swampapple slim

all systems go thanks, Slim

Yeah, we got lots in common.at age thirty I chose to live out a musical commitment ; leaving my wife at home nearly everynight. She was my second wife and knew I was serious about music. When it took me to the West. Coast, she couldn't wait three whole seems for me to get home, but I came home 5 days early and found her exboyfriend in my house. The rest...well as my body is getting tired, I stopped cutting trees to support my musical habit and began to put things in perspective. Wanting to perform has led me here.Big Jack Johnson showed me his CBG then blew my mind with it. The chords are getting hard to hold on the Uke...check my YouTube .channel .. bet we know the same standards and could play right off the cuff... yer new friend. Thanks!

Now the best or rather, finest endorsement any musician can have is from someone like The Rev Billy Gibbons .....I can only imagine what that could do for a player like me....lucky dawg. Maybe he wants to come and jam with some Original ZZ Top fans.....one can dream....that's how I got so far away in the first place....

BTW, my Magnatone is a class A tube combo12" with a 40(?) Watt amp. All original.Blackplate RCA 6L6 ( I think )2 power tubes and great old wire...a great player and the Only tube guy in Hawaii ( my opinion ) Dr Jeff of Jeff's Vintage Sound has it ...a cap replacement I guess it was shocking the heck outs me playin harp. It is not square like the other Troubador from 1950.... the best I can tell it was closer to 48.. you may have seen the case upside down in really old theaters for the slant cab was maybe an old suitcase mold.....? Joy Theater I remember seeing them. My friend Denny Mellor told me about the LA company making speakers first. Mine is one of these, from info so far. Pix are in dead PC.....

Yeah, I was thinking about your comments and my poor thumb keeps coming up....I saw some footage of T Bone, Albert King, and Jimi Hendrix ( oh yeah) have the thumb sticking out, too. You just lookin for a place to put it. Then there's the utility factor. I saw Johnny Johnson from a few feet in the wings...he played the 5th & 6 th and let the rest of them cats play the root im talking his left hand. Then my first time being serious with my Und. The thumb is sticking out. I see that ( mine is tuned like the four bottom string on a guitar, I think.) Anyway, the flat7th is right there on top. So, I can only shape my hand to reach the IV and V chords....the sixth chord (13 th w/ flat7th) on the I is considered proper...for swing, jazz, and uptown Blues. Now the 9th chord I use as a movable IV and V is only accessible to me with both index and middle finger,sideways to make it...also see that I use my thumb to lock the chord in. Ooh. I don't play stringer...well. I guess I do now. I played so much music it became a non thinking process whenever possible. Even choice of material. This can be disturbing to a player that doesn't know ( because I didn't) what way im.going to use the uptown changes, if at all this verse...etc. now if I get a gig somewhere, ill do the service of drafting out a progression and stick to the arrangements ...most of the time. I like my spontaneously thrown breaks and stops and love to swap twos and fours......all with way plenty of queue time! If I get across that way in 2013 im going to use a pickup band. These are fairly well known concepts and I see no reason to drag a bunch of recently freed (temporarily albeit ) middle aged winers....no winos.no whinos either. Otherwise if you wait till the second set and remain conscious ....your game. I stay all messed up physically, so its an ...I feel confident enough, but will the body agree? Hope this does not further confuse the issue.the thumb has been used to get home when all else failed

Supposed to say Uke not und I never played und before.

Hello Slim,

Well, in open tuning, you create a lot of sympathetic tones due to the fact the other open strings are ringing too. Kind of like how a Sitar works. This might account for the overtones you are hearing. Besides this, I am not quite sure what you are referring to. Is it possible that you can record it and capture this audio effect? Enjoy the mystery, Keni Lee     

Slim,  I've done wood, bone and zero frets.  For a zero fret, I use a jumbo fret for the zero (nut).  I use a pointy file to lightly groove in where the strings will sit. 

I often have to use some kind of string guide or screw between the zero and the tuners or the strings will pop off their spots.  Zero frets were used on some cheap guitars and they are quick and easy.  I get good sound quality.  Got to have enough break or angle from the zero/nut to the tuner. 

Good: they make for low action if that is what you are after and they are easy.  They are not as good as a well designed bone or hardwood nut.

Slim, that IS that.