512.392.4400


2010

September 3rd

It has been said historically and I quote "C you... in September"... and once again, prophecy has foretold a truly earthshaking event!

It's here...
 
Whaaaaat? A sign of the end of times? Nope! I always said I wasn't going to just slap a P pickup in a Birdsong because A) You don't go this far out into rethinking-land just to jump into the copycat box, and B) it wouldn't do (by itself) what you thought. That pickup is only one part of why that bass sounds like it does, and though old-school, a Cortobass is physically VERY different. So I had to go through the tunnel again and figure out which of what would go where and how to get the desired sound coming out of the speaker, which is really the truth to me. 

And so based on decades of experience playing & repairing those other basses (and the fine tuning of building hundreds of Birdsongs), formulas and ideas and the occasional secret quotient were all gathered up... AND HERE IT IS! The body wood choice was easy, as Alder doesn't flavor the soup like Mahogany does... pickup, the DiMarzio Split P is the soup du jour - in the right spot. I wanted to dress it up with a vintage flair, so the vintage tortoise (or aged pearloid, your choice), face jack, old style knobs and cloverleaf tuners. So THIS is the Cbass! How exciting... check out the updated INSTRUMENTS page for the special introductory price offer...

Here's another...


Now here's a plank of super lightweight Spanish Cedar (works, feels, looks & sounds a lot like Mahogany) becoming a super light Hy5 and Cortobass. It's more information than you probably wanted to know, but Spanish Cedar makes my mouth itch and I start drooling uncontrollably. I'm serious, no joke. There's no punch line I'm setting you up for or anything... I generally don't work with this wood because it messes with my mouth. Drool. Uncontrollable. My taste buds & salivatory system go ballistic before it's even cut. Go figure. Jake & 3D aren't allergic to it thank goodness... so "Game on!" This morning as always I awoke and asked for salvation. Perhaps I should enunciate a little clearer from now on...


Random shout-out: HAPPY BIRTHDAY BX001 DAVID!

Stormy skies above the Birdsong nest, cooler breezes making themselves known... what an awesome sky, ehh?


And here's one that just got here today for sale on consignment - details on the inventory page. C164 from 2009, Bocote-on-Mahogany center with Ash wings, black & gold, Hipshot extender, the works... excellent, like new condition. Would be $2400+ and 6 to 9 months wait to order it new. For sale at $1950 including case & continental USA shipping!


Well that's about it; I had a few more photos to resize & post but Photoshop just shut down and... I think my brain did too. There's a tie-in somehow with all that drooling earlier, I'm sure of it. But for now I'll just sign off and go home. Stick a fork in me, I'm done... have a great holiday weekend and tell Grandma cousin Scott says "Hi."


Listening to:
Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions Bavarian Fruit Bread
David Liebman Quintet If They Only Knew
Radiohead My Iron Lung
Rusted Hearts Sin Sorrow & Salvation
Scolohofo (Scofield, Lovano, Holland & Foster) oh! 


~



August 27th

Well, the hot weather is breaking like so much bad wind. It was 106 the other day but then a rainstorm blew in and it dropped 20 degrees. Over the last couple of days it has inched back into the 90s, but that's how the seasons change here... perhaps the next time a storm blows through, it'll be the big gray wall in the sky and we'll watch the wind come and it'll bring the cool front that brings us 70s and the temperature will plummet and it's buh-bye dog days o'Summer! Really I'm not expecting that until later September. 

Here at the workshop things are perpetually Springtime though, all sorts of things growing, coming back to life... not like the birth from nothing, more like the times in life you gather all you are, all you have, and all you know and make something of it. That changes as we go, and so we do too... here in the Birdsong life that means constant rebirth, wood coming back to life to sing, instruments coming together and leaving the nest; refining and designing, stuff sprouts up. D'Aquila Guitar, sister company to Birdsong, is being seeded and I should have some seedlings to show you before long.    

Here's a file handle Jake made of scrap Zebrawood and fit to his hand...

Tools making tools is what we are. Somehow we ended up here on our paths and you here on yours, just on that side of the screen. All doing our thing, being our be, getting it on with the day and its chances. Putting together, cutting, shaping, finishing... assembling. Pieces assembling pieces. Offer yourself up to the universe and it'll find your ass a seat.

Here are some random items of interest...


The back of Justin's Cortobass


An absolutely smokin' rock axe Jake is selling, an ESP LTD with a Dimebucker... Rock out in style for short cash! Details in inventory 


Los vatos del Birdsong - Dusty, Jake & 3D. Jake's a blur even when he's standing still!


And here's Jake working up something cool... it's time! I'm now fielding inquiries on the 6-instrument, wild Texas Mesquite-fest that is the "6th Anniversary Package" with personal delivery in the continental USA by yours truly. No, I'm not kidding. Details and build pics are here. Want to have a whole collection of special commemorative instruments, invest in a never-to-be-repeated special package of early builds from a growing guitar company and instantly go down in Birdsong history? If this sounds like fun, please inquire about the "6th Anniversary Package".

If that's a little much for you, check out the Odysseys & Cortobass in inventory!


And if you're one of the many out there hanging in 'til the time is right to spring for your own Birdsong, hang in there. And know we're people first and arrangements can be made; if a Birdsong is the answer to your quest, we want one in your hands because you, your music, the listeners, their lives, and all else will vibe that much better... and rubbed with oil and strung with strings, dressed up in Mahoganies & Maples... that's what we're really doing. 



Listening to:
www.somafm.com Groove Salad is fun.
Cal Tjader Soul Sauce
Ben Harper Both Sides of The Gun
Carlos Santana Divine Light (Reconstructed by Bill Laswell)
Neil Young Live Rust



~


August 20th

More pics... which I have been led to believe are worth a thousand words each. That sure never slowed me down before, but we'll go with it for the time being.

	Remember that template I told you about last week? Well it helped get a bunch of Fusions routed, which has been the big bottleneck on these and the Hy5 5-strings which are about to go through this same process. Lots of Walnut chips on the workshop floor, some Mesquite from the Anniversary Fusion and even a little Hackberry from #017.
	Those bodies will be in here before long, soaking in hand-rubs of oil and curing on the rack. These bodies, their finishes now finished with finishing, await necks and hardware and pickups... just in time for 3D to mosey back into the area and lend his services to Birdsong. Welcome to him and to Jake's assistant who we'll call Dusty because it's close enough to his real name, and really that's what he'll be. Dusty. Get it? AHAHAHA. Oh you love it.
	The beautiful little Tulip prototype is for sale in inventory... $995 to a good home, includes hardshell case & shipping in the continental USA. It's a one-time deal on a one-time bass! So don't be a one-time schlemiel and hem & haw until you finally call and it's gone... it could be your voice, it could be destiny.
	Folks in passing find out I'm Veggie and say "Well what do you eat?" Like they'd just starve without a burger joint nearby or something. This is what's in my belly as I type this... quinoa (it's a grain, look it up, pronounced "KEEN-wah") and big butter beans with fresh tomatoes, fresh squash, fresh jalapeno pepper and fresh corn with a little olive oil & balsamic vinegar, salt, and a pinch of red pepper instead of black pepper. Let me tell you, it's a happy belly, plenty full, steady energy and no "food coma." Jamie cooked this up for us, and she says hello even to you new fans... Jamie is wife of Scott and Birdsong is the little bass company they started a while back. Jamie is now getting her Masters in Sociology and Scott... well, I'm right here, typing this on a Friday, as I have for years. But there's a lot more of you now. :)
	An odd trio in assembly: C192, a very dark blackwashed Cortobass, the "Great Cedar" guitar for Timbosaurus Extremus, and the stunning Zebrawood & Ash fretless Odyssey bass, this one is #001 and is THE vision that came to me manifested into existence. More on that...
	...here. The shape, woods, black hardware and single neck pickup with an Ebony fretless 'board concept all came to me in what some call "dreams"... but when it happens so vividly and so often (Sadhana came the same way, as does lots of music and other things) one learns and learns to follow. So here I am, and here is this whole design concept "in the wood"; #2 will be more ornate, rear routed, with an edge carve, twin Ebony stringers and a matching Zebrawood headstock overlay; #3 a 2-pickup, rear routed fretless with gold. The vision and two variations... and all available as of now. Check the inventory page! #001 is $2000, case & shipping in the continental USA included.
	New ad for Bass Player magazine, look for it! Yes I know the G is clipped; it's an artistic thing. Check out that curly Cherry!
	The talents & skills are piling up here and only a fool doesn't plant those like seed in as many spots as possible... so we're working up some absolutely wonderful 6-string electric guitars that will be bench made right here along side the Birdsong basses by the same hands. D'Aquila roughly translates from Italian to mean "Of the eagle"... Those of you who have either A) asked for it, or B) come through and played my personal main guitars, both designed & handmade by Jake, you will not be disappointed. Those of you who haven't thought about it... well, think about it now. D'Aquila Guitars, Birdsong-style aesthetics and perfect ergonomics in amazing sounding hand crafted electrics made by us. Site coming... consider this an official bug in your ear about it. Don't worry, he won't eat much!

Thanks, everyone... have a great weekend!


Listening to:
The Bucky & John Pizzarelli 3CD set... it's AMAZING. 



~

August 13th

Simple update this week; photos and captions. 

	Cbasses-to-be, first two of 2-piece Alder.
	Working on a template for the Fusion pickup & control routs, previously pretty much freehanded... believe it or not. Sometimes when you work up a variation of a more standard model, you do what you do to get it done. Then you do it again when the order comes in. And again... and again... and pretty soon it's no big thing. 'Til one day you look at it and go "Why am I having to invent this all over again every time I make one?" Templates rock.
	How do I relax? Here's some off-hour wrenching at my buddy Captain Camshaft's place. I'm layin' a little lovin' on a member of the fleet. Your bass is not only hand crafted and all, it gets a ride to the depot in an old Mopar. This is "Papa", a ratty old 69 Dodge Dart with a great running slant six (20 MPG) I just adore. Everybody should have a slant six and single barrel carburetor to play with; enlightenment comes in many forms.
	The new headstock artwork. I drew it by hand & it gets laser burned into every headstock.
	The cutest little bass ever is looking to be someone's voice... the Tulip, a prototype from 2008, is an exercise in simplicity with a beautiful uncluttered fretless tone. More details on the inventory page.
	Ahhh the drive home.
	Been asked a lot recently about 6-string guitars from Birdsong... we've done a couple dozen or so in the past, including the Electric Jazz guitar. Having luthier Jake Goede aboard has brought some interesting possibilities that dovetail into ideas I've wanted to pursue... so there's a "sister" company to Birdsong coming, and that's where you'll find some very comfortable, very soulful guitars (including all Electric Jazz guitars after the one in the Anniversary set) all hand carved & made right here alongside the Birdsong basses. Stay tuned for more info on that... needless to say, we're very excited!

