music and gadgets

About time to write some more on me pages. During the last week´s I´ve been fully occupied with working on some cars. Some of em owned by freinds of mine, and some of me own. Unfortinutly the main work has been with car´s that´s not mine. Result, my cars is not in top condition! 



As some kind of night adventure I tried to write some new music, but with almost no success. Well a few tunes have been written and recorded for memory sake.

Ever since I bought the 12-string Pasadena electric guitar Ive been thouhgt about seelin it. It sounds great, looks great but it´s narrow neck made it partöy impossible to play. My dream 12-string is still the Burns Double 6 witch possibly is the best 12-string electric in the world.
so I sold the guitar and next step was to find a nice substitute for it. For long I hoped to buy a Burns Bass as well as the Double 6, but at this moment I cant afford one of em. Next in line of dream guitars was both a Gretsch (to expensive) and a McCartney bass. 

Once again those in the 60´s cheap Höfners is produced but today rather expensive. Höfner even makes a cheaper copy of their famous bass at low price. On the other hand there is several copies made i Asia.

Höfner 454 & VOX

Höfner 454 Jubilee Bass

EKO violin bass

Attrics Violin Bass

Sir Paul McCartney and the Höfner 454 jubilee bass.

So I took the chanse and bought me a Pasadena violin bass made in South Korea. Having tried out the different originals and lots of copies, this bass guitar profed to be an exellent copy. Far better then its 100,oo£ price tag.  A few adjustments was made before a proper test was made. 

It´s styling, the quality and it sound was Great! A bargain so to speak even compared with those with much higher price tag.

Pasadena Violin Bass

It looks like the original Höfner bass, Sounds like it, and feels even better. A stunning bass for sure at the price of less the 100,oo£ !!!!!

A couple of monthés ago I bought a bass amplifier on ebay.uk. Told to be a not working unit it was sold at 10,oo£. A freind of mine took care of it and yesterday it arrived to Sweden at the cost of 80,oo£ !!! When bidding on the amp I thought it was a 50 watt amp. But as soon as it came out of the box, I realised it was a 100 watt unit!!!!  A rare bird, and on my behalf I have never had the chanse to play or even see one of those amps. A first time for me.

It did look like shit for sure, outside and even worse inside. It was also wired for 115 volts, so I was forced to exchange the transformator to a 220 voltage unit. A couple of transistors and som more component´s plus 6 hours of work, set the amp back to life.

With a 1 x 15" cabinet connected it was the tested for the first time in many years. the 45 year old amplifier proved to be as good as any other amp on the market. With load´s of pure power!

the Challange

Music and the collecting of different music gadgets often seam like a huge challange. At least thats a fact on my behalf. A challange I do enjoy every minute of.  It also seams like a standard that guitarplayers try to get more and more guitars. Almost like having a couple of mistresses.

New songs have been written and the latest one is possible to hear at HypedSound. One among many. Natuarly in My dreams its a real Hit-song that is going to make me a millionare! That is if someone ever listen´s to it.


outer room at "dare studio´s" 
here´s where amps, PA-systems, old posters and some guitars is stored.

So it´s a lot safer to stick to the collecting of various music gadgets. Most of them with the hope to find the perfect sound in My demo-recordings. A problem not at all uncommon is the lack of money.  That´s the one reason why I have buildt a few guitar. Like me latest that already have been shown here. The "dare Burns 4-pickup clone. 


the "dare Burns 4-pickup Bass clone" 
at last sounding great and a very useful tool! At the cost of 30,oo£

Everytime I try to build a guitar seams like a race at the start. From idea to some kind of guitar it only a short while, followed by weeks and month´s where the actual guitar is to be play´d and adjusted. In regards of the bass, it turned out great exept for a hmmings grounding sound that the other day was solved with a small piece of kitchen folie. 

All of a sudden the guitar was quite, and a hole lot mor fun to play on. oin fact it is as good as most of those basses that can be bought on todays market. Still to come is the finishing touch.

An exchange of amp´s lead to a really nice VOX AD30 combo. Perfect in many ways, for its size and the fantastic sound it delivers. Those partly solid state VOX´s is really something special. A great amp even compared to the old tube amp´s. And they seam to cost very little money as second hand. 


the "VOX AD30VTX" combo. a great sounding little gadget.

Back to music where my latest piece of music was recorded a couple of days ago. Woke up in the middle of the night hearing it´s leadguitar in my head, I went out to my small Studio and in a couple of hours it was recorded. 

A new finding at a fleamarket in Uddevalla was now added and used for the first time. 

As usual I use My CASIO CTK keyboard to get a useful drumsection, adding all other instruments one by one in true old fashion tape recording style. This time the almost 10,oo£ JEN Lincoln organ was used. this organ was during the 60´s also sold under other brandname´s. Among them VOX! Made in Italy as lots of other oprgans was during this period. Before putting it to use it was cleaned inside so it did sound exactly as when it was brand new.

"JEN-Lincoln Stereo organ" organ from the early 60´s

Searching for mor musicgadets goes on all  the time and wisiting various scrapyards sometime end up in a nice gadget for free. Last week it was a 1987 Yamaha C1 music computer! Sold as new in the pricerange of 4500,oo £ picked up for free! I dont have a clue in what can be made with such a gadget, as far as I understand it was made for use with a synthesizer of some kind, but I couldnt leave it at the scrapyard and hopefully soon someone will have a need for this item.

