IN INVENTORY:
A Fretless Cortobass & a pre-owned Skyrider (cool!)
One of Jake's hand made guitars (wow!)
One of 3D's hand built wonders too!
(...and a few of my personal guitars I'm offering up to new homes to fund other fun...)

2012 

February 3rd

I get very excited to see the blooms and blossoms of an early Spring... I feel it inside myself. They told me growing up "You are who you surround yourself with," so these days I try to keep blooming and blossoming around me. 

 

In other chapters there were times that felt like a long slow Fall; the doom of the coming Winter. And believe me, you're never far from its cold breath on your heels anytime here in the second half. Let's face it, life is a precarious thing. It goes fast. This has been a week where many things got me thinking of the past; those passed; that which has been passed. That which has been passed on. Those bits of it all that stay with you... and of you that went with them.



Everyone's life is full of challenges and changes, some good, some mixed... you know, today I got down about the beautiful old country 2-lanes lined with trees all becoming these big long black scars with turn lanes into subdivisions... I mean does it all have to become suburbia? Everywhere? I couldn't have picked a further out place 20 years ago without a case of ammo and a 4x4. But there's that time thing, and that change thing, that perplexing pair of ponderous persnickatives. (I just made it up, don't worry about it.) The serenity prayer does not include "...and the opportunity to choke the living shit out of those who perpetuate change I don't like!" It just IS...



...and then I looked next to me in the truck.



How am I not going to smile at any given time? I mean, I make guitars! I might even be making yours. Or I may get the chance to when the time is right. I'm very blessed to be able to have the chance to do what I do. Because in here it's a perpetual Springtime. It's a garden. Cutting & gluing, shaping & oiling... these are our planting of shoots and weeding & feeding. To be surrounded by perpetual manifestation is part of what keeps one young, I think. Making a musical instrument, a tool of creation, is like taking all that's good and seeding this amazing bloom that will perpetuate its goodness into the unknown wherever it goes. Whatever comes, whatever it faces, it "IS" too. Touche, material world! :) 

Got an interesting call about a 25th high school reunion up in Massachusetts. Some folks would need therapy after a call like that... I mean, 25 years!... but to me that number means nothing. I'm not attached to numbers; their passing as markers of anything real; the tallying and thinking of them. Only as Birdsong has gotten a little bigger do I even know what day it is. But just try asking me what date it is. What time is it? Time to put oil on this next body; time to get the bank info to the client in Australia. Time to clear the air. Time to tell someone you care. Time to make sure the bread on Birdsong's table makes sure there's bread on my helping hands' tables. Time to be here now. Time to not wait, not put off, not just drive on by again. Time to DO something, to manifest it... to allow it to manifest you.

Sometimes you don't know whether to laugh or cry; other times you gotta laugh to keep from crying. It is a blessed soul who looks around him and tears up because no matter what's going on there's the feeling there's nothing to really cry about. And that is a hard fought hill; a plateau some never take.

Is it the wise one who assumes to see the Spring again and does not pause... or the one who, with a nose full of new flowers, breathes it in and perpetuates its inspiration into beauty? I don't know, but I know where I stand. Like so much in life you're gonna wake up one day and know what side of the fence you're on.




Listening to:
Jorma Kaukonen River Of Time
Ron Carter Where?
The Dum Dum Project Export Quality



~



January 27th

Strange things happen in small, God-fearing towns. There was the punk rock band the Licentious Nicolatians, taken of course from Revelations 2:6, "You hate the deeds of the licentious Nicolatians just as I do." Well the problem with this name was it was way to much work to pronounce... the problem with the band itself, there was nobody with mohawks and safety pins through their face anywhere near this part of Texas. So a fan base was going to be hard to come by, kind of like grapefruit, which simply don't grow here. It was an example of that which is not. There is that which is, and that which is not and this definitely was not. 

And honestly the boys themselves couldn't muster up that urban jungle anarchy of street lamp hopelessness and concrete rage between bites of venison sausage and nights of youthful folly in the crop fields. No, their rebellion was destined to be a quieter one. They would sneak out and get drunk on Milwaukee's Finest... Light... . The hard stuff, yeah. Watch out, it may gateway to Budweiser! It was the beer of quantity over quality; if you could afford a sixer of Coors Banquet then by golly you could get a twelve of Milwaukee's Finest Light! Of course it was about a third as potent, but what the hell you were young and young people can make any math add up. It's part of their logic of illogic, part of what makes youth so exciting and full of great ideas. 

Like this punk band out in the middle of nowhere by kids who didn't even know they were poor, had most of their teeth, and who could sing along with The Carter Family's Greatest Hits. Try as they may to rail against the establishment, they'd hold the door for you at Country Boy Grocery, call you "Ma'am" and "Sir", and give the little small town wave to the passing cars and pickups on the backroads... using their whole hand. Nice boys. The Licentious Nicolatians were way ahead of their time in a place very behind the times that wasn't necessarily pushing for change. You'd think that'd make them at the right place and the right time but you'd be wrong. 

Crop fields are Kryptonite to punk rock - you almost never see those two come together and there are reasons for this far beyond any explanation I could give. Some things are like magnetic forces and should just be accepted as workings of the universe and treated as such. So try as they might to absorb and adopt that particular blend of snottiness and snobbery the downtrodden and alienated English youth brewed so well, the rage of those amphetamine-fueled, sick-of-it-all, and safety pinned, well... to put it bluntly, these kids couldn't scare a fart out of a poodle. 

Not that their hearts weren't in it, mind you - but alongside "God Save The Queen" and "Anarchy in The UK" such original compositions as "The Man Needs a Big Ol' Whoopin'", "Dadgum Liars" and "Bowling Club Riot" didn't quite bottle the same fizz if you catch my drift. These were less than effective manifestos for the dissolution of perceived hierarchical hegemony at the hands of brick throwing squatters. This was most definitely not the soundtrack to the new rebellion. Heck, the only squatting going on around here is when your girlfriend has to pee and you're five miles down the dirt road from her house.

 


Listening to:
John Williams Spanish Guitar Music 
Lots of John Scofield
Bill Frisell recordings a cool client sent me
Smashing Pumpkins Gish



~



January 20th

Well hi everybody! Ahh, back in the swing of things... cases coming, necks in process, hardware order in... and here are some pics 'n musings about some of the cool things going on in the workshop. 

Here's a client's set-neck "Benchmade" Fusion of solid burled Mesquite with matching fretboard & headstock overlay, a really customized piece we'll be getting into the detailed stuff on shortly. Note the little pearl & turquoise inlay...



Here are a few artistic shots from the shop. I don't know, I see these differently than you may. To some it's a dusty shop. For me, I look at these tools and benches and they're full of meaning, memories and potential. I see a dream happening in these pictures...



This is cool - every so often we build a Birdsong guitar, and every so often I get a client who just lets me run with it design-wise. This is both... 
Mesquite, oddball pickups, Mahogany neck... I'm in my element here. :)



And this? This is where the dream began my friends, my first guitar... an early 1980s Cort Model X. It's going back together in the spare moments.



No thousand words today, just a few pictures (and a few more on the client page). Thanks for being with us!



Listening to:
John Williams Spanish Guitar Music 
Ratt Ratt EP
Neil Hagerty Neil Michael Hagerty
And some Coltrane.

They do say variety is the spice of life...


~



January 13th


Yeah, yeah, I only mention it because I have to put this up here to be fair to the other guys who get ridiculous photoshopped headshots on their birthdays. Fair is fair, and here I go into the big 43... Richard Petty's number, and the number of "Richard the Test Bass", an old Cortobass that has been routed and drilled and... gosh that's a whole other update!

A quickie update this week, I've been shuffling around computers to be able to do different things in different locations as needed, to be able to be as efficient as possible and go with the flow... the magical rightness of task-to-task, moment-to-moment. There's something special when it's "on", when the right things happen at the right times and it all feels great and hands you off to the next thing; they call that "in the zone" in sports, you just know that ball is going in; it's akin to tone leading in chord-melody jazz. There's that one note in that perfect chord that so perfectly sets up the next chord to the ear, and after a progression you sit back and feel like you've just tasted a plate full of delicious food in the best order you could have possibly tickled your taste buds in. Rightness. THAT is what, when it comes, you riiiiide... it goes into the instruments (or whatever it is you do), it factors into your relations in day-to-day life, and it tethers you ever so sweetly to the path you feel you should be walking... as it lays down smooth stepping stones before your feet in perfect rhythm. Those moments are gold; those days sancrosant.