That's all for now... as always, gratitude & best wishes...


Listening to:
Tom Jones Praise & Blame (EXCELLENT!)
Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead Movie Soundtrack (This week was the 15th anniversary of Jerry's departure.) 



~



August 6th


The much used and seldom seen Richard the Test Bass, 5C-043, here sporting some Lace P-pickups - in testing for the coming "Cbass"... Richard is a very important member of our team behind the scenes! 

Busy week - good week. Lots of calls & emails. Folks wondering how our little workshop keeps growing when so much else, well, hasn't been recently... a few thoughts on that and then I throw my sawdust-encrusted physical form into the shower and call it a week. 

First, though it is a gross oversimplification of the snowballing of a financial recession, if the street vendor hears there are troubles so he orders less supplies & cuts his hours, guess what... his business goes down. And then they're "right"... point is if you don't have any sno-cones to sell, it's a guarantee you won't sell any. Is it guaranteed they'll sell if you do have them? No, but your odds do go up a bit! 

Second, I'm feeling that folks feel a confidence in us and a worth in not just what we do, but how we're doing it. Nobody's throwing money away right now, but we still get calls & emails every day. To me that means there's some kind of validity & trust that money on a Birdsong is being well spent on something durable, on a quality tool... and that's the biggest compliment in the WORLD to us. We do give everything we have to you but we do charge for it. We like to feel it's balanced, and are very happy our clients do too, 'cause then everybody wins, and that (to my simple mind) is a real balanced economy. 

Third, we're a real company. We're not owned by anybody else or a bank or an investor. I own the company Birdsong is a big part of. So much of what you've seen disappear over the past year, year and a half, have been thinly stretched facades over so much hot air ~ my empathy for everyone involved and all their dreams and talents and good intent, but a lot of these businesses never really existed all that much in the first place except on creditor's worksheets. We're real, we're here, we intend on sticking around. It's my life. 

And fourth, getting a Birdsong is an experience. It's soooooo different than picking out a toaster at MallWart or Monolithic Discount Inc. There's a realness in how we DO the doings of this with each other. The deal delivers both ways and the gratitude & respect go both ways... and that'll buoy you through some challenging waters. Are we geniuses? Nope. Am I qualified to lecture? Nope. "You think yer better'n me?" Nope. But that's how it all looks from this side of the screen.

The only way we grow is by making clients happy. That's it. Happy "family" tells others about the Birdsong experience and they come along; other folks drawn to us find us and come on into the circle with us. Then they even come back for seconds & thirds. That's how it happens... you can't fake organic, real growth. It's proof of something, and the result of good seed in fertile ground with steady water & devoted care and lots and lots of light on it. For me personally, I hand a certain amount of thanks upwards along with outwards to you who are interested & believe in us and our great little basses. We believe in you and are honored to serve the muse, the music, and your path through the Birdsongs we build for you.

August offers, refined & updated:

	Fusion #15 There's a bit more handwork in a Fusion bass, namely MY hands, so the wait time has been quite a bit longer than a standard Cortobass. Recently a client changed his order, so Fusion number 15 which has been started, is now available for you to pay the first half & claim it as yours with only the wait from here on out - most of the wait has already been waited, so sit on down while the seat's all warmed up for you!
	Cortobass #194 Done & ready to ship - could send it Monday!  Beautiful Cherry fretless Cortobass #10C-194. Ebony fingerboard, nut, knobs, truss rod cover. Strung with Fender 9120s, they're roundwounds with a tape wind on them and are some of my favorites. Warm, round, chocolatey bottom & woody mids ~ a fantastic sounding bass. Make it your voice! I voiced the tone control so it gets dark but never muds out. If you'd like more of a subtle upper-midrange horn like "honk" I can swap the cap before I send it. Visually, it just glows in the light like Cherry does... awesome. More pictures on the inventory page...
	Cortobass #210 Solid Zebrawood rear routed Cortobass - most builders would've sliced this thin and made veneer "tops" out of it, but not Birdsong! Your choice of hardware, fretted or fretless (how sweet would this look as an Ebony fretless with a Zebrawood headstock face and all black hardware? Or fretted with Rosewood & gold? Wow...) I'd like this to go to a new client, maybe someone out there just thinking and thinking but who needs something extra rare & unusual to help them come on into the circle. Here it is! Welcome to the family...
pics coming!	Hy5 #36 Another body found in the move (what is this, the Sopranos?) is a standard Mahogany Hy5 set up for "High C" stringing. No low B, extended range up higher for you adventurous chordal types and solo bassists. It'll have chrome hardware and you'll get (you guessed it) a special deal since it's already partially done and it'll work out best for everyone if it gets finished & flies the nest! Hy5s have been 9 months + and their build time is about to come way down too... but you can jump right into line with this one.

Cool stuff, we'll keep at it & make more. Go do your thing & make it beautiful.


Listening to:
Pat Boone In a Metal Mood   (Just go buy it, right now... thank me later)




~



July 30th


AUGUST OFFERS ~ the vibe is so good in the workshop we're just going crazy and building a BUNCH of great instruments, embracing the fact that "This is what we do, turn wood into musical instruments." Now that the wood is all so easy to get to and there's so much space to work on, well, we're doing a lot of it and having a grand old time. What does this mean to you?

Well, if you've thought of getting a Birdsong but the wait time was too much, here's your train brothers and sisters... with some exceptions (bound to happen) I think we''ll be back at about 120 days for standard 4-strings once a few more hit the benches. I can't carve that in stone for you but I can tell you that the nine month waits should be behind us; patient Birdsong clients, I salute you! 

Here are the offers. If any of these sound interesting to you, give me a call at the 512.847.5809 number Saturday or directly at the workshop Sunday & Monday day - 512.392.4400. Next week if you don't catch me at one, try the other. I'd say email, and by all means do and I'll get back with you ASAP, but often with stuff like this it's the one who picks up the phone that snags it. 

OFFER #1: Sadhana #50... the FIRST set-neck Birdsong bass! SOLD
As the Sadhana and Skyrider evolve into our entirely in-house hand carved set-neck flagship models, there has to be a first of the breed. We found during the move a totally awesome double ebony stringer Black Walnut Sadhana body. For you, the daring who trust our reputation & step out of the box with us, not only will you have the first (which we won't let go of 'til it's amazing AND will be the bass used for templates & patterns for the rest to come) but you'll get it at the base price - $2500 - and we'll throw in some optional stuff for you gratis, on the house, AND at no extra charge. How's that?!


OFFER #2: Fusion #15
There's a bit more handwork in a Fusion bass, namely MY hands, so the wait time has been quite a bit longer than a standard Cortobass. Recently a client changed his order, so Fusion number 15 which will be started next week, is available for you to pay the first half & claim it as yours with only the wait from here on out - most of the wait has already been waited, so sit on down while the seat's all warmed up for you!
 

OFFER #3: Cortobass #194
An inventory build in beautiful 2-piece Cherry, I'm swapping it to Chrome hardware because it'll look better to me than the black. On this bass, the black just hasn't felt right... once I looked at it in its half-complete state and saw chrome, it all fell into place. Chrome looks classic against Cherry and that's what this fretless beauty wants. Now if YOU per chance want this fretless beauty, here's the special offer - pay it in full (it could be done in a week) and this bass will fly home to you for a VERY special price!


OFFER #4: Cortobass #210
Solid Zebrawood rear routed Cortobass - your choice of hardware, fretted or fretless (how sweet would this look as an Ebony fretless with a Zebrawood headstock face and all black hardware? Or fretted with Rosewood & gold? Wow...) I'd like this to go to a new client, maybe someone out there just thinking and thinking but who needs something extra rare & unusual to help them come on into the circle. Here it is! Welcome to the family...


Offer #5: Hy5 #36
Another body found in the move (what is this, the Sopranos?) is a standard Mahogany Hy5 set up for "High C" stringing. No low B, extended range up higher for you adventurous chordal types and solo bassists. It'll have chrome hardware and you'll get (you guessed it) a special deal since it's already partially done and it'll work out best for everyone if it gets finished & flies the nest! Hy5s have been 9 months + and their build time is about to come way down too... but you can jump right into line with this one.

Well gosh, if all of that doesn't make you have to grab a bib, I don't know what will. 

'Til next time, play nice & be well. Thanks for being along with us!



Listening to:
Zen Guerrilla Trance States In Tongues
Guns 'n Roses Appetite for Destruction
Rolling Stones Get Yer YaYas Out
Bob Marley Confrontation
Terry Waldo's Gutbucket Syncopators The Ohio Theatre Concert

And I really tried to get through Paul's Boutique, but I can't stand the Beastie Boys so much I couldn't make it. I just couldn't. Everyone's told me I'd like that one but I tried it and it's not happening for me. I had to put on Appetite just to cleanse the palette. Tonight, I could see a little Coltrane happening... and some Nag Champa.


~


July 23rd 

Brought C198 over to its home with a good friend of mine, he owns a music and beer joint (in that order) nearby. You want to cause a scene, bring a Texan an instrument made of rustic Mesquite in a small town bar. Kent's one of those people you look back and think "I wouldn't be me if I'd never met Kent."
 

August is creeping up (actually it's approaching with all the subtlety of a flying mallet) but being as we're getting rolling in the new shop, we'll be working through what, for us, is usually vacation time. I like to take August and a month over the Christmas/New Year holiday off to keep refreshed. But I'm feeling invigorated, no vacation needed. I'll take a week off in September or something. For now, it's bass-makin' time!

Speaking of taking off, here are a trio taking off & flying the nest for new homes next week...  

Better pics can be found on the client page but here's a few of that Ebony topped Hy5 with all the Bloodwood...


Yes, things at the workshop have changed... instead of shooting nails into Pine, we're cutting and shaping Mahogany; instead of the sounds of circular saws and hammers, it's bandsaws and Sonny Rollins... okay, Mastodon if you're in the woodshop; instead of the smells of construction, it once again smells of incense and oil finishes, and dusteth of wood of thyne instruments... and a little sweat of course; but the smell of hard work on a body is a badge of honor. If you're really getting anything done in a workshop, you're sweating. Like I told Jake "Hey, we're workin' men... if anyone minds, they can line up and lick it off us."


One of the first projects was the knobs on S42 ~ little Ebony jewels they are, topped with spalted Pecan from the same piece as the headstock overlay. This is all the last of Uncle Johnny's Pecan stash - I still have some for center pieces (also seen here on S42) and headstock overlays, other small things. No bodies or body wings though. If you want a real piece of a special part of Birdsong history, have some of this Pecan worked into your build; all the Pecan in Birdsongs so far has been from this stash and once it's gone I won't be working with Pecan anymore. Johnny's another one ~ I wouldn't be me had I never met him.  

