Friday, November 14, 2014

Musical Postcards: Dream Theatre



A few months back I caught veteran virtuoso-psychedelic-prog-metal (or whatever) band, Dream Theatre, at Seattle's McCaw Hall. They put on a spectacular and dreamy multi-media show and all the band members demonstrated masterful instrumental skill. John Petrucci on lead guitar was quite outstanding. To the delight of the crowd DT shredded, meandered and jammed in a way that would have turned Jerry Garcia sativa green with envy: throughout the concert a light show sparkled and exploded like a mini-supernova. Entertaining stuff although I couldn't help thinking that Hawkwind did exactly the same thing (albeit a bit less polished) 45 years earlier...

By all means watch the entire vid from beginning to end but IMHO it's best to start it at around 1'30".

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Poppies




Following my previous post on the courageous WW1 soldier, John Thomas Bloor, I thought it would would be worth reflecting more on The Great War on Armistice Day. The brilliant poppy exhibit at the Tower of London is a poignant reminder of its scale of tragedy.  The nearly 900,000 ceramic flowers that currently fill the moat of the Tower represent just Britain's losses. Entente or Allied forces suffered 6 million deaths: Canada had 65,000 losses. It has been estimated that the conflict cost the lives of up to 37 million civilian and military personnel among all nations involved.  The magnitude of these infernal statistics is hard to comprehend and we should never forget that every single one of those fallen souls had a human story just like Private Bloor. I'll let the photos do the talking...







I'll finish up with a verse from Robert Laurence Binyon's immortal poem:

"They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them"

Private John Thomas Bloor: Closure


The commemorative plaque for John Thomas Bloor 


Exactly one year ago today I published an article about John Thomas "Tom" Bloor (JTB), a valiant Canadian infantryman, killed in August 1917 at the Battle of Hill 70.  Nearly a decade ago, I had become, inadvertently, the bearer of JTB's memorial plaque. I'd had no idea what it was and the name was barely visible but after closer inspection and a lot of research a fascinating story about JTB and his progress through the terrible conflict of WW1 emerged. I posted the story on Armistice Day, 2013 and since then it has attracted a very large number of hits.

As JTB's story unfolded, my sense of obligation to his family increased. It was no longer acceptable to leave the plaque sitting around in my study so I started a lengthy search for descendant family members. I won't bore you with the details but I embarked on a long trawl through parish records, births, marriages and deaths databases and genealogy sites both in the UK and Canada. There were many red herrings and blind alleys but then several rather soft pieces of evidence suggested that some of JTB's siblings may have also ended up in Canada. Eventually I enlisted the help of Dr Ian Bloor, Chairman of the UK based Bloor Society.   The good doctor was quite the wizard and within a couple of days he connected me with Janice MacPhee who he believed to be JTB's cousin two generations on (I believe that is termed "twice removed"). After a few emails back and forth it turned out that Janice was indeed  a surviving relative of JTB and was residing in the northern reaches of British Columbia. I felt that after the odyssey of my detective work on the plaque, it would be quite unsatisfactory to simply mail it off.  Janice and I conversed a bit more and she revealed that she would be visiting Vancouver in the near future. Vancouver is only a couple of hours drive from Seattle and meeting in that vicinity was a very satisfactory solution. Eventually we agreed that we would get together in a town just inside the US border.

Now I had to prepare for the meeting: handing over a 'naked' plaque seemed crass and disrespectful. I scoured eBay and was fortunate to find original inner and outer envelopes for the plaque as well as a 29th Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force (JTB's regiment) cap badge. I also obtained a facsimile of the honor letter from King George V that accompanied the plaque when sent to the next of kin (thanks to Mr Eddie Fatharly, South Ockendon, Essex, UK). I packaged the items in a walnut presentation box and assembled all the documentation I'd acquired relating to JTB's life and military service. Now I was ready to go...

