Diagrammetry

Posted on February 10, 2010 by Tom Harold

So...what does that say exactly?

I spent quite a while trying to read this stupid schematic off the bottom of this amplifier through the stupidly small hole in the back of the cabinet this evening. I thought if I took a picture I could blow it up and read it. I’m still not sure this is going to work. I’m going to sell this obscure amp, so I need this info to put in the ad for it. Why did I buy this thing in the first place? Well, it’s a Kent amplifier, and I had found a Kent microphone at a swap meet, and I thought that it would be cool to have one of each. For the record, that was at least ten years ago, and I never once took this thing out of the house after I bought it. Time to move on!

Commando Tubes

Posted on February 9, 2010 by Tom Harold

Ah, the legendary Danelectro Commando 88 – or part of it, anyway. This is a lesser known vintage amplifier, but really huge in harmonica circles. It has a reputation, part of which is that Chicago harmonica master Little Walter played one back in the day when he was making mind-blowing records with Chess up north and basically doing for harp what Hendrix did for guitar. I have one, which is kind of amazing. I got lucky and found it at a guitar show years ago. I honestly don’t play it that much…so…I dunno…it might be time to allow it to move on into some other player’s hands who will give it a good workout. Maybe.

Slingshot – Rolling Ball Sculpture Completed!

Posted on February 8, 2010 by Tom Harold

Woohoo! Another one off the bench!

What do ya think? Fun, huh? Everyone kept saying, “Hey, don’t you think you could maybe, like, make it go up and over? Like a loop? Can’t you do that?” And I was all like, “Yes.” And I did. It whips through the loops and then drops down into the little pocket at the end and spins for a second with the leftover energy.

This one’s pretty fun. It has kind of a leaned back look to it, and the way the long drop launches the marble into the loops it reminded me of a slingshot. From a side angle the bottom loop-the-loop looks like wheels and the stretch up to the spiral at the top looks like what they used to call a “slingshot” dragster, but that’s just me. You’re opines may vary, and that’s totally cool with me. It’s still fun to play with.

Rolling with steel

Posted on February 7, 2010 by Tom Harold

What?!?!?! Tom built an RBS? SHOCKER!

Yet another glimpse at my experience with steel fabrication sculpture at the Indianapolis Art Center. This is a kind of terrible photo, but I imagine you can get an idea of what’s going on here. I was in the process of building this RBS when we had to knock off for the end of the workshop. I busted butt and really did a fair job of getting through things. The parts that I completed actually function all the way to where the track ends, which I consider to be some kind of minor miracle.

I used a MIG welder on this mild steel piece. I was told to come back and now that I’m a member I can get studio time and complete it! Oh, and the red things on there are actually big magnets that are being used to hold things in position while I work. They don’t stay on there. Yet more detail on this to come. Stay tuned – it was SO COOL!

Flamecutter

Posted on February 6, 2010 by Tom Harold

Fire! Mwuahahahahahaha!

This is from my steel sculpture workshop at the Indianapolis Art Center, the pic I figured you’d all want to see the most: sparks and flames! This is what everyone thinks of when they think of welding. It’s actually flamecutting very thick steel, not welding, but who’s to argue? It’s cool! This is not me here, this is Mike, but I got to partake, and I will freely admit, that it is exactly, 100%, absolutely and completely every damn bit as much fun as it looks!

The whole thing was superfab, so more on this later, more pics, more words, and more burnt stuff!