Harmony

I recently acquired a 1957 Harmony 1215 Archtop Guitar from my father, and I am in the process of repairing it. As you can see, the guitar suffered some heat damage, and the top and bottom was slightly bowed and unglued. After a bit of research to confirm it wasn't a million dollar vintage axe, I figured that for right now I would simply glue it back together, clean her up and re-string her.


I removed the hardware, which isn't in bad condition, and measured the action at the 12th fret. A massive 9/32" from the 12th fret to the bottom of the low E string. WOW!!! The top has warped and separated from the body, pushing up the bridge. I'll need to shave down the bridge to get that down to at least 5/32", preferably 3/32" if I can keep it from buzzin'. There is a lot of room on that bridge to adjust it higher, so I'll need to shave 3/16" off to start.

The finish isn't too bad, although there is plenty of electrical tape residue all over (no, I do not know why) and a few chips to go with the crackling. The frets will clean up nicely with a bit of painters tape masking and 0000 steel wool. I hope to clean up the nastiest spots, oil up the fretboard, and install the missing pickguard.
I found some good resources at the Guitar Restoration Forum, Stewart MacDonald and Frets.com that are very helpful. There is also a pick guard on eBay that I'll need to get.... should look real nice, and hopefully play well.

California

We had to make a return trip to the Hollywood Guitar Center. The have a fantastic vintage room, and if you have the cash and a desire to play something unique, they may just have what you are looking for. I called Jason to talk to him about his dream mid-sixties fender P-bass, but someone else in the store wanted to try out a vintage amp.....maxed out on the volume. We found a 1967 P-bass, and some nice early 70 bass guitars. Some of the guitars went up to $40k. I even found my old Fender amp that I once had and sold for $100.....too bad it was now worth $1,800.

California

Fri 10/30	Sat 10/31	Sun 11/1	Mon 11/2	Tues 11/3	Wed 11/4	Thr 11/5	Fri 11/6
Flight to California	Donuts Swap Meet	Disney	Disney	Malibu		Beverly Hills
	Cemetery Movie			Santa Monica	4-8 Cruise Night		Flight Home

Saturday 10/31- Hollywood forever cemetery: 6000 Santa Monica Boulevard at gower (directions)
gates 5:30 pm movie 7:00 pm
no reservation necessary
$10 donation tickets available at gate

Wednesday 11/4 - The Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum is open Wednesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., PST. Current NHRA members are admitted free and Auto Club members enjoy a $2 discount. Admission for nonmembers is $7 for adults, $5 for seniors 60 and older, $5 for juniors six through 15, and free for children under the age of five. The Museum is also available for special group tours. The Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum is located at Fairplex Gate 1, 1101 W. McKinley Ave. in Pomona. For further information on special exhibits, museum events or directions, call 909/622-2133 or visit http://museum.nhra.com.
Our “Twilight Cruise” is run by the Cal-Rods Car Club on behalf of the Museum, and they do a super job! All 1970 and earlier rods, customs, classics, and muscle cars are invited to join us in the Museum parking lot at Fairplex from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Twilight Cruise admission is free, and all in attendance may visit the Museum at no charge.

Hollywood Hot Rods - 40 East Palm Ave, Burbank, CA 91502
818-842-6900

Donut Derelicts Saturday morning in Huntington Beach and Irvine they have car shows that run from about 6-9 am.
9015 Adams Ave, Huntington Beach, CA 92646
949-859-8549

Los Angeles City College Swap Meet
4133 Marathon St, Los Angeles CA, 90017
Take the Hollywood Freeway 101 to the Vermont exit. Go two blocks north to Marathon St. and turn right (east). The swap meet will be on your left.

High Voltage Tattoo
1259 n. La Brea Ave.
W. Hollywood, CA 90038
We are located at 1259 N. La Brea Avenue, W. Hollywood, CA 90038 on the corner of Fountain Avenue. We are the yellow building with the big red letters that say TATTOO. Street parking is available just don't park at Ralph's because they will tow.

Skull Pile

I wanted to give a little more detail about how we finished the skulls. After removing the plaster skulls from the molds, we let them sit for a day to harden. Then they get a few coats of latex house paint, white on the bottom, and tan on the top, making sure to get into all the recesses and cover thoroughly. I then took some black spray paint and gave a quick blast into the eye sockets, nose, jaws, and any other deep pockets. A final coat of eggshell/off-white is applied with a dry brush technique so as to only cover the top surface. You don't want the light color going into the cracks and deep recesses...like the spaces between the teeth. Finally we give the skull a quick spray with green primer and black spray paint from about 2 feet away so as to lightly dust it with color.

Now what do you do with 30 plaster skulls? You could make a pile and put the smoke machine behind them like I did. Thanks to all the help from Sarah, we think we have a cool prop for the Haunted Graveyard

!

Haunted Graveyad 2007

I cast my last eight skulls this afternoon after work, and was feeling so festive that I just had to start setting up for this year. I put two dozen tombstones up with a few lights, added some old bones and a few creepy critters, and now it is starting to look like Halloween! This is my favorite home-made prop....made of a shepherds hook, some weed mat, and old mask, coat hangers, paper mache, and a bit of tlc. His latern lights up, as do his eyes!

I also have two other props set out so far this year, but I am waiting to put the pile of skulls out till Halloween!

History of Halloween

The origins of Halloween go back to pre-Christian times, to when Celtic groups in areas now known as Ireland, Scotland and Wales celebrated their New Year’s Day on November 1. This day was called “All Saints’ Day”, and October 31 was called “All Hallows’ Eve”. A great fire festival called “Samhein”on All Hallows Eve signaled the close of the harvest and the initiation of the cold and dark season of winter. All hearth fires in homes were extinguished, then re-lit from communal bonfires.

On All Hallows’ Eve, it was believed that the doors opened between the world of the dead and the world of the living. All the spirits of the people who died during the previous year were thought to be traveling from their resting place to their place in the next world. The Celts placed food and drink out to sustain the spirits, and people concealed their identity with disguises to supposedly escape harm while they walked from house to house to enjoy food and drink. Many people also carved turnips to represent faces, marking the origination of today’s jack-o-lanterns.

When Christianity took root in northern Europe, these folk customs were incorporated into a Christian framework. Samhein became All Saints Day, a day to commemorate all dead saints and martyrs. All Saints Day was sometimes known as All Hallows’ Day, and the night before, All Hallow’s Eve, or Hallow e’en, which we today call Halloween.

The Celts brought their folk customs to America with them, where they took root and evolved over the years. Halloween was originally celebrated in America as a harvest festival. Carved turnips became carved pumpkins, which grew in abundance in America. Colorful costumes replaced disguises, and trick-or-treat evolved from presenting food and drink to the wandering spirits.

Courtesy The National Confectioners Association

Halloween 2007

This year we are planning something new for Halloween, although we won't be setting anything out this year till a few days before Halloween. I tried to start the graveyard this weekend, but on the first night, vandals knocked everything over, and our displays are starting to look too nice to me to be tackled.


What we are planning are skulls.......mountains of skulls! We started a week ago by making our own molds for casting.

After painting the skulls with liquid latex (about ten coats over an entire afternoon) and surviving the ammonia fumes, we had to create two mold boxes and start creating plaster skulls.
We then paint them with some left-over house paint and spray paint. So far we have 20!!!