Disclaimer: The author claims no authority or expertise in the matters discussed here within. Quite the opposite. He welcomes corrections, advice and scathingly negative commentary where appropriate. Hopefully, this odyssey will inspire other timid souls to delve into the realm of guitar repair.
As the stock market sinks further and further, it’s hard to justify sinking hundreds and hundreds of dollars (or more) into a new guitar and/or repairs. However, after years of writing and performing solely with an acoustic guitar, I knew it was time to make like Bob Dylan and plug in. What I had at my immediate disposal was a run down Epiphone Les Paul, the tone of which I had never been happy with.
In addition to its infamously muddy signature tone, this ELP tended to cut out when toggling between the bridge and neck pickups. Even worse, it suffered from a missing tuning peg and buzzing strings, the action low enough that the three remaining strings were lightly touching the first fret.
Having no experience working on guitars, my options seemed to be to pawn it off and buy a new guitar (to the tune of at least $500) or take it in for repairs of an unknown cost and quality. Therefore, I decided to seize the moment and educate myself. As soon as I cracked open the rear panel and heated up an ancient soldering iron, I knew I had made the right decision.
Up next:
DIY Blues, Pt 2: Something Busted, Something Used Faced with a mess of wires, an over sized soldering iron and no experience to his name, the author must install a used pickup of dubious quality while avoiding a catastrophic meltdown. But first, he seeks some assistance from the good folks at The Trading Musician.
Acccompanying the re-launch of songwritersinseattle.com, we are pleased to announce our songwriting contest for August through September. The grand prize is 8 hours of studio time at Elliot Bay Recording Co. courtesy of Brian Nelson at Paintshaker Music ($550 value)! Many thanks to Brian for supporting SiS and we look forward to hearing the results of our winner’s time with him in the studio.
Contests are a great way for us to feature some of the top talent of our SiS members as well as a great opportunity for our members to gain extra exposure and maybe a quote or two for their press kit. Not to mention the prizes from our awesome sponsors! Please see the contests page for official rules and submission requirements.
Songwriters in Seattle is proud to present the new song “A Black Market For Mooncakes” - In Nov. 2010, 10 songwriters got together for an SiS songwriting collaboration event and wrote it based on just a short but inspiring few lyric lines! Those lyrics were inspired by a Sept. 2010 news article about a Chinese festival. So we have a little underground rebellion and celebration theme wrapped up in a Santana-ish Latino Rock sound. No, it’s not at all like the styles of any of the songwriters involved. That’s part of the beauty of collaboration - you can end up with something entirely different than you would create on your own.
SiS Organizer Chris Klimecky arranged and produced the song with Jessica Lynne and David Rix contributing to the group vocals. This recording has now been made available for your listening and downloading enjoyment. If you download, please consider a small donation to SiS. Thank you!
This has been a long time in coming, but I am very proud to finally unveil my latest labor of love for Songwriters in Seattle: Welcome to our new home on the web at songwritersinseattle.com! Not only do we have a new look and tons of new content, but there is a whole new vision which accompanies this re-launch. We have shifted from a static “landing spot” for users to look at once and move on, to a dynamic community-building forum for all things related to our musical endeavors! This website will be an ever-growing resource for musicians as well as a place to contribute ideas, links, and discussion about our creative community and larger music industry.
As you may be able to tell, I’m excited! I’ve put this together for you and will continue to contribute toward it’s growth, but I can’t (and don’t want to) do it alone. Anyone and everyone is invited to help generate “article” content. This could include commentary, reviews, links, stories…you name it - as long as it’s not just about you. If you want to advertise, we have a lovely sponsorship program. :) Otherwise, offer something meaningful to the community and the community will give back appropriately. Often your best promotional tool is to be a trusted, consistent, and useful resource to others. This is part of the power of this new website.
Maybe you already have a blog or you like to post articles on Facebook? Copy them here for additional visibility. Maybe you think of an “article” as a major writing endeavor - not necessary. Often the shorter the better. A link to a great article elsewhere with a few lines of your commentary is a good primer if you’re uncomfortable with longer form writing. At the same time, I don’t want to discourage in-depth articles. I know members of SiS who are great at detailed music reviews, helpful tips, and have deeper thoughts on the state of the music biz. These types of articles would be fantastic for songwritersinseattle.com and you’ll get the additional visibility for your work that you deserve! If an article really is exceptionally long, we’ll break it into parts for multiple releases, getting it even more attention.
So, imagine the possibilities, then write to info@songwritersinseattle.com and request to get started. I’m really excited to see what we can do out here and watch our continued momentum skyrocket.
Thank you, enjoy the new website and again, welcome! Chris
Jillian Graham is a talented singer and songwriter who has been an active member of Songwriters in Seattle for over a year now. Her powerful and smooth alto voice has been compared to Chrissie Hynde, Martina McBride, Joan Baez and Natalie Merchant. Jillian’s songs describe love, loss & hope, and relating to others and the world we share. She captures thoughts, feelings and observations in a disarming and introspective way. Her delivery is powerful yet sensitive.
Jillian has played all over Seattle both as a solo artist and with her band. In 2010 Jillian visited Seoul Korea and sang on radio and at an international Korean adoptee gathering. In the SiS podcast below, Jillian tells some fascinating stories about taking her American folk music back to Korea during this trip. She especially enjoys playing venues that benefit the community and important causes. Jillian also provides back-up vocals and rhythm guitar for local artists and bands.
Also in the podcast, we hear some music off her new album Movin’ On, including an in-studio live performance. Please be sure you check out jilliangrahammusic.com for details and the latest happenings with Jillian and her band.
