I am a better man
and a terrible man.
I am a genius
and a fool.
I am compassionate
and disconnected.
I am warm.
I am cold.
I am kind.
I am cruel.
I am mentally sound
while howling at the moon.
I am societies disease and cure.
I am the culture's most despised and most endeared.
I am everything wrapped in nothing.
I want to live forever,
I want to die tonight.
In peace, and in pieces.

I've known the breath of eternity that never existed
I've known the terrible torment of everlasting love.
I've broken into tears
of defeat and triumph simultaneously.
My face in my hands, I tell you now
what you've already known.

In a way, I'm barely a piece of the man I once was.
In another, I'm a thousand times the man I once was.

    Today I listened through all of the tracks I'd already recorded.  Some where recorded in a professional studio and some where recorded in a mansion with a portable setup.  Many of them need new vocal tracks and others are complete trash but I was thrilled that many (about 7) of the performances came out perfect and really didn't need much of anything, other than some minor dynamics and eq  tweeks.  About 5 others could have been saved but I really just wasn't feeling the performances so I'm going to use what was good and redo the mediocre stuff.   You just know when it's right.   Listeners know too, it just hits you. 

  Some stuff I've really got to practice though before I re-record.  For instance "Poison" looses feeling with a metronome and is way to wobbley without it.  I'm just going to have to really hit that one in my practice time.    I also had time to go through some old drum tracks, and I found the raw un-effected files.   I'll be working with them from scratch to do the few songs of mine that really need drums.

    Here's my song by song "to do" list for the record.  Obviously I'll eventually have to widdle this list down but right now I'm working on all of these tracks for the album.  There are 20 on the list and the album will likely only be 12-13 of them.  Some favorites may get left off just so they don't stick out so much or because monetarily it just didn't work out. 

Start Again-             Done!  It's awsome, one take, live in the mansion, great performance.  Do need to paste in the intro though.

Weeping Demon-  Done!  Great little minute-minute and a half long song.

Bluebird-                  Done! The best performance of this song ever!  May need violin I actually threw up after singing it in the studio because it was so emotionally wrenching to sing.

Dead Mans Boots  Done!  The only cover on the album.  Written by Andrew Delaney

Cedar Trees-           Done!  one tiny edit, and maybe some electric violin

Old Time Love-       Needs new vocal track, and backup vocal

Poison-                    Needs some time in the practice room before recording.  Starting over from scratch.  Zuriel on Violin

This Is My Voice-      Needs Better Vocal Take and electric violin.  The vocal track I've got is good but not great.

In the name of...-      Needs new vocal tracks.  This is a duet with Daniel KatsuK,

Great Escape-          Need to relearn this one and record it with co writer Andrew Delaney   Haven't even started

Still Believe-             Sometimes I want drums and sometimes I don't.  Drums are recorded, we'll see what happens.

The Entropy-             The version I have might be savable, we'll see.  Still needs electric violin, either way this is my favorite song to play live.

Never Too Late-        I've just got un-edited drums right now. 

It's Alright-                  Same as above

Joe the Snappin Turtle-   I've got two versions I'm working on.  I'll pick the best one.  This one requires a bit more money than the others.

FireBreather-              Needs new vocals

Meadow's Clean Room Lulaby -  It's recorded, but it's also my first choice to cut

Untitled-                     This is a new song that may or may not fit on the record.  I posted the lyrics to it a week or two ago.

Nowhere-                   Done!  Much nicer than the live version I released.

My Baby Shines       Just waiting for my ukulele to be finished so I can record this one with it.


You can always support the album by clicking the donate button on my home page,  Thanks for stopping in.  Stay Tuned!

Peace,
D. Anson

    I'm diving head first into Apple's audio program Logic. It's mostly trial and error with an excellent resource at my disposal (producer Jeff Dahgren) for when I get stuck. He's helped me pick out the plug ins I want to use and now I'm learning, again by trial and error, how to edit and organize the audio. Yesterday I bounced out mixes to three songs.  I like having control and taking my time. So far Jeff has been impressed with my mixes and admits that most people don't get that it's an art of subtlety. I imagine he means that most people over effect and over EQ.  I'm working in the studio's downtime so I'm not taking away from time being spent on the new KatsüK record.  All of us in the KatsuK house are working hard on the record, and live show.  Today we had a pow wow to discuss which tracks will make the album and which ones have to be cut, some tough choices. Me and Jeff also watched a video of our last show and talked about where and how we can improve.  This is all very new to me. I've never worked liked this but I can already tell that it'll be the way I work in the future. I've been looking into what it would cost to build a home studio for myself so that I can at least preproduce and mix myself. There are too many experts in the field and no two say the same thing. I guess, like always, I'll have to educate myself with my own ears.  Stay tuned and if you get a chance check out www.katsuk.com

 
Here is my nearly finished uke.  It's getting some coats of a good oil finish. Here's it hanging outside to dry.