And while we're talking Sadhani, that offer in last week's update about the first set neck Sadhana? Sooold! Welcome to the family, Todd! More on the set-neck stuff another time... there's a whole lot of cool stuff going on behind the curtain, folks! Stay tuned!


So in the shop I look down at the lid to a tool case laying on the floor and, lo and behold, there was a tiny little face looking back at me! A little sawdusted froggy popped his head up through a hole. Of course around this point one realizes "Oh crap. I'm in too far to back out... and the rest of me won't fit on through." Boy oh boy do I relate to this! 

This was Birdsong a month ago, trying to fit itself through a hole that wasn't big enough. It's reality sometimes, you just ain't gonna fit. The answer for me was to set up a bigger workshop. Him? I took this whole situation outside in the grass and tickled him 'til he fell out of the hole. Everybody wins. 



Listening to:
Rolling Stones Flashpoint
John Scofield Flat Out
Rolling Stones 40 Licks
Niyaz Nine Heavens
MC Yogi Elephant Power
Sonny Rollins +3
Grateful Dead "Skull and Roses"
Grateful Dead Hundred Year Hall
Eric Dolphy At The Five Spot

...and stuff that sounded like elephant stampedes from the other side of the wall where Jake works.


~


July 16th 2010

This update is about opportunity... 

Birdsong in the box of ol' Joe the truck; opportunity for organic, needed growth... headed out of the woods to the new workshop with space to handle the building of what we've got going on these days and get the wait times down. 

Why does the Beverley Hillbillies theme come to mind about now? Of course removing the planer with a cherry picker, sure, that's kind of hillbilly... I'll give you that. 

Friends making opportunity for Birdsong... 

3D and Jake work on Uncle Johnny's old drill press... these guys have busted some serious butt getting the new shop ready. 3D is an East coast oddball I knew years ago who just sorta showed up like the past 20 years was a week or something. 

Teamwork, the greater good, whatever it takes... this is what all involved in this great Birdsong experience on this side of the screen give & do... to and for each other and you. From here, it really feels like something big is happening, big in a good way, some kind of destiny embraced and headed for... 

Clients creating opportunities for others:

A client with a Cocobolo-based Hy5 has decided he'd rather have a different fretboard...

So this neck is officially available for YOUR new build! Call & let's design a Hy5 around it... 

A Fusion client has changed orders, so Fusion 10F-015 is already in-progress and available for someone to slip right on in and claim it!


A Sadhana is in INVENTORY ~ all yours with no wait! 
 
And... Birdsong gives an opportunity to YOU:

Want the first set-neck Sadhana? Trust our money-back guarantee and reputation to dive in with us a bit early and help us get them ready? Want to help us make this exciting transition happen? Well here's the offer: we just discovered this beauty in the move, an uncut Walnut twin Ebony stringer Sadhana inventory body. This could be the first set-neck Sadhana, heck, the first set neck Birdsong bass ever! Jump in with us by purchasing the build in full (Call and we'll talk about that part, 512.392.4400) and you'll have a real piece of Birdsong history! We'll make some jigs & templates from it (Sadhanas & Skyriders will soon be moving on up to set-neck builds), test play it a bit (gently), take a bunch of pictures for ads & the site,  and get it to you as soon as it's ready with plenty of paperwork & documentation of the build, and surprise stuff too. Sound like fun? Get in touch! 

More new shop pics (and a bunch of pictures of a bunch of progress on a bunch of builds!) on the client page.

Thank you for the opportunity to build you such magical instruments!


Thanks for checking in, more exciting reports next week! 'Til then, be well & play nice... and remember, it's not where you are; it's where you're at.



Listening to:
Ed Bickert Out Of The Past
And a bunch of other stuff I don't have here so I can't remember.


~


July 9th 2010

Amazing things happen when natural growth is embraced. You harmonize with that and doors open... of course, you have to get off the couch and work like it's up to you. You have to get out of bed and attack the next three tasks at hand. What's next? It's a big mountain of stuff... yes, but what's the next step here? What's the next step over there? What's the next one on this other part? There's your list for today! I know I've got mine...

NEW WORKSHOP NUMBER (Old one still works I'm just there less and less): 512.392.4400

Birdsong is not in the business of sending SPAM so if you see any, it's not from us directly & we didn't do it. It happens to public email addresses every now and again but soon enough like a bacterial foot rash it's gone.


The new workshop is going great, these will be the third versions of work benches and task spaces at Birdsong and its amazing what you know down the road, the subtleties you can bring to any related task. Not only are we making the best instruments yet (and you just wait 'n see what's coming!) but every bench & area will do its job that much better as well. Which helps, like a bigger version of the right tool that fits in the hand and allows you to do your best easier... hey, a great workbench to me is like a Birdsong to you!



What a tremendous response from the Birdsong family, all of you, to last week's update & all the news. Can't thank you enough for the kind words and encouragement. It is much appreciated when the day is hot and the task at hand demands more than one might think they have in that moment; in those times, it's not just faith and hope and dreams and a feeling "this is supposed to be" that gets that screw in the wall or that last piece of lumber cut and up after a loooong day... it's knowing there are good people behind you, and beside you, and along on the journey with you. 

You have my gratitude and it is my hope I may be of greater service with the new shop and instruments-to-come... some of which you know about, and some of which we'll talk about later. Meanwhile, be happy & well. 



Listening to:
Izzy Stradlin & the JuJu Hounds
Herbie Hancock The New Standards
Jakob Dylan Women & Country
Ennio Morricone Crime and Dissonance


~



JULY 4th 2010... HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY EVERYBODY!!!!

And as you might know, the 4th of July is also the day when now six years ago, in a fixed-up former motorcycle chop shop, my wife Jamie & I launched the website of Birdsong Guitars and started building this really well thought-out little bass called the Cortobass. And the rest, they say, is history. So what would a birthday be without surprises? Without a little healthy growth?

You know, music has been my life since I was a dweeby kid in the suburbs of Boston playing guitar in my room dreaming of bigger things. Not dreaming of bigger for bigger's sake, not big to where I couldn't be me, but just big enough to where I could do what I do well, and live & breathe my art with a minimum of compromises. Fame? Overrated. Fortune? Past a point, a big ol' can of worms. Just big enough to sustain itself at a level where good stuff can come of it, like a garden. 

Yes, it's good to resist temptation at times. But it's not always the best choice to be rejecting opportunity, to disregard good potential and what it can bring to life. Fertile ground is to be planted and the seeds will feed... and so, here on this birthday - a day traditionally to gather with friends & relations to mark healthy growth - and on this holiday where the American spirit of independence is celebrated, we are proud and honored to show you our latest project.

TaDaaaa....


Happy Birthday to Birdsong
Happy Birthday to Birdsong... 

Yes friends, this is the new Birdsong workshop in San Marcos, TX - the whole thing.

WAIT TIMES FOR BUILDS ABOUT TO GO WAY DOWN!
The basses won't be built any faster, we'll just get to your build a whole lot quicker... 
Slow, careful, inefficient and labor-intensive hand building with love & devotion is what makes a Birdsong what it is; that's not changing. We just have the elbow room now to work on more so the "pileup" behind us will diminish. With this place, we can keep things moving!

...Just "bigger" enough to sustain itself at a level where good stuff can happen... without bottlenecking! 

So if you've wanted a Birdsong of your own but couldn't wait 9 months (even though you'd have probably gotten it by now, but that's a different point entirely), well HERE YOU GO! Now you have no excuse. :)

...Just big enough to where we can do what we do well, and live & breathe our art with a minimum of compromises. 

With healthy growth comes lessons... here's one. If you need to get that wall to slip into place and the biggest hammer & swing you have aren't getting the job done, a '74 Dodge is THE proverbial "bigger hammer"... thank you Joe the truck! 


Yes, we're building it out. How bad do you want it to happen? How much of yourself are you willing to put in? What does it mean to you? These are the questions opportunity asks of us, whether it be a chance for a better workshop or a chance to serve you by building you a better bass. This picture is our answer. It's the first workbench in the new workshop. Jake & I were in there building it at 11PM the other night...


Healthy growth is healthy growth. It builds you as as you build it. Now out of this new nest (the big one, not the little triangle "birdy condo" which was already attached to it - look at that first picture again) will come MORE surprises, but there's still stuff I can't tell you yet. Having this kind of space & resources definitely opens the doors to more and other variations to happen as soon as we can, though, such as "Bench made" 100% hand carved set neck Sadhanas & Skyriders (oooh, did I say that out loud?)... 

The 6th Anniversary basses are in process, and this year it's something special - a SET OF SIX INSTRUMENTS, one each of our current models, all from wild Texas Mesquite with Maple & Walnut stringers! This is quite a project, there's an official page about it here... if you're interested in this incredible package which includes (if at all feasible, in the continental US) hand delivery by yours truly, please get in touch! Shown here are the Fusion and the Sadhana...


Oh what the heck, since it's a big news day I'll ALSO tell you we're finally going to build the Cortobass variation everybody and their brother has asked for. The Cbass will be a Birdsong Cortobass with a P-style pickup & "vintage" touches. In-house it'll be known as the "BB1" (Yes, BB - that's in your honor - you know who you are) and you'll be seeing the prototype right here on this page as soon as we get the new shop up & running. Now we're not just slapping a P pickup in; there's thought going on behind the where & the how... trust me, it'll be great and every bit a Birdsong.



But wait, there's more... you'll just have to keep checking in for it all in the weeks to come, that's enough for now. Just know we're really going to stretch our wings and take this chance to do some very, very fun stuff! There have been designs and instruments I've wanted to build for years that will finally see the light of day. Thank YOU so much for being along with us and so much a part of this all with us.

Peace,


Listening to:
Mike Doughty Haughty Melodic
Neil Young Road Rock Vol. 1: Friends & Relatives
PJ Harvey To Bring You My Love

Air compressor, nail gun, hammer, saws... all music to me if they're serving the music...




~


June 25, 2010

Wow, so much happening. It's officially Summer at the nest, a humid one so far but that just means everything's green from the Spring rains and there's a lot of life in the air. Lots of updated build pictures on the client page this week, because finishing and assembly are full to capacity. This means there's a whole brood of basses getting ready to leave the nest over the next few weeks! How exciting. 

Speaking of the next weeks, the next update will not be Friday July 2nd but Sunday July 4th and believe me, you're going to want to see this. July 4th is Birdsong's birthday and there will be surprises and revelry, revelations and maybe even a sneak pic of our latest project! So if you can break away from the charred food, warm condiments and bottle rockets, grab yourself a cold beverage and log on in the afternoon.

