06-12-2019 Radcliffe Open Mic

Final one of the year,

Played

I Can’t Dance – Genesis
Spirit of the Radio – Rush
Rocks – Primal Scream – first time with Sue on vocals
Toxic – Britney Spears

Next one in Feb!

24-10-2019 Hickling Open Mic

Another cracking night, was not in best of health, (man flu) but hey ho

Played

Let Me down Easy – Blackberry Smoke
Signs – Tesla (first time)
Spirit of the Radio – Rush (first time)

Pulled off the first timers reasonably well (ish)

Till next time

19-09-2019–Hickling Open Mic

Back again for what turned out to be a cracking evening.

Played

Let me down easy - Blackberry Smoke
Hungry like the Wolf – Duran Duran
The Trees/Tmewarp/The trees – Rush(rocky horror show) featuring Ian on Drums. So in place of the great solo section, I put in the Timewarp, worked really well. Ian worked well on drums given he had no idea what I was really doing!!!

13-09-2019 Radcliffe Open Mic

Back after the summer break and another great night

played 3 songs

Let me down Easy - Blackberry Smoke
The Trees - Rush
Hungry like the wolf - Duran Duran

Tll next time

31-08-2019 Butter Cross open air Open Mic

Back for a second time, after a year off last year and what a success it was.
The heavens opened at 3pm for a while but after that it was wonderful day.

The following Market Square Heroes performed

Jon Chapman, 
Tiss Saccoh, 
Jimmy,
Rosie O’Brien, 
West O' Moon, 
Sam Millar, 
Tieguan Donovan, 
Adam Peter Smith, 
Jim Cooper band, 
Letina Reuben Travis, 
Lisa Hendrix, 
Brett Sinclair



The crowd were great all day from the very start, very supportive.

Played

Let me down easy - Blackberry Smoke
Toxic - Britney Spears
Hungry like the Wolf - Duran Duran (first time)
Flow Grown Wild - Bryan Adams

Pictures of the day

22-08-2019 Hickling Open Mic

It is Summer time so emptier than usual so got to play twice.

1^st Set 

You’re not the Best - Charlie Robinson

Let me down easy – Blackberry Smoke

Flower Grown Wild – Bryan Adams

2^nd set

50 things to do before I die – Jon Chapman

Behind blue eyes – the Who

5-07-2019 - Radcliffe Open Mic

Back again before the summer break.
Played second, for a change!

Played
All of My Love - Led Zeppelin
Substitute - the Who
I cant Dance - Genesis
Toxic - Britney Spears
Crazy - Seal
The Garden - Rush

See you after the summer break!

27-06-2019 Johnson Arms Open Mic

First time down and I had been meaning to for a while.

Nice vibe and some great players.

Due to late start I did not get to see many before I left.

Played
Toxic - Britney Spears
All of my Love - Led Zeppelin
I cant Dance - Genesis
Yopu're not the Best - Charlie Robison

I will return.

22-06-2019 - Bingham Rugby Beer & Music Festival

I only went down for a couple of beers and see my friends band, honest.

Ended up working the sound for all three bands that night. Result!

The Office

Vinyl Years

Estelle & The Redfish

 The Pumpers

Bloody Excellent evening.

07-06-2019 Radcliffe open Mic

A busy night Up first as usual. Its a standing joke!!!

Played

The best I can get – Charlie Robinson (First Time)
I Cant Dance – Genesis
Toxic – Britney Spears
All of my Love – Led Zeppelin (First time)
Show me the Way – Peter Frampton

Till next time

16-05-2019 - Hickling Open Mic

Back again for another busy night. Get here early if you wanna play.

Played

I can't Dance - Genesis, with Ian on Cahon
Toxic - Britney Spears
Give a little bit - Supertramp

till next time

03-05-2019 Radcliffe Open mic

Back to this great open mic

Played

Man of a thousand faces - Marillion
I Can't Dance - Genesis
Toxic - Britney Spears (first time)
Baby I love your Way - Peter Frampton (slowly getting better at this one)
The Garden - Rush

18-04-2019 Hickling Open Mic

I like it here!

