If you didn’t need sleep, what would you do with all the extra time?
Pray. But still work on my Music, my Art , all the time! And pray for direction while I’m doing it. I’ve found a great group of people that inspire me to give back. Motivated like crazy!
Songwriting and studying with Mastering.com to be a producer, engineer, performer, and all around better artist, plus going on my fifth year with the awesome people on Fender Play Facebook group and instructors on their platform.
Current Projects
Cut Me in the Shape of Your Heart Intro by Alison McGlamry
Follow me as I grow. Live to take you on a magic carpet ride!
The Rickenbacker company, skillfully managed by new owner Francis H. Hall in the 1950’s, grew to a leading name in the American electric-guitar market until 1964 when an unexpected cultural tide spread from the UK to the Atlantic, associating them to Beatlemania, making them the most immediately recognized in the world.
Today’s Feature is the 325 | 1958
325 | 1958
Introduced as part of the 1958 Capri series. 325 was a semi-hollow , three-quarter scale length model with three pickups. John Lennon owned four and was rarely seen playing anything else during the Beatlemania period. Rickenbacker has since issued many limited-edition tribute models such as the 325C58 Hamburg and the 325 JL.
DATE :: 1958
ORIGIN :: Santa Ana , California , USA
WOOD :: Maple semi-hollowbody maple set neck , rosewood fingerboard.
UNUSUAL FEATURE :: The short 527mm (20 3/4)scale length is 102mm (4in) shorter than a standard Rickenbacker.
FUN FACTS ::
The headstock has a Fireglo finish , matching the tones of the body.
The 325 featured an unusual fingerboard – a three quarter scale length.
There were three toaster pickups on the 325.
~ All information courtesy of The Practical Illustrated Book of the Electric Guitar by Terry Burrows and Ted Fuller.
Did you know that nobody can say with any certainty who invented the Solidbody electric guitar? it is clear though, that during the 1940’s there were a number of experimentally minded people looking into the problem of feedback , sustain , etc. Ultimately they were all reaching the same conclusions.
Bigsby Merle Travis , 1947
The Solidbody Pioneers
Welcome to my first post in the Straturday Evening Post featured guitar. Today’s feature is the Bigsby Merle Travis, 1947.
In 1946 Paul Bigsby , a motorcycle loving engineer, and country guitarist Merle Travis came together through repair of a Gibson vibrato unit , inspiring Bigsby to come up with his own revolutionary vibrato system. This beautiful instrument (a pastel sketch I interpreted) was created from a sketch that Travis asked Bigsby if he could build. It lays claim to the first solidbody guitar.
It originated in 1947 in Downey, California , USA. Wood is a maple body , straight through neck with rosewood fingerboard. It has a home-built single coil pickup , bass and treble tone controls , and filter switches.
FUN FACTS ::
The six-in-a-line headstock design pre-dates those used by Fender by three years.
The neck features a heart , club , diamond and spade marker inlays.
The cutaway is a Florentine curve.
The name Merle Travis is set in Pearl, although not shown in sketch.
It has a tone filter switch circuit.
Decorative polished walnut panels adorn the body.
~ All information courtesy of The Practical Illustrated Book of the Electric Guitar by Terry Burrows and Ted Fuller.
Definitely my classical guitar. No question about it . It stayed in the case for a while because it was so very special and I was afraid to play it!
My parents are and were both musicians and I grew up with music, playing a little violin and piano. Even though I loved it, the passion of music was best displayed through me as a dancer. So began the journey of years office and dance , alongside my musical parents, who supported my dancing the whole way.
Somewhere in the middle they stumbled upon a beautiful Alvarez Yairi in an old music store in the same town I went to school in. It was a tremendously good buy, due to imperfections. Ironically , but not ironically , I was just beginning to study with a classical guitar teacher at FSU, where I was also studying dance.
The guitar reminds of a special time in life each time I see it. It has beautiful pearl pegs on the tuners, symbolic of one of the finer things in life.
Thanks so much Mom and Dad, and mostly to God my Father , who gives nothing but good things.
It’s been a whirlwind of life since December, probably the busiest non-stop season I’ve ever experienced. In all of the bustle I’ve had to fight hard to find some creative , meditative art space, but managed to slip some reading and sketching in this evening.
I revisited a great little Walter Foster publication book that found at a Hobby Lobby called Beginning Pen and Ink by artist Desarea Lee.
Pen and Ink was an avenue I always wanted to search but never got to, so I dared to take a glance in this direction and was really pleased with the book. I’m still on the exercises and really going back to a beginning focus. They remind me of my first great high school art instructor’s exercises, which is fabulous since she taught all the fundamentals so well that I’ve never looked back.
