Expericence Jetpack at The Buccaneer!

This video was shot, edited, and sent to us by our fan

Steph Mlodzinski at The Buccaneer in

Sierra Madre, California!

Inventor of CANDY APPLE RED dies at 94.

https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2017/09/27/joe-bailon-inventor-of-candy-apple-red-and-other-paints-dies-aged-94/

VIDEO from AUG 12

Video from AUG 5th

Video from June 25th

Jetpack playing Rumble

You Don't Know What You're Talking About - Part 3: High Action

What do you do when you meet a guitarist for the first time to give the impression that you really know about the guitar? Why you say, "Let me see your guitar." You hold it for three seconds as if guessing the weight of a frozen turkey, hold it up to your face for two more seconds and say:
"Hmmm. It's nice enough. The action's too high. It needs a set-up."
Why do this? Because it is the go-to, old stand-by critique that has more of a chance of being correct than not and it makes you look like an "I've played so much- I'm such a pro- I've seen it all" authority. You haven't played one note on that instrument and already you know it just isn't quite right. Wow, you must know your stuff!
You are also very ignorant, arrogant, and just parroting what you have heard other guitarists say who probably don't know what they are talking about either.
The action, or height of the strings away from the fretboard, is adjustable (in most cases). You can set it anywhere you want. Most people prefer it on the low side, but that is not required. It is true that in the past, cheap beginner guitars often have had terribly high action. Does that mean a high-end one with high action is in need of adjustment? No. There are reasons why you would want the action high.
Now, you've told someone they need a set-up and you'd be surprised to hear they just had the guitar set just that way. Perhaps their role is rhythm guitarist in their band. They use a heavy strum technique and find when the action is low the strings contact the frets. Perhaps they have raised their pickups and the magnetic pull is dragging on those metal wires we call guitar strings. They may have raised the action to find a balance between ease of play and sustain. Perhaps they play other styles of music you didn't know about where they prefer high action and just want all their guitars uniform- acoustics and electrics.
Did you know anything about what they play or how they play before offering your opinion? No. But you'll argue that guitar manufacturers list a specific millimeter height for strings in the manual or that your guitar tech whom you constantly, mistakenly refer to as a luthier(!) told you that there is a specified height that they consistently use. Sure, there has to be an as-good-as-any general-use starting point. Have you ever sat in a new car in a showroom? The seat isn't set all the way forward or all the way back. It is in a generally good place for most people. But guess what? Your mechanic isn't going to tell you, "Oh no no no. This seat is too far forward. You need to set it back about three inches." You know why? Because it isn't his car and he isn't driving it. Just as that guitar you critiqued isn't yours and you aren't playing it.
What you might have said, if you even knew anything about not just guitars, but guitar playing is, "Your action is too high ...for me."
But you didn't because you wanted to look like a big-shot and...you don't know what you're talking about.

Some very high action examples:
Jazz: Freddie Green (on his road guitar as high as 1/2 inch off the 12th fret!)
Rock: J. Mascis (for whom Fender/Squier makes an artist model guitar (that they ship with the  standard string height, of course)).
Shredder: Michael Angelo Batio (who plays contrary to the belief shredding requires low-low action)

You Don't Know What You're Talking About: Purely Cosmetic Edition

This Taylor guitar on Craigslist has the following description:
"Physically damaged on back. Does not effect (sic) playability or sound. Purely cosmetic."

You Don't Know What You're Talking About - Part 1

And by "you" I mean guitarists. Those of you that don't play may think a guitarist would be a good source for accurate answers about music and gear. Nope. In many areas you will find that they all simply repeat the same misinformation they have always heard themselves, but with added authority. However, the music companies manufacturing their products must know what's what, right? Wrong again. In particular, let's look at Fender in today's example: a vintage (or vintage style) amp.

This is what everyone and their mother would tell you is a Fender tweed amp. You could ask 500 people what this is and all 500 will say, "a Fender tweed". Fender will also tell you it is a tweed amp. It isn't, because that isn't tweed. I don't mean it's synthetic. I mean it literally isn't tweed. That's TWILL. This isn't knit picking. Tweed is a specific fabric and it is not on this or any Fender amp. The people who will say,  "It's the same thing- who cares?" are probably the same who say they don't care if they use the word literally when they mean figuratively. I can guarantee you that they would, however, throw a fit if while they had their amp recovered the craftsperson ran out of twill halfway through and finished the rest of the amp with tweed.

