Something to Fret About

Posted on April 22, 2017 by Richmedia — No Comments ↓

Let’s Give Them Something to Fret About…

Something to fret about:

Hmmm…… Our Founders, particularly George Washington warned about foreign entanglements.

Martin guitars with rosewood fingerboards

CITES is an acronym for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. At a conference held in late 2016, this body ruled that all rosewood species of the genus Dalbergia, and also three species of bubinga, are to be protected. Since Brazilian Rosewood is already under CITES protection, this means that now all rosewood is protected.

Is CITES a treaty that I’ve never heard of? Did the Senate advise and consent? Somehow, I doubt it*.

Rosewood and ebony are used in most if not all types of stringed instruments for the fret-boards, not for only guitars. The fret-board (or key-board, if you prefer) affects the resonance and sound quality of the instrument. While I’ve seen maple on an electric guitar, I’ve never seen maple on a violin fret-board. I admit I’m not an expert, there may in fact be maple necks on violins, I just haven’t heard or seen of any.

This seems on first blush like the eco-nazi stuff that Gibson experienced back in 2012 or thereabouts.

New CITES Regulation Impacts International Import/Export of Rosewood…

From Sweetwater, the major online musical instrument and music production retailer in the world. They are located just west of Fort Wayne, IN. I found this in my inbox, since I am a customer.

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Rich TAkes! On Tech. Import Audio Workflow

Posted on December 16, 2014 by Richmedia — No Comments ↓

I was checking out Audacity for ripping LPs to iTunes. Does anyone have any comments or suggestions for doing this?

gc16035_imic_1 Okay, I’ll bite!

My major computer hobby for the last three years has been importing and correcting analog audio. I’ve just about ran out of stuff to import. I’ve found that importing cassettes is far easier than records, either it works or it doesn’t. The major defect with older cassettes is that the tape head pressure pad likes to fall off, the glue fails. They are easy enough to glue back on. Superglue would likely work, although I’ve just been dabbing it with silicon caulk and letting it cure for a while. I only need one good go around anyway. The other major issue is tape drag, this often manifests after a few minutes or so, due to cheap cartridges from the plant. Double play tapes seem more susceptible to this issue too. I’m not sure if there is a fix for that, I’ve just been pitching them after a couple of failed attempts.

A few words about equipment,

it doesn’t have to be expensive, although it helps if it once wasn’t cheap.

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RichTAkes! on the Beatles, 50 Years Ago Today

Posted on February 9, 2014 by richmedia1 — 2 Comments ↓

Fifty years ago today, I was 7 1/2 years old, I didn’t give the Beatles invasion much thought. I wasn’t really into music much at all, but I remember liking the Tokens cover of The Lion Sleeps Tonight, and Neal Sedaka’s Breaking Up Is Hard to Do.

This was cutting edge rock and roll at the time. Gramps had fun making fun of the Beatle’s haircuts, and the lyrical stylings of “yeah, yeah, yeah”

I didn’t pay much attention to all of the Beatle-mania surrounding us until years letter when I heard “Paperback Writer” and didn’t know who did it.

It was fifty years ago today

Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play

They’ve been going in and out of style

But they’re guaranteed to raise a smile

So may I introduce to you

The act you’ve known for all these years

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

Fifty years ago today, the Beatles landed in New York and launched the British Invasion.

We needed invading. A little background:

Elvis was drafted for service in the armed forces in 1958. In 1959, rock&roll died.

In 1964, rock and roll was nearly dead. The pop scene featured some doo-wop and girl-groups, but mostly a lot of “folk”, since the music industry decided that’s what the kids liked, and they pushed tunes like “Puff, the Magic Dragon” images of the Opium Wars be damned.