Designing a Driving Range Club Carrier
Current SavingCymbria Serial in Category Fashion & Design
Learn how to apply the ‘design process’ to your own everyday difficulties by tagging along for the hilarious journey from ideation to fabrication of an innovative golf club carrier/bag. Join me as I explore variations in design and construction, but just don’t rat me out to Walmart about the… (you’ll find out in Part Three ~wink)
Part One: Problem is defined, along with the criteria for a successful solution
Part Two: Initial ‘blank canvas’ ideation
Part Three: Legal lines are crossed, all in the name of progress (of course)
Before you can play the guitar…
Summer 2008 SavingCymbria Serial in Category Musical Musings
A desperate birthday visit to a pawn shop leads yours truly on a bizarre rain-drenched Odyssey through Calgary’s musical underworld. Find out the strange surprise that was waiting for me up that narrow flight of stairs…
June 26, 2008 at 2:40 pm |
Now that you’ve gone to a pawn shop in real life, you should go look at the late Bo Diddley’s scene as a pawnbroker in Trading Places, when Dan Akroyd tries (unsuccessfully) to get more money out of him for an expensive Swiss watch…
I bought the guitar I still use (a Sigma) at the guitar store at my college. I think I knew two chords on the guitar at that time: C and G
I took some time to think about it, and anyone who knew anything about guitars (including my songwriting partner) urged me to buy a Yamaha instead. Even when I went back to make the actual purchase, the sales guy who’d been pushing Sigmas suddenly suggested I also look at an Alvarez, so at the last minute I was confused…
But that all went away when I picked up the Sigma again and made one triumphant strum. The sound of theC chord ringing out convinced me, and when my songwriting partner came into town and played it himself, he liked it so much, he went out and bought one himself. But his didn’t end up quite as nice as mine, so I lucked out, I guess…
Good luck on your epic guitar journey…
Type Writer
June 27, 2008 at 11:30 am |
That movie scene was part of my pawn shop education!
My flute was a Yamaha, and just like the guitar, when I first held it I knew it was mine. The way I see it, finding the “right” instrument is as much about fate and destiny as finding Mr/Mrs “right”. I knew at first hug with my guitar, and you knew after your first conversation lol. But you can never force true love. Your friend tried, and had to learn the hard way that with twins, one’s always hotter ; )
June 30, 2008 at 9:09 am |
That movie scene was part of my pawn shop education!
so you already know that “in Philadelphia, it’s worth fifty dollars”
I knew at first hug with my guitar, and you knew after your first conversation lol.
It’s definitely easier when the instrument tells you it’s The One
But you can never force true love. Your friend tried, and had to learn the hard way that with twins, one’s always hotter ; )
You’re a twin, aren’t you?
TW
July 1, 2008 at 12:01 pm |
“I think I got ripped off,” I wailed.
He sighed and held out his arms. I ran headfirst into his hug and clung tight, sniffling.
“It’s too soon to know that,” he said.
I’m with hubby on this one. Strings can snap, especially (a) when they’re old, which was probably the case straight out of the pawnshop, and/or (b) when they’re tightened too much, which is easy to do when you’re tuning for the first time…
But a good tuner is hard to find. I started off with a pitch-pipe, which is only marginally than tuning by ear, so I stopped using it after a while. Then a guy I played guitar with bought me a tuner for my birthday, but it never seemed to know what note I was trying to tune, so I abandoned that one too. ..
Recently I bought an Intellitouch tuner, which is pretty decent and very handy, since it snaps right on to your headstock. But it can also get confused about notes sometimes, if the environment is really noisy. I think the best one I’ve seen was the Korg tuner, with a needle indicating the note being tuned to, and LED arrows to show you whether to tune up or tune down to get the right pitch. It’s bulkier than the Intellitouch but still small enough to fit into a pocket, so it’s also pretty practical.
But for the times when you’re playing alone at home, tuning by ear is really not a bad thing to do. If nothing else, it gets your ear attuned to what the strings ought to sound like, so I like to think it helps you achieve oneness with the guitar. There are techniques you can use to make tuning by ear more effective; I could always share those with you by e-mail if you’d like…
TW
July 2, 2008 at 9:23 am |
You are so right about tuning by ear at home. Like getting to know a new friend, it’s not enough to hear them talk; you have listen carefully to the tone of their voice and the intonation of their words to get a feel for their personality.
And I am so all about “achieving oneness with the guitar” : )
Thanks so much for the tuner advice!
Did I get one? Stay tuned TW *wink.
July 2, 2008 at 11:42 am |
Like getting to know a new friend, it’s not enough to hear them talk; you have listen carefully to the tone of their voice and the intonation of their words to get a feel for their personality.
Cool analogy…
And I am so all about “achieving oneness with the guitar” : )
Another task that helps with this is changing the strings, which I assume will be mentioned your next entry, since, at last count, you’re down one string
TW
July 4, 2008 at 12:31 pm |
After the guy (part 7) told he wouldn’t put on new strings, I was going to just buy some and try it myself. But, with the guitar’s track record, I didn’t feel up to messing with its mechanics. I was sure one of the strings would snap me in the eye or something lol.
Do you get a chance to play yours much?
ps. check out my blogroll *wink*
July 7, 2008 at 3:44 pm |
I was sure one of the strings would snap me in the eye or something lol.
I saw a warning notice in a pack of strings which said that since strings are under tension, you should be aware that they could snap and hit you in the eye. I say, anyone unaware that guitar strings are under tension has no business messing around with a guitar…
Do you get a chance to play yours much?
I’ve gone through phases of lots of playing, and phases where my guitar was woefully neglected. Right now, it’s getting some decent playing because I’ve been attending open mikes fairly regularly recently. I could still stand to play it some more, though, as I don’t practise nearly enough any more…
ps. check out my blogroll *wink*
Aww, thank you… I’ll return the favour later…
TW
September 16, 2008 at 4:59 pm |
I’m so excited that you did it! I’m so, so so excited that you’ve gone ahead and given yourself permission.
Do update on how it goes once you’ve been playing for a while.
September 24, 2008 at 2:01 pm |
Likewise dudette : )