The Life of Some Sort of Hippie Cowboy

I'm loving this summer. I've really tackled some big jobs in the yard, learned a lot about ways to be more sustainable, and even started growing food INSIDE of my house!

These are the first of my sprouts that I've pulled out of the sprouting jar setup I've got going. I've noticed some of them went a little brown in the "bean" part, and that freaks me out a little. I'm going to eat them anyway, and hopefully it's not mold or something that will put me out of commission for a while. Being sick off food is seriously uncool.

In other news, I ran downtown in the van earlier today to drop off some Etsy sales at the post office. When I stopped to grab coffee afterwards, I walked into a nearby soap shop called Spirit Goat. I scored a tub of all natural dish washing soap AND a bar of soap to try out for shaving. Go see Becky at Spirit Goat on Federal Ave in Logan if you haven't already. They carry tons of soap, obviously, but they also carry shaving stuff for all the real men out there!

Bad String Sunday

Today I had a REAL problem- or so I thought. Restrung a sweet Gibson Songwriter (with strings the owner brought- made of copper), and after cleaning everything up, the D string had a very strange buzz. Checking for everything I thought could be the culprit - loose wires, loose bracing, bad saddle crowning, loose hardware, etc, I started to question my sanity. There was nothing loose! The saddle I'd made for this guy last year was still just fine, too- it wasn't that "sitar" sound you get from a janky saddle. Once my back started to hurt from hunching over and stressing, I took a break and sat down.
Some people sit down and figure out exactly what the problem is, because they're relaxed. I just sat down and went blank. I still had no idea what to try, so on a whim I went through my drawer of strings and just picked out a D string of a different brand (it was D'addario- I always have them on hand). I walked back over to the guitar and replaced only the D string, thinking it wouldn't do anything- I was just looking for anything to try.
Wow. The problem was a bad string. Straight out of the package. I've never had that problem before, but apparently a bad string happens once in a while!


In other news, here's the latest pickup design I've cranked out. It'll be going in the next Parlectric I build. It's made of real bone, wound hot, and wrapped in gold hemp. I love the raw look of it, but I'd love to hear your opinion on the looks of this little guy as well! And please visit my company website www.stahmanguitarco.com!