one of the screw holes in the neck joint, and hung it on a mic stand. Yup. Pretty cool. It took a couple of hours to remove the remaining paint, and it was relatively painless (however very chemical-y). I didn't do the best job with the paint stripper, so the wood got a little discolored in places, and scraping the paint made some divots, but I started to like the idea of it not turning out all slick and clean. It was going to have character, and I was okay with that.


After some sanding and wiping, I got the lacquer out to do the first coat. I taped up the neck joint so as not to possibly change the dimensions with layers of lacquer. I also taped up the spring plate and screws on the back, as well as the ground wire soldered to the bottom of the electronics chamber. My rig from stripping the paint translated over to applying the lacquer, and it was pretty easy to do. This picture is what it looked like with a fresh coat of lacquer drying:



For a while the process was to apply a thin coat of lacquer, let it dry for a few hours, then sand lightly with the 600 grit before the next coat. I repeated this process for a couple days before arriving at what looked like a decent satin finish (I went with satin over glossy -- wasn't feeling the shiny factor). Also, while waiting for coats to dry, I painted the pickguard covers and knobs, and after they dried I put them back in the pickguard assembly. I most likely will want to buy a new set of black knobs, however, because while the spray paint worked well on the pickguard covers, it didn't work as well on the knobs.

Before putting the guitar back together, I used the steel wool to buff the finish a bit, and then wiped it down to remove any steel wool dust. The bridge went in first, then the springs, then the pickguard (with the ground re-soldered), the input jack, the neck, and finally the strings. I tuned her up, plugged her in and she played beautifully. Everything felt like it did before I disassembled it (close, at least), so I was relieved.


I'm very happy with how it turned out. It definitely isn't perfect, but I still think it's cool because I did it myself. I'm looking forward to playing it a lot and having it age along with me. I'm also interested to see how it records. In my opinion it's really hard to beat a Carruthers guitar. John just knows what he's doing, and it shows in how well they play. I'm sure she'll be used several times on this new record I'm going to start tracking for soon. In the meantime, she'll be getting used to looking so damn good.

Creativity

I believe I mentioned a while ago that I had started writing for another record... well, I think that was almost a year ago that I started, but I had a brief pause in my life that didn't allow for many new songs. I assembled a lot of ideas as voice memos on my phone, but it wasn't until a couple of weeks or so ago that complete songs started materializing.

I believe I know why it took until a couple weeks ago, but I'm not going to pretend to understand how creativity works. What I can say is that these few weeks have been an incredible experience, and I feel very fortunate to be in it right now.

Around the end of November I looked ahead to December and saw that I had very few commitments or responsibilities to fulfill, and I sorta made a choice to let go of everything for the month and see if any songs come out. I didn't have any expectations or fears about it -- just let go and see what happens. By the 2nd or 3rd day I was in possibly the most relaxed and weightless vibe I have ever been in. Then, little bits of song and lyric ideas start coming out here and there, and songs are coming together, appearing out of nowhere. Believing heavily in "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" I've continued to let go, and the creativity and vibe have kept flowing.

I feel pretty blessed to be able to do this right now. It's truly amazing how much joy creativity brings me, and to be as far in it as I am is quite a treat. I continue to refrain from having expectations, including about how this 2nd record is going to turn out, but I do acknowledge and respect the opportunity that I am enjoying right now. I'm doing my best not to take it for granted.

It's a little sad when I realize that the month is going to be over before too long, and responsibilities will return, but fortunately I also believe in "this too shall pass." Nothing lasts forever, and that's okay. In fact, I wouldn't want it any other way. (I rhymed just then... that may end up in a song) I remind myself that appreciating every moment doesn't have to stop January 1st. Plus, it appears as though I will have enough material for the album, so I'm excited about moving on to the recording portion of the process.

I definitely appreciate what I get to do... I'm a lucky dude.

Recording a New Album -- Part 1

Some Music of Mine on TV

Hello, Internet.

I haven't had much to say for a while, but today I'm happy to type the following message:

A song that I co-wrote and performed will be part of a well-known and long-running television show in a couple of days. On Tuesday, September 15th (2009), on an episode of "The Young and the Restless" entitled "Daniel Proposes to Amber," you'll be able to hear me singing and playing a song called "Taking Over Me" that I wrote along with talented composer and performer, Brett Boyett (he's also responsible for getting the song onto the show... thanks, Brett!). It's a simple acoustic song that was a joy to write, and we're fortunate enough to have it airing on national television.