And so it was that on a sunny Sunday morning last spring I set off with JTB's memorabilia for a rendezvous at a restaurant in Bellingham, WA.  Janice and I identified each other quite easily. She was accompanied by her husband, Dave. They were visiting family members in Vancouver prior to traveling to China for a vacation. We chatted and had lunch and then I handed over the plaque.

Janice MacPhee, cousin twice removed to JTB, reunited with  his memorial plaque. 
Dave and Janice MacPhee with JTB's plaque and memorabilia. Janice's grandmother (JTB's sister) had also emigrated  from the UK and settled in Canada.

Needless to say it was quite an emotional moment.  I won't overly dwell on it here but I did have the sense that I was saying au revoir to a friend: JTB had become a real person as I had written about him and aspects of his character and physical appearance became apparent during my research. I really felt I knew him. However the sense of satisfaction that his memorial plaque was now in its rightful place back among his family was profound: I felt honoured and humbled that I could play a small part in paying tribute to his memory.

Sunday, November 02, 2014

Musical Postcards: Ben Smith

I continue to acquire video clips of musicians whenever I can. It's a hopeless addiction like collecting snow globes or antique paper clips. Anyway my latest offering is of the excellent Ben Smith who I caught on a recent trip to the UK. Here he performs Peter Green's "Black Magic Woman" (à la Carlos Santana). Enjoy!

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Jack Bruce

I felt terribly sad on learning of the passing of Jack Bruce over the weekend. Not only was he a superb musician but I'd go so far as to say that he almost single-handley elevated the role of electric bass from a slightly dull rhythm section plodder to a frontline driver and excitement generator. Arguably he invented the power riff when playing with Cream: surely "Sunshine of you Love" is one of the most memorable motifs ever. I was fortunate to see him twice. Once with a number of luminary musicians at the Top Rank, Cardiff (which JB's website informs me was on November 10, 1971 and his friends at that concert were Graham Bond, Chris Spedding, John Marshall and Art Themen) and over 40 years later (February, 2012) at Jazz Alley, Seattle with The Tony Williams' Lifetime tribute band. My enduring memory of each occasion is of a masterful, virtuoso, performance.

Thank you for the legacy of great music, Jack. RIP!


Friday, October 17, 2014

The Design and Construction of my Spitfire Table: Huw Edwards-Jones in His Own Words

Furniture maker extraordinaire, pilot and WW2 historian, Huw Edwards-Jones.


Just over two years ago I wrote a brief piece on Huw Edwards-Jones’ amazing Spitfire table. It’s one of the most incredible pieces of art/engineering/furniture I’ve ever seen. Since then the article has had the most hits of all the 650-odd posts I’ve written on this site since my entry into blogging more than 10 years ago.  It's also attracted a great deal of attention in the media including UK's Channel 4 production "Four Rooms". Given the level of interest in the table I thought a second, more detailed, article on its construction was warranted, so I interviewed Huw and here’s the story in his own words:

Conception to Completion
This is the story of my journey with the Spitfire table from its conception, to the excitement of putting the propeller blades into the hub and seeing the majesty and size of the assembled unit for the first time. 

The idea came to me about six years ago. I’ve always been interested in aviation (I’ve held a PPL since I was 18 years old) and WW2 military aircraft have held a particular fascination. I drafted up some technical drawings and used them to get some artist's impression sketches made by the renowned aviation artist, Geoff Nutkins (more about Geoff, below). Now, with the concept established, it was time to collect the necessary parts and start the build.



My original concept of the table and drawn up in collaboration with noted aviation artist, Geoff Nutkins.

The Propeller Hub
I couldn't have built the table without having the ability to support the blades and glass accurately and parallel to the floor. 

I realised this could not be achieved unless I could get my hands on an original Spitfire propeller hub. Yet in all my time searching various potential sources for rare Spitfire parts for years, I never saw a hub for sale in any condition at all.  For awhile I thought this would be the undoing of the project, however fate was on my side.

