...when I was a kid.

I am middle aged, quickly approaching the top of the hill in 18 months. After that, I will be "over the hill" and be able to spout off tidbits of wisdom about my experience that know one cares about. So, I will describe some of the things that were different "when I was a kid."

Number one, as I tell my IntroGeog class, there was broken glass every where. Bits of glass from discarded bottles were strewn across our gutters, streets, creeks, and even the beach. I loved finding bits of colored glass worn down by the seashore. Each summer I would get at least one bad cut on a bare foot from broken glass.

Next, I am absolutely sure that there were a lot more bees when I was little. I would usually get stung 2-3 times each year! I can't remember the last time I heard someone talk about being stung by a honeybee. Something is wrong with the bees.

Finally, and I am not kidding, there used to be a lot more white dog poo. As a kid, I was fascinated by the process of how a dog mird changes into a crumbly white substance. Due to its ubiquitous nature, we even had a word for it: PURVY. (There is no "e" in that word.) My cousin Bradly told me that the Egyptians used it to make the blocks of the great pyramids to stick together. When I was a kid, there was purvy in every yard. I can't remember the last time I saw purvy...

--gh

By request

There was a request to put the Multicultural Revolution on a shirt, so here is one for the ladies...


...and one for the dudes.


--gh

Phases

One of the things I like about the Fender Stratocaster is when the pickups are out of phase in positions 2 and 4. This hollowed out nasal sound sounds good clean and dirty. This is an electrical change by switching the leads. But if you switch the leads on a PAF-style humbucking pickup, you will make the cover hot, and add a lot of noise. Kind of defeats the whole humbucking point.

The closest that you can get to that sound is to take one pickup apart and flip the magnet around. No need to post pictures, you can read all about that process here. Also, no need to try and record what this sounds like, because you can see a demonstration here.

What I am hearing is very similar to what he has. The slight difference could be his 1965 BFDR! Man, I could be jealous of that amp. Thinking positively, since those designs are in the public domain now, I think I will just build one.

This pickup modification is usually called the Peter Green mod. Peter Green was in the original Fleetwood Mac lineup, you know, when they were a real rock band. The modification is partly apocryphal, did he just flip the neck pickup, or did he flip the magnet in the pickup. Was this deliberate, or a serendipitous accident? Since he went on an LSD trip and failed to return fully, the world may never know. Oh, but subsequent analysis of his guitar proved that the magnet was indeed reversed...

--gh