This isn't a great sin on the part of Joe/Josephine Guitarist. It is easy to understand the mistake. How often does a person, specifically a young guitarist, encounter tweed or twill- especially today? Back in the '50s (Leo) Fender labelled things with words he thought he knew on more than one occasion and we are stuck with them today. Someone should have stepped up and pointed out these errors, but they probably didn't want to correct the boss and perhaps in the case of the amp fabric it was someone in sales and marketing who described these as tweed covered. If so, there are mistakes we know are Leo's fault that we'll address soon enough...

Tough Bounce

NEXT SHOW: August 20th El Segundo California

JETPACK 11am-2pm

Experiment in Terror

NEXT SHOW...June 25th

El Segundo, California  June 25th
Jetpack 9:30 - 11PM

JETPACK starts 2016 Huntington Beach Surfing Museum Concert Series

 

THE FURY from PLANET REVERB live

 

AGENT J from PLANET REVERB live

COMANCHE by The Revels live 

 

EL CUMBANCHERO by Rafael Hernandez live

Here's video from attendees at Surfin' Sundays at the Huntington Beach, CA pier. JETPACK was the band to kick off this year's annual event hosted by The Huntington Beach Surfing Museum.

THIS SUNDAY!

SEE JETPACK SATURDAY!

 The Automobile Driving Museum 

610 Lairport St, El Segundo, CA 90245

The Museum's site says the tickets are $30. That is for those showing their cars.
They do request some donation for enjoying the festivities. 

See JETPACK SUNDAY !

click image for more details

The Cinema Bar

3967 Sepulveda Blvd, Culver City, California 90230

8:30-11:00 FREE

April 10: 60 years of causing VIBRATO to be confused with TREMOLO

That really would be a first!

Leo Fender was a radio repairman.  He started building amplifiers and then guitars, but he didn't play. This was evident in the patent for the Stratocaster Vibrato as he called it tremolo.  Of course, it follows that the dial on a Fender amp for tremolo is mislabeled as vibrato. He had several top artists around him at any given time. Why they didn't correct him is unknown. Maybe they did. Did he think it was a minor difference not worth correcting? Did he do it to stand out from the competition that had tremolo equipped amps?  Years later,  the vibrato unit was correctly labeled on one Fender: The Mustang student guitar. What is certain is they are in fact not interchangeable terms, but Fender has stuck with them to this day. Vibrato means changes in pitch. Tremolo means changes in volume.  

FAN PROFILE: Cold Enough for You? Meet Erik Wilkie & the Surfers of Lake Superior

Erik Wilkie and Bob Tema

 I recently heard from Erik Wilkie who wrote to ask if he could buy a copy of Planet Reverb and if I was okay with Jetpack songs he has put behind his surf videos. I was pleasantly surprised to find he had used songs from Surfin' to No Doubt, which was a CD I was contracted to do. I had assumed he had used songs from Planet Reverb he found online. When I asked him how he came about the No Doubt surf CD he said it was what he found for surf tunes in a shop in Duluth. That's right- these guys and gals (such as Vonnie, his wife of 31 years) surf in the icy waters that sunk the Edmund Fitzgerald! What do midwesterners know about surfing, you ask? Let me inform you that it was Erik's and Yours Truly's fellow Wisconsinite Tom Blake who is considered the founder of California surf culture and inventor of the fixed fin. 

Erik, however, moved across the country in reverse to Blake. He says he is "an Anaheim transplant" who wears a spring suit over his full suit as he gets cold easily. If that's the case, we have different ideas of "cold" and "easy". I would wear a full suit in California summer and still think it could be warmer. What I'm saying is: this crew is tough. 

Air temp: 17 degrees!

Erik states, "Although we can get waves anytime of the year, we’ve learned, that the best waves on Lake Superiors’ North Shore/Stoney Point come with, or right after, the coldest, snowiest winter storms." About the local scene he says, " It's like a brand new generation of surf nostalgia in the making." Of the surfers themselves he says, "With such a small crew here, everyone knows everybody else." He believes it is akin to "emerging surf lifestyle scenes...from many decades ago." 

Randy Carlson is a university water instructor, which is obvious.

Check out Erik's videos on his YouTube channel HERE and check out the Stoney Point Surf Spot Facebook page HERE. But before you do, you may want to put on a sweater and grab a hot drink.

Erik's '71 Snow Bus