In a short and light review I noted this so far. The opening covers the basic of textures and light , perspective. You’ll cover chapters all the way from hatching to placement and storytelling through the designs. It’s just nice to have a review from a different perspective.
The projects that the artist herself provides are unique and ethereal. They reminded me of a softer sided style of M.C. Escher. Another trip back in time to an artist I loved in my teens.
Take a look at it if you come across it on a leisurely browsing trip. Walter Foster is an older publisher with some great finds.
As always, thanks for your time and share if you dare!
Since the season is upon us, I decided to make a movie playlist of solid Christmas Favorites, and their original posters. This way you’ll have time to try one or two out.
Every year that seasons change I begin to change with them, pulling out my favorite music, movies, and more , related to the theme of that particular year. Things change, but my movies seem to stay the same. so I thought I’d share a list of favorite staples (not in any particular order) that you can check out or pass along.
Out of starting gate – A glamourous and warm classic.
Miracle on 34th Street :: Starring Maureen O’Hara, Miracle on 34th Street (initially released as The Big Heart in the United Kingdom) is a 1947 American Christmas comedy-drama film released by 20th Century-Fox, written and directed by George Seaton and based on a story by Valentine Davies. It stars Maureen O’Hara, John Payne, Natalie Wood, and Edmund Gwenn.
I like to learn about the repair and care of guitars, ever since I signed up for Fender Play, a gift from Mom. My first electric is an orange Squier Bullet Special, the first strat I have owned, and the first one I tried learning to maintain. I started with some classes from Darrell Braun’s guitar channel on YouTube, figuring out how to sand rough necks, adjust string trees, and more. It was a little nerve wrecking at first but I got braver.
Recently I purchased a Mitchell MD 300. This particular guitar needed lighter strings and some tone knob repair. In order to avoid the knob rolling onto the floor when I played or filmed my lessons, I had to do some research.
Some things do require a skilled luthier or local shop adjustment, but this was done-able on my own. Easy stuff! So naturally I got all excited and after taking some decent photos of my efforts, decided to share with anyone who had a similar problem.
Tone and Volume Knobs on a Guitar
These hematite , pewter looking tone and volume knobs are our current focus because they kept rolling off or proving to be loose. The guitar was in great shape but looked like it had been sitting around unplayed and needed some TLC, common in this situation. You may be able to see a small hole in these knobs in the photo above. It has notches in it for a tiny tool , which I don’t have but improved. By taking a jumbo paper clip and some wire tools from my bead kit I was able to bend and squeeze a curved end that was strong enough to grab the tiny space inside and tighten it with a few delicate turns. That’s all you need, no force, just carefully securing them. The only other issue I had was low action, a subject I’ll cover more on as soon as I try it.
In the meantime I hope this helps anyone who needs a little knowledge on knob repair. I’m learning that tools can be found anywhere from Stew Mac to Fender to Daddario. If you have any good suggestions feel free to comment.
One of my fondest memories was on a Saturday after rehearsal. It had been a long drive to Florida. My never ending of giving Mother had driven miles in the morning to get me to ballet class , a long haul from Cordele , Georgia to Tallahassee , Florida, where I was training with the Southern Academy of Ballet Arts. I was new to the scene but had worked super hard to catch up with what training I needed to become a working Ballet dancer one day.
Being from a small town I lacked essential basics in training , and although I studied with some of the best at an early age, they were short-termed workshops or just one day a week teachers, so my body was very behind. I always felt like I made it in just in time when my parents found the school. My Dad was completing his masters degree in music from FSU, and they stumbled upon the school as well as a great classical guitar teacher on campus that year.
We sat in for a mandatory meeting on day, our newsletter moment for the school. I learned that I had been awarded a scholarship to study at their school where I would have a professional schedule of pointe, variation, Pas de Deux classes ( my favorite) , character, and the normal everyday classes. It was a special moment, I’ll never forget that feeling, I felt I didn’t didn’t deserve it, but was chosen to do it! The best part was having Gwynne Ashton present it to you. If not for her early belief in me I wouldn’t have gotten this far.
Thanks to the this training I caught up with my goals and ended up being awarded four scholarships to major Ballet schools and companies around the nation, where I met many more inspiring teachers that did the same.
It’s one of those moments in life you say Thank You to.
If you had to change your name, what would your new name be?
I think my Mother almost named me Elise. I love that one, as well as Eleanora, after my Grandmother who was named Eleanor.
Growing up as a teen I absolutely loved the named Allegra. I think she thought of that name too.
I actually didn’t have a name until the nurse told my Mother that she had to name me before we left the hospital!
Alison Elizabeth works fine for me. Alison means “ little truthful one” according to my parents. But the others are beautiful too. I love anything that’s like a fairy or elegant creature from some dream.
They say one day we will have a new name. Wonder what it will be?
