Category: Uncategorized

Guitar Gearhead Nerd to the Extreme

I had one of those guitar nerd moments today. I found a site that takes the serial number of certain guitar manufacturers and spits out a little bit of info about said guitar.

I gave it my Les Paul Custom’s serial number and it gave me this:

Guitar Info
Your guitar was made at the
Nashville Plant, TN, USA
September 18th, 1978
Production Number: 27

Gibson: Nashville

Gibson’s Nashville plant was opened in Tennessee 1974. All electric models and some acoustic models currently made at this factory. This facility has an average production rate of 220 guitars a day. Each guitar is built by hand and takes about 4 to 6 weeks to complete. Note: Most hollow and semi-hallow body guitars are made at a separate plant in Memphis Tennessee. This facility has an average production rate of 40 guitars a day.

I then gave it my ES-335 Pro and it gave me a somewhat underwhelming response:

Guitar Info
Your guitar was made at the
Kalamazoo Plant, USA
December 5th, 1979
Production Number: 127

That’s it, eh? Okay. Kalamazoo!

I then gave it my Stratocaster:

Guitar Info
Your guitar was made at the
Corona Plant (Fender), USA
in the Year(s): 2000 – 2001

Fender: Corona

Corona factory was opened in 1985, Corona California, with major guitar production starting in 1987. With the addition of a custom shop in 1987 the plant currently employs about 700 workers. Apart from general and Custom Shop Fender instruments and amplifiers, it also encompasses Guild acoustic & electric guitars.

Now, I knew the years for the two Gibsons. At that time the first and fifth digit in the serial number combined to form the last two digits of the year. The Les Paul is 7nnn8nnn or something. The 335 is 7nnn9nnn or something. Get it?

As for the Fender, I had no idea. I started my Google search with a Fender Q&A page that gave the serial number/date of manufacture breakdown. My guitar’s serial number starts with Z0. The Zn format means it was made between 2000 and 2009, and the 0 represents the last digit of the year. Z0 means 2000.

Having said that, Fenders are modular assembly line deals. Gibsons are hand made works of art. For a Fender, the year from the serial number does not necessarily represent the date of manufacture. Each component has it’s own serial number, and it’s possible that each component on a specific guitar could have been made in a different year. But the 2000 is close enough for me.

It was already weird owning a Fender, but somehow it’s even weirder owning a guitar that was not built in the 1970’s, or even the 20th century!

My Turn

Last week my step daughter had a bad cold. One guy at work was out sick on Wednesday and another was out sick on Thursday. Over the weekend my beloved wife Jennifer had a cold so bad she barely managed to get out of bed.

Last night when I got home from work I thought to myself, “gee wiz, self, your throat feels a little weird.”

It’s my turn. The plague is taking over.

Sleep

We are on vacation. It’s glorious. Last night we let the kids stay up a little late. When bed time came I told them alarm clocks were forbidden. The punishment for setting an alarm this weekend is being grounded until you are 90.

I went to bed at 11ish with the plan to sleep until at least 9:00am. What time did I wake up?

4:48am.

Crud.

So Close Yet So Far

I am 8.5 business hours away from a week long vacation. I am so close I can smell it, yet it still seems so very, very far away.

Today is going to be one of the longest Fridays in recorded history. Just please keep the escalated issues at bay today and all of next week. They can start up again on June 2nd if they want. Just go easy on me today and go easy on my staff next week. That’s all I ask.

(he asked, knowing there was no way in hell his wish would come true.)

Still a Nitwit

I had to go to a training today. It ran for two hours, from 10:00 until noon. I sat in the back of the room to spare anyone having to sit behind me. When the meeting was over I packed up my stuff and headed to the exit (the training did not take place in the same building as my desk).

I got all the way to the exit before I realized I had forgotten my glasses.

What
The
Hell?

Nitwit

Every once in a while one of the kids will have a change to the morning routine. This requires both the other kid and me to also make changes to the morning routine. Over the last couple of weeks, that has meant that we have to get up earlier so that one of the kids can go straight to school instead of going to their Dad’s and taking the bus from there.

On Friday, we drove to school without any problem. As we were heading to Dad’s house I realized my phone and my glasses and my work badge were not to be seen. Damn. That meant I would have to stop at the house on the way to work. It would be okay, getting up early meant I had time. It was just a pain in the behind. Just before I got home I heard the beep my phone makes when I get an email. Uh… Oh yeah! I usually put my phone on the passenger seat, but on that day I put it in the console so my step daughter wouldn’t be sitting on it. Problem solved!

Today was another early day for us. This time as I was driving between the school and Dad’s house I realized I forgot my glasses and my work badge. Urgh! Idiot! This time I really did forget them. What is wrong with me? I’ve only been managing to NOT forget these things for about 10 years. That’s all.

Nitwit.

Four Days

Four business days.

Tuesday (today)
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday

That’s all that stands between a three day weekend followed by four days off from work, followed by a normal weekend. In other words, a week long vacation.

Our fifth wedding anniversary is on the 30th so Jen and I both took that whole week off. It’s going to be a mostly stay-cation, but who cares. It’s a week of relaxing and being lazy together. Is there anything better?