While I was buying some other parts from an outfit up in the north of England, somebody at the firm said that there was a individual, Martin Phillips, restoring a Spitfire Mk IX down in sunny Devon and that he had a large collection of parts.

I duly contacted Martin and he was kind enough to let me come down to his farm-workshop to take measurements of the cowlings on his 90% restored Spitfire. While I was there I casually asked him if by any chance he had a spare prop hub and incredibly he said,  "Actually, I have a damaged one over there under that pile of parts".  Then, lo-and-behold, he dragged out a Mk IX hub off a Supermarine Seafire which he told me had crashed in 1943 while coming in on an approach in fog, to Fleet Air Arm station at Yeovil. The pilot had sadly lost his life in the accident.


The incredible propeller hub. The table couldn't have been built without this part.

I looked at this incredible piece of aviation history and realized it was exactly what I needed to make a start on the project. The hub had received a heavy front end impact: initially it appeared true and the engineered propeller port holes looked straight enough but eventually I had to take it to an engineering firm in Sussex to recut the unusual threads as they were a few thousandths of an inch out.

I will be forever grateful to Martin as in addition to the prop hub, he let me have a set of original exhaust stubs (two starboard and two port) -all for a very reasonable price. Luckily for me he liked the idea of the Spitfire table and was very generous with his help.


The exhaust stubbs: I am indebted to Martin Phillips for providing me with these superb parts.

The Propeller Blades
Now I had the hub, the propeller blades were the next things to acquire. Like the hub, they were difficult to find and I spent a long time searching aviation websites without any success. Then suddenly I found and acquired  a blade on eBay. I got it for an great price although not having seen it 'in the flesh' I was quite anxious about its condition. When the package arrived I opened with trepidation and was delighted to find a fantastic blade with a lovely patina with no damage apart from some minor surface wear. The fellow who sold it to me told me his Grandfather had worked on Spitfires in WW2 and acquired it as a souvenir after the war. The blade had seen some operational service, so it had heritage. It had been in a shed in the garden for as many years as he could remember. I still consider this to be the finest of the four blades. 


I obtained the second blade from an eccentric engineer who had restored a Seafire and had it in his office. I think this is a rare Spitfire blade by the fact that it had "Experimental"  painted in a green circle near the base. It was in very good authentic condition and had many small dents on the leading edge deflector, so had been operational  -this was another fabulous and rare artifact.


Blade #2 has interesting provenance in that is marked "experimental". Dents on the leading edge deflector confirm that it  had been used operationally.

I purchased the third blade from an antique shop in Portsmouth's Historic Docklands. I believe it had been a display item in a Royal Air Force Association club: it had a faded piece of flat oak crudely screwed into the base allowing it to stand  upright. This blade was in A1 condition but did not have the metal leading edge deflector plate so I suspect have been excess to requirements and had remained in stores at the end of WW2.


Prop blade #3.  This one had originally been on display in a Royal Air Force Association club.

So now I had three blades and was looking for the forth. After leaving a want list at several Warbird restoration companies at Duxford, I got a phone call telling me that one of their clients had a couple of blades that they might consider selling and they would try to persuade the person to sell them to me. After some negotiations, I brought the prop blades for what I considered a high price only to find that both were in quite poor condition. I was only able to utilize one after considerable restoration. I kept the other as a spare. However I can't complain as the guy who sold them to me let me have another important part, namely the diaphragm. This is the steel pressed panel that the front cowls lock onto just behind the spinner cone -so in the end the deal turned out well.


The hub with diaphragm: the propeller assembly starts to come together, especially as the gentleman that sold me the diaphragm also supplied me with two prop blades.

Assembling the propeller blades and hub: the hub was from a crashed Supermarine  Seafire (an aircraft carrier-adapted version of the Spitfire): some damage is still visible on the top surface.

Another photo of the hub assembled with propeller blades -the size of the piece is now becoming apparent.