Then you bash your knuckles on an exhaust manifold changing spark plugs. But even that, that would be noble in the moment because what doesn't kill us makes us stronger. And you know you've felt it, when you're on target and headed for the goal and it's happening to a rhythm you somehow found and locked into, stepping to a beat only you can hear, the music is playing the player... you'd have to kill me to keep me away from that next step. The little inconveniences and momentary troubles of a body in life? I scoff at them when the groove is grooving. You'll take me down at a full run. The mind-benders of a business day, that number-crunching flipside of getting to do what you want to do, that blood-sucking insurance company would have to hire a Sicilian hit man to make me pay more attention to it than... the magic. The process. The dream. When it's rollin' it's rollin' and those things that wash out less permanent inks and unthread weaker fabric... not today, not today.

I try to see every day in that light. To be open and inviting to feel and lock into that groove of the day or the hour or the moment. She puts out her hand but really wants a hug. A blues lick would fit but so would a blast of atonal feedback right before the chorus kicks in. That sweeping bend through the hills? It says 50 but it really wants 65. With "Back In The Saddle" through 6x9s. And mirrored shades. Ride it. Seize the moment.




Listening to:
Aerosmith Greatest Hits (the red one, the old stuff)
Acoustic live Jerry Garcia band
Classical lute music



~



January 6th

If you fire up an even remotely virile old American car with a rumbling V8 and mix that with the opening 30 seconds of Van Halen's "Unchained" and don't feel anything bubbling to life inside of you... you'd better check your pulse. That's what I feel like with the keys to the Wingfeather workshop, home of Birdsong, the revived SD Curlee, and much other activity concerning carved & strung items of power. 

Speaking of power, I know, one can only imagine the wild, sordid parties the guy behind a world famous electric guitar & bass company would be involved in on New Years Eve... the debauchery, the hootenanny, the chandelier swinging post-arena concert endorser suite throw the TV out the window drive into the pool with the groupies sort of fun that's all over the place in this business. Grab the marching powder & hit the limo... well, here's a shot from the campfire at the homestead, with Jamie's Ancho-pepper Tortilla soup cooking and a cold Birra Moretti La Rossa on the table. Jamie, her dad (in town from New Mexico), Maggie the Blue Heeler and I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else; those other guys can have all that other stuff. I'll take the cast iron over a flame and a crisp "Winter" night. Give me good food, good company, and peace under the stars. 



You were there with us too, as it was all fueled by Birdsong cutoffs. I can think of no more reverent way to handle the leftover bits 'n pieces...

The new year brings a clean slate, at least for intention, and a chance to hit the ground running. Call me naive, but I can't help but feel energy-wise, all-that-stuff-between-the-atoms-wise, cosmo-celestial-Great-Mystery-wise, that being in motion next to the tracks of the hoped-for train might just influence the energetic flow of... oh, say, your butt getting on it as it rumbles by! Even if you have a ticket, just standing there waiting 'til the train is in front of you to figure out what's next... uh-uh. I tend to be running my little legs off in the direction I already want to go. 

Don't wait for the bus; start walkin' and jump on as it comes by. If it doesn't show up, walk there yourself. The year is yours and I wish you all great things... right now I have some great things to prepare for their strings, so I'm done chattin' for now and it's back to the Birdsong benches. 

Tuned up, head down, dug in & on it like... well, insert your own semi-appropriate analogy here. :)



Listening to:
Van Halen Fair Warning
Aerosmith Aerosmith
Paul Desmond Live (has my favorite guitarist on it - Ed Bickert)
And some Dead & Jerry Garcia band live stuff - acoustic and electric



**************************************************



December 16th

Moments... we collect them as we go, and then they're gone; they collect us as they go... and then we're gone. They're what we look back on as we go, and they're how others look back on us. If you're aware, you see the moments as they happen and savor them as they pass. You don't let too many get by you. Seeing them coming is a skill, and there's a talent to lining them up.

You start with meaning as your clay, and shape it... often times fired in the kiln of service or devotion... and there it is. The right hug at the right time, the right words, the right instrument into the right hands, and it's more than just what it is. It's got the "moment magic" all over it and some of it gets on you and whoever shares it with you. That's some good dust; cultivate it, savor it, and pass it around.

Moments are what matters. They're the notes that over time build and layer into the chords of our life, our song. Whatever symphony we sing it's made of notes. Our symphonies are of wood and wire, and there are moments during the creation process that are magical to me... every moment doing your calling is meaningful, even if some can be challenging, but some are magic. Rounding the edges after routing, when the shape "softens" and becomes an instrument body; the first rubbing of oil into the bare wood, when something leaves my hands and enters the instrument; the call from the client who sounds like they got into the funny mushrooms after they get the bass... a mix of incredulousness and a little bliss. When you can do what you're made to do, what you want to do, what you're supposed to do, with good friends, and it feeds you, AND it gives others moments... that's a rich life. I'm very grateful.

Because like individual notes that become chords and melodies and songs and symphonies, the moments that become days in chapters of our lives are, more often than not (and this is coming from a real loner, believe me), so much better when shared. And this being a season of Holiday blessings and gratitude and sharing... I want to thank you all for sharing your lives and music and dreams with us while we build your basses; for being a part of our lives and music and dreams. 2011 was amazing... 

This is last news update of the year. I'll keep updating the client page, as I'm not going anywhere this year... staying close by, working on builds, keeping things quiet. So continue to call, order, ask, check in, and communicate. 

There are some GREAT deals I just put up in inventory in honor of the Holiday season. 

					...and more! I can have these off Monday to you...
Pre-owned 2011 Cortobass  SOLD	Almost done fretless Corto SALE $1650	All blonde & gold Cbass - WOW! SALE $1750	'90s Ibanez jazz guitar - great!  SCOTT'S $475	Vintage Kay archtop - plays! SCOTT'S $375	...all prices include case & USA shipping!

Also please check out what the other guys who spend themselves here are doing in their own music gardens - Jake, 3D, Brady. If you see anything you'd like, just get in touch! I know 3D has a couple of things up on eBay right now, a Bbox (he builds them now) and one of his great short scale guitars.

We want to thank you so much for this amazing year now just about over; we want to wish you all the best in the coming year, nervous Mayans aside. MOST OF ALL I want to wish you - YOU - and your circle a wonderful Christmas. May you be blessed beyond all reason. And may you realize that despite life's challenges, you still probably are... and that realization is perhaps the greatest one of all. For those of you who celebrate different Holidays or Holy days or maybe this one differently or any or all of the above, whatever your path know you share in these wishes of communion, connection, and celebration too. On behalf of all of us, you have our love and warmest wishes.

Count your blessings, share them, and savor the moments.

(We'll keep working on the instruments for the soundtrack).




Listening to:
The Allman Bros. The Fillmore Concerts (disc two)
Soundgarden Superunknown
Rolling Stones Flashpoint
Pat Boone In a Metal Mood (You think I'm kidding, I know... I know.)



~




December 9th


Well it sure was foggy coming out of the hills this morning. You don't picture hills or fog when you think of Texas, I know. But where I live, we have plenty of hills. Heck they even call it "The Hill Country"... coincidence? I think not. Most of the time the scenery is beautiful, but sometimes it does get foggy and you're not quite so sure where you're going, even on roads you've ridden for years. That's when it helps to have a set of taillights to follow and a good old truck that knows the way.

It's like having tools that already kinda know what they're doing. Like an old wrench. I've got a toolbox full of old tools; I don't much go for new stuff. To be truthful, so much of it is cheap shiny crap just waiting to break. I got news for you... if that adjustable wrench is 50 years old and been through a dozen sets of hands and it breaks? It was you. It wasn't the tool. Yeah, they wear out and maybe something'll snap at some point. But generally stuff that was made to work back when stuff was made to work, back when we made things, it stays working.



I love old tools, and that's partly why; but it's only a small part. A big part is this - when you step into your workshop, you're not just stepping into it for mindless entertainment. Even casual crafts... you bring something to it and give something with it beyond the wood and the work. You are aligned in this with all craftsman and craftspeople through history. We build, we beautify, we transform, we who manifest. And anyone really into it has a reverence for their tools as well as the time & opportunity. Whether we acknowledge it or not, whether we choose to pick up the legacy or not, it gets on us with every shave, with every cut, with every sanding stroke. Embrace it or not, my friend, but there is a torch and you're carrying it.

All any good craftsman would want would be to keep their tools working. Yep, keep that old truck running; keep my tools working; remember me by finding joy in what I've built. Those things helped to manifest and become now carry the echoes of the life that was built into them by the craftsman. And the tools? They change hands but they never forget. 