Two basses in Inventory - a gorgeous Cherry fretless Cortobass with black hardware and perhaps the most beautiful Sadhana ever, both looking for homes. I'd say claiming either of these beauties with little or no wait and having them arrive at your doorstep would be cause for revelry at your place! And perhaps hoisting of beverage.

And while we're working in mentions of revelry and cold beverage, it's Birdsong right-hand-man Jake's birthday this weekend! 

Happy birthday to Jake
Happy birthday to Jake
He keeps the world rockin' 
Wit the guit - tars he make! 

So whatever beverage you have, please as a personal favor to me and completely irrespective of where you are or who's around, hoist it in the air and say in a deep voice "Yo-hann." I know there'll be at least a dozen of you out there who'll actually do it, and that makes me feel like I've really accomplished something. 

Right now, I've got to accomplish a little repair on Joe The Truck's wipers, run to the dump to empty him out, and take a trip down to San Marcos to fill him back up. I could tell you why, but then I could never let you leave this room...

'Til the big day, as they say, "TTFN." Well I don't know who says that, but that's alright really. 

Peace,


Listening to:
John Coltrane Soul Trane
Mike Doughty Haughty Melodic



~



June 18, 2010

Well I think we have the computer issues behind us for now and everything hooked back up to where it functions about like before. A missing font here, a page there that reverted to non-web folderdom, a few differences in the reloaded versions of programs... but heck nothing that big goes back together without a few complications. Heck I knew a guy who after surgery tried to stick out his left leg and his right arm came up and just whacked him up-side the head. Whap! It happens to us all at some point. So if there are things here & there on the site that aren't working perfectly, Believe me I'm on it.

Nothing really stopped behind the scenes as you clients (and voyeurs) can see over on the client page. And that's not all the pictures either - there's more going up tomorrow. How about this one... ehhh? eeehhhh? Cocobolo's tough on the lungs but this bass will be epic... that's one coat of hand-rub. Wait'll you see this glow with six or seven more!


I also took this opportunity to tweak out the site... and do a whole bunch of other cool stuff I'll share with you as we get into the Summer. 4th of July is Birdsong's birthday, you know. And what's a birthday without a little gift & a surprise? What? No, that's not how it works, son. A surprise is something you don't get told about 'til it's time...

One of the fretless Birdsongs coming available in inventory!

It's shaping up to be a fretless frenzy in Inventory (more of those "pictures coming tomorrow"), while we're working on your builds we're taking some beautiful thick Ebony-boarded fretless necks and putting them on some very cool bodies. I just love a short scale fretless, there's nothing like them. You could hit an E, put some cream on it and sip it out of a mug on a cold day.

Not that it's cold here, pardner, quite the opposite. It's been steamy and hot. But I like that; sweat means something. And when you're sweaty and it's late in the day, that means something too. Something having to do with a cold beverage and a screened in porch, maybe some jazz on the radio. And something round and cooked with tomato sauce and cheese on the top of it! See ya!

And a belated (Memorial Day was the weekend the computer wouldn't boot up) thanks to all veterans everywhere, and this weekend a big congrats & happies to all you fathers out there. My father Paul lives in Arizona and I want to send him a big "Hew-WOOO fah-DOH!" Also to my stepfather Jay Alexander, who passed a few years back. Love on your Dads everyone, and leave nothing unsaid. 

Heck, just love on EVERYONE.

Peace,


Listening to:
PJ Harvey To Bring You My Love
Eric Dolphy Out There
John Coltrane Soul Trane
Mike Doughty Haughty Melodic 
Ali Farka Toure



~




May 21st, 2010

Here's a picture of the next pair down the pike... a beautiful and colorful Walnut Sadhana and an Ash, Ebony & Walnut Hy5. 


Another hero from my past, heavy metal singer Ronnie James Dio passed this week. I tell you what, when I was 14, "Rainbow In The Dark" was the heaviest thing going short of 1st-version Metallica. And in my ripped jeans & long hair phase, I... huh? Oh yeah, well, some things stick & become the uniform, what can I tell you... anyhow, when I was young I'd be in my room playing along on a pointy BC Rich. I sure don't feel it but stuff like this pops up & reminds me that 1983 was one long-ass time ago. But then I blink and realize I'm the same just a bit seasoned, a tad evolved and involved with different things. Everything I knew may be going, going, gone but I'm still the long haired guitar geek I've always been. It is my true nature. Though now I'm more likely to memorialize Dio by arranging a solo chord-melody arrangement of "Rainbow" and offering a little prayer for him than cranking up "Holy Diver" really loud and white shoe-polishing the evil eye & "DIO" on the windows of my car. Although I might just crank my amp up & blast it out on the electric from memory one time for old time's sake...

You know from here it all seems to work out, the cycles of our lives... not painlessly or always the way we'd like, but the seeds of beauty from our essence inside are planted as we journey, mingle with others' seeds and paths, and this huge garden stretching back to the horizon behind us grows and feeds and reseeds again. Take a look at this plant; it grows tall enough to lean over, its flowers will then point down and drop seed. Just amazing to watch life in its many forms, with its many ways... all working together in the great dance.


And here are a few critter pics:

Life is good. Be good to each other & have a good weekend. As always, my humble thanks for being with me on the journey.

Peace,

Listening To:
Santana Moonflower
BoDeans Homebrewed



~




May 14, 2010



Dark day... no flash, natural light in the late morning. Eeek. Wind, rain... bleargh!

A later-in-the-day update than usual, it has been raining with thunder & lightning today and I usually keep the computer down here at mission control off when all that's going on. So I took it as a good time to go get a pizza and sit in the marina lot over in Canyon Lake, up on the hill, looking down at the water and the docked boats... and out to the lake and its other shores and hills on the other side. A good and needed time to gather my thoughts.

Don Michele ("Mi-GUELL-eh") Caruso was the D'Angelico of pizza. The world has lost a master pizza maker. You might think "Well what's the big deal? Dominos is right down the street... and they deliver." And that's my point... not only would you be lacking in the taste to know the difference, you can't even have the opportunity to learn it now. This is what happens as the masters die off; in a life that has never witnessed mastery, what does "good" mean? What is "good" customer service in the WalMart era? What is "responsible" behavior and "quality" in a world so full of nuttiness and mediocrity? This I mourn along with Don Caruso, who filled me with his magical masterpieces of dough, sauce, cheeses, and just the right amount of oil (Italian, you can bet your ass on that) around the crust while I was growing up in Melrose, Massachusetts.

 

He was an icon. Larger than life. Caruso's Pizza on Main St. was, for me, a safe haven between school and home and a place of mystery where old Italian men spoke and gestured under the music in the back room, perhaps Don C., flour-covered, sweaty and with the ever-present crooked hat, had whipped out his accordion for a few tunes for the party in the side room, and the air smelled like everything a true Italian oasis of hand crafted pizza should. I cannot tell you how many times I heard the bells on that front door open to my touch on some cold afternoon with snow on the ground. I cannot describe to you what of this place I carry with me far away and decades on. I cannot describe to you the subtleties of a perfect pizza eaten to Italian music and the old-country chatter behind the counter where the magic was made, while looking around at coats of arms and dark brickwork and faded pictures of Saints and Sicily. I cannot tell you what has been lost along the way; you've either tasted it or you haven't. 

I can tell you one time my mother, stepdad & I were riding by his pizzeria when Don Michele was getting out of his green '40s sedan. I rolled down the window. "Hi Mr. Caruso!" He came over. "Ahhh, ciao, a nice-a boy, inna here alla time. You get older you come-a worka fo' me, okay?" I can tell you I always wonder what would've happened. And I can tell you that Don Caruso's pizza will forever be - for me - the best pizza in the universe. Rest in peace Don Michele. 

Since we're talking serious stuff, everyone in Nashville please know our hearts are with you. Lives and so much property - including so many precious instruments - have been lost. Folks, please keep everyone there in your prayers. 

In sudden good news, it looks like the varitone drought has passed for now, so we'll still be using our original varitones. This is a wake-up call to me that as Birdsong grows it takes more of a backstock to keep me from getting caught by other suppliers' issues. I learned this early on, but every so often I need to be reminded as the ship gets bigger that a bigger ship needs more supplies & greater reserves. Though we're no cruise liner, Birdsong definitely isn't anybody's little dinghy anymore! Heh, heh. "Dinghy." 


Cool bug picture of the week...

AND... put the word out folks, I'm looking for an "S D Curlee" bass - buy, trade or barter. Has to say "USA" under the logo. Thanks!

Peace,

Listening To:
Andres Segovia
Ed Bickert
Jimi Hendrix
and Love Is A Real Thing (African psychedelic music from the 70s) (Great) (No kidding) (Like how could it not be?!)



~




May 7, 2010

No big update this week except a couple of FYIs & pictures of an impromptu jam in the assembly room with a visiting client from France... Christian and I could not talk very deeply, but man we got some blues on for a little bit. Not the first time in my life music has made the moment. We had a great visit here and in Austin with he and his lovely wife (sweet, sweet people), and the man grooves like he was born in Mississippi. 


In other news, effective well... right about now, all basses will ship with our "voiced tone" control instead of a varitone. There is a sudden supply issue with a component provider I can't seem to work around at the moment. This also means there won't be any Bboxes for a little bit 'til this is squared away. I do have a handful of varitones on hand, very high quality Stellartone stuff, but they work & sound differently than what I'm used to (this would be the case with other varitones as well). If you have a bass on order and absolutely gotta have a vari in there, I can put one of these in. It'll still meet the goal, the reason for a varitone in the first place - more tonal options than a standard tone control. Our non-varitone tone control is voiced for a sweet push to the mids while rolling off the highs. It sounds like "more wood" to me as opposed to the "more mud" of most tone controls. This sweeter, more useable tone control will be what's in Birdsongs for a bit until I can source & test the varitone parts I need. You'll love your bass just as much. :)

And I'm not going to be taking any more 5-string orders 'til I build the ones I'm working on.... so hold tight, we're working on it. :)

Thanks so much for your interest & much love from the nest!

Peace,


Listening to:
The Magic Band Back To The Front (I can't rave enough about this. It's epic. Nutsoid to the extreme, but epic.)
Canned Heat & John Lee Hooker Hooker 'n Heat
Los Lobos Colossal Head
And a bunch of John Scofield 



~





April 30th, 2010


"Well hello, people!" Greetings from Cactivus Mousketeeribus

Stayed up really late last night playing my guitar and listening to Mulgrew Miller CDs. Just fantastic jazz, peaceful wee hours on a little screened-in porch, the obligatory late-night snack. Good times. Had set out on a Walnut excursion with Jake and returned from the hunt victorious with several big 'n long planks of various Walni, dark, lighter, figured, wild, mellow... good times. He left for the day, I got a bunch more done, and did fun things today like finish up some Ebony knobs with turquoise in them, talk on the phone to cool new clients and clients-to-be, worked on Sadhana #41, Skyrider #4 and Cortobass #182 ~ going to try to get them all out Monday ~ and this update on things 'round the nest.