So now I had all the blades, the hub and diaphragm. I should mention that the project would have never been completed without the kindness and generosity of certain individuals who helped me along the way. One gentlemen (who prefers to remain anonymous) and director of an engineering company let me have a set of 12 castellated nuts for the hub. These are every distinctive, unique items and had to be machined specially for a Spitfire hub/propeller assembly at a cost £1500 each. This cost was prohibitive and I was beginning to think that the lack of them may stall the project so you can imagine my surprise when an envelope containing a dozen of these nuts arrived on my doorstep one day. I am absolutely indebted to this individual for this fantastic gift and a big "Thank you" goes out to him (you know who you are, Sir!).

The Cowling: Panel Making and Construction of the Nose
The next item to tackle was the nose cowlings. Obviously parts for the entire nose section of a Spitfire were not going to be available and I it was going to be necessary to fabricate these panels from scratch. Very few people were capable of performing this task but I was extremely lucky to have had them hand-made on an English Wheel by a lovely lady, Simone Cunningham. She and her husband Bob are probably the best known wheelers in the country and have made panels for many historic aircraft.  

For cost-containment reasons I did a lot of the rivet work and Fairey catches (see below) myself. I also did all the cutting-in and final fitting of the cowling panels. This was no mean feat as I had to  make the rail structures for the panels. I had to hand-bend and tap and screw the rails together to match up to the internal curvature of the cowlings. I made them from 1" aluminum extrusion rod and spent over a month with blow torches and pipe bending equipment to fashion them. This was a very demanding part of the build but as the saying goes "where there's a will there's a way" so I persisted and the challenge was eventually overcome.


As mentioned above, I'd acquired a set of exhaust stubs from Martin Phillips. They were original and in A1 condition but incorrect for the Mk IX variant that I was building. Fortunately I very lucky to swap them for the correct ones with welded flanks: they have a slightly different curvature and fitted my cowling perfectly.

The Fairey Catches
Fitting the cowls together had to be authentic. On Spifires (as well as many other aircraft of the era) was facilitated by special locking catches known as "Fairey catches". I was able to buy six originals from my contact Martin Phillips: they all had their original numbers stamped into them and although they had a little wear I fitted them to the cowlings anyway.  However I had a big shortfall, as in total I needed 34 catches to complete the project. I couldn't find any on the usual websites so I had a batch manufactured to the original specs by an engineering company in Shoreham, Sussex. They were turned from solid billets of aluminum and were completed with a spring loaded plunger and "tee" catch. When they were finished and polished you couldn't tell the difference between them and the originals.


The remanufactured "Fairey" catches. A total of 34 of them were needed to complete the project.

The original catches were dome riveted and fitted into a compressed rebated circle on the cowlings: in order to fit them I had to have a special compression tool made to emboss the rebate into the cowls.

Rotation of the Table Top
Now I had to make the decision as to keep the glass table top/propeller fixed or allow them to rotate. The work necessary to allow the blades to spin was complicated, time consuming and very expensive but in the end I decided I'd go the extra mile and design a bearing so that the whole propeller assembly could rotate along with the glass propeller blades and spinner. I felt this would make an incredible visual spectacle for anyone seeing the table for the first time.  

The combined weight of the glass, blades, hub and other bits and pieces was considerable so I knew it had to be a seriously substantial piece of engineering to allow it to rotate and work and of course to last and to be maintenance free. I then started searching for a large thrust bearing which would support the whole assembly and also allow it to rotate. on with a locking mechanism to, so it could be used as a large conference table to seat up to 12 people when locked into position.


I was then incredibly lucky, while browsing eBay, to find an advertisement offering a set of old bearing cages for sale. I phoned up the guy and asked if by any chance there were any rollers with the cages. He said "I'll have a look for you, mate" and shortly got back to me saying, "yes, I found a bag of old rollers in the shed". I couldn't believe my luck. These were original Hoffman phosphor-bronze bearings, probably of World War II vintage and probably off a German World War II aircraft  -maybe even a Messerschmit 109 or a Heinkel. I brought them and when they arrived they were still in there original grease proof paper wrapping in their original boxes with Hoffman written on the box. 



