Kodakaster Duo Pup

The 6th canjo build is my latest attempt to find the best use for some old film cans that my wife and I have been moving from residence to residence since my college days in Hollywood so many years ago.

The tailpiece, the metal etched box anchoring the strings to the can on the lower left, was really made for a mandolin. The metal bolt next to it serves as a bridge for the electric guitar strings and transfers tone vibrations of the strummed strings to the can. It sounds pretty good un-amplified, but the two copper-colored Flatpup pickups really "light it up".

The metal hex bolt serves as a nut on the zebrawood neck at the headstock.The chrome-plated C.B. Gitty closed tuning machines are quite well made and relatively easy to install.

I happily just put the final touches on my new 4-string canjo build. I call it the Kodakaster Duo Pup since it's made from an old Kodak bulk film can. The copper colored rectangles on the face are called Flatpup Humbuckers which make this canjo really loud and rich sounding (without any hum like some electric guitar pickups). They are handmade in Vienna, Austria by a young man named Elmar Zeilhofer and are quite an improvement in amplifying my canjos with cheaper piezo pickups.

I think one of the most interesting aspects in the looks of this canjo is the patina of etched finger prints from 50 plus years of handling that adorn the outside edge of the front of the instrument.

The Kodacaster Duo Pup also sports a Telecaster-style selector switch to play each pickup by itself or both together with tone and volume controls to boot.

I play it with a metal, glass or ceramic slide on my left ring finger while strumming or picking with my right hand. Plugging it into an effects stomp box produces some diverse and really massive sounds.

But mostly, building these contraptions gives me a great appreciation of real luthiers and their art.

The Nob Nob

Had another great Asheville experience this morning, this time at Moogfest's Modular Marketplace where I picked up a little wonder you may have heard of called a brandnewnoise voice recorder. It consists of a small (3″W x 3.5″L x 2″H), pretty, hand-made wooden box housing a digital audio recorder. It is so simple any idiot can operate it, which is right up my alley. Push and hold the red button and it records up to 30 seconds of audio from its built-in mic. Release the red button to stop recording, then push the black button and it plays back your recording. Turn the black nob to and fro to change the pitch during playback.

That last feature is the entertaining part.

I don't completely understand why, but at the ripe age of 67, it makes me smile and even break out laughing to hear my own voice, or anyone else's, for that matter, sound higher or lower than its normal pitch saying just about anything.

The best part is that the inventor, a really nice guy named Richard Upchurch from Brooklyn, NY, was manning his own table at the Modular Marketplace. He was very fun to talk to, is enthusiastic about his products (yes, there are other models - see his site for further details), and he was even nice enough to autograph my purchase on the back.

Powered by two AAA batteries (he even includes two with each recorder) the "Nob Nob", which was the name printed on the carton it was packaged in, requires no training manual and is well worth its $50 price tag in giggles alone. In the first hour after we got it back to our Jeep, Anita Gayle and I had recorded and played back at various speeds, many infantile phrases like, "Hi, how are you", "Must be time for lunch", and my personal fav, "I'm from Ohio", which for some obscure reason kept us in stitches for many minutes more than we should admit to.

Anyhow, Richard's little voice recorder would make a great gift for the friend who has everything because nobody really "needs" one.

Or do they? Yes, they do. Trust me.

Citrus Synthphony

I'm having a really great time exploring the Moog Sub Phatty I got a few weeks ago. So, I put my ears on, cranked up the Logic Pro software, and laid down some tracks. I like the synth as a complimentary sound to more traditional sounds like electric guitar, 4-string canjo, and shuffle drum rhythms.

So, here's the result of my latest efforts. At the most I may eventually find an audience, and at the least, I can't hear the dog barking next door when wearing ear phones. I have even thought of recording a sound sample of some of the loud barking and incorporating it into my next piece. At the very least then, all that canine cacophony would result in a positive outcome for me. Maybe.

Moog's Sub Phatty - Modulate Me, Man

Ok. Another weak moment (or strong decision, depending on how I use this new musical tool) because our comfy Asheville home is now emanating some very strange sonic vibrations at varying frequencies at all hours. Looking at it in its most favorable light, this new turn of events is particularly fortuitous for Anita and me since summer is fast approaching, the windows will be open, and the new electronic sounds will likely drown out the loud, constantly barking dog of our clueless neighbors next door. Turning adversity into advantage is what I'm all about, or at least I am today.