The Sage seems to be doing ok...

Got an email from the craftiest Spammer yet - he emailed folks saying he just got a new email address (implying you somehow know this jagoff and should list him as safe) then 2 days later BAM a bunch of junk email from him. Crafty, yet dickish. What fine lines we walk in this world. If the geniuses all worked on things good that might, oh, I dunno help people in kind & benevolent ways, maybe we'd have less suffering in the world. Nah, someone'd just shoot him 'cause he was a "Socialist." Maybe this guy's got the right idea - all for one and one for... me. Perhaps, much like the slimy disease-spreading universally-loathed cockroach, that attitude will survive it all. 


Isn't it comforting 
To know beauty is there in everything 
And all we have to do is distract ourselves from the distractions to look?

But despite the best efforts of the peens of the world, WE - you & me - have this time together to be happy and grateful and talk music & inspiration & GOOD STUFF in all Springtime's glory. Some of that glory right now is Walnutian glory. Those of you (Hi Pastor Steve) with builds held up "looking for Walnut", my main supplier finally had a ton of good stuff. Some dark, some medium, some swirly, some more traditionally "Walnut looking", some with the lighter edge I like working with as a center join. All of good weight, even a lighter colored flamey slab that'll make some fantastic wings for a build with a center piece. I get so excited over this, still. I get excited over good potential... 


Walnut. It's ALL beautiful... amazing stuff. Honored to work it.

Speaking of which it's looking like rain which is always good about now 'cause soon here in South central Texas we won't have any. Sure, it's messy out here in the land of unpaved roads, dirt paths and caliche driveways... but the garden will love it. In my little "one bed experiment" with the below-surface direct-to-the-roots gravity watering system, the Jalapeno pepper plants are taking their own sweet time... but the 'maters and the squashcumber plant look VERY happy! Just a bucket with a hole in it & small PVC with drilled little holes, all level so it sits & seeps evenly. The  What? Oh, a squashcumber? You don't know what a squashcumber is? Well you know at one point cucumber plants and squash plants look quite a bit alike, and somewhere in there... well I don't know what happened. But that cucumber plant I planted & tagged has some fantastic lookin' squash flowers on it! Sometimes you just gotta plant it in good soil, show it some reverence and see what the hell grows. 



Peace,


Listening to:
Mulgrew Miller 
Omar Lopez Rodriguez 
More stuff and specifics, but you know I'm spent so once my cheeks are off this chair that update button's gettin' hit and I'm headed for the porch, Jamie, some noodles with a smoked Hatch green chile pepper red salsa sweet salty red wine tomato sauce I cooked up the other day and some kind of cold beverage. I'll fill you in later. For now, stick a fork in me - I'm done!



~



Friday April 23rd


Well it's definitely Springtime in the Hill Country. I see it all around; I feel it inside. The "They people" say you become what you surround yourself with. Think about that with me for a moment, my friend.


Given the opportunity, there comes a point along the path (I certainly hope for everybody) where one begins to see themselves in Nature. I capitalize Nature deliberately, not for some attempt at emphasis, but for religious "direct connection to That Greater" purposes. Nature is its own scripture.


It deepens you. Suddenly you realize what you thought of as you might be a bit different... one that perspective changes there's no pretending it hasn't. Well there is, but it's never the same again. It's why some of us had to go. 


Comes a time you look at that bug in harm's way and you gently move it because you know somehow the same has been done to you. Sometimes many times. I felt it living in the van 15 years ago. I felt it settling onto a raw piece of land. I felt it with Birdsong. So many times I was convinced life had peaked, but then somehow it reseeds while I wind up in a van listening to Creedence Clearwater Revival in a parking lot somewhere, and before too long it blossoms again in unexpected ways.


You look at a blooming field of Springtime flowers and even if you feel like it's the Autumn of your life, it can't help but light a little Springtime spark inside. At some point I realized that potential to bloom never goes away; it just gets covered over sometimes. You see the butterfly and relate; life is a field of seeds and bloomings-to-be. Of course there are times when these fields look like nothing but dead leaves, mud and buzzard shit... but underneath all of that and working even though you can't see it (our eyes don't make the truth the truth) is the basic seeding and rooting and preparing that's there whether you see it through science or Creation or somewhere in-between on the spectrum. It's there. Life is. It blooms, sometimes many times. 


I see it in the workshop. I'm just a seed in bloom; the piles & racks of little basses in progress are just another field of seeds. They bloom and enter your garden and spread seeds of inspiration in all directions. 


I love these country back roads, especially this time of year.  Part of me mourns in advance the condos and track house subdivisions swallowing everything in their path anywhere with valleys & decent weather, but this is life and there are things one can control and things one cannot. Through it all, the blossoming never ceases. Plant a good seed in fertile ground, let it feel the rain and get some light on it, and it's going to grow.


And that's what I want to be when I grow up.

If you can't see how any of this relates to making musical instruments, I don't know what else to say; if this all sounds like hippy dippy nonsense to you, I hope you find your way back.  

Peace,


Listening to:
Los Lobos Colossal Head
Josh Berman Old Ideas
Ian Hunter Man Overboard
Salvador Santana Keyboard City
Roky Erickson True Love Cast Out All Evil
The American Song-Poem Anthology
Remember Shakti Saturday Night In Bombay
Bollywood Steel Guitar
Paul Desmond Quartet Live
Vicente Hernandez Mexicanisimo 

Now that's eclectic!



~



April 16, 2010

Well it's been another b-bustin' week of fun stuff here at the nest, basses taking shape, everything growing to twice its size from all the rain. Well ok, almost everything. Sigh. The wildflowers are blooming all over the place, in the fields, between the trees, by the roadsides. I'll get some pictures for next week's update. The old Dart made it through another yearly inspection, that's 41 and counting. 

Sad news in rock, bassists Peter Steele from Type O Negative and Vinnie from Pretty Boy Floyd both checked out this week. I wasn't really a fan of either band, in fact I don't think I ever knew anyone that could stand Pretty Boy Floyd even in the '80s. Jamie was like "I've heard of them but I don't know any of their stuff", to which I replied "It made Poison look like Aerosmith." But it's sad to see them go. They're names I know; brothers of the string. Type O had their heyday in the 90s, I saw them once at a festival. Pete was so big that from back where I was, he looked like an optical illusion. And never in my life have I heard a more bass-heavy mix than their set. But you know that rock 'n roll life will catch up to you and stuff just... gives out. We can't all be Keith Richards. Godspeed to you both.

Speaking of Keith, I got a hold of an amazing double CD Stones bootleg from '74, made up of two broadcasts off the King Biscuit Flower Hour. You remember that? It was a syndicated FM rock radio concert series. I used to tape them, dub them off, and sell the copies in school. I used to be way into bootleg tapes back in the day. I got a bunch from Canada, some mail-order guy named Eric, I think. Paradis? Paradise? God, who can remember. I sure can't, not on a Friday evening with supper cookin' (pasta with some Alfredo sauce I'm gonna go help Jamie cook up), the porch waiting, and some good reading material on my mind. But I do remember coming home from school to find those padded envelopes with dubbed cassettes of rock band concert recordings on them. Probably like some of you wait to come home from work and find that big ol' box from Birdsong!  

Amazing how the time goes. Wonder whatever happened to that mystery tape trader. I'd love to interview him. I mean in 1983 where was a 14 year old kid going to find those early Randy Rhoads demos? It's always something we're searching for. The quest. I'd like to find a BC Rich Seagull, a recording of that concert The Mars Volta did instrumentally, and a Mopar 833 4-speed with a small block bellhousing that won't cost my left chimichanga to get. Oh yes, inner peace and oneness with the universe, of course can't forget those. But for right now I'm just happy it wasn't my day for the dirt nap and there will shortly be good food on its way into my face, and this awesome amphetamine-fueled version of "Midnight Rambler" is on the CD player and I'll see some flowers even just stepping between this little office and the cabin. Sometimes it's the little things, you know? 

Peace,


Listening to:
Rolling Stones Headed For An Overload (bootleg, live '74)
John Pizarelli
Grateful Dead Anthem Of The Sun

I'm being called for dinner, I goota go now, bye!



~



April 9th, 2010

My favorite SPAM emails are Congratulations Scott on your nomination into the Register of Distinguished Professionals! That one always cracks me up, even more than the ones that promise me a huge increase in bust size. Frankly, I don't know which one is more unlikely. But life is fine as it is, I'll take it. Good people, good work, the woods are alive again and Spring done had sprung! 

An eagle-eyed encyclopedia-of-obscure-car-trim-piece-minded guy correctly identified the 56 Chevy taillight, before all you others had a chance to look it up. Not sure what I'm sending him, but it'll be a cool little something from the Birdsong shop

Speaking of cool little somethi from the Birdsong shop, you've got to check out inventory... there's some cool stuff in there that probably won't hang around. And I'm not sayin' that like some cigar-chompin' loud shirt wearin' gold chain sportin' used car pushin' guy, just sayin' the stuff is extra cool this time and I know a bunch of you are sitting on tax returns. So you do the math on that... but odds are that My Morning Jacket bass will not get too dusty on the rack!

Got quite a bit done this week so I'm kinda spent, some updates are big and some not to big, and this is more over to the not so big. No goofy pictures, no cheap excuses for base humor (or bass humor as it were, though some would say puns are fairly base), just a few words and a "buh-bye, it's time for a late lunch & loose ends and I'm done." And a "thanks everybody" and "wishing you all well from the nest" and maybe even an "off like a dirty shirt" or a "time to make like a goalie and get the puck out of here." One of those or all of the above.

Peace,


Listening to:
Big Star Third
Chris Bell I Am The Cosmos
Eddie Hazel Game, Dames & Guitar Thangs
Ed Bickert Trio Out Of The Past



~



April 2nd, 2010

Interesting oddities & events around the nest:

Superbad spidermoth:
Waddling, overstuffed little fuzzy cocoon with a little beaked face, tarantula legs, and fern leaves stickin' outta his head. Oh, and wings - thick wings that looked like a jeweled cape. All I could think of was this bugs bunny episode at about 3:30 where he's throwing a fit and gets erased & redrawn as this weird mismatched creature. 