We obsess over the new, the shiny. Perhaps it's our real fear over not being those ourselves anymore... just toss it away. What do I need Grandpa's hammer for? Why bring that old vise back to life when I can get a new one? Why fix that old truck... because someone's got to do it or everything that ever meant anything about simplicity, craftsmanship, knowing how to do things, having a command over the systems in your life, caring enough to give yourself to the workshop processes, about making things strong to serve long after you're gone... will all die with you. As will your fathers', and your grandfathers', and these are intentions - if not skills - that must stay with us or we will continue to diminish as humans. Give me that old hammer - I'll build a temple with it.

It might look like a shack, or a bass guitar, or a bit holder, but it's a temple. 

Oh sure, what was had its problems - the back thens were no picnic - even now nostalgia sure ain't what it used to be. But the best of what was is left for us to pick up and continue working with as we take up the walk ourselves. To build and beautify as we go; to transform and be transformed; to absorb the best of our teachers' and elders' work in with our own assignments and tasks and callings. We pick them up as shovels, as pliers, as saws. And we keep them oiled. And we keep them working... and they teach us. Pick up an old tool that has done things and if you can't feel something transferring into you, you'd better check your pulse. 



And you can talk 'til you're blue about how it's the craftsperson not the tool... but you'll never convince me that what's punched in with someone's Grandpa's old number punch set - my fingerprints gradually and respectfully replacing his as they rub off into my fingertips - my younger hands now gracing this tool once more with purpose - I am living for this man too, whoever he was, now with me in the workshop - that what's punched in in that moment isn't a little something more than with the cheap import set from Shmuck's Discount Megashop.

I won't buy it.

But I will buy Grandpa's hammer off the yard sale table.


  



Listening to:
The Allman Bros. The Fillmore Concerts (disc one)
Bucky & John Pizzarelli Passionate Guitars
Tool Lateralus



~




December 2nd

It's raining today, and two things always come to mind when it rains. Ok, three. The first is that in an ideal life's plan, one can reserve the right to sleep in on slow, gray, rainy mornings. Not reality always, but maybe something to strive for when it's not necessarily "do or die trying" time. The second is the thought of anyone nutty enough to drive Chrysler products from the '70s on a daily basis... will my windshield wiper linkage stay together? See, they have these little plastic grommets that... oh nevermind, it's too stupid to go into. What, bushings & bolts were an extravagance? They saved a whole 50 cents per vehicle though, yeah, great. Thank God for Rain-X. The pisser about windshield wipers is that they only break when you need them. 

The third, and the main thing, is that rain means stuff is gonna grow. Rain is life. In Seattle, it might be more of a pain in the ass... but if you live where I live and you saw what I saw this year with the drought & wildfires, it truly jolts you back into a reality where you can see the rain for the miracle it is. Perhaps that's the silver lining in any tragic situation. It steals our illusions. Our comfort, our balance, our faith for a moment perhaps... but to really feel the rain and not just get wet, that's a blessing in the middle of it all.

Things grow. It's what seed does in good soil; to grow is designed into nature, it's built into the universe. When they doubled the size of the little town cafe I hated it. But now after a few years, when the same smiling waitress with the stretchy coiled key ring around her arm says "Sweetie, can I get you a warmup?" and heads towards someone with the coffee pot, it's not so bad. In fact, now at our little town cafe you actually get what you ordered and it's consistently good! So growth helps a bit too sometimes. Helps bring out the "A game" in those involved. The verdict's still out on the big black scar of a highway that used to be a winding tree-lined "Ranch road" into town, but you know that big bypass they put in cuts 15 minutes off of my trip home at the end of the day. So growth is... growth. It is what it is. I guess it's all just a matter of perspective. 

Growth in terms of how much we grow as we go means we mark the miles a little differently... we had a Birthday in the house this week, the Birdsong house that is, Wingfeather workshop, sawdust, whirring sanders... Brady Muckelroy does neck work & sanding for us when he's not working on his own stuff. I've known him for years and a better guy - or bass player - you'd be very hard pressed to find. He was the main act at the Birdsong Gathering back in '07... good times. And now he's with us, core inner circle, helping us as we help him. From a place like that, we grow together. We help each other grow. We tie our life rafts together and stay afloat in the hard times, and we contribute to each others' momentum in the good. 

So from all of us...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRADY!!! 




I think about growth a lot these days. It certainly brings challenges, but it brings life. Often it's grow or die. Without growth, this great workshop where Birdsongs, the revived SD Curlee basses, Muckelroy basses, 3D's amazing little guitars... so much wouldn't be happening, or at least not in the organic, natural way it feels. It's like a garden in here, just a bunch of seed in fertile ground. Growth happens... it has its surprises but these hone us and prepare us for that next level. Our decision is to step up or not; the growth? That happens when the right stuff comes together. 

You know, people sometimes ask me why I grow my beard. I tell them "I don't, it does it by itself. I just don't do anything to stop it." 




Listening to:
John Coltrane Lush Life
James Brown 20 All Time Greatest Hits (Heh! Haaaiiieeee!!! Can we hit it 'n quit it?)


Laters...




~






November 23rd
Thanksgiving week update... the mercy run to Bastrop, TX

We have inconveniences and challenges. But this?  

I was not sure the words would come. Me, gift of gab, master of analogy, talk the balls off a brass monkey. It took a while. 

Mostly very early this morning. I slept ok for a while but had to have the radio on; the silence in my head was way too loud. I fell asleep to... well, I can't remember. I was really tired inside. But I woke up to Journey's "Lights" and my friends if that buildup into the solo doesn't get you up a few notches you might just have to check for a pulse. I felt mine come back and I rose. But how to describe wildfire ravaged Bastrop to you good people of the Birdsong circle, many of whom made the mercy trip over possible... that would be the tough part. 

Setting out to be a little hole in a gray sky...

I met some great people, the outpouring of help the area received since the fires was tremendous, multicultural, inter-religious, and... see, the words fail me. The goods are too good to describe; the bads are... incomprehendable to anyone who has never seen a whole area wiped off the map by something beyond human containment, in person, after the fact. 

First stop was to offer respect to the brave men & women, volunteer firefighters, who battled the blaze. 

The town center looked fine. It wasn't hit. The damage there is once-removed; under the skin, in the head, someone they know. Or knew. But you could drive through and not even know anything happened, if you missed the signs. Outside of town, miles and miles of orange foliage. It took me awhile to see it for what it was; back East this time of year there are miles and miles of orange foliage and bare trees. But not here. This wasn't Winter tree behavior... these are dead. 

Signs of all kinds were everywhere that the town was taking care of their own...

And you see a burned out area but then you notice odd things. What's that burned out truck doing there with nothing around it? Oh, it's all that's left. Hey, that's a slab over there. Oh my God, there were five houses here. And it goes block after block after block. I saw parts of two areas, Tahitian Village subdivision and the "Circle D" area. I saw maybe a hundred places, it's hard to tell now... but this place lost 1700 homes. What the hell is a pool doing on an empty lot? Oh Lord. The brain can't make sense of it. Of anything it sees. You know what happened but inside the aftermath your brain just runs itself in circles.

...and that strength & endurance would prevail.

I set out at sunrise in trusty steed Joe the Truck and arrived mid morning. First stop, the Volunteer Fire Department. Some lost their homes while they were out trying to save others'. They will have extra somethings on the Thanksgiving table thanks to you. The emergency food bank got swamped and its resources stretched, as the new needy combined with the regular clients they served... it was the same story at the family crisis center and among all those who serve in such ways. The Birdsong family helped towards replenishing these shelves and in some cases directly to a family's table.

This was a neighborhood...

The pictures cannot convey the same level of realness as standing in the middle of it, surrounded, with senses assaulted by what is there... and what is not. At some level inside the head it makes no sense. It's disorienting. It's surreal. I'll share two things - one, I arrived after an all night rain and it smelled like a wet campfire. Two, there was no life - other than some rebuilding, some hauling out, and Police patrols. There were no birds, there were no squirrels, there were no deer. No barking dogs, no horses, no visual cues or aural soundtrack one takes for granted in a rural area. Hope, faith, and an understanding of the cycles and circles all tell me this will reseed, this will grow back anew, this will be reborn. But surrounded by so much still, quiet death, the mind spins. 

...full of life, dreams, and people.

The wildfire was random - surreal scenes. A lone pool stands amidst three burned out lots. Three houses saved but fifty feet to the side a burned up trailer, exposing its cargo of burned up minibikes. The hilly terrain and random home placement on lots, a fire fighter's nightmare. But as they do, while everyone else was running out, they ran in. Most who lost homes will get help, most at some point will have homes and lives again. Will they ever really heal inside? I don't know. But if they're hungry and hopeless, the odds get kind of wonky. 