The Moog Sub Phatty is an amazing combination of retro technology and digital control on three progressively deep levels. Luckily, it comes with pretty extensive operating instructions so I have at least a fair chance to make the most of this tone monster. The console itself has 31 control knobs and some cool indicator LED lights in its bank and patch preset panel, a two octave velocity sensitive keyboard, and a tone wheel and an expression wheel.

But, the shift mode gets you even deeper into The Sub Phatty's programming capacity by adding more functions to its console's existing dials and buttons allowing you to change hidden parameters. Plus, Moog supplies (from their online site) free downloadable software the replicates the Sub Phatty's front control panel which shows yet more of the Shift Mode functions, plus "load and preset" options.

It's interesting how life sometimes revolves in circles (or spirals through time, if you will) since I find myself playing with synthesizers again. Back in 1974 when Anita and I worked for Salt Lake City's PBS affiliate TV station, KUED, we rented a prototype synthesizer similar to this beautiful, more sophisticated modern-day Moog to create sound effects for our documentaries. Now, here we are 43 years later trying to figure out analog oscillators, low pass filters, sound envelopes, pulse wave modulation and the rest all over again.

It's still as much fun now as it was back then, only more expensive.

Well, I'll be a MoogerFooger

Here are the latest additions to Anita Gayle's Musical Kit of Treasures. One reason Asheville is so cool is that it's the home to the Moog Synthesizer Factory, right off the freeway through downtown and way too easy to get to. Pictured are three MoogerFoogers - Ring Modulator, 12-stage Filter and Midi-MuRF sitting right next to Anita's beautiful Kevin Spears model Hugh Tracy Electric Kalimba, which Anita daisy-chains through the MoogerFoogers and out through a combo amp.

We already used it for Anita to lay down a music track for one of her short recipe videos about making a  yummy, nutritious whole grain hot cereal on her cooking blog. Nice!

Since we got home with this Moog trio, there have been some etherial and sometimes rather strange vibes emanating from our home.

But living in Asheville, no one really notices.

Canjo Upgrade

I decided to replace the disc piezo pickup on the inside of my Kodakaster 3 Canjo with a Flatpup4 U hand-made by Elmar Zeilhofer in Vienna, Austria, and specifically designed for the bridge position. This is my third flatpup from Elmar and each one is a vast improvement over a piezo electric pickup with warmer tones, more punch, and, since piezo pickups work by picking up vibrations (sound waves), no annoying handling sounds from touching the metal surface of the old film cans I use to make canjos as they are played.

The Flatpup 4 (meaning flat pick up) is that copper-colored rectangle glued to the top of my canjo. Most conventional humbuckers are much thicker and require a hole cut into the instrument's surface to mount under the strings, while Elmar's flatpups are only 4mm thick and are easy to attach using glue, or a few small screws if you purchase one in a frame. Humbuckers are a type of electric guitar pickup that use two copper coils to cancel out the electrical interference commonly picked up by single coil pickups, Being magnetic, they capture mechanical vibrations of steel strings through the magnetic field produced by the humbucker, and convert them to electrical signals that are then amplified or recorded.

The Flatpup4 U design is a new configuration of Elmar's flatpups that, while more difficult for him to make, take advantage of its position near the bridge on the face of the canjo. If you want an explanation of the physics behind why this happens, please contact Elmar. He builds them and I merely use them because they sound so great on my canjos.

For more about Elmar and his flatpups, go to his page on Cigar Box Nation at:

www.cigarboxnation.com/profile/ElmarZeilhofer

Ashe

She’s only made from tonewood, copper, plastic, metal and varnish,

highly machined and carved by skilled craft workers, 

with hidden electronics in nooks and crannies,

but fit together like a fine sports car.

Could it be that these material came together to form

something more alive than some people I’ve met?

Yes, I know that’s not a nice thing to say but Ashe, my little bass,

sings in a low mellow voice, has curves in all the right places, 

is built like a brick you-know-what, and was sent to me through the mail 

in a cardboard box about a year ago already strung and swaddled in bubble wrap.

Between the times we meet to work out together, she waits patiently, 

standing in the wings like a diminutive ballet dancer awaiting her cue.

On my honor, if I ever take advantage of Ashe, fail to respect her,

or abuse our alliance, I will give her away to someone who can 

appreciate her beauty, charm, elegance and faithfulness more than me.

But, that would be the end of a beautiful relationship.

Billy Radd

Asheville