Electric Jazz Guitar neck:
It's alive. No, I mean really. Not just the guitar as a project & new Birdsong model, but I mean it's alive in your hand... you hit a note and the whole neck vibrates in your palm. That's what a big, round Mahogany neck does best... resonate! I'm loving the EJG more the more time I get to spend with it. This is my job?! Sometimes I feel like I should just walk around in perpetual genuflection. More info on the Electric Jazz Guitar is on the Instruments page.


Odyssey & Odyssey Supremo prototypes: 
Plainer and more elaborate versions of a fretless Zebrawood & Ash bass I had a vision of last year. More info on the Inventory page.


Jake's Meaty Forearm:
I've often found myself around other woodworkers with meaty parts. No, wait! Don't go! Let me explain; for example, Uncle Johnny Kirtland had these meaty thumbs that could crush a bottlecap. They crushed a bunch of them, in fact, and some of the times I've laughed the hardest in my life were punctuated by a crushed bottlecap or two. He'd just pinch those buggers flat with that meaty thumb of his. And a few times I thought he tore an apple in two before I saw him carefully partially cutting it before offering me half. But the bottlecap thumb-mashing? I saw that, let's just say many times. And Jake, Jake has the forearms of death. That guy can clamp a glue-up 'til you can flick the clamp bar and it makes a musical note, like some giant stretched steel string. There have been times I've had to wait 'til Jake came back to get the clamps off. No sense boogering up the turns with vice grips, you know. 

Do YOU think these glued-up halves are coming apart? Frankly, I don't think they have the balls to. 

Cortobass #187: 
So many of you commented on "the black bass" (actually just really dark blackwash, in the light it's not all black, you can see deep browns in there) I wanted to show you some pics even though it shipped out Monday to its new home in Ohio.


First cruise of the year:
None of these are mine, I hitched a ride with Cap'n Camshaft in his blue & white Chevy wagon. We all blasted through the Hill Country and out to the Interstate where a car gathering happens Saturday nights. If you're the first to correctly identify that taillight assembly - year & make - I'll send you a little prize.


The man in Pennsylvania with a name starting with an M, the psychic old Cherokee woman I met outside the pizza place says it's important we talk. So gimme a call. As for the pizza, there's some left and ahm hongreh. As for the rest of you, 'til next time keep the shiny side up.

Peace,


Listening to:
Big Star #1 Record / Radio City
Rhythm Of Black Lines Set a Summery Table
Ed Bickert Out Of The Past



~


March 26, 2010

Folks used to die and I wouldn't know who they were. These days they check out of the life motel and I know who every one is... Alex Chilton, T-bone Wolk, photographer Jim Marshall. I grew up knowing them in one way or another. Magazines. Bands. Familiar names to me. And now when the young ones die they're too young for me to know who they are... that gets creepy too. But if you're healthy you have a sense all is temporary; not enough to paralyze you, just enough to push you to DO some things NOW. To say "I love you, man." To buy the GOOD orange juice. To realize smelling the flowers isn't wasting time but maybe trying to defeat the dandelions is. To measure for progress in a reasonable time and not be half-assed about taking care of what needs taking care of and getting in order what needs getting in order. For this I thank my teachers a little and those who left this place before coming to a convenient "good stopping point" a LOT. Godspeed, brothers... thanks for the music.

So as I still have had limbs and breaths and time, stuff has been happening at the nest. Very productive week. Big updates on the client page (some wild stuff) & all over the place. It's that time of year again, where we roll out the Anniversary project / projects and well, frankly, start teasing you. See, I don't think changing a screw hole or putting on a decal or a different pickguard makes a "special edition"... not unless it comes with "fine Corinthian leather" ((cough)plastic) and no matter who is doing the shuck 'n jive act. I think something special should be something special. So for Anniversary #6 we're going all out... one each of the six models we offer ~ Cortobass, Sadhana, Fusion, Skyrider, Hy5 5-string and Electric Jazz Guitar (what's that? Keep reading!) ~ done up in figured Maple, Walnut and Mesquite. 


Read about the Anniversary instruments here...

And when they're ready, they'll all go together together and be offered as a set along with other goodies and (get this) hand delivery by yours truly anywhere in the continental US. Am I nuts? Am I crazy now? Most folks think I'm a little touched for just building with Mesquite in the first place... let alone all this. But really, if you've got the moulah, what else are you going to do... order a loaded Camry? Buy a couple of 2 year old Priuses? Naah, get yourself an instant collection of Birdsongs and instant historical relevance. The only unintended acceleration will be a little movement up front when you see these six beauties in your own living room. More details to come. (Sorry).



More exciting news ~ the Electric Jazz Guitar lives! Look on the Instruments page and stay tuned for more details on this latest and final incarnation of this beneath-the-surface, behind-the-scenes long-term pet project now here for real! And yes, that's 'Trane peeking out from the bottom of the picture. What was I going to do ~ crop him out of the first new picture of an electric Jazz guitar? Please, the express lane to absurdland is already full. Let's take the nearest exit.

Well there's beans that need eating, I should check on the garden, there are Jalapenos to grill up, a Hot Rod magazine to read, a sunset to watch from the porch, and I'm done for the week. Hope all is well with you on the other side of this screen; 'til we speak again be happy, live a little, keep one eye on that guy over in the corner with the scythe, and stay headed towards your "True North."

Peace,


Listening to:
Big Star
Rhythm Of Black Lines Set a Summery Table
The Magic Band Back To The Front (I can't rave enough about this. It's epic. Nutsoid to the extreme, but epic.)
Danilo Perez PanaMonk
Stewart Lyons High On a Mountain
John Coltrane Transition


~

March 19, 2010


The latest in subtle, subliminal product placement photos.

Just a quickie update today; I feel inspired to be in the workshop so that's where I am. I'll be listening to Big Star (RIP Alex Chilton) and making little tools of creation. Here's a pic of the most beautiful little moth ~ I gently move them out of harm's way and put them somewhere beautiful whenever I can, wishing them well. Why? Well honestly, being out here in the sun in the peace of the woods, with music to hear and doing what I love... I somehow feel the same has been done for me. So I try to pass it on where I'm able; to return the favor in my own ways. Peace & love, ~Scott  






~



March 12, 2010

Sometimes things take time. We're programmed from the cradle to the grave to push buttons or flush levers or sign on the dotted line and things just happen... but here at the homestead it's taught me to look at everything ~ self included ~ as if it were planted seed in a garden. I'm no natural-born green thumb, but I definitely get the concept. You seed your results by planting them in good fertile ground (which you also prep as need be); you feed & weed; you help it happen but if you're doing it right you're not doing all of it. And then you wait 'til it's time to pick it to pick it. It's a process. It's a journey. It's enough to drive you nuts...

But what is nuts, exactly? Nuts is deviating from the baseline standard, as viewed from there. What if the baseline standard is kinda nutty? What then? Huh? Huh? What? What then? Huh? If it's nuts to the nutty, it just might be a system that works. For me, if I can tie it in with a natural cycle ~ how this giant evo-creation garden does things ~ it's probably, in my mind, a bit more sound than measuring it up to how ummm... we do things. We can get a bit nutty, what with these senses and our brains and opposable thumbs and all. Good tools, yes. Definitely. But sometimes not the most effective leaders to follow in a place where not all is as it appears to be. 

"What is madness but nobility of the soul at odds with circumstance?" ~Roethke

The garden is pretty straightforward. So though we pick the wood and taste the sawdust and sand and rub oil in and drill and fit and massage and wire and tweak, I feel we don't build the instruments as much as we help grow them to completion. There's more to the resulting instrument than the sum of the actions it took to manifest. Along the way, being entwined with the process, the details come to life... there are two builds that call for Ebony control plates. The Ebony I have has striping that just doesn't look right with the basses - a distractingly beautiful wild Walnut Cortobass, and another in "Special dark" blackwash (check out the client page). So I find more wood and when it gets here we find the right piece. And if it turns out to be Zircote, well that's fine. It's got to be dark and the grain should matter whether it's visible or not. The words? The names? The categories we apply to such things? They don't matter as much. It's like making music - there's music we craft like a kit and then there's music that you help craft itself as it happens... if that repeating textural triplet wants a bouzouki instead of a Strat, bouzouki it is. So it's a blues - what does that mean? It's "rock", it's "jazz"... it IS. It forms. Who am I to get in the way? Whatever process brings the desired result to the work, that's what we work with. 


Speaking of desired results, lookie what just hit inventory...

The process calls for the best piece as determined by the build. The "inner sanity of the design", like what's there in a simple system that works... if it were a nutty design, well heck all I'll just slap the striped stuff on there and it'll look like polka dot pants and a plaid jacket. But I honestly don't think that's in anyone's category of  well-functioning systems and it just might be grounds for getting kicked right out of the universe. And who wants that so long as there's fertile ground and fresh seed?

Peace, love & music,


Listening to:
Stan Getz Jazz Samba
Don Cherry Complete Communion
Grateful Dead Hundred Year Hall
Danilo Perez Central Avenue
Stewart Lyons High On a Mountain
Pat Martino Remember  
Grateful Dead The Closing of Winterland



~



March 5, 2010

This is so redneck I'm not even going to comment.

Jake: "That's a mildly disturbing photo."

Yes, that's me. So I guess the question is how many so called luthiers ever put a bandsaw... let alone a chainsaw... to a piece of wood? How many guitar companies even have big woodworking tools? I could name a bunch that have maybe screwdrivers & a setup bench, and hundreds that have box openers and polishing cloths... how many company owners would know what the hell to do with a 10 foot plank of 2" thick Ash, is what I guess I'm asking. And if they don't, what are they doing in that office? If you don't know how to work a scalpel, I don't care who you hire - I'm getting my surgery done elsewhere. There seems to be a lack of folks who worked their way up these days in our world... not by kissing butt, but by picking sawdust out of your crevices 'til you figure out a better way to get done what needs doing. By starting at the bottom with a dream. I'm nothing special, I just know how to do what I do. But these days, that makes me the minority, especially in manufacturing. 

Everybody just wants to buy in at the top. I'm sure at some point even Birdsong will grow to the point where we fend off (or not) offers we can't refuse by other "Family of brands" conglomerates. Yeah, I believe completely in being small & independent, doing it for real and being real while you do it. American craftsmanship; the American dream. Meaning. Integrity. But I also know at some point I won't be able to afford to not have any kind of safety net anymore, not in a world that requires so much of you for every little thing from the gas pump to the doctor's office. If I billed like most professional services, your bass would cost twenty five grand. Silly, I know.