"Thanks to the bravest... firefighters and law enforcement... while we were going out, you were coming in."

And on it went, all day. Someone now has funds for a few more tools; a displaced family now has food for a month; the address of an unapproachable rebuilding tent-dweller is noted for some good mail; random acts of kindness were passed along wrapped in notes of encouragement... we today, Birdsong brethren, are those anonymous hands helping up those who suffered - and suffer - the effects of almost unspeakable horror. They left all they had with minutes to gather what they could, and scattered. Finding them is difficult and much like all those who serve these people, you go in knowing I can't fix it or save them all. But at the end of the day you have to coat that pain in your heart with the knowledge of what would not have been done today if I had not helped it happen. Otherwise it looks like a drop in the bucket...

Block after block after block. Some cleared, some not. What do you even say to this person? 

...but for the individuals whose hands and tears and hearts were touched, and to those steeling themselves to serve these individuals' and families' needs against all odds, I can assure you every dollar - and as much or even moreso, our intent and the fact we care enough to do this - was a little miracle. We helped this happen, folks... YOU helped this happen.

...you look and it just doesn't make sense..

It can't fix it all but it can help re-seed.

Miles of this... it's surreal. Your body starts saying "This is not normal."

Raffle entrants, givers of donations, and well wishers - we HELPED, we MADE an impact, we MADE a difference! They are EXTREMELY grateful to you and wanted me to be sure I told you. Their Thanksgivings will look different, and hope has been seeded where needed.

And I can tell you, if this is all Birdsong ever does outside of the whole bass-making ceremonies and their ripples into clients' lives and outwards from their hands, I am satisfied. And I thank you from the deepest depths of my right now honestly kind of bruised up heart for the opportunity to serve you all, and in this case, be the bearer of your little miracles to these good, good people. Gather the circle, whether yours be 1 or 100, and be thankful. 

God bless these people and their suffering. I wish I could go back with TEN thousand... please include these families and individuals in your prayers.

THANK YOU

From all at Birdsong Guitars and our circles to you & yours, we wish you peace and a wonderful & safe Thanksgiving. Take nothing for granted; leave no love unspoken.



Special thanks to the Petersen family, Bill Owens, Larryland Music, Bastrop Volunteer Fire Dept., Bastrop County Emergency Food Pantry, Bastrop Family Crisis Center, Children's Advocacy Center, and all those who gave directions, provided leads, and took the time to talk.

PLEASE keep these people in your prayers & thoughts too.

If you feel like continuing & giving directly over this Holiday season, please visit:
Bastrop fire dept.
bastropfoodpantry.org
family-crisis-center.org
childrensadvocacycenter.org
They are all struggling with resources due to effects of the wildfires.

Again, thank you.




~



Week of November 13th-19th
I'll be out of town from Tuesday through Friday - I'll return all calls and emails over the weekend. The guys will be in the workshop working, but I have to go pay respects to my Sicilian grandmother, Stella DeSisto, up near Boston. Think good for her, she was a good lady. Death gave up trying to take her 'til she was 98 years old. She was tough but her heart was oro puro and her artichokes were the best; we cooked two last night in her memory. If you like my basses, thank "Nana" - go get an artichoke, stuff it with Italian bread crumbs, grated parmesan, olive oil and a little salt & cook it. When you eat it, look at each other (or yourself) and say "Mangia, mangia!" ~Scott


11.11.11

I'm updating today at 11:11 AM too, just because it seems like the right thing to do. I mean why not? I'm a numbers person, if I don't do this my head'll explode. 

I want to thank all the veterans and their families for their service and their sacrifices. All at any point on the political spectrum with humanity & heart owe a debt and thanks to our brothers and sisters of the Services. If not for them there could be no discussions or other perspectives - there would be no disagreeing with anything. You'd just disappear. Let us all try to remain civil in these nutty times of partisan games and the bad script all that has become - let us be together on our common ground of respect for the soldiers, ordinary people called to extraordinary service - and work from there. I salute you from the bottom of my heart. 

The last pledges are on their way in from the fundraising, so I'm starting to make plans to head to Bastrop county and do some good... it's all thanks to you, and any part I'm playing I'm just doing like I'm guided. We try to play our instruments well, and so do those Greater Hands however it is we perceive them. I couldn't just quietly do it, I don't have those kinds of resources... but I have a big family and together as we could we contributed to some betterment in the world. I'm just a big tool, that's all. Just a big tool trying to be a sharp blade and make the cut. 

Speaking of Greater Hands and big tools, I was drivin ol' Joe the Truck home from the shop (I've been stretching his legs a bit) and I looked off to the left and one of the churches on Ranch Road 12 (soon to be superduper 4-lane 12, like every old road around here) and there's a big pile of rocks in the parking lot. It's a big pile of rock that used to be their sign! The fence by the road was down and there was stone everywhere. Turns out a guy fell asleep comin' around the curve, hit the ditch, went airborne and just Dukes Of Hazzarded right on through the sign and over to the brush clear across the lot. He's going to be ok, but I don't think the same can be said for his shorts. I mean, is there a good time during any of that to suddenly wake up? I have my doubts about the "falling asleep" part... I suspect distraction. I'd want to hear the other end of that conversation... I bet something extremely ironic was said in the moment.

Here's the kicker - it was a 2011 Mercedes C55, the guy spent $105,000 on it. My day? Hey, my day's going just fine thanks. 

Some things you simply can't sleep through or do distracted. I've seen custom basses like that sign. "Man, he almost made it." You can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in a heartbeat in the workshop, and as the build goes on the stakes get higher. It's like driving faster and faster on a windy country road. You have to have experience, know your particular car, be familiar with the particular stretch of road, and pay attention. Then it's a blast, with the full understanding things can still happen... but you know you've at least minimized the variables, and you have a good chance of saving it if things get squirrely. A risk, but a calculated risk. Working these basses is like driving someone else's Mercedes. In the shop you bring your A game, keep your wits about you and pay attention. Always. Because wood drills very easily and shorts are expensive. 

And on the rare occasion you do meet that tire in the road, the patch of sand, or the hood unlatches... at least in the workshop nothing eases the self-flagellation over miscut nuts and broken Rosewood like Vivaldi's Concerto in C major. Driving $105K through a church sign? I'd buy some beads and start doin' laps.

"You've just jumped your hundred thousand dollar car through a stone sign and used the Lord's name in a rather extreme manner, while airborne, landing in a church parking lot. It's Miller time."

Your brother from another mother,


Listening to:
Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers
Michael Manring Soliloquy






November 4th

Old friend, tell of your travels...
 

In our shop right now is the one and only "Painted Birdsong"... not counting the shoddy and well-loved hot rod black Rat Rods that happen occasionally. It is a part of Birdsong history and I get emails about this bass whenever it turns up. Have for years. It's real, and though we didn't paint it it WAS painted during the build and sent to the client that way. All I'll say is she was a sweet lady, but very persistent and she just wore me down 'til I gave in. Women do have that power, don't they? A guy who's being a pain in the ass you can basically tell to get lost; but a lady? A friendly lady who just reeeeeally needs a white bass who simply won't take no for an answer? Gentle pressure won this for her and it shows she played it. It changed hands a bit since its birth in 2008 but it's back home now, getting a setup & checkout... and IT IS FOR SALE. Check out inventory for more pictures of this incredibly rare piece.



Well, the fire bass has a home! High bid was from a man known to us as "Bass Daddy", a generous and enthusiastic Birdsong player & collector from Michigan. Thanks to him, thanks to Mr. B who won the raffle in the first place then graciously requested we "sell it and give the money to those people." Done, sir. And again thank all of you who donated to the cause with your entries. I hope to get over to the wildfire-decimated area in the next couple of weeks and do some real good. I'll fill you in after it happens. The bass? We're thinking Maple fretboard, Bloodwood headstock & gold. Sexy... 



