All Day Revival

We were fortunate to have Cali home taking care of Pete so we could get out of town on a beautiful day. Jodi and I had a destination but we took our time getting there. With a couple of stops along the way we were headed toward the Sugar Clay Winery in Thurman, Iowa. This was the site for the 'Missouri River High Water Revival'.

This was a music festival benefit for the local victims of the 2011 Flood sponsored by the Bartless Community Church. This started yesterday at noon. Some of the local musicain's included Chasing Daylight, Matt Cox, Jr & Gunner of Acoustic Groove, Brich & Killion, Casey Freemyer, Midwest Dilemma, In the Gruv, Adam Lee, & Swamp Boy Blues Band.

Jodi found a Geocache by accident. Dan P's kids found it first but they didn't know what it was. They had some fun once they caught on to it.

There was a Crawfish Boil and everyone brought lawn chairs and blankets. It was a nice destination for a Labor Day Weekend Road Trip.

Missouri River High Water Revival 2011

Cleaning Off Finish on Frets

Here is the neck from a Double Fat Strat I have been playing. This one I have re-assembled recently. I bought a Fender licensed Allparts 70's Strat neck a while back and I used this neck on the project you see here. As I started playing I noticed there is a large amount of finish on the frets. The finish was chipping off as I play (see circled places on the frets). Of course, this creates a real uncomfortable feel on bends. It's like hitting a speed bump. Also, I doubt you get the best sound possible with finish on the frets.





I taped up the frets with masking tape. Then I got a razor blade. Then I taped off the ends of the razor so as not to gouge anything else. This left a spot in the middle of the razor that is bare. I scraped off the finish from each fret. Don't worry, you won't wreck your frets. Just make sure you pull it across the fret, not push it. When I was finished I was careful when removing the tape. I removed it slowly, so as not to pull any of the finish off between the frets.

What an improvement. The finish on these frets was on thick.You can see from the photos that the chips of lacquer made a mess. It was worth the effort.

Nashville and Other Guitar Tunings

One thing I did not realize until recently is that Nashville Tuning is also called high-strung tuning. It's accomplished by using lighter, unwound strings. Nashville tuning is more involved than just tuning your guitar differently. It's also known as high-stringing a guitar because different strings need to be used. I read that it creates a 12 string effect on a 6 string guitar. You use the high octave strings of a 12 string set of strings on a six-string guitar. The first two strings of your instrument (high E and B) remain unchanged, and the lower four strings (G through low E) are tuned an octave above standard tuning.

There are ready made string sets for this. D'Addario XL series electric guitar strings can be bought in a High Strung/Nashville Tuning gauges .010/.014/.009/.012/.018/.026 light set. The gauges for a medium set would be .012/ .016/ .010/ .014/ .020/ .030 high to low.

A few songs recorded with Nashville Tuning:
* Rolling Stones - Jumpin' Jack Flash
* Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb
* Tom Petty - Free Fallin'

Guitar Tuning Reference
Tuning Low____6___5___4___3___2___1__High__
Mayfield -----F#--A#--C#--F#--A#--F#-------
Collins ------F---C---F---Ab--C---F--------
Half Bent ----F---Bb--Eb--Ab--C---F--------
Fourths ------E---A---D---G---C---F--------
Open E -------E---B---E---G#--B---E--------
Open A -------E---A---E---A---C#--E--------
Nashville ----E---A---D---G---B---E--------
High Plain ---E---A---D---G---B---E--------
Standard -----E---A---D---G---B---E--------
Lute ---------E---A---D---F#--B---E--------
Hendrix ------Eb--Ab--Db--Gb--Bb--Eb-------
Drop D -------D---A---D---G---B---E--------
Drop D -------D---A---D---G---B---D--------
DADGAD -------D---A---D---G---A---D--------
Open D -------D---A---D---F#--A---D--------
D Minor ------D---A---D---F---A---D--------
D Modal ------D---A---D---D---A---D--------
G 6 ----------D---G---D---G---B---E--------
Open G -------D---G---D---G---B---D--------
Richards ---------G---D---G---B---D--------
G Minor ------D---G---D---G---Bb--D--------
Cooder -------Db--Ab--Db--F---Ab--Db-------
Kottke -------C#--F#--B---E---G#--C#-------
Open C -------C---G---C---G---C---E--------
C 6 ----------C---G---C---G---A---E--------
Kaki King ----C---G---D---G---A---D--------
Leadbelly ----B---E---A---D---F#--B--------
Baritone -----B---E---A---D---F#--B--------
Baritone II --A---D---G---C---E---A--------