The Hoffman roller crankshaft bearing: it's ironic that the table rotates on a bearing that was probably originated from a German warbird.

I find it quite ironic that my Spitfire table now rotates on a set of crankshaft bearings manufactured for an enemy aircraft. Definitely  a strange twist of fate! Anyway now the whole piece is completed, the bearing is fantastic and the propeller assembly rotates silently and hardly slows down. A testament to excellent German engineering expertise. 

Core Construction:Assembling and Disassembling
Now I had to devise a way in which the table could be assembled and disassembled by one person and also the components could be moved through a standard door. I decided that the core would be built of 1" marine ply in sections over long steel rods that connected to the bearing plates thereby allowing the piece to rotate. So starting with the base panel, the table would be built up like a massive Meccano set. Disassembly is simply the same process in reverse. The assembly time is between 2 1/2 to 3 hours.


The aluminium panelling, turned on an English Wheel by Simone Cunningham, is built over a core comprising marine plywood and a steel ladder frame. The entire table can be disassembled in three hours.

Fine Details
I thought it might be a good idea to show you how I decided to support the glass on adjustable stainless steel and aluminium outriggers. This idea came to me in the middle of the night after weeks of trying to get my head around the problem of having the glass supported down the centreline of the blades. These outriggers were sleeved in brass cylinders, filed flush with the blade surface to allow for slight movement and the glass was fixed with bespoke flush countersunk locking screws, these were screwed into the outriggers with a special tool that I made up. I had to offload some of the weight of the glass on the outer fixings, so I distributed the weight towards the leading edges on the outer fixings by welding a brass plate to the inner surface on these outer fixings,and screwing the plates to the under surface. This definitely worked as there has been no movement or droop whatsoever in the completed propeller assembly.


Outriggers made of aluminum and stainless steel and sleeved in brass to support the glass table top sections.

It took weeks to think up the outrigger design: they allow the glass table top sections to be supported down the centre line of the prop blades.

Completion
It was a real thrill, when all the blades were fitted for the first time, into the Original Hub that I had re-machined, with all the authentic castle nuts holding in the 'fake' pitch bearings which I had machined  to the exact dimensions from an original bearing. They all fitted into the hub aperture, friction tight with just a little help from my trusty can of WD40. My final job was to polish the aluminum panels with Mother's polish which I obtained from the USA.  This is a superb product and enabled me to get rid of all the micro-scratches on the metal and left a fantastic gunmetal-like finish as well as provided protection against oxidation. Now, after a couple of years, the appearance of the panels is less bright silver and more of a polished pewter look with a nice patina -it's really lovely.


The completed table: it has an awesome, majestic, appearance. Perfect for a classy boardroom.

It was at this point that I realized the awesome size and dignity of the complete propeller unit, with each blade having arrived from an unknown place and hidden history; it fired up my imagination. Could I be touching a blade from an aircraft that had been in engaged in mortal combat with a Focke Wulf 190 over the Juno beach D Day landings in 1944? Anyway I was delighted with the way the project turned out and also very pleased to receive from the UK's Intellectual Property Office a Certificate of Registration of Design: my IP was (still is) now protected.

Accolades and People Encountered
I finished the table just in time to exhibit it at the Olympia Fine Art and Antiques exhibition in London in June 2012 where it was voted "favorite piece" in the show.


The Spitfire Table shown for the first time at the 2012 Olympia Fine Art and Antiques  Exhibition. It was voted "favorite piece" in the show.

Later that year it featured in Channel 4's "Four Rooms" TV programme where it was exhibited and pitched to four top antique dealers. They all loved it and agreed that it was priced about right. It appeared at the 150 year celebrations of the birth of Sir Henry Royce. Guest speaker, Quentin Willson, described the table as the most sensational piece of design work he had seen since the launch of the E type Jaguar back in 1961.  Praise indeed! The event also featured a superb journal which had a double spread on the table. I should also mention that I received a lovely letter of appreciation from David Spencer Evans, Chairman of The Spitfire Society (see below).