Whether it occurs to us or we decide to acknowledge it or not, every one of us is getting along as we are by the generosity of others. Sure, we work it and walk through the doors and play a smart game; but very often the path is shown, the doors are opened, and we're helped up from life's tricky moments by others. Nobody HAS to care about what anyone does enough to contribute to it. It's not a BIRTHRIGHT that your "great idea" creates a following and clients. If you're even reading this chances are very good we were born on second base so let's not fool ourselves into thinking we hit a triple. It's not easy and nobody's trying to diminish good work or stellar results... just sayin' what I'm sayin' to take a minute to honor those behind the scenes who somehow come along when needed to help make things happen. They sacrifice moments and resources in shows of game-of-life sportsmanship. Somehow they find us and guide us from the wrecks; lead us back from the edges; give up their seats and pull strings. I'm lucky in that I meet most of the folks on my path who help me walk it. You might never even see the face of the person who anonymously did something - big or small in the moment - that when viewed in hindsight changed the course of events entirely. How did that happen? Who are these people, planting these seeds, hiding them in their work, sending off little golden nuggets of heartfelt help, holding open our doors, setting us up for better shots? They're you and me after realizing all the seeds, work, doors, nuggets, closed deals and hit shots aren't all ours. We run with them, yes; as hard and smart as we can. We work it and mold it and shape it and fine tune it. But the baton of a blessing is something that is handed to us, so often through the hands of others. Then down the track a ways, we hand it off to another...

And as for those other sons of motherless goats who do nothing but complicate efforts to do good and cause decent folks problems with their blind adherence to the technicalities in the fine print of life they are conscripted to uphold and enforce in the face of logic and human decency, (now there's a sentence for you!), they can all - each and every one of them - go take a long walk off a short pier... and hug an octopus. So far as I'm concerned, if corporate fine print's gonna be their Scripture, they can take it on down the road. Mine says to help others in need and help others help them to help it happen. Be of service. Stand your ground and stand up for something meaningful. So our invoices have a new logo on them and we're now even able to take your credit cards over the phone. Sad to say after so many years but if they're gonna line up on that side of the fence... PayPal, eat me. :)

I found a great YouTube clip of my favorite guitar player EVER, Ed Bickert. If I could only stack chords and melody like this guy... I'd give up all my rock chops to play like this, believe it or not. Ok, and a little of this right here even at a meager level of competence. Amazingly cool.



Hey, anyone up for something out of a single piece of Korina? Some amazing old Gibsons were made of this stuff, it's similar to Mahogany but golden in color. Let me know... I scored one piece and one piece only! Also, I have several amazing quilted Maple tops. I don't usually do these because everyone and their uncle does, but these are gorgeous... and here. So let's get it on! Quilted on Zebrawood anybody? Thick Quilted top on Swamp Ash? Quilt front and back on thin Bloodwood on a Walnut core? Now there's something you won't see every Tom, Dick and Harry playing!

I am grateful for you all with every rub of oil, cut of wood, and first note of a new bass.  

Your humble servant,


Listening to:
Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers
Michael Manring Soliloquy
John Mayer Where The Light Is disc one
Tower Of Power The Warner Years
Grateful Dead Steal Your Face Vol. 2
Thelonious Monk Monk In Tokyo



~




October 28th



Ok, raffle name picked!!! I called the man who won the bass (I announced his name in the video, but he wishes to remain low key about it, please respect this) and he generously requested we sell it and "give that money to the people." And so, we now get a quick video of Scott figuring out how to handle this...



At 1:30 I stop flusteredly umming around and decide... it's up for bids, starting at $2000 for the bass with pretty much any options. Just like the fund raiser, every penny gets added to that pile and goes to the fire victims. 

Next Friday I'll announce the highest bid, and bidder (unless they request their name not be public). It'd be awkward for me not to have a name to give with the result of this fund raising effort, but understand often times as a high-end bass maker, we do work with some high-income clients & collectors who prefer to buy and give anonymously. I respect that, I appreciate all your trust, and I'll let you know the result. 

SO OK ALL YOU HIGH ROLLERS... THE BALL IS NOW IN YOUR COURT!  :)  If you wish to enter a bid, call me at 512.392.4400 or drop an email to scott@birdsongguitars.com with "Fire bass bid" in the topic. Remember, you get to pick how the bass is finished up. It's a thick Bloodwood top on a gorgeous Walnut back, with hardware, fretboard, and any and all custom Birdsong touches available to the winner to choose from. THANK YOU!

I'll also be going to Bastrop county not far from here in a couple of weeks to do the deeds... to seed as much hope in groceries and clothes funds and anonymous little blessings (that, believe me, to someone in crisis can be a real turning point) as possible. My eyes & ears over there are great folks very involved in the community; the "big" help is leaving and we can get a clear look at where the real desperate need is. I'm so grateful for all your help in helping them, as I'm sure it's going to be quite a scene anywhere 1600+ homes were lost. That's epic. I'm bracing myself. I'll have a report for you when it happens...

So what an amazing day, yet MORE generosity from the Birdsong family! I love building instruments for you all. To all who donated & didn't win, we all thank you - clients or not, you're all family to us. And you are helping to make a difference in people's lives, good people, in some very trying times. When that happens, EVERYBODY WINS. 

I'm reminded of the words of "Chip" Monck, announced to the crowd from the Woodstock stage. Think what you want of the source, but truth is truth wherever you find it and truer words were never needed more than now: "The one major thing you have to remember... is that the man next to you is your brother, and you'd damn well better treat each other that way because if you don't, then we blow the whole thing." 


Play nice!


Listening to:
Jim Hall Live
Ed Bickert Out of The Past
Bucky & John Pizzarelli Passionate Guitars

Wow, cohesion in the listening list! That's a first... perhaps I'll go put on some Foo Fighters and Hound Dog Taylor to bust it up a bit!


~


October 21st

So much going on we're going into a table!

	DRAWING next Friday on the Fire Bass build! Thanks to all who helped out... there was quite a fallout with PayPal over my efforts to raise funds. For those who care to know, I'll have a page up over the weekend (linked here). But I refuse to let it tarnish the good we're all doing together, and you shouldn't either. We raised $4000 for the Bastrop wildfire victims! Over 1600 families lost their homes; if I lose a PayPal account over helping them out, so be it. Sometimes you just have to do what needs to be done and clean up the mess later.
	The Fusion in inventory is still available, and looking beautiful in its Walnutian Glory...
	Wyatt still has his VERY special Birdsong up for consignment and the price has dropped...
	I've got an incredible (but not incredibly expensive) Jazz box up for sale, an Ibanez Artstar - DO NOT confuse this with the more recent Chinese "Artcore" series... this is a phenomenal guitar in excellent condition (just a little wear on the gold pickup covers), just set up in-house with low action & new flats. I customized it with Rosewood knobs & truss rod cover. It was bought new and gigged by a working Jazz man and was the last guitar he sold when he couldn't play anymore. If it were Japan instead of Korean there'd be a "1" in front of the price... $500, including plush hardshell case. Contact for more pics or to purchase (512) 392-4400. You will NOT be disappointed!
	Just wanted to show off a beautiful solid Quilted Maple Sadhana client build that's going out Monday... More pics on the client page (look for 11S-054)
	Bluesboy came by, great player over by Houston and a heck of a good guy; I've known him since he was a client of our friend Uncle Johnny Kirtland. When Johnny died part of how I honored my woodworking mentor was to take on the upkeep of his instruments in the world as my own. So I got to work on the "Phoenix" a bit; it's nice to see old friends.
	The two sisters are done, one a second Birdsong for a client in Georgia and the other a third for one in Hong Kong! One since they were a tree, together through the build process they became musical instruments. Now they go their separate ways, good vibes of Tulip and Bloodwood to far ends of the Earth; may they radiate out and meet in the middle.

Whew! Time to call it a day.

"A day."



Listening to:
Jerry Cantrell Boggy Depot
George Benson The Other Side of Abbey Road
Jim Hall Live
Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers




~




October 14th

Wow! A surge in the raffle, that's great - I appreciate you and thank you so much, times are tight for everyone but we still have homes and computers... and hope. That's the biggie. Life kicks you right square in the applebag (or equivalent) sometimes, it's part of the walk; and it can knock the wind right out of you. There goes, basically, a lifetime of inertia in some cases. With all the whatevers that will be helped with (I have no idea what I'm going to find next month when I go to the burned out neighborhoods) will come heaping helpings of hope. Very excited - we're just over three grand, I'm shooting for 4 but hoping for 5, and every penny will help reseed these folks' & families' lives. Bless you all who have given, and all moved to do so for the next couple of weeks, in advance!

So... let's see what's going on around the workshop. Shall we? Let's go to that magic kingdom! Let me put on my sneakers...