 

Here are a couple of the back, the finish is still drying in these shots.  Check out the copper sheilding.  Check out how those lines come together, beautiful!

 
Here are the inlay shots.  These make me happy.  The love inlay makes me think Beatles and the bluebird makes me think of happiness. 

 

Damn!  That grain really pops in the sunlight!

Getting real close now stay tuned. 

I play bass in a band called Katsuk (www.katsuk.com)  We're just about ready to release our new album and it is by far the best thing that we've ever done.  For artistic separation I wear a mask, I use three different ones currently, and go under a different name in this group.  I'm a silent character named AQAL. 

Click the link under the video to see rewards and support this project.    Please share with your friends and family through word of mouth and through social media like facebook. 

Thanks,
D.  Anson

Here is a piece of box elder burl I plan on using for an electric bass ukulele.   Beautiful!

Currently Untitled

There was a time when we loved each other
Was a time when I called you mine
But it's been a while now since you've gone away
and it first it was hard but now it's just bittersweet

Baby, I'm just writing to say hey I'll be Ok,
yeah I'll be alright
It's just them dreams still get to me sometimes
Baby I'm just writing to say hey I'll be Ok
yeah I'll be alright
I know that you worry bout me sometimes

I wish I could say that I'm happy, 
you know I try
But if you're happy babe then I refuse to cry
All my life,
everyday
I only wish you the best babe

Baby, I'm just writing to say hey I'll be Ok,
yeah I'll be alright
It's just them dreams still get to me sometimes
Baby I'm just writing to say hey I'll be Ok
yeah I'll be alright
I know that you worry bout me sometimes

There just one thing that i ask babe
no, just one thing that I need
Please I'm begging you girl
please........don't regret me
don't regret me
please don't regret me

Baby, I'm just writing to say hey I'll be Ok,
yeah I'll be alright
It's just them dreams still get to me sometimes
Baby I'm just writing to say hey I'll be Ok
yeah I'll be alright
I know that you worry bout me sometimes

 

I have sort of lost interest in doing a full step by step photo montage.  Mostly because I've had trouble with my camera, and I've already forgotten to photograph several steps.  But here are a few more in process pics.  This is the headstock shape I chose. 

  
Here's one of the neck all carved. 

 
Here I'm getting ready to route the cavity for the electronics.



Using an inlay router because I'm doing this freehand and I want as much control as possible. 



Here is the pickup cavity all routed out and wired up.  That is a Mi Si Align preamp.  Couple of notes on this one.  I did'nt leave enough room for the back plate holes so I had to glue a couple of dowels for the covers screws.  Also this preamp is very green as it does not use batteries.  You charge it for 60 seconds to get 8 hours of play time.   Not having to route for a battery saves time, and money.  It also alows me to have a very thin body @ 15/16"



Here is a shot of the flush mounted 1/4" jack.  99% of the jacks out there would not fit this instrument again because the body is so thin.  This barrel jack does the trick. 



I made three different back plates trying to get the look I wanted.  I made one to match the burled top, I made one that matched the Striped ebony fingerboard and I made one that matched the inlays.  If I were to make these in production I would never use this material because it cracks to easily.  But since this instrument is for me and it's artitsticaly the most satsfying I chose the torquosie.  pretty huh.



Here it is places over the electronics cavity.  A nice fit for a hand mad instrument.  Black pickguard screws match the tuners.  I would have been nice to find a black barrel jack so that all of the hardware matched but alas no luck.



Here is the bride I made, complete with a roughed in saddle.  The bride is mad of striped ebony and the saddle is made of bone.  These will both be adjusted slighly when I string this baby up for the first time. 



The knobs that came with the Misi preamp were just black with red dots.  This didn't play into my Colorado torquise theme.  So I inlayed the tops with some torquise dots.  Turned out great!  Now I've just gotta incorparate a little bit of red elsewhere in the instrument.  hmmm.



Here are the torquise inlays.  If you sight down the neck you'll see that one of the dots is slightly off center.  This was done on purpose. 