A letter of appreciation from David Evans, Chairman of The  Spitfire Society (click to enlarge).

During the course of building the table I have had the privilege of meeting some remarkable individuals including:

Jeff Nutkins. As mentioned earlier, Jeff is a brilliant aviation artist, who agreed to do the initial artist's impression of the table. He also has a World War II museum in his back garden with fantastic collections of artifacts and memorabilia from digs and donations. In the past he has done a lot of signings at his museum for Battle of Britain and Luftwaffe pilots. 


Bob Doe (that is to say WW2 ace fighter pilot, Wing Commander Bob Doe DFC,DSO & Bar). One day Jeff Nutkins phoned me to say that Bob would like to speak to me about the table. I was invited over to his house in Crowborough and spent the whole day chatting about his incredible experiences. He loved the table and wrote a note in my copy of his autobiography, "Fighter Pilot".  I felt both humbled and inspired at meeting one of the major aces of the Battle of Britain. 


Dr Gordon Mitchell. The other incredible contact was the Dr Gordon Mitchell, son of the Spitfire designer, RJ Mitchell. I sent him the artist's impression pictures of the table and a summary of my plans intentions, to his home address to which he replied with a two letters one of which I sent to you in the package. What he wrote was very touching and I will always treasure the correspondence I had with him. 

Sadly both Bob and Gordon have now passed away so I have these comments stretching back from another time: at some point soon I will engrave both their names on the propeller blades of the table. 



Flyer for the table incorporating highly appreciative comments from the late Wing Cmdr Bob Doe (former WW2  fighter ace) and the late Dr Gordon Mitchell (son of the Spitfire designer, RJ Mitchell). Click to enlarge.
And that's pretty much the story of the thing. I suppose in some ways it's my magnum opus. Certainly it's been very satisfying to build. I would love to keep it but after  taking three years off to do the building and spending a fortune on the parts, financial imperatives dictate that the table must be sold. So if anyone is interested and can offer it a good home please get in touch (my contact details are below)...

Huw Edwards-Jones
Seaford, Sussex, UK
October 2014

Mobile:07835 094508
email:hejdesignermaker@btinternet.com
www.huwedwardsjones-bespoke.com

Monday, October 06, 2014

Paul Revere

Sadly, Paul Revere checked out yesterday. You know, of Paul Revere and the Raiders. Oh, ok, I guess you have to be a certain age to remember him and his band. Let me explain. This outfit wrote pretty good catchy pop songs in the 1960s and dressed up in 18th century garb that like the original Paul Revere whose epic ride to warn that "the British are coming" is now the stuff of legend.  The contemporary Paul Revere's (aka Paul Revere Dick) schtick was meant to serve as a counter to the British Invasion bands of the mid-1960s. Anyway check out their version of the Boyce/Hart classic  "(I'm not your) steppin' stone" -it knocks the version by the Monkees into a cocked hat.

RIP Mr Revere!

Saturday, October 04, 2014

Hawker Hurricane

A Mk 1 Hawker Hurricane buzzes over Alexandra Gardens, Windsor, July
1940 2012

While we are still in the "Battle of Britain" 74th anniversary season I thought I'd post up this pic of a Hawker Hurricane I snapped over Windsor, Berkshire, a couple of years ago.  Yes, honestly, I really did take it myself although I confess to adding a little patination. Quite a lot actually. Scroll down for the full story (and maybe a surprise)....                                    

