One year ago today: August 12, 2025, four times as many.
Five years ago today: August 12, 2021, they are to me.
Nine years ago today: August 12, 2017, switching to wall units.
Random years ago today: August 12, 2008, remember my “café”?
We now have stain-dunking experience and the liquid depth need only be an inch. The thickest wood I use normally is 5/8”, which means I’d be smarter to build my own stain tub. I have experience with acrylic, but that was 42 years ago. I’ve not, in ten years, ever seen a sign shop in this area. There have to be some in Orlando. I have nothing new for you today, just another set of boxes. Tennessee called mid-morning and another $5,000 is out the window I have some comments on that in the addendum.
It’s been nearly a year, but I saw the neighbor lady this morning. Her daughter’s car is not supposed to be in the yard, the whole street knows it. All is okay, the daughter, who is somehow out of jail again, is getting her junk out of the yard. As you’ve guessed, I do not like her. Seventy year old woman don’t get thrown in prison for nothing.
Sadly, the neighbor’s husband passed away, on his way to the hospital to have a pacemaker installed. He basically died in the ambulance. I got another e-mail this morning, another cancellation on Friday, so I’m packing up the van now. I have an old Audiovox CD player I was going to donate to Ricko that I will rig up to play CDs if I can find the correct power cable. It has to be one of those tiny two-prong “kettle” cords. I’ve got them around but where?
I found the cord, but it was another fail. The radio and CD player did not work and I already have a cassette deck. The gas powered pressure washer is ready for loading, I may need a hand with that. Out to the shed, I put together four boxes and tested the dip tray, this time with a darker mix. Came out pretty good if you ask me, these are a pair of spice boxes for JZ because he is slowly getting convinced he needs a hobby. Hey, I would laugh if somebody actually found a use for Florida balconies other than storing bicycles and old Xmas trees.
There was also a dark mixture, but it is too drastic. Good mostly for hiding mistakes. This morning’s batch was two Z-boxes and two Spice. I balk at dipping the bigger models, even the free stain cannot keep up with that. Here’s a picture of the late-model featuring most of the accumulated experience. The concept of competition no longer crosses my mind.
The logic is straightforward. If you went to woodworking school, trust me, after that effort and expense you would not be building boxes like this. And if I had to add up all the learning steps of doing my way, you are looking at I’d guess 300 of them. Just running the laser takes 40 moves and mistakes not even mentioned in the guidebook.
Alabama Atlantic coast, A.I.
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Rush hour delayed me until 7:00PM. So, it was out to the shed where I finished the Z-boxes from this morning. If you don’t mind, I need to talk about this box to get my mind off collars and contracts and the part of music I never did like. Not everyone, but there just is a consistently seamy side to most people in the trade. Give me a saw and some boards. Which is what you see here, this is the latest model, showing the results of one year’s experience on this design and five years experience with boxes of this type.
A logo on the box is pretty much a given now, as it seriously enhances appeal. It telegraphs that somebody once had a use for this box and, for a low-low introductory price, so can you. The price? You won’t like this but a fair retail on this would be at least $25.
I’m inside and pleasantly tired, let’s see what the goofs of the world are up to. First, watch Jack Reacher kick the crap out of a few dozen tough guys. While this is going on Ioaded up the van, which means everything thing from the pressure washer to the Crate amp, which I had to dig out of the spare bedroom. I need that for band practice and later today, the eldest boy is ready for his first coordinaled band practice. The skill sets of music and keeping a band together are often conflictory.
Here is another view of this most up-to-date Z-box, help me think of some way I can finish this with stain. It really makes a difference, but otherwise, it is yagasuki. I’m looking at a small paint sprayer for the final layer. That is in the future, I’m busy these days. It's not the spraying directly, that's the easy part. It's the need for full set-up and cleaning for even the smallest jobs. The Bearded Viking uses spray cans, something I cannot afford at this time.
ADDENDUM
Show biz is one of the most corrupt operations in the USA, but it is not labeled corrupt for one simple reason. It is not illegal. No law against the way things run. However, we know this and it was interesting to chat with a music lawyer who has known the Reb a long time. He knows there are no ethics but he is open about it. The accident that took the lives of our original legal team is now taken up by this person and all the dates on the contract need to be changed to September. Zap! Five thousand dollars.
I had to drive into Winter Haven to get that together. Yes, most people would have quit by now and there are no guarantees of a return, none. So, I asked about the failure ratio. He doesn’t know but it is pretty high. He affirms that nobody will commit to a fixed price and that he himself is often surprised by expensive shocks. But he points out what you suspected—nobody will fight back because they trap you ever deeper. Like myself, he is disgusted by the operators who insist if you “want” to succeed you’ll find a way. They use it as an excuse to gouge.
He’s seen countless excellent artists and material fail, not because they didn’t “want” but because they ran out of money. That situation is always caused by shady operators who don’t quote open and honest pricing up front, and I despise them. This project, entirely due to hidden costs and agendas, is around $80,000 over budget. And there will be more surprises, just you watch. Most guitarists don’t need talent, they need a marketing department.
Did I just say “conflictory”?
