neohic

I love how this truck still looks exactly as it did.

Back at it. Drain tile needed to go in before finishing the timber work. 50… long… feet. Have I mentioned that ground is very hard around here?

Broke out the sewing machine today. Made a vinyl cover for my amp to keep more dust at bay. I also threw together a bunch of parts I had sitting around in an attempt to fill the cabinet a little more. Mexican Fender neck, Music Man pickup, mystery bridge, electronics scraped together from a RadioShack reject box, and a huge body that I made in high school. “Garbage-caster”? “Junk-caster”? “Vidiian Special”?… for fans of Star Trek Voyager. I’m used to cruising Craigslist for Jeep stuff but I keep finding myself straying over to the musical instruments section.

Still possibly in the works. SCCA stuff might go up? They’re currently potentially sweetening the deal with trying to sell the camper. Still in the works. Trying to figure a parts curtain and finishing the desk first. Also… you mean dusty/gross MJ? I love not working! Well… I love not working for someone else’s profit while slowly killing myself. It’s great to be doing something that absolutely feels like bettering myself. Just about every job I’ve had since finishing high school has started off great and then turned into another chalk mark on my “terrible employer” scoreboard. That’s nearly 20 years! Trades have turned into something that I’m only interested in doing for myself and that’s forced me to look into career alternatives. It’s been time for a while for me to do this between my physical and mental health and it’s been an especially rough go the past year. I don’t really get into things publicly within interznets land, but I’ will say that I’m getting a number of things in order as of recently. My shop has been a huge relief on so many levels.

Truck… space to build whatever I want… cozy spot… new home for my basses… This little shop is officially my happy place. The loft is nearly finished as far as function. I need to make a top to turn an old welder and a cabinet into a desk yet… … and maybe hang a curtain of some sort to hide a pile of parts. Otherwise my guitar cabinets are done and I love them! Next I’ll make up a vinyl cover for my amp. Going to keep an eye on the dust situation inside the cabinets too and figure a foam gasket if I need to. Feels great to go out here in the morning, sit down with a bass while I finish my coffee, and then go create things.

I wouldn’t turn down more instruments. They certainly don’t take up much space especially when they’re in a case. Problem is that I don’t pick them up when they’re packed away. I’ve started getting a real interest in vintage guitars lately… which I need like another hole in my head. “Newest” bass is a ‘74 Fender that’s got a TON of hard miles. Looks odd when paired next to my somewhat new(ish) Cort I’ve had since high school. I like the diversity between guitars. Two can look identical yet feel and sound so different. Super easy to fall down guitar rabbit holes.

Started on my guitar cabinets. I’m using doors that I had leftover from another job a while ago. The doors match the fancy cherry cabinets I built a while back and the boxes are made from the same plywood I’ve been using since. Trying to keep dust down to a minimum while utilizing my shop as more than a shop. Two cabinets might’ve been overkill but I liked the look of them in early sketches. I’ll have room for six guitars. I’ve got three and a ukulele.

The world really needs to know what happened to this build.

Time to get onto the loft. I’m down to the spare parts that I’d like to keep so I can see how much space it all takes up. There’s a bunch of stuff up there! Some of it came down and probably won’t go back up. First off was to shove it all to one side, lay down carpet, move it all to the other side, and lay down more carpet. I used 6’x8’ indoor/outdoor rugs and just stapled them down. The seams lined up nicely and I trimmed the edges where needed. Then everything got moved and rearranged a few times until things started to feel right. The little welder up there belonged to my grandpa along with the two oldest welding helmets hanging on the rim joist. The switch is bad, the cables are junk, it’s been painted a bunch of times, and the induction coil is leaking oil. I LOVE IT THOUGH! It’ll end up as part of the desk. As for the tape on the floor in the back corner, that’s the space for the future guitar case. Stay tuned for that. Other plans are maybe a curtain to go around the parts bins just to further clean things up. Not necessary but I really like things “just so” and I think it’d really finish out this new space that has more of a finished feel. Right now I’m on the lookout for a remote job as customer service or tech support. Ideally, I want to find something in the off road world again. I’ve been getting back into selling artwork that I’ve really missed for the past seven years or so, but I see that as more of a side gig. Anyhow, I’ve always wanted an office space in a shop and a remote job feeds the need for it. We’ll see how long things can stay clean up there.

I recall Jim from when he was a heavy hitter on Comanche Club a long while back is all. Never met. Build thread for reference:

No $#!&! Jpnjim is your dad? Rad! Makes me feel old, but that’s rad!

Huge bummer! Guess this is the sign I was waiting for to cancel Motortrend. https://www.motortrend.com/news/off-road-dirt-every-day-fred-williams-dave-chappelle-goodbye/?fbclid=IwAR2Mc1kSqpCjhRWWdfCHZKquwng2Im1-Az8WQWNLy4YZQPakIPnwuzetugE

Great to see this again!

I needed to start using my compressor again today. Same setup as I had in my last shop. Plenty of filter surface area!

K, but what about your upside down grill?

Sweet!… again! But what’s the pole shed looking garage you’ve got there also?

I’m as far as I’m going to get until after Labor Day weekend. Had to pick up eight more timbers to finish up. Jeep didn’t even squat! Started the little side but I’m out of time. I’ve got some other obligations and then a short trip up to Minnesota.

New neighbor. What was next door was a similar size original cabin to mine except it had a bedroom addition. There was someone living there until this couple came along with a mattress full of money. For whatever reason, my street has become the place where everybody wants to be. It was super quiet. Now there’s five VRBOs and way more people coming and going than there were five years ago. So, back to the new house, they swooped in, dropped cash, bulldozed the 520 square foot cabin, left it alone for over a year until they had a plan (all the while had a port-o-potty sitting on the property), and then finally had their crew start on the 4000+ square foot McMansion that’s being built now. The city has their regulations and codes on how big something can be built, but there’s always “interpretations”. Anyhow… no, I didn’t buy the property so I don’t have a say, but I also don’t agree with it.

Thanks! It’s a huge workout and very slow going. Progress today: And then I got rained out. I’ll need more timber to finish the far end and then I need to figure the short side. Almost had to move the trailer.

Back at it today.

So… build thread, yes?

2006 called. It wants its Kenwood deck back. Wrong dash bezel also. This came out of a ‘96 XJ because I needed one and that’s what I could get in good shape. So? I had a good factory deck that I did the auxiliary input mod. Added a USB port and got rid of the lighter that has never worked. Nope… none of this keeps the leaking fluids in it that I should be fixing but… wha’ev’s.

More timber slinging again. All of the landscaping slopes towards the house. Another annoyance is the “this way or that way” situation to get up to the road. Lots of moving dirt today. Looks decent but it’s way too low and all of the mulch ends up on the path. All of it is getting replaced.

I saw it. Motortrend isn't the content that I was paying for when I originally signed up and I think this show is part of the downward spiral that's pushing me away. It was entertaining to a point and the truck had some good parts thrown at it. I would've rather have seen the overall higher quality of the finished truck but there's the all too common, "We've got five days to get this build done!" Why though? Why can't these shows produce a good product that takes the time it takes without the goofy commentary along the way? Harrumph.