from the vault

a song for jens.

from (design) dreams into (circuit) reality

now i've heard of people making printed circuit boards at home but most comments from people who have actually tried have called bullshit time and time again. they say don't waste your time, it's a scam. so you know i had put it to the test.

CAD programs? i'm not that great with these design programs but i thought i'd take a crack at it. for those of you who have never used a design program like CAD, it's like going to a foreign country and trying to get a document notarized. it just sucks. but it's the only way to take your game to the next level. here we have a very simple boost circuit. looks legit.



so i took the file and ran down to kinko's to get this masterpiece printed on a laser printer. photo gloss paper, my friend.


then you transfer it to a piece of copper board through the magic of an iron. and then you let it sit in a glass of water for 5 minutes.


peel and rip off the paper.


here we have the toner stuck on the copper board.




so then we dip the whole board in ferric acid which is super nasty stuff. i mean, it eats away copper so... you know. careful. so the copper gets eaten away and we're left with the toner.

and with a little bit of nail polish remover to remove the toner..... we have our board! welcome to the real world, me. this is kind of a triumphant moment for me. it's a moment i share alone though. maybe i should get into sports. i need to find a way to be more social. all this circuit building is going to turn me into one of those guys that breathe heavy and correct you even when you say a right answer. isn't there more to life than this? trying to make shit and then trying to get people to care about it. no? ok.

so anyways, let me introduce you to my awesome new circuit. i made it and you can't take that away from me.


new kids

some songs just don't want to be written. this song has been a thorn in my side for months. sometimes you just got to wrap it up, throw a rod mckuen sample in the mix, and call it a night.


New Kids (amy's theme) by novisplit

players club

in high school i would spend a lot of nights staying up late trying to get homework done. i always did things last minute and i still do. high school was a good place to listen to shitty hip hop radio. i used to just listen to whatever station was playing the new toni toni tone, 112 or jodeci. i thought i was one smooth motherfucker. my main man mike grove made me a pretty sweet jodeci mixtape. he swore it would make a man out of me. he told me to throw it on at any point i was hanging out with the women and they would be mine. i don't what the problem was but that shit would never work at all. i thought my flirting with the world of smooth would have come to an end. back in 95 the radio would get really steamy after midnight. you might just hear some forgotten classic or be introduced to a classic in the making. i can never forget the first time i heard rappin' 4 tay's song players club. i thought the smooth grooves of this song alone would send it to at least #2, but it never did. the song was somewhat forced into obscurity. i didn't know who sang the song so i was forced for weeks to stay up listening to the radio just trying to find out who this guy was. i've never heard a beat so smooth in my life. he's not even rapping loud like the singles of the day. it's like this dude was in a waiting room and didn't want the rest of the people to hear what he was saying. but in reality he wasn't even whispering, he was just smooth. he even says he's smooth right there in the song.

"by the way, just in case you never heard of rappin 4 tay, i'm on the smooth tip"

well i hadn't, and he most certainly was.


and it wasn't about the strippers, the money, the clothes..... it was just about the smooth for me. rappin' 4 tay, wherever you are tonight, your mixtapes worked.

Iris DeMent.

the best thing about this video is the way iris looks like she's confused and figuring it out all at once. watch as iris hands emmylou her ass and the violinist watches from the corner like a pervert. it's hard to explain. oh, and also they are singing one of the raddest songs ever. it's like 'glory days' for white(er) people. it was also written for the last episode of 'northern exposure' so you know it's pure.

getting baked, making pedals

i just wanted to show the newest in technology. it's called a toaster oven. it's the newest "tool" in my "shop". it is used to burn out weird chemicals in paint. it's also used to make pizza rolls. but seriously, baking pedals is like way fun. just pour yourself a nice stiff one and hang out in the backyard for an hour watching paint dry.


i also realized that if i want to compete in today's pedal market, i was going to have to up my game. girls don't dig guys in a sensible cars (a fact i've proven time and time again) and they certainly could care less about a guy who plays solid color pedals. but two colors? ladies cannot resist that kind of peacocking. first thing you got to do is wrap that shit up in tape.


then i'm going to spray this thing with a gold paint. the color gold is deeply rooted in humans. instantly the pedal shoots up in value. the box i've painted on has also tripled in value.


the good thing about tape is getting to peel that shit off. so there's an upside to tape. but it comes with a price. just look at this. cream on the inside, clean on the outside.



now i've got to put wires in this thing.

it's black, it's white.

a quick update. my first commissioned piece of work is on its way to greatness. i sanded this down months ago and haven't found the time to get it back on track. but now is the time.


behold the transformation. white, what could be less black?



plus the matching headstock? this thing is going straight to the top of the charts.


no direction

deets #4 & #6

i just got done with these two guitars as of tonight. they both rule in their own way.

they also were both a pain in the ass to bring back to life. i won't go into detail but trust me. lots of wood filler, crazy glue, and rewound pickups went into these.

the strat has that twangy character that i realize now is not for me. but i'm going to play with it for a while before i sell it, just to make sure.

the les paul was raised from the dead in so many ways that i feel like i'll be playing this one a lot. i didn't think i'd like it because of the maple neck, but actually, that's my favorite part.

the only thing left on this one is the headstock logo. i'm having a silkscreen made next weekend. i can feel that going wrong already.

absolute punk

the reviews are in. check out a review for the 'cmg + we are the night' record --->here.