Played

The Garden – Rush
Baby I love your way – Peter Frampton.
Doctor Doctor – UFO (for Paul Raymond [RIP])

Variax Acoustic Repairs

I love my Variax Acoustic, brought it years ago second hand from a guy in a top cover band here in the UK. He regretted the sale, so he brought another. It is a shame these are no longer available.

Anyhow, over the years it has suffered from several breakdowns, non of which were manufacturing issues. A couple of design faults, but no issues.

Failure 1.

The internal battery failed to work. VDI and external power pack were ok.

Solution 1:

Built 2 external battery packs one large floor mounted and one belt pack. These had pass through to enable it to work just like the mains system.

Solution 2:

The permanent solution was a bodge. There is a small component L? which was blown on the circuit board, this is in-line with the battery terminal. All I did was put a small jumper in place. Fixed!

Failure 2.

This is a design issue. The VDI port has no cover and is too close to the jack socket. This means that it is too easy to ram the jack into the VDI port, this eventually caused the VDI port to be damaged preventing it from working as either a VDI or to the workbench.

Solution1:

I contacted Line6 and their sales agents and the daughter board is no longer available. Thankfully the connector  Neutrik NE8FAV Vertical PCB Mount RJ45 Receptacle is available. It is a relatively simple job to desolder and replace it.
Solution 2:
Insert an old RJ45 connector into it the VDI port to prevent future damage.

Failure 3.

Piezo failure.

Solution1:

A long time ago, 2007 I had an issue with one string not coming through. Line 6 kindly sent me a replacement for free back then. I never used it.
Last night I was planning on using the Variax but the B string continually failed so it was time to effect the repair. After searching for the part I did eventually find it. One small part!

It is/was a simple fix

1. Remove back panel
2. Carefully remove the ribbon cable, this just pulls out!
3. Remove two screws, one has an earth lead
4. remove strings
5. The bridge can now be removed
6. Unsolder the offending piezo and replace with new one
7. Replace bridge and reconnect ribbon cable, earth and screws.
8. Test by tapping piezo’s with Variax connected to an amplifier
9. If ok, restring test and enjoy

Final notes

I need to send it to a luthier and get the frets dressed and set-up so it can have many more useful years.

I am also thinking of making it a hybrid guitar by adding a magnetic pickup. Not sure how I will drive the output jack configuration but it is just a thought!

5-04-2019–Radcliffe Open Mic

Back again and a very full roster of people wanting to play.

Played

The Garden – Rush
Man of a thousand faces – Marillion
Show me the way – Peter Frampton (not played in a long time, such a shame I may never get to see him play live in the UK again)
I Can’t walk – Genesis (1st time)

Till next time

1-03-2019 - Radcliffe open Mic

Back again and not up first!


Played

The Garden - Rush
Flower Grown Wild - Bryan Adams
Man of a thousand faces - Marillion
A Better Man - Thunder

Till next time

21-02-2019 - Old Wharf Tea room, Open Mic Hickling Pastures

Back again to this nice open mic, held every third Thursday

Played all with Ian on Cajon (who duly "sat on it and hit it as needed !")

Man of a thousand faces - Marillion
Nobody's Hero - Rush
Flower grown Wild - Bryan Adams

will miss next time as I will be at PZ.... Those who know know

9-02-2019 - Butt Field Open Mic

Back again and a light turnout in terms of players. That said it was a good night

Played

Nobody's Hero - Rush
Mmmm Bop - Hanson
Man of a thousand Faces - Marillion
Found the Unexpected flaw of Searching – Riverside
Better Man - Thunder


At the end played

Layla / Bad Love / Who Do you Love - Erick Clapton instrumental medley


Players on the night

Me
Laura
West of the Moon