	Here's Jake's main workbench, this is where most of the routing gets done. Right now there's a neck being carved on it. Is it a Birdsong "Benchmade" or an SD Curlee? I see a shorter heel and darker fretboard, so it's a Birdsong. But where's Jake?
	Here he is! Deeply involved with a... uhh... a clamp or two over on the glueup bench I'd say. Those look like neck blanks going together. He mumbles alot, but that's - contrary to what one may think - how I know everything is going well. It's when he gets quiet I worry. So long as there are steady under-the-breath comments and threats I know amazing things are in progress. Few finding themselves Captaining growing guitar companies ever have a right hand man as good as this guy.
	Heading into the "clean" room where finish & assembly takes place, here's Brady at his bench. Our little Wingfeather workshop is also home to Muckelroy basses, bigger 34" full-scale builds by Brady. Having a guy with ears & playing skills like his build a bass is a big deal! He does repairs too and is one hard workin' guy... here's the morning shot with his latest bass build in Cherry (it's available, contact him through his website, www.bradybass.com)...
	...and the afternoon shot where he's just putting the finishing touches on an immaculate refret on a Strat neck!
	Then here's my pile... I mean, bench, after a day. Much like an archeological dig, you can get a good idea of what goes on in the daily life of the inhabitants of this particular region. Bags of parts to put into the gray box, looks like I mounted a neck or two, installed some hardware, loaded some pots & jacks, put in some string ferrules 'cause the red handled "ferrule bopper" is out, did some wiring or woodburning, blue-taped a couple of cases so I know which bass is destined for what case (and thus, the right extras & paperwork already in the case go with the bass they're supposed to)... and the ever-present notebook with a list of a whole bunch of crossed-off tasks, parts we now need, and people to call back! This is proof "stuff happens here", like a messy mechanic's shop... that dude's actually fixing cars, not sitting around polishing his tool.
	Early the next day it'll look like this... cleaned up, with a project and another list. Here we see Hy5 #40, with the "Jazz scroll" option, about to be drilled for control holes & fitted with pickups. I like to hold off drilling the control holes on rear routed basses until assembly. It makes for less runs during finishing. Sure, it takes a certain fortitude to take a 3/8 spade bit and shove it through an almost finished bass a few times, but like my car wrenching guru Cap'n Camshaft said when I asked him about a particularly intimidating looking repair, "This is what I do, and I'm good at it. So I can either get on it or pack my tools and go home."
	And Jake's workbench had that same bass a short while ago, being fitted for a control cavity cover plate. Other than the brass ones for the SD Curlees which are water-jet shaped (hand finished & polished), we make these entirely too. Trace, cut, edge, fit, drill & countersink, reinforce around the screwholes with a splash of #10 super glue, sand, finish, copper, install... geez. There's more hand work in that than most complete factory guitars!
	Now over on the corner of Jake's bench is some salsa & chips graciously brought to the shop by his better half Shannon... and let me tell you, not only can Jake carve a neck, the boy can make some salsa that'll knock your socks off. I mean your tongue will slap your face silly if you don't get that chip in the ol' piehole fast enough.  Just strap it to my head with a taste-bud IV tube and I'll keep goin' 'til I pitch off the chair.
	Here's the finishing table with some cover plates (Rosewood, mystery wood, Bloodwood & Walnut) being oiled...
	...and here's Scott getting shellacked! No, no, just kidding. But this is a good end of the day shot back at the homestead on the porch, and I am hoisting a frosty cold Shiner Bock. I am hoisting it to YOU, whoever you are, wherever you are, whether we've spoken or not, whether we've ever known each other or worked with each other, whether you want a Birdsong or an SD Curlee or just like checking in and being along on this ride with us. We love you.

And in about an hour, that's where I'll be. It'll be dark out, but the porch lights will be on... I'll probably have a Hot Rod magazine in my lap, an Australian Stubby-tail Blue Heeler chin on my chest, and I'm not positive what beverage I'll have within reach but you can be sure it will be both suitably chilled and refreshingly flavorful. Fridays are crazy days but we spin ourselves in pursuit of excellence and spend ourselves in the spreading of good seed. All good things to you! 

Cheers!


Listening to:
Archie Shepp Four For Trane
Grateful Dead Shakedown Street
Herbie Hancock The New Standards (fantastic, go get it...)
Beck Guero


~



October 7th

You know what they say...
"...time flies like the wind, and fruit flies like bananas." Here we are in beautiful October, there are actually days now we don't need the AC. This is wonderful... in fact we've been known to sleep out on the porch at the homestead around now. I never used to like the Fall because, after all, it means Summer's gone and we know what comes next. Probably leftover trauma from my early years in the Northeast. It's not bad here in South-central Texas... if it only rained enough to actually grow stuff and fill tanks, it'd be darn near pretty good enough. 

Facebook, it's the new frontier.
So Birdsong is finally on Facebook... I mean now for real, with more than just a page that says "Hi. We don't know how in the name of hell to work this thing, so don't bother getting in touch. Thanks!"... both cofounder, wife & co-pilot emeritus Jamie AND head luthier Jake are pitching in to monitor & post and make us a little more accessible. Go "friend" us... whatever that means. :)

Stuff in Yard Sale
It's time once again to clear out the clutter in the Birdsong shop, so there's actually some cool stuff in the Yard Sale (bottom of the inventory page) well worth checking out. There'll be more in the updates to come as well, as more boxes of "forgotihads" are opened. They just collect around me; always have. It's nifty stuff though, and you know darn well it's gonna beat that barf stained bib, chipped "We Love Beavertown" cup and Celene Dion cassette from that last yard sale you went to!   

The Fire Bass
Ok, entries are slowing down on the raffle to help the Bastrop wildfire victims and I'm only about halfway to where I want to be. Certainly not complaining, very very grateful (I tend to be a "cup half full" kind of guy) BUT if you have food, cars, and a roof overhead you HAVE $20 to donate to someone that lost their house. Is there beer in the fridge? Smokes in the purse? Subscriptions in the mailbox? You're doing pretty good. Now cough it up - it's the most Christian / Buddhist / Judaic / Hindu / Eastern / Western / tribal circle / brotherhood of man / anyone I missed / just general all-around good person thing you can do...

***Golden Rule cosmic smiley face stamp on the forehead - one size fits all!*** 

And if nothing else moves you, would you buy this bass for 20 bucks? 

This isn't the lottery, there aren't millions of tickets. It's $20 and you have a decent chance of actually winning the thing! And I've set the whole thing up so every penny you give gets passed along... no middle men, no administration costs, I'm even eating the (insert name of former preferred online pay service) fees. EVERY RED CENT entered for the red bass goes to folks who need them, like for real, like "oh crap - everything I had is gone." And my reputation will tell you if I say I'm gonna take it there myself, there will be four tire tracks and a wisp of blue smoke from old Joe in the air and the cavalry will be headed down the road, brothers and sisters. I'd like to draw later this month and take the trip about this time next month. Thank you so much to all who have given and entered! 

Next week, I'm going to give you a tour of the tables, a briefing of the benches, a... a.. a sighting of the stations! Should be fun, who knows what'll be on them and whose meaty forearms or epic beard will sneak into the shots. Right now it's off through the hills in the land shark!



Listening to:
The Ed Bickert Trio Out Of The Past (my favorite guitar player ever - check him out on the Paul Desmond stuff too.)
Grateful Dead From The Mars Hotel
Fu Manchu King Of The Road


~


September 30th

From the desk of Scott...

I always tell people who think I work for myself "Not really, I really work for the coolest people on the planet." That'd be YOU.

The fund is coming together, we're about a third of the way already to what I'd like to have to offer. I want enough to spread around over there, there's so much loss to help with and I really want to plant as much "good seed" as possible. Thank you ALL, especially all 30 or 40 of you who have pitched in so far! Some of you for multiple entries - remember, for every $20 your name is put in the hat once, and it multiplies along with whatever you kick in.   

MAJOR Birdsong collector piece up for grabs in inventory... 


"Wyatt's bass" from 2007. There is no other Birdsong like this, and if I had what the guy needs right now it wouldn't have even made it up to the site. One of my personal favorite builds EVER... details.

Here are some sunrise pictures from the drive in this morning...

So magical. You mean I get to build instruments, know all these great people, AND get to see this in the morning?! I should just genuflect my way out to the homestead tonight. But that'd look really strange and it's a hell of a walk. :)




Listening to:
Ramones Rocket To Russia
Pelican What We All Come To Need
...and some Sonny Rollins







~




September 23rd

Last week's missions were accomplished. I'll tell you a little because I do feel I work for you... so lest you think I just bailed to the Bahamas or something, I'll tell you: I was working on "Two and a half men"... no, no, not the TV show; two and a half men... I'll tell you about them.