So when I come across folks who know how it is and how it rolls top to bottom, therefore understand the culture and meaning of what they're marketing (and therefore they don't try to market culture and meaning stamped with a brand name), the product is often so much better. You can taste it in Tabasco, hear it in Curt Mangan strings, see it in the joinery in fellow local luthier Kevin's cool little instruments (I just love these things, I'm going to buy one when I can) and know those guys at Lace, the ones with that actual last name, are in R&D rooms every day getting their hands dirty. Respect. When I shake someone's hand, I'm not only greeting them and feeling for some kind of life and vitality in it... I'm feeling for calluses. Because only someone with calloused hands is going to know what it's like to be me. And you certainly don't have to be like me, that's not what I'm saying... but if you're not, I don't want you making decisions for me, for what's best for me, or trying to sell me your cheap products all dressed up with familiar brand names that used to mean something... 

I am the luckiest guy in the world just to keep going. I have my challenges and I square up & face them every day; sometimes they kick my ass, but most days I win. I'm grateful for every little victory and for every day I can be in a beautiful place with wonderful family and good friends, making things happen, doing it my way, and being of service. I work for the coolest people around... that'd be you. However many days or months or years I get to be here with you doing this, I'm one happy guy. And it makes sense to have a musical tool of creation built by happy people doing it by choice, doesn't it? There's a lot in Eastern philosophy about instilling your action with deliberate devotion, that somehow it comes through in the food or the task. That somehow this sanctifies it and makes it more than mundane chow or work... it makes it sacred, a sacred exchange. There's your meaning right there. The reverence is in the energy of the piece. And reverence starts at the head that understands the concept.

So the next time you're thinking about buying something and some guy is going on and on with the hard sell and every reason under the sun why this feezle-farzle will improve your life, hand that sumbitch a screwdriver or a hammer and watch his head twist off. :)

Peace, love & music,


Listening to:
Country Joe and The Fish Electric Music For The Mind And Body
Canned Heat & John Lee Hooker Hooker 'n Heat
Neil Young Zuma
Soundtrack to Easy Rider


~


February 26, 2010



That was indeed my first question, only the night before when I heard they were predicting "snow tomorrow and a high in the 30s"... I mean, it was 70. And this is South Texas. And it's almost March. So, I did what any homestead-living woods-dweller does, packed up the propane tanks & went into town to exchange 'em for full ones so we don't run out of heat. We're snug but stuff here just isn't designed for too much of that cold stuff. And I'd stock up with some food too, 'cause if it's that bad out... I mean it's laughable to me being from Massachusetts and all, the amount of snow that shuts the world down around here. Heck if it's strange enough to snow, it might really snow... stranger things are happening you know? But I tell you what, back on these back roads they were never designed for snow or ice, no one sands or salts, and all it takes is for things to freeze over and the next thing you know you're off in the bar ditch, it's dark, it's cold, you've got a five mile walk to the cabin and you want your Mommy. But she ain't here, and she'd a told you to keep your happy ass home in the first place. It's 20 minutes from here to get anything if you run out. And frankly, the workshop sucks to be in when it's 30 and I'm not up for breaking my butt running between it and assembly like I do all day if it's all iced. That'd be the irony of ironies in this nutty world with all the crazy crap folks're doin' to each other in the name of you name it, to take myself out on the stairs to the workshop. On ice. In South Texas. Almost March. Feh!



So I settled into the cabin, worked on some tax paperwork, and cooked up a pot of beans. Started soakin' the pintos about lunchtime, put them in the pot in the early afternoon with a dried ancho pepper. A few hours later when they were almost ready, I put some oil in the cast iron skillet, got it good and hot, and put in a quartered & sliced onion. Threw in a splash of water, a cut up tomato, put in a heaping spoon of cilantro cooking base and a cut up poblano pepper. Covered it up and cooked it down, then got those onions to golden brown a little, put all that aside in a bowl, and quickly threw on some jalapeno pepper pieces to grill up quickly, moving 'em around in the onion scrapings 'til they blistered, and put them aside. You drooling yet? Your mouth goin'? Then in went a little more olive oil and I sliced up a handful of corn tortillas into strips, put them in and got them coated. Gotta keep 'em moving so they don't stick but you get some nice crispy fried strips! 'Bout then I scooped a helping of beans (nice and cooked down into its "bean stock" now), a bit of crunchy, a smattering of the cooked onion & pepper, and topped off the bowls with some of those grilled jalapenos (which I'd put back in the skillet real quick again after the crunchies for another quick grilling). A bit of toasted bread 'n butter... we ate, brothers and sisters, we ate. The snow fell outside the window and on the tin roof & Cedars I heard the soft hiss of landing lightweight fluffy precipitation I hadn't heard in a looong time. It was a good sound, a once familiar sound. And best of all, here it'll all melt in a day and be gone!



That's what Tuesday was good for, so that's what we did. Jamie's classes were cancelled. We listened to www.somafm.com, cranked up the heat, and did our homework. And ate. And read... I'm rereading Mickey Hart's book "Drumming On The Edge Of Magic"; it's a fantastic work, a must for anyone who is into the rhythm & time of music, how it ties in with ours, and how we tie in with each other and life and the universe and beyond. And as is often the case in a balanced life of flowing with the river, while you seize the moment as it happens and do what you feel is right (and it isn't always work) and have as many moments as you can with life & loved ones & smelling the flowers, you still do get someplace! It's amazing. You're relaxed, it's not nearly as much effort as fighting upstream like some kind of deranged salmon or trying to bend it every which way, but you look behind you and say to yourself "Self, that's some good work we got done."  



I know, some of you all are laughing at me, yeah that's what I get for pokin' a little good-natured fun a folks where it really snows - like measurable in feet - and they stay there 'til it happens again! Well y'all can pucker up because it'll be 70 again in a day or two, and you guys will still be making snowpeople in May when we're frolicking around with dandelions in our butts. :) Of course I'll probably need to come visit you in August when it's a hundred and twelve, but that's another story for another time. Being serious though, I know another storm is hitting you all in the Northeast; be careful my friends. Stay home. Cook you up some beans, it can all wait 'til it's safe. Make sure your neighbor is alright. We'll be thinking good thoughts for you. 



Well, I've got a bunch of music all coming together & being released, some on CDs and some as "album" sets of mp3s for download (or as single songs). Music is my life and I write every day, have for more than 25 years. And I record all the time. Birdsong is just the latest (and most visible) manifestation of this music path of chapters I've been following since kidhood. And I don't say that like "Wowee, lookit me..." it's just that created art is supposed to be shared 'cause it can help feed each other in so many ways. So I'm humbled to put out there the first round of what is feeling like an incredibly creative time. If you're interested, check out www.organicsoundrecords.com ~ so far the "Brother Scott" stuff is up & out first, songwriter stuff, acoustic based mostly, and lyrically it's all true to who I am, it's hard to be this deep in with vibrations and creativity and natural materials out here in the woods without getting a bit spiritual. If you can dig it, great. If not, that's cool... the psychedelic fusion, Americana, folk blues, eclectic electric and out there experimental music are all gathered and waiting their turn shortly! And there'll be new stuff coming too. As always, hope it's of service to you in some way. Thanks for your interest & support! 

Ok it's all sunshiney, I got a jump on doing the update, it's waaaarrrmmm and I feel like working on some basses! There's a song in my head and love for life in my heart. Are you barfing yet? I know it's not "cool" to express so much, folks'll think you're weird. Well I am weird and happy to be it, and happy to be here. Maybe a little will rub off... at least you know when I wish you a great weekend I mean it. It's Springtime inside where it counts... bloom from wherever you are.



Peace,


Listening to:
Introducing The Eleventh House with Larry Coryell
Nick Drake Five Leaves Left
Steve Earle Ain't Ever Satisfied
Some Joe Pass, Tom Petty, and disc one of a blues compilation box set, Blues Classics 100 Greatest Hits

~


February 19, 2010

Hope you snowbound members of the extended Birdsong family are digging out okay. Last week was even chilly in Hawaii, according to one. So last week's scheduled wood expedition was put off because it was rainy and around freezing here. Sometimes you can't push the river, and I've set up my life so I don't have to continue trying to. I waited it out and took care of other things, and this week it was sunny and 60s! So I threw in a quart of 30 weight and set out in Joe The Truck with Jake... we came back with Mahogany, Walnut, Purpleheart, Bloodwood, Tulipwood, curly Maple, Zebrawood, Mesquite and Cocobolo for Birdsong... and some stuff for Jake's builds too. 

That doesn't look like much, but that bed is a touch over 8' long. It's just not a lot by Joe The Truck measurement. Believe me, it's a bunch! On the way back we cut through Kyle, TX and went to the best Mexican restaurant around ~ Luvianos. I know, sounds like some Italian joint up in the North End, you know with the waiter that says "Ahtso, don'a give-a me agita!" but no, this is the real deal and leans more towards actual Mexican than Tex-Mex. My tongue almost slapped me off the chair before I could get the food into my mouth.

Joe's like an old shovel, just simple, rugged, and the right tool for the job. Thick steel, 1974 technology (there's not much to malfunction), American parts (back when that was possible AND meant something). 36 years of work and never had the heads off. Heck, I hauled home every bit of Uncle Johnny's old workshop, and a bunch of what became our house & outbuildings in this truck. Some things in some kinds of lives you just can't do in a Prius, sorry. If I live to be an old man, I want to be taking my weekly sojurns out of the woods in this truck. In overalls. But I'll at least make sure I don't pull 'em up too tight... 

My love for a simple, durable, low-tech old truck (as well as the rural life) should explain a bunch about Birdsong. Here are some old shots of Joe...




Pickups, parts, wood, a fresh batch of necks, some hardware... all here. Sounds like instruments are manifesting! Well they are. In fact, if you're just kinda thinking about it, maybe holding off gonna check more reviews can't decide should sell this other thing first maybe eeeeease the significant other into the idea... I totally respect all that and I'm certainly no high-pressure salesman, but if you wait too much longer before stepping up and getting in line for what you want, you could be thinking about eeeeeeasing right on into 2011 before you see your bass. Remember, Birdsong's not a factory, it's a workshop. And that phone hasn't stopped ringing for all that long since 2004. :)

By the way, if you didn't get an answer from an email to me, it's either because your email wound up in my SPAM (which I do check, but my eyes glaze over as I search for a needle or two in that haystack of obscenity & "special" offers) OR my response ended up in YOURS. I don't ignore emails and I don't drop the ball very often. I'm happy to answer your questions! I'm honored you all are into it. If you don't get an email answer (do give me a few days), just call ~ it's not like you're calling some big shot, I'm just a guy that builds basses. :) I am a humble servant. 

Hey, you remember about the squirrel always looking in the window at me? You know, the one when she wasn't looking last November I dug up one of her acorns and reburied a huge avocado pit in its place? Well the other day lookie who was giving me the eye at the door! And you know, there's a hole where that pit was. Now that's funny.

As Jake says "The captions are endless."

Well that's about it! All the best to you, hug the spouse, noogies to the kids. I'm off like a prom dress at midnight.