So if you like the soaps, or if you simply want to hear the song coming through your TV, tune in Tuesday morning to CBS (check your local listings -- it airs at 11:30 am here in L.A.) and sing along :-)

Perspective

It's been about a year since I finished my first (and only) solo record, and I've experienced a lot since then. I've done a lot of things, been a lot of places, met a lot of people, heard a lot of music, seen a lot of movies, and breathed a lot of air. Now I'm starting to think about a second record, which to me means that I've started working on it.

I've got one new song that I wrote recently, and several little ideas for others, so I'm definitely at the beginning stages as far as writing is concerned. However, I'm finding myself contemplating a thought that I've experienced many times before, so in some ways I feel like it's not really a beginning stage, but rather a continuation of where I've been into where I am that happens... well, daily.

Instead of calling this thing a thought, it's probably more accurate to call it a perspective, and that perspective is this: when creating or writing music (or any art for that matter), you are a part of a very unique viewpoint in that you will never experience what you are creating from a first-time listener's standpoint. This, simply, is because you are the one who created it, and you experienced every step of the process, no matter how long or short, simple or complicated, exciting or dull. No listener can have that perspective, just as you can not have theirs.

This may seem rather obvious, and maybe even matter-of-fact, but here's what intrigues me about it: what does Paul McCartney think of "Blackbird?" What does Led Zeppelin think of "Stairway to Heaven?" What does Jimi Hendrix think of "Purple Haze?" What does Pink Floyd think of "Dark Side of the Moon?" Mozart? Elvis? James Brown? Louis Armstrong? Kurt Cobain? Miles Davis? John Mayer?

When you create something that influences, moves, and affects so many people (like everyone in the previous paragraph, and many others, have done), do you view it or experience it on anywhere near the level that others do, or is it just "a little song I wrote?" And did any of these influential artists have any clue while they were writing that their creation would have that kind of impact?

I've read a little and watched a little about this subject, and in fact David Gilmore of Pink Floyd addresses it directly in the Classic Albums DVD on "Dark Side of the Moon." In the film, there is of course discussion about how popular and influential the album became (hence being part of the Classic Albums series), and when talking about it, Gilmore admits that he didn't get to experience it fresh, for the first time, in one complete listen-through. He was involved in creating it, so he doesn't know what it's like to hear it for the first time, and it makes me wonder... can he understand fully how much it affects other people?

It's strange to think about and analyze the writing process, wondering if there is any common thread amongst all those who have created largely popular and influential works. I prefer to keep the writing process as natural and organic as possible, but it's one of those things that pops up regularly: "Is this song I'm writing going to move people like 'Blackbird' did/does?" And for that matter: "Is it important that this song moves people like 'Blackbird' did/does?" "Does anyone ever intend while writing to move people to the degree that the final creation does?" I think the answers to those questions are: it will do what it needs to do, not necessarily, and probably not (respectively).

I find quite a bit of solace in the idea that most influential music (or other art) does not start with that as its desired goal. You write because you're compelled to, not because you know you're going to affect the entire world. You might hope that people are into what you're doing, but there's never any way of knowing what will or will not move people, and trying to predict that is a game you can't win. I like the thought of Paul McCartney saying "Yeah, 'Blackbird' was fun to write. I'm glad lots of people like it, but I would've written it even if they didn't."

It can be challenging to write without thinking about whether what you're writing is good or not, but I guess the conclusion here is: #1 write what you feel and are happy with, not what you think others will be happy with -- it's the only way to call the music yours; and #2 stop thinking about what others think and get back to writing.

So I'm going to try and keep that perspective while I embark on writing a second album. I'm going to write whatever comes out, and see if I can't say some things creatively with songs. Maybe some people will like it... maybe not... but that's not the point.

I've Been Blogged

Yeah, I do blogs, but I recently got blogged myself (is blogged a verb?).

MicControlBlog.com is a cool music blog dedicated to "unheard and unsigned" artists and bands. There has been a strong movement on the web towards this specialization, and Mic Control is one of the better examples. It's nice to see real people with a real passion for real music, and the wonderfully world wide web makes it possible for these people to share their thoughts and connect with others who share that passion.

I am happy to say that I am now a part of this hip blog with a recent post called: "Gary Melvin: An Artist Who Deserves Your Spare Time." Click on over to miccontrolblog.com to check out the post, and be sure to check back often to hear/read about more new music/bands/artists.