Man number one was one good man who passed away. Jamie's stepfather Toni Marchetti battled the "Big C" with good spirit and his usual vigor but his time came and I had to go out of town for a few days to pay respects to him & be with the families. Toni was a highly noted rice scientist, sang barbershop quartet, grew gardens & made birdhouses. I'll never forget going to my first Marchetti family gathering... the man had strong, strong genes of a pure strain, and I walked into a house full of men & women, boys & girls of all ages, that all looked just like him. Rooms full of laughing, joyous people. This time there wasn't quite as much laughter; but a room full of very grateful people for having had him in their world; some his lineage, but all touched by the man's goodness. He will be missed.  

Man number two is another good man that did NOT pass away, through tours of duty, a lifetime of wild hot rodding, and unfortunately some strokes. An early Birdsong family member we bonded with that, since I was going out of town for a few days, I carved some extra time on the way out for a leeeetle detour to spend an afternoon with. Jerry has three purple hearts and one of pure gold; his health confines him to a care facility and he doesn't have a whole lot of family nearby. It has been on my personal bucket list to go sign the man out, put him in the passenger seat of something old & American with V8 power (preferably Mopar), toss him my spare mirrored shades, and go tearin' around town to his favorite places. Give him an afternoon to remember. 

Of course the facility he's at happens to be in Wichita, Kansas... so I saddled up the '79 300 with the 360 cop motor in it, and with ears on, some great live Grateful Dead blasting and high beams a-blazin' that detour was taken. And I mean taken; I believe the modern day vernacular is "owned." A large stretch of Interstate 35 was devoured by a great white land shark 18 feet long with gills in the side. It had to be; this was the moment. The circles all lined up. If not now, when? One should only put off bucket list stuff for so long, and I think the universe might just give you a little bonus point or two for knocking one off the list on the way to a funeral. So Jerry had a great car-fun-filled day, and a couple of days later way over in East Texas, Mr. Marchetti had a beautiful service. So that was that. Oh wait, that's only TWO...

The other half a man? Well, that's what I feel like to be around guys like Jerry and Toni. I'm that half man, striving to accomplish and mean even half as much to even half as many. So I worked on him too as we cannonballed to Wichita in said land shark, more formally named the "USS Ricardo Montalban." Half man got some windows-down, stereo-on, V8-taching-3500, run-with-the-truckers highway soul medicine. It helped me bring my best to the good people and the heavy situations, and it helps me stay tuned up to give YOU my best.

So on the one hand I wish I could say it was a vacation, but it wasn't; they were missions. Honored to be a part of them... and speaking of bringing one's best to good people in heavy situations, as you probably noticed above, we're doing a special thing for the local wildfire victims. Check it out & please enter to WIN. You're really going to help someone who needs it, who lost a home. EVERY PENNY you spend on entries I'm personally going to pass along to hurting individuals. This is really going to happen and I don't care if the Taxman won't cut me a break 'cause it won't be a legitimate "donation" through some organization or whatever. Don't care. It's not about that. I'm going there in person once we have enough to do some real good, I'm going to look these people in the eyes, and WE together will reseed their gardens with HOPE. And someone's going to win a kick ass Birdsong bass for stepping up! I'll keep you posted...

Lutherie (making musical instruments) is like life. There are terrifying moments, difficult times, and hours of monotony in-between the magic. Some of that magic is really seeing how far you've come despite how far left there is to go, or those ten extra steps that just came along with the latest challenge. It's the realizing in the moment that something's happening through you. Something of good (ideally) is becoming, something of help is manifesting; something beautiful is coming alive. You keep walking; you keep carving. You surround yourself with meaning, you sanctify your sweat by devotion to some high standard, you build it one step at a time and - whether it's a rebuilt home, or a child with light in their eyes, or a business, or a piano concerto, a hot rod, your service or the homestead fence or that plate of food - or a bass guitar - you sing your song. Work from inside you outwards; from your essence. Material food comes from the outside and goes inside to feed you; what you bring from inside of you outward into whatever you do feeds the world in a much deeper way. 

 




Listening to:
The Grateful Dead Soundtrack To The Grateful Dead Movie (all 5 CDs)
Cal Tjader Soul Sauce
Sonny Rollins' 1st 2 albums
Bedouin Soundclash Sounding a Mosaic
Zen Guerilla Trance States In Tongues

"Thank you, mighty land shark."


~





Update for week ending Friday Sept. 16th


MESSAGE FROM CAPTAIN BIRDSONG:

Greetings fair citizens of the Birdsong Nation ~ there won't be an update this week, as late in the week when I usually do it, 2 important missions will have me away... and right now I'm busting tuches ("tukhuss", butt for the non-Yiddish portion of our circle) on basses. Thank you all for your patience, be well, and remain cool. ~S.




September 9th



For those lost
For those who gave
For those who serve



~



September 2nd

In related-to-Birdsong news, woodworking side o'the shop HMIC Jake Goede has an amazing guitar from his workshop... Claro Walnut on chambered Alder (with a little real wood character, like we like it!), Maple & Walnut neck, with white Ebony (sliced out of the light part of an Ebony board) fretboard & hand made tailpiece, gold hardware & gold handwound pickups... it'll be $2295 when it's done, or you can reserve it for half down... it's about a month out. It's going to be a beauty, that's for sure! I'm happy to handle the transaction through Birdsong while he's getting a new site together... hey, what kind of man won't help a brother out? The guy helps sweat MY dream into being every day at Birdsong. AND I have a couple of his guitars AND they are amazing AND Jake's a hell of a good guy. Want all of that mojo goodness with six strings? Here you go.




Jack of all trades 3D who makes the Bboxes these days has three more up & ready for purchase on his site... check out www.dddodd.com. Check these out!

Meanwhile I, Scott, nutty professor & head cheese have a couple of non-Birdsong instruments for sale... here's the first one, a Stanley Clarke Spellbinder II prototype in near mint condition, with paperwork from the original builder. It needed some fret & wiring work to make it all the way right, which we took care of. Plays & sounds GREAT. $2500 or make me an offer, I need parts to bring an old Road Runner back to life! "Meep, meep!" More pics of the bass on the inventory page...


So I'm looking through the email... 
Evidently I'm overweight, because I have nine hundred caring individuals offering me plans to lose up to 5 pounds a day. Problem with that is I'd be just a pile of sweatpants, old Birdsong shirt & mirrored sunglasses in under a month. But on the bright side, there are a handful of folks all over the world who'd like to include me in on their little bank transfer schemes for several million dollars, so that's looking up. (Sarcasm mode turned off). You, sirs, have obviously mistaken me for a moron. An abundance of offers of cheap meds, and my favorite "replica watch" SPAM ever: "Your life may be complete shit but at least you can have a decent watch"... now that's classic. If it all were like that, I'd read it for entertainment. That's just prime.

Lots of stuff in Greek I'm evidently going to miss out on... and all sorts of fake scam payment issues and cancellations from transactions and companies I don't have anything to do with, guess that'll all sort itself out... Ahh, inquiries, and happy new Birdsong clients! Yaaay!! Hmmm... offers of incredible apps (I don't even understand those, sorry - my phone is still a telephone), a one day project management seminar... promo offers from every company I've ever bought car parts from... 

...and news that Jim Erickson died.

Most of you don't know Jim Erickson, but he was one of those people you know for a time and the little things they share with you, by the time your path is 20 years on, are epic pillars of what got you where you are. They were just little things... 

The way of laying out the pentatonic scales (major and minor) up & down the fretboard using simple patterns that can be absorbed by a student in 5 minutes - that I taught to HUNDREDS who probably thought I was some sort of Guru gifting them the magic key to instant lead guitar enlightenment. That was Jim's, he wrote it out on scrap paper for me when we worked at The Music Store in Round Rock TX together years ago. In fact, his whole approach to giving lessons was my blueprint. 

How to keep track of the "one" in Jazz... because if you turned him loose on guitar, or drums, or anything else for that matter, that downbeat was out the window in the first four bars. He LOVED to take it "out" be it beat, rhythmic accent, chords, leads... and I think some of that stuck too. 

And... how to laugh most of the time even amidst chaos. I learned it by watching him juggle a shop counter, lesson schedule, and nutty people around him simultaneously. An invaluable skill!



A teacher without actually having been a formal teacher to me; a valued musical influence without having made music together beyond him laying down some empty drum tracks for me to layer stuff on, and the occasional no-show in his schedule where I'd jump from behind the counter into his lesson room and say "Ok, show me something"; a true inspiration in areas of life that would sustain me in many ways in the years to follow.