Peace,


Listening to:
www.somafm.com Big time. 



~



February 12, 2010

Quickie update this week. Neck man says a batch of 'em is headed my way! Also there's wood and parts and supplies finding their way into and onto the various corners and benches... so next week will be lots of pics & news. This week, well... 

First off, despite the claims of the media it is widely known what it really said on Sarah Palin's hand... 
"Sadhana 2 p/u Walnut Gold HW" 
Look, here's an unretouched photo. PROOF!

And... in those moments where Roger Daltrey's mouth didn't quite keep up with the soundcheck track I have a wee suspicion he might have been singing to, it was because he was lost in dreams of a Skyrider. At least that's my theory. 

Still been cold, but yeah I know 30s and low 40s isn't "cold" to those of you buried under 10 feet of snow right now... and my heart goes out to you, but you know that road outside? It goes to a bigger one and it goes somewhere where that doesn't happen. Worked for me, what can I say ~ I grew up in Massachusetts and I remember clearly it was juuuuust about the time my hands could fit around a shovel that snow thing wasn't so much fun anymore and I began plotting my escape. 

So for here, being as I'm a couple hours from Mexico and all, this is a bit nippy for these parts right about now... I left a plate of almonds on the front porch and, well, while I have no doubt the ice caps are indeed melting, I do have to ask why my nuts are freezing...

Peace,


Listening to:
Van Morrison St. Dominic's Preview
Steve Earle El Corazon
Nick Drake Pink Moon
The South Texas Eskapers
Soul Coughing Irresistible Bliss
CSN&Y Deja Vu
Suburban Rednecks Slump Buster


*


February 5, 2010

I just learned that while I was away guitarist James Gurley departed... here's a great video on him...

...and an absolutely iconic photo of the era ~ go here to buy a poster of this Bob Seidemann / Mouse Studios image!

I get the feeling everyone who met the man has a Gurley story. My James Gurley story starts around 13; the first 57 seconds of Big Brother & The Holding Company's version of "Ball & Chain" (Cheap Thrills LP) were a formative experience for me. It either sucks you in head first or it just sucks to you ~ there's no middle ground. Me? I heard the cry of the universe. I knew that sound, it was inside of me and something found its home and true North in that moment. All respects to Janis (not a huge fan) but it was those 30 grooves on my copy of Cheap Thrills that got worn out. It, along with Leigh Stephens on the first Blue Cheer album (Vincebus Eruptum, which to this day is probably the most profound formative musical experience in my life) really shaped one facet of life's gemstone - music - for me. Especially the frenetic pure raw energy side. This was in the early 1980s; psychedelic rock was already over 15 years old and was out of the mainstream at that point. But it grabbed me... whatever that tree was I got hit with the stick. 

Years later, 2005, San Francisco music scene mover and shaker of the '60s era Chet Helms has passed on and there is a grand reunion of faces & bands at Golden Gate park. We went. Backstage by the performers' tent I found Gurley standing in a corner by the fence, talking with folks and surveying the scene. He had the perpetual laugh going on... I approached him. We had spoken on the phone before a couple of times for another site I was doing and I offered him some incense and a handshake. "Thank you for your art, its influence on my music, and therefore my life." His response was "Ohhh welll hahaha thank you, hey, don't go anywhere ~ I have something for you too, hahaha... " After a few minutes James Gurley came back out of the big tent, stood right before me and got very still and serious. He was a tall man, and I am certainly not a tall man. So you have to picture him just towering over me, looking down, a yellow keychain swaying in his raised right hand like some sort of hypnotic aid. 

"Who's yellow and lives in the ocean?" 
"Uhhh... I don't know, James."
"Spongebob Squarepants! Check him out sometime!"
And with this he hands me the keychain, smiles, and starts laughing again.

One of the most random, contextually skewed and surreal moments of my life.
St. James, thank you... peace on your journey.

A photographer's gallery of scenes from that concert is here. Picture #6 is of James with Dickie Peterson of Blue Cheer, both now gone. And as I was looking on page 3 I saw a familiar little hairy guy interviewing "Sons of Champlin" guitarist Terry Haggerty. Fun.

Well UT has announced the closing the legendary Cactus Cafe... just the latest blow to the Austin music scene and its venues from the various people who have benefited for decades from its fame and former glory. They say it isn't profitable enough and budgets must be cut. Bet that football coach got a hell of a bonus though... I mean, let's just put ol' Grandpa out on the curb, right? It's trash day. What's art, integrity, mutual support and historical significance mean to a bunch of overpaid bean counters and how is it they always wind up in charge? Feh! 


Speaking of art and integrity, you all know Jake - he helps your Birdsongs come to life. A HUGE presence behind the scenes in helping Jamie & I with Birdsong's flight. Well he builds too, and I've put a few up for grabs on sale in the store. Here's your chance to get stuff Birdsong doesn't make, but with a similar organic aesthetic sense and plenty of hand made Hill Country mojo. Perfect companions for your Birdsong, and we'll handle the whole deal for you too. This thing we do, this creating and manifesting of beauty & tools of sound, it's as much art as craft. And in either room staying in perpetual "beginner's mind" is super important; I hear a guy like Michael Lewis talk about what he does and I put aside what "I know" and who "I am"... I sit at the feet of the master and learn something. 

And if I've learned anything, it's that you tap into the pervasive beauty around you, learn how to use your gifts & talents towards mixing that as inspiration with other feelings and focuses inside, and then you make something happen. You make it happen with notes or words or brush strokes or wood, whatever; it's all clay for what you bring to it and how much of what you're made of and what comes through you can instill into your work. So in that mode we have begun on the 6th Anniversary instruments that will come to life later this year.

Been rainy, windy and colder than a well digger's ass but today the sun is shining and the air is peaceful. I mean, I'm happy to be here at all but a little sunshine's like Tabasco on the 'taters. "Wake up! You're alive! Make something happen!" 

Hey thanks for your time! 

Peace,


Listening to:
Richard X. Heyman Hey Man!
Louis Armstrong & Duke Ellington


~


January 29, 2010

Welcome to the new Birdsong site ~ brighter, simpler, and more focused; like us now as opposed to the frantic early days of 2004 when the old site was built, along with the little nestling Birdsong Guitars. I'm working on it a little every day; today I added more pics to the gallery and more are coming. A bunch was added to the store ~ some bass bodies to claim for your build, and my latest CD. Our little wild fuzzy friends out here at the nest are peeking, wondering if things are back to normal. Well normal is a relative term around here, but we'll give it a go. :)


I know there are a few thumbnails not linking to the bigger picture, and I'm working on it. In fact, I hope we all are. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in what we have wrapped up in the moment we lose sight of what's really important and what we're serving. Like you can break music into mathematics and rules but eventually (hopefully) your aim is to play, to create, to paint by some inspiration other than the numbers in the coloring book. Of what value is a degree in horticulture if it doesn't help feed someone? That's what we do when we bring our highest to the sharing of our "music" be it music or other art or hammering the nail into someone else's house or cooking dinner. We transcend whatever path brought us there and put it into practice. Do it from the heart and make it mean something ~ life is short.

For me it's time to renew my vows with what I'm a part of, what I do, why, how we're gonna roll, and then set the material goals. Make more music. Cook more. Get the Magnum off the blocks and fixed up. 

(1978 Dodge Magnum, high performance engine, unfortunate appetite for transmissions...)


Back in the saddle again! Here's what finishing looks like right now. Off & running. So all of us here in Birdsongland are busy busy getting back in the groove. I watched this little guy burying acorns last year and now he's going around and digging them up. I don't know how they remember... but I do know when he wasn't looking I replaced one with a big ol' avocado pit. Heh heh... one can only imagine the thoughts when he digs that up. 


Thanks for checking in, peace be with you!
~Scott

The end!



Listening to:
Miles Davis Miles Ahead
Stephen Stills Manassas
Niyaz Niyaz

*

January 25, 2010

We're baaack! Happy New Year to you all! 

Well the big change is the site - after six years of building and remodeling and patching, I went to doctor it up for the new year and it just came apart like that old car you simply can't put any more Bondo into. The facade crumbled like a battered Old West set. That site dated clear back to the figuring out process - what the site needed to be, how to build it, and what the hell we were doing in the first place. Back to the crazy days of endless hours, of total uncertainty and just hangin' the old keister out into the wind... it's a buy it or build it world and we had nothing but some borrowed tools, a rented former motorcycle repair stall and a vision. So we built it. 

So to say it was hastily structured would be an understatement. And on top of that we built on top of it for six years and never pulled anything down or cleaned it up. If that site were a TV show, most of it would look like "50 years after people..." It was like a big patched together hotel built on this ragged improvised foundation. There were more dead ends than Boston and huge deserted photo archives. I still have all of that off-site. We just lost a lot of words, but you know me I'll make more. That's never been a problem. There was a lot of fun reading on that site and there will be on this - every week. But it'll be up to date now, and you won't have to stop taking the Ritalin to navigate it. And I can actually find my way around in it on this end, so updates, maintenance (what's that?) and repairs just got much easier too.

So we start over; the true prize in the cereal box. From the website perspective I'm the guy that lost everything and feels like he just won the lottery. My web host will do the dance of joy too, or whatever a German lady would do - the kotsbrokken, I don't know. She asked me to tidy the old one up from a size perspective oh, I don't know, two years ago? Three? This site has to be - has to be - 1/100th of the size. (Let's say average 20 pictures a week, 50 weeks in the year, times six years... staggering isn't it?) 

It's much simpler and brighter and there's very little we're guessing at now. It reflects those same changes in us, in our lives too. So it was time. Give me a while and this site will be just as funky... better yet, come on the journey with me and keep checking it! When the old site crashed, I was nervous for a few minutes. There was an "Oh crap" moment; perhaps even a few choice colorful invectives. But then this enormous peace came over me. I don't have to take a month off to tidy & reorganize that site and delete things... I don't have to worry about it all anymore... it's all gone. It's all over. I can start fresh.

So here we are, 2010. Great things coming this year, I can feel it. Thanks for staying with us over the break, I have a pile of emails & phone calls to get to and I'm so looking forward to talking and working for you this year. I hope your Christmas & other Holidays were warm and meaningful. I like to build old vans into campers and travel in them, and I finally got some road dust on me again. Felt great... but it feels even better to be back. I've got about a week of cleanup in the shops to do and then the tools get cranked up and the woodchips start to fly. There'll be another break in August. But 'til then I'm a guit-buildin' little woodsgnome.

So look around and reorient yourself, make yourself at home in the new digs. Grab yourself a refreshing beverage. I'll be refining this site every step of the way, but we start here now. Peace be with you and thanks for stopping by!