                                                                                  Scroll down



                                                                                  Scroll down



                                                                                  Scroll down



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I'll 'fess right up, here. This is what I photographed. A full size replica of Sir Sydney Camm's  genius design erected in 2012 in his home town of Windsor.  Keep scrolling down to see how I turned this into an action photo...
The first thing I did was to remove (blur) the stand with "Retouch" tool in iPhoto.
Then I started to slowly blur the trees...again this was done with the "Retouch" tool.
The trees are finished and I've added a little blur on the prop blades  -still done with  "Retouch".  The Hurri is now starting to look like an aircraft in flight although the missing pilot gives away that this is a pic of a model. Now where can I find a pilot...?
Library stock images to the rescue. This photo of a real Hurricane in flight is in approximately the same attitude as the one in my pic so a little cloning, courtesy of Photoshop is in order.
Voila! We now have a pilot. The aircraft is looking quite realistic although a little modern  -I really wanted a more antique appearance.
The photo was then processed through Pixlr-o-Matic (free from the Google app store):  first it was rendered into a black and white image and then patinated with some scratchy effects.
A sepia tint completed the effects. The pic now looks like it could be passed off as a photo taken in 1940 and  kept in a drawer ever since. 

Sunday, September 28, 2014

That Obscure Object of Desire




For my readers who are musically inclined and especially those who gravitate towards electric guitars, here's something that might pique your interest. My pal, Shawn Demots, is a well-established luthier in the Seattle metro area and has been repairing, setting up and modifying guitars for many years. Now he's decided to start building his own instruments and recently I've had the pleasure playing one. This particular one, in fact.  It's gorgeous, plays beautifully and is totally bad-ass. Needless to say it has terrific tone. Basic specs are in the pics below.  So if you fancy a unique, hand crafted, "Heathen" guitar instead of the ubiquitous, mass marketed, big names, drop Shawn a line or give him a call  (his contact details are at the bottom of the post). 

The guitar has a 22 fret neck with a 24.75" scale length: its tones are warm but it is also capable of delivering lovely ringing sustained notes.

The instrument is fitted with Lollar Imperial Humbucker pickups: the neck pickup  is the "Peter Green" model which can be switched to be out of phase with the bridge pickup and gives a very distinctive tone.

The body is hand-carved mahogany and is finished with nitrocellulose: no tone killing polyurethane here!

The mahogany neck is set through rather than bolt on: the finger board is ebony, the tuners are top-of-the-line Schaller.

The instrument has a beautifully carved headstock and a bone nut. "Heathen": remember the name!

If you fancy one of these hand-made beauties you can contact Shawn at: shawn@northwestguitars.com
Alternatively you can phone him on +1-360-540-8172 (tell him I sent you).

Monday, September 22, 2014

Random Aircraft Photoblogging: Avro Lancasters


Is there anything better than the sound of Rolls-Royce Merlin engine at full chat? Well, yes, actually: try listening to eight of them simultaneously!  The Avro Lancaster was an advanced British heavy bomber that saw extensive service in WW2 and took part in the famous dam buster raids. Over 7300 were built yet only two air worthy examples remain,  a BI of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight  and a B X belonging to the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum. I snapped the two of them over RAF Duxford last week: not only did they look great but they sounded fabulous. I didn't capture any video footage but hopefully these pics will convey some of the deadly menace projected by these charismatic old warbirds.

I'm sure that observers on the Mohne dam must have been terrified by the sight of these monsters making a low level attack.
The profile of these iconic aircraft is quite unmistakable: the sight of these two together was awesome and I can't imagine the spectacle of a few squadrons massed for a strategic bombing mission.
Bomber command suffered very high losses during WW2: 44% of Lancasters  were lost in combat and 22743 aircrew left the UK on missions and did not return.
The sound of eight Rolls Royce Merlin engines (that's a total of 96 cylinders producing 8-10,000hp) is an aural delight without equal.


Thursday, September 18, 2014

Management of Digital Music. Part 4: Summary and Recommendations


Full circle! If in doubt about your digital system you can't go wrong by adding a good old-fashioned, analogue, record player and buying a few LPs. The sounds is really great and they look fantastic.
The final episode in this rather drawn out series (sorry, but life gets in the way, sometimes) is a summary of the points I've been trying to make in Parts 1-3.  In the end the management of hi-fidelity digital music is not that complicated. Anyway I hope these ramblings have helped. Links back to the first three parts are at the bottom of the page.