He always had production companies & educational things going on, bent on helping musicians and artists get it together. He'd worked for record companies. He'd done it all. And he played all the time, and could play anything. Here's a bit of him on jazzy guitar: http://www.balconytv.com/v/the-judith-miller-band 

Jim Erickson, born near Detroit, died in Round Rock Texas, sleep easy my friend. You lived well, filled the world with music, and went quickly. Your work is now your students'... My last student, we recently finished his debut CD, and he just left today for Berklee in Boston to make music his life's path; so shoes will be filled in the universe's own ever-compensating way and there is peace to be found in that.

Are you ever really gone if your work is carried on?



Listening to:
Mark Deschner Day After Yesterday
Neil Young & Crazy Horse Zuma
Bruce Springsteen Nebraska
Jim Erickson's drum tracks which I will have to do something grand with now!



~



August 26th

PRESS UPDATE: Interview in www.notreble.com  

Local bulletin board... 
Brady Muckelroy has opened a guitar & bass repair and music lesson shop in Buda, between Austin & San Marcos. More info here: www.bradybass.com 
A local man named Brian emailed and needs a bass player for his country band in Lockhart, just outside of San Marcos. If that'd be you, check in & I'll forward his info to you.
Sarah Jarosz, from Wimberley, the little girl with the mandolin in the Friday night bluegrass jam out back of the catfish place... made the cover of Acoustic Guitar. Congrats Sarah!
Our own Jake Goede, head of the shop at Birdsong, has his latest guitar coming together of Claro Walnut & Alder, Maple & Walnut neck, with white Ebony (sliced out of the light part of an Ebony board) fretboard & hand made tailpiece, gold hardware & gold handwound pickups, and... uh... oh you want pics? Tune in next week!

And we here at the little workshop just received 2 Fusions as part of a trade-in deal... a 2010 and a 2011, including "THE" Maple ad bass seen in Bass Player!

MORE INFO ON THESE ON THE INVENTORY PAGE... $1750 each first come first served starting..... now! Email me (scott "at" birdsongguitars.com) as I'm out of the shop this weekend.

I consume music like food. I have lived & breathed it for going on 30 years now; before I had even notion of a "daily practice" it WAS my daily practice. When I had no social circle, it WAS my social circle. When I didn't really have much hope or direction, it FED me hope and LED me... I feel like a building with rooms full of gifts now and music is the mortar that holds the bricks together. So the other day on the way home I wanted to get a book on the Grateful Dead experience... sometimes I get a hankering for specific tastes, like "Wow could I go for Chinese food!" and the flavor was "Tomorrow early morning on the porch reading another's perspectives, feelgood sunrise music, and something having to do with the Grateful Dead." It might have just as easily been "Sacred chanting from India, strawberries, and the latest Hot Rod Deluxe" or "Coltrane and orange juice with a side of Telecaster in the lap." Some of the combo platters of my days might seem bizarre to others, but they're all perfectly normal to me and I like to think the results speak for themselves. It's like Keith Richards says about getting the chemical recipe right for you, only without the groupies and smack. 

And the Dead hold a fascination for me that I came to later, through the Doug Irwin guitars I always thought were wondrous supernatural bits of luthiery, whatever that fat guy was noodling out of them. (And here come the emails...) Hey I like Garcia just fine and good Dead is great music, but I came of age around young people that would start twirling at a 10th gen cassette of him passing wind through a kazoo. And I don't roll like that. So later, once removed from any kind of scene, I came to appreciate the music and the intent. And the Irwin guitars. And the scene, from a distance... I like other cultures. So a book about recollections of that culture hit the spot, now I just needed some feelgood music. I have to have my feelgood music and it could be anything from Nirvana's "Bleach" to Segovia, Mazzy Star to Mariachi music. I know what I need when I see it. I was going to head to Sundance Records on the way out of San Marcos (Texas that is, sunshine, funky old record shop, seeker in old and burbling car), where the Muse has fed me for the past 22 or so years. But on my way out of Half Price Books, I was stopped in my tracks. There sat a box set of Dixie Land Jazz. I said to myself "Self, that'd hit the spot." 

Going closer, it was a 10 CD box set of original, funky old recordings... 10 CDs... for $8.48. Now I don't know about you, Dixieland Jazz might make you want to run around in circles 'til you keel over or whatever, but I like the stuff. It's just about impossible to feel bad while it's playing... not that I felt bad, but you don't wait 'til you're sick to start taking the vitamins, you know? So that little box was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLD and I've been groovin' on it since. Lo-fi sound and every cliché muted trumpet and splash cymbal hit you could want. The real old recordings. Not like those "Ktel presents your favorite 70s hits performed by Peter Heathen and the New Amazingness!" where you missed that last part, bought the damn thing and went "Hey, that ain't Steve Miller!" No no no, these are the real deal. It's GREAT and it's good to know a bargain is still out there that doesn't involve sweatshops and big disappointment when it magically turns into a pile of cheap crap upon actual use. This is exactly what it said, and a supreme bargain I wanted to share. I hope you find whatever your equivalent is... or it finds you!


And lo it cometh to pass, mana once moreth doth hath landeth in the palm of thyne hand, oh weary pilgrimeth...

Hey, the first person to email me the correct brand & model of the amp in the picture will get a couple of pieces of Birdsong memorabilia sent to 'em... 

And to all of our friends & relations up the East Coast, batten down the hatches and we'll keep you in our thoughts. 



Listening to:
Dixieland Jazz out the keister!! Yipee!!!
...and a bunch of Sonny Rollins



~



August 19th

Had a great conversation with a client about "simple systems that work"; like eating right and working yourself physically, you feel better; it's a simple system that works. A Birdsong is like that, there's a deliberate influence of a sort of a kind of circular all-seeding all-feeding oneness to things. Which is influenced by the sort of a kind of circular all-seeding all-feeding oneness to life when it's set up as... a simple system. It can't help but come through. 

Like an old truck's durability (a simple system of strength) or a sports car's ergonomics (a simple system of controls). Sometimes the whole shebang is one bigger simple system, a soup of simultaneous synchronicities coming together... that circle is what I shoot for, how each part works, then how they work together, then how that new whole functions as a component in the greater whole of the player and the context. 

And then we "Google Earth" back a few more notches into the still bigger picture, the system of purpose and meaning, the system of "am I doing with the tools I was handed honorable work" - that's a system. You're gifted with insight, you're blessed (or lucked into, however you see it) with tools, you're honed to notice opportunity, and the fuel is your action and the integrity your intent. That engine either runs or it doesn't... and if it runs it powers other things... and a simple system made of strong and selected components put together with a goal in mind might just have an advantage over something more haphazardly slapped together. Sometimes it just FLIES. 

So next time you look at some little circle of cause-and-effect, or notice a good machine, or pluck the string and feel its vibration... think about it. A simple system that works. Dress it up however you want, but anything with that concept at its core is bound to serve well.



Listening to:
Mark Deschner Day After Yesterday
Allman Bros. The Fillmore Concerts, disc 1
The Wallflowers Bringing Down The Horse
Bad Company 10 from 6



~


August 12th

When you spend as much time and devotion outwards towards musical pursuits as I do, it's good to replenish. Here are a few ways the music is refueling me this week...

Helping other people's music to happen is the core of my existence. The latest humble service in the "Producer" hatted moments is the debut album by Mark Deschner ~ I got to see him perform at his CD release party this week, and the kid's just got it. I politely (I hope) deflected all the praise over the album's sound and Mark's blossoming as a musician and writer... all I did was water good seed in fertile ground. I mean, no matter what your station in life, if you have a cup of water that somehow keeps filling up and you walk along and see a good seed in fertile ground, what are you SUPPOSED to do? To me, that's easy math to add up. So I water where I can, and I'm a honored to be a little part of helping to happen whatever beauty then enriches other lives. "Day After Yesterday" is the CD; great songs, kick butt guitar playing, in the John Mayer vein. I play drums, some bass & a little guitar on it... all the bass on the album is Birdsong Cortobass. In fact, it's the very 2007 in inventory right now!



Remember his name, and if you want a CD I can ship you one (or two, or whatever). Use the "Buy It Now" button below, $15 each includes shipping in the continental USA. He's off to the Berklee College of Music in Boston in a few weeks to start his own life and I wish him all the best. It's all about the ripples.

Listening to:
Soundgarden Superunknown
John Coltrane Heavyweight Champion box set
Thunder in the sky... I'm out of here!


PS I'm not going to mention any names, but somebody got hooked on the way out the door... that bungee keeps it from blowing open. Guess who put it there. Same guy. Now that's funny, I don't care who you are! 



~

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