Well folks, Reena and I just did our 1st duo show at The Robb Center in Andover, MA and we had a blast!! What a great listening audience on a Thursday evening… of course we played a few songs by Neil Young and Bob Dylan, but also played some great songs by Gordon Lightfoot, Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch, and Ryan Adams as well. Reena got to play her new Martin guitar tonight, and she sounded real good on it! We’re definitely planning on more of these shows in the future, so stay tuned!
Upcoming Shows Rescheduled to Spring 2024...
Dear friends, fans, and 2023 ticket holders,
Out of Love, concern, and support for our Soul Sister Reena Langmeyer, we are postponing our upcoming Fall shows. We’ve rescheduled the Bull Run show from Nov 4, 2023 to March 23, 2024. We’ve rescheduled our Jonathan’s Ogunquit show from October 21, 2023 to May 25, 2024.
Reena has been battling vocal chord issues for some time. Her condition now requires a mandatory period of rest in order to preserve her ability to continue singing. We all expect Reena to make a full recovery, and we look forward to singing and performing together with her soon!
Twenty Years of Set-Lists...
Someday there won’t be anybody left who remembers any of us were here, yet the urge still exists to preserve a few of these documents anyway. As the person who built these lists, I can say with certainty that we never repeated any set-list twice. Even on the occasion they were similar, there was always something put in there to make that night special. It was done as much for us in the band as it was for you in the audience. It was to keep it fresh and exciting for all of us. If you were there, I hope these bring a smile...
Electric Guitar Build: Day 4
Assembly day!! Moving along at a brisk pace, today we installed the pickups into and bridge onto the body. We installed the wiring harness into the electronics cavity and wired everything together (volume/tone/selector switch/pickups). We installed the tuning pegs into the headstock, and then bolted the neck onto the body. Finally, we put on the strings and tuned up. Whew!
Tomorrow is our final day, and we’ll be adjusting the neck, string height, and setting the intonation. We’re in the homestretch and I’m looking forward to final questions, wrap-up, and debrief. I’ll most likely remove the neck and pack the guitar in my checked bag for the flight home.
This experience has been absolutely fantastic. A huge shoutout to Professors Tom Singer, Mark French, and Tim Wilhelm. Their knowledge, patience, and steady guidance has made this a very rewarding week. I’m also grateful to my fellow classmates, all of them passionate teachers and instructors excited to bring this training home for their students. I Thank You All!
Electric Guitar Build: Day 3
Today we put a few final coats of finish on the body and neck, but the day was mostly about electronics. We soldered the wiring harness together, and discussed some creative STEM aligned lessons that can come out of this part of the build. We finished the day with some fret leveling, chamfering and final dressing. We also installed some small (2mm) fret markers on the top edge of the neck.
Electric Guitar Build: Day 2
Another jam-packed day of great instruction and working on our guitars. We bounced around from putting another three coats of finish on our guitar body, and completing the neck assembly. We also did some fret spacing calculations and discussed different ways to present the material to our students.
Electric Guitar Build: Day 1
I’m pretty excited to be here in Dayton, Ohio for the week, participating in the STEM Electric Guitar Building Program at the Sinclair Community College Guitar Lab. This awesome program is funded by the National Science Foundation and run by Professor Thomas Singer along with his amazing crew of instructors. I’ll be bringing this excellent training back to my students at UTEC in Lowell, MA to teach them how to build guitars while introducing them to CNC manufacturing technology.
The body is Alder wood with a Flame Maple top. The neck and headstock is Maple, with a dual action truss rod. The fingerboard is Zebrawood with black fret markers. The scale length is 25-1/2”. The finish will be multiple thin coats of True-oil, which not only brings out the natural beauty of the wood, but offers excellent protection due to its superior hardness properties.
20 Years a Band...
Wow, I can’t believe how fast the time’s gone by… like a flash! What a wild ride it’s been… so many cool memories with these great musicians, and more importantly - excellent human beings: Mike Garron, Chuck Nemitz, Rob Hamilton, Reena Langmeyer, and Jeremy Espisito. As a true fan of Neil Young, I can honestly say it’s always been about taking great songs and bringing as much of ourselves to them as possible on any given night. It’s rare for ANY band to stay together for 20 years… even rarer that they can still conjure up some magic when they play music together. We’ve done that, and I’m grateful.
Thanks for the memories!
Kenny
GUITAR BUILD UPDATE 1.3
The rosette is the design that surrounds the sound hole. Using my old 1950 Gibson J-50 as my inspiration, I’m going for a very simple, almost utilitarian, yet classic look. I’ve kept the thin 1/8” overall width, but I’m using three rings featuring wenge and holly, the same woods I’m using for the binding and elsewhere on the guitar.
GUITAR BUILD UPDATE 1.2
Had a few sick days to deal with, but I completed some design issues, glued up the book-matched cedar top, and sanded it. I worked out the bracing pattern, drew it out as a plan and then transferred it to the bottom side of the cedar top. Finally, I put a couple coats of sealer on the top to protect it as I continue working on it, with the side benefit of seeing what it’ll look like under finish. I was really amazed at how close in color this new cedar top looks compared to the 70 year-old spruce top on my old Gibson… sweet!