1. Copy music in the highest resolution format that you can. This is the cardinal rule! I suggest AIFF as it's not only lossless but the most generally compatible with different players, supports meta-data (such as track titles and album covers) and works with iTunes.

2. The corollary to Point 1 is:  avoid collecting low definition downloads in MP3 and related compressed formats: you'll hate it later on.

3. Don't use file sharing sites/torrents and the like. Not only are they illegal but you have no control of the file quality.

4. Remember that CDs, especially used ones, are absolute bargains and are of genuine high fidelity quality: they are currently the best way to acquire a collection of high definition digital music.

5. Put your music on a quality hard drive (preferably solid state) -once it's there it can easily be transferred to any other digital system. A dedicated system is best: you don't want to be carrying around your lifetime's collection of music on your everyday laptop! Oh, and don't forget to back it up!

6. Put a good quality DAC between your hard drive and a your amplifier.

7. Experiment with different music players (apps): they make a big difference and are evolving continuously.  Also remember that iTunes is not the only music app out there...

8. Purchase a good quality amp and speakers. You can get a lot of bang for the buck these days and you don't need a budget that looks like it would fund a NASA project.

9. Once you have your digital library you can connect it to your wi-fi network and use it as a Network Associated Storage (NAS) system and stream music throughout your home. However I suggest you Keep your hi-fi system separate from your TV (A/V systems introduce too many complications and compromises) and avoid bluetooth or wireless connected speakers (which can have quite badly degraded sound quality).

10. If in doubt, don't forget good old-fashioned, analogue, vinyl! Yes I'm talking about a record player and LPs.  The sound quality is quite brilliant and makes up for the lack of convenience involved with playing records. Besides they look seriously cool.


The other parts in this series can be found here:

Part 1 : The Good Old Days
Part 2 : Hardware
Part 3 : Music Files and Software

P.S. Since penning this piece I've run across this excellent article about digital music organization by Whitson Gordon and published in Lifehacker: it's well worth a read.

Captain Corelli's Island

Assos, Kefalonia. The village nestles on a little isthmus and the bay is overlooked by an ancient Venetian fort.

There's nowhere like Greece to lower the blood pressure. I've taken myself off to Captain Corelli's Island (Kefalonia) for a few days of R&R. Honestly I could easily extend this time to a few weeks, months or even years -such is the magic of this Ionian paradise. Here are a few pics for your perusal:

The Melissani cave known as "the cave of nymphs" in Greek mythology features an underground lake.

The roof caved in some 3000 years ago: the lake is part of an underground river that flows to the sea.

The Drogarati Caves are very different from those at Melissani.  This huge underground  cavern is full of stalemates and stalactites and is so big music concerts are held there.

Amazing stalactites in the Drogarati Cavern. Both stalagmites and stalactites are still forming and the caves are considered to be geologically 'living'.

Well, where did you think all that feta cheese came from...? Kefalonia has thousands of goats roaming freely over the island.

The moon seen through the balcony door of an abandoned house. Damage from the catastrophic earthquake of 1953 is still  very much in evidence.

I named this little fellow adopted me and I named him "Oedipuss" -it seemed like a fitting name for a Greek cat  seeking a parental figure.

A rainbow and a pot of gold at sea? Greece is so rich in mythology that anything is possible.

I could get used to this life! Drinking my morning coffee in this waterside cafe is a simple but rare delight.

P.S.  Archaeological artifacts are commonplace in Greece but the island holds some modern historical remnants of particular interest to me...I'll reveal all in a subsequent post but below is a teaser to pique your interest.
If any reader can tell me what this is I'll buy them a beverage of choice (and saying it's a ring off a compass is not enough!).