Here is a simple inlay expressing my Love in a playful font.    Don't know what that mark is by the E in this picture but it's not there now. 



Here is the head stock with the tuners installed for mock up.  You can also see the torquise bluebird I inlaid, and the roughed in bone nut.



I think I found a way to incorparate a little bit of red so that the red line on the knobs won't seem out of place.   Here is a red heart I carved out of a piece of red coral.  It's tiny and the coral was a real pain to work with because it kept chipping.  After a few hours, and some trial and error I got a piece that I like.  It's shown with a dime for scale.  hmm 1991 p,  what was I even doing in 1991.  I was in the 3rd grade, the year I had my first girlfriend.  Kinda funny having the heart and thinking of that year.  Well funny to me anyways.  Moving on.




This whole instrument has been designed, built and decorated in honor of my Love and muse.  Her nickname is Bluebird.  She loves Colorado so I chose the torquise, and I've written a love song, to be played on this instrument when it is finished.   Also a Beatles cover because that is her favorite band. 



Full shot of the body all mocked up.   I'm waiting on a teeny tiny router bit to finish that headstock inlay but otherwise this is ready for finish.  I'll have to disassemble everything so that I get a nice even finish then glue the bridge on (yes after finish), fret it, set it up, and plug this baby in.   Hopefully by the 1st of the year.

I think that Love is a reasonable madness.
How awful life must be without a reason for madness.
I did not forget, celebrate tomorrow
but today is reason enough without it.

    I pulled my guitar out of the case to jam with my friend Andrew Delaney and I imediatly noticed that the bridge on my 6 month old guitar was comming up, I mean bad!  I've seen this happen to alot of instruments over the years.  Usually it's from letting the guitar get to hot in the summer months.  Hell, I worked on a couple a week when I was working as a guitar repairman.  I didn't freak out because I knew it was a rather simple repair.  I decided to repair this myself because I have a gig this weekend, I don't want to send it to taylor to fix because it would take to long and because I can do a better job.  I could have sent this in for warranty seeing as there was very little glue in this joint, but why?  Just look at how stingey there were.  Ther bridge came right off.  Usually you have to heat up the glue and separate the joint with a painters spatula.  But the problem wasn't that I'd left it out in the heat because I haven't.  The glue didn't slowly heat up and get pried off.  The problem was just a lack of glue.  Under roughly 600 lbs of string tension this joint just failed.  

   Some very very interesting things to notice with this bridge.  Notice the rout along the outer edge. This means that the outer edges aren't actually glued direcly to the wood like it normally would be.  From a fit and finish point of view this is BRILLIANT!  Because A.  There is more room for error when chiselling off the finish.  Because see the bridge goes on after it's gone through the whole finishing process.  B.  It means that the finish will be less likely to crack around the bridge as the guitar ages and bellies.  And C it just makes for a tighter looking joint when the guitar is brand new and under extreme scrutinty by potential customers.  I will difinetely be bringing a large photo of this to the next luthiers meeting.  Also notice the three locator pins located on either side of the bridge pin holes and in front and center.  Not dowels just locator pins to help place the bridge and to help keep it from slipping while clamped up.  Again brilliant design.  Also notice the toothing done to the top.  This helps give the glue more to bite onto.  Well, when there is glue!

I decided to make some improvements while I had the bridge off.  Basically
I pulled out the nylon locator pins
I flattened the bottom of the bridge, no more cool micro rout. 
Scored the shape of the full bridge into the finish,
Scapped off the finish that was around the edges of the joint. 
Cleaned off the old glue from both surfaces,
Upgraded glues from a pv glue(titebond/or elmers wood glue) to hide glue.*
I then reset the nylon locator pins
And clamped the freshly glued joint.  (it takes an acoustic guitar specific clamp)

*_On a side note hide glue has been used for centuries on everything from violins to ukuleles. It requires a few extra steps to work with and it has a relatively short shelf life in it's raw granulated form. Hide glue also only gives you a few minutes to clamp up, but it is sonically and structurally superior to other glues because it doesn't take in moisture from the air, it suctions as it dries and it dries hard like glass instead of plastic-y like other glues. If you want to know more, google instrument making with hide glue.

Here is a link to a site that shows the basic process.
http://fingerlakesguitarrepair.com/pages/repair-descriptions/bridge/bridge-reglue/taylor-410-bridge-reglue.php

Turned out great.  Sounds good!