The chanse to find a vintae electric guitar at LOW prices seam´s almost impossible today. All the Fenders, Gibsons, Burns aso guitars seam to be found already and do have a pricetag compareble to a nice car. o find old electric guitars for sale at low prices isnt common. In fact today it seams impossible to find the really nice guitars as barnfinds. But it may happen, and the funny thing is that today those guitars does not have to be good instruments. Some vintage guitars was real crap as new, and not at all better by todays standards.

the Egmond Solid 7, before cleaning and polish

One of Europe´s most wellknown producers was the Dutsch company Egmond who made something looking like nice guitars, but often they was inpossible to use as guitars already as brand new. In Sweden the main part of those guitars was sold on postal order at very low prices.

picture showing the nicely curb´d neck

So today as me love and her mother went sight seeing among fancy gardens, we did not inly find a real nice garden with lots of flowers. In the owners garage that we had to pass on our way out from the premesis caused by heavy rain, I spotted an old 60´s Egmond guitar. A quick discussion regarding its value resulted in a new-old guitar.

Egmond Solid 7

polish´d, vax´d and looking real nice

This Egmond Solid 7, with three pickups and lots of styling did look okey. Even if its neck looked like a bow without arrows. Anyway as soon as We arrived home I dismanled the guitar and started ot clean - polish the guitar. 

three pickups and an amazing tremolo.

After a couple of hours it did look if not as new, at least very good with almost no scratches and dents. the main problem was left to the neck, that is going to be reinforced to straiten it up and take the thing back to  the guitarworld.

the Egmond Solid 7, ca 1958-62

with it three pickups and extremly funny tremolo it seam to be very rare. Well as far as I know Paul Mc Cartney used one in the Beatles early days.

What about all those Strat´s?

Well what about all those Stratocaster. I guess that Leo Fender´s intentions´s was to produce a cheap fairly good electric guitar for the common people. First the Telecaster then later the Stratocaster. To guitarplayers in Europe they could have been real bargains but the cost of freight from USA and tolls made them expensive.

In the late 60´s early 70´s Japan beguin producing copies of Fenders. Natuarly Fender did loose a lot of money, but found a sollution after a coupke if years. They started to make copies of their own guitars in Asia.

Among all Fender US, Fender Mexico, Squire theres still loads of copies made looking as the original Fenders, Gibson and many other brands.

Is those lowprice Fenders and all the other good guitars!? Value for the money. What makes the price difference between a US made guitar and one made somewhere else in the world. 

And can I as a potential buyer trust the company  that the guitar named and badged as a US Fender really is made 100% in US. they all look similar, they all share the exact same shape and form. Fender would really earn loads of money if the main part of their guitars was made in Asia, then transported as part and finally assambled in the US.

Here is a load of pictures of different Strats by Fender. Also a few copies made by other companies.

got me hands on a Squire Strat 2006 today, and after a couple of hours of intonation, adjusting, grinding and finishing the guitar was not bad at all. In fact it felt, it sounded and look as good as a US Strat sold at 10 times the money.

 Here pics of two non original Strats. The one on top was imported from Japan in the early 80´s. An extremly good Strat, far better then most Strat+s I ever hade the chanse to play. Everyting on this guitar is Top Class, and in a discussion with the importer He told that they was really expensive back then.

The Ibanez Roadstar, an other Strat copy of high quality.

Stratocasters can be found in the pricerange of 50,oo£ to 15000,oo£ (a 1961 secondhand Strat)

the Stratocaster is possibly the best known electric guitar design in the world. If its the best is up to you. But then again, whats the value in the Stratocaster Jaguar / Harley Davidson editions at app 3000,oo£ compared to the much cheaper Squire´s and copies. 

With the same drawings, construction machines producing similar guitars in different countries. Is there really such a big difference? On my behalf I dont think so. Different blind test among guitarplayers, shop personal that can be seen on YouTube. I might be right... It seams even for Fender dealer staff to tell witch guitar is the expensive and lowprice.

Accordion- eller de ska va dragspel

Already in me youth I came in contact with some kinds of accordions. Instruments play´d by ole folk at local dances. Mainly in valtz or some other obscure dance. 

"Gnesta-Kalle" famous accordionplayer in Sweden

I even learn´d how to make the darn thing sound.  On the other hand I knew that I never will become a rockstar with a bloody  big instrument hanging on me shoulders. I went for the guitar and almost forgot about all kinds of accordions, even if I sometimes tested such an instrument.

The ole folks seams to leave for accordion heaven togher with their instruments and hardly ever your hear someone play em. Well now adays in Sweden there is actually a couple accordion player. the great Bengan Jansson a true entertainer and also Ex ABBA Benny Andersson. Both of them play accordion.

Bengan Jansson - accordionplayer and entertainer of today

Benny Andersson - ex ABBA

suddenly there it was a hug black accordion of the Swedish Hagström brand. Hagström may today be worldwide know for their electric guitar in various styles. But they started of a makers of good accordions. Later on their imported accordions mainly from Italy with their brand name on.

It was such an Italian made accordion that suddenly came in my way, and a minute or so later I was the proud owner of a huge accordion. 

A first test was set up, did everything work as it was intended. how did it sound? A couple of hours later I knew for sure it really was a great accordion. 

In hope to find a value of this once extremly expensive accordion I called a few specialsist in this today somewhat small market. 

but it seams that My new accordion made in the late 70´s or early 80´s was worth keeping. 

making music

A simple chord on the guitar, strummed in a special way may sometime´s be the little thing that make´s it possible for me to write a new song. 

Most of the time it´s a word or a couple of word´s that together as a sentence form the first part of a song. But this song started of with a chord.

The E-minor chord strummed on the top strings, altered with a F# bass. Hmmm that seams to sound great! 

Bar after bar is written down, different chords added to the first E minor. Suddenly I realise that the first verse and chorus is 32 bars long. What the hell is this?

At this stage I do know exactly how I want my new song to be, a mix between opera and theme song from a religios movie. Millions of violins that fade out exchanged for heavy hard beating drums and distorted guitars.

A voice so clear and bright, it seams to cut the air in half´s. In some kind of midevil  song.