Personally believe this to be the greatest Tone ever made by a guitarist..

SRV is a player I never get tired of listening to. His tone is just out of this world and it wouldn't really matter which guitar he picked up and played. When this hit the tube it was like the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls of Tone all over again but without the Papal envoy tucking a few under their jumpers and hiding them in the vaults...
Also one of my absolute favourite songs by SRV in "Aint giving up on your love"...
Couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to play this through a proper PA rig at full volume in a hall. It was almost a religious moment...

Doohan - One of the Greatest!

Mick Doohan was always a favorite when watching the GP500 strokers...some of his rides are down in history as "almost impossible" ..amazing bike control in all weathers...and those reekers were putting out some serious horsepower/ weight figures...
I've only started watching the MotoGP recently..just don't think those days of the two strokes can be bettered..although, has to be said, the modern day 4 strokes look and sound amazing!

A Gold Gilted 2013..

In the coaching game, 2013 was to be one of the most successful years for the ladies team I coach in rugby. What made the year even more challenging than the year previous was the fact that we lost around 13 players from our regular squad. Most teams would struggle I think to repeat the feats that we had done other years. With already 7 Swedish gold championship medals in 7's and 15's, it felt like it was going to be a struggle to repeat the performance in 2013.

However, it was to be probably the most enjoyable season as the squad went above and beyond the call of duty and won not only the Swedish 15 a side championship for a third time in a row, but also the Swedish 7 a side championship , only letting in 2 tries throughout the entire season.

To add to this, the squad also won the Scandinavian Sevens which gave us the title of best 7's team in Scandinavia . The squad also won the indoor Håckes tournament for the second year in a row.
To end the year we headed down to play in Dubai International 7's in the International Invitation 7's group. We lost the plate final to end 6th out of 12 teams.

I'm not sure what to expect in 2014. With a bunch of brand new players last year we managed to perform really well despite losing the 13 players. This year we get back some of the players that declined last years season, we develop the new players from last year and pick up a few more names.
Should be interesting :)

Still out there...

Just came across the last photograph I took of my ZXR750r. Despite all the work I've put into the OW01 which awaits a throttle cable and a Stay before I do any more work, I still miss the lines of the ZXR and I'm already looking forwards to the prospect of starting the rebuild of Version 3.
Due to the budget, I'm just gonna reuse the gear I already have...so there won't be a new rocker/tie rod set up at the back, or GSXR 6 pots up front. I'll keep the original parts and fit them.

Top Ten bike I'd want to own...

The Swiss do the watches and chocolate...the japanese do the magnificent miniature mechanical marvels..

The greatest moped in 1964?

ZXR750 wheels...

If you've been following the blog, you would have read that my last ZXR750R was stolen. twice to be exact. First time she was crashed...I rebuilt her...then she was stolen again and that was the last time we heard from her..
So, I've been collecting ZXR750R parts to use some of the crashed parts I still had, together with some sourced parts to rebuild a ZXR. It became a bit of an obsession once my other one was stolen..
Currently a lot of the "harder to find" parts have been sourced...some at an over the top price...but I felt it was important to get the parts that defined the R version from the J.
One of the last parts for the chassis was a set of wheels. And today they were sourced, complete with disc brakes and drive sprocket ( no doubt the cush-drives will have to be changed..)

The difference with this one will be I'm not planning on the build as a road bike but as a road racer.

The Pioneers...

Fenders got a run...and the Iroko Schecter...

specs left to right:

71 Red Telecaster:-
An interesting history indeed. Apparently a 71 body that has been "shaved"...original neck was broken and replaced. The neck apparently built by the same guy who used to make necks for Bruce Springsteen. It's without doubt the best neck I've ever had on any of the guitars. Previous owner added a middle pick up and plectrum cover at some point. I replaced all the pickups with signed Barden originals. Amazing playing and sounding telecaster.

Vanilla Strat:-
Fender 62 RI body with Sliders SRV replica scatterwound pickups. Neck is a Schecter neck from the early 80's and apparently from the same run that Billy Gibbons had given to SRV to use on Lenny. All I know is that it's a frikken amazing neck. All plastic is aged and from FATBOY in the UK.

EJ Relic Strat:
This strat started life as a 2006 EJ signature body. Then I came across a fella who had decided to get an EJ signature neck reliced professionally.So mated that together with the body and went to town by adding reliced tuners and plastics , once again from FATBOY, except this time I went with '54 period plectrum guard and bakelite knobs and bobs as well as rounded 54 pickup covers ( more rounded).
The bridge and block is a genuine 54 relic which is heavier as the holes for the strings aren't drilled as deep. All the screws are reliced as well and the springs are also relic.
Couple of years ago on a xmas day a fella somewhere in the galaxy sold a set of custom shop pickups (straight, no rewind in the middle pup) from a thin skin custom shop Strat. These are only available on those guitars and aren't sold separately from the custom shop. Highly recommended if you ever get the chance to pick up a set. Looks the business and isn't over reliced, and sounds awesome.

last but not least:-
Schecter strat
This one started life as an Iroko wood bodied custom shop Schecter body. The interest was obviously the difference in wood. A few years later and a Schecter reverse head rosewood neck turned up which slotted firmly into the CS body. Tuners are also period Schecter that don't really require a string tree.
Once again my favorite vintage green plectrum cover and vintage relic knobs and bobs made it on the guitar. The block and bridge are from the Fender Brass Series , sold for only a year I believe as the brass was gold plated (24K) and the costs were too high. The block is a massive brass effort which I tied together with a solid brass claw, connected by three "silent" springs.Pick ups aren't really that much to discuss, except for the bridge pickup which is apparently from a 59 guitar.The middle pickup is from a lefty and is a seymour duncan and the neck is from an EJ signature.
One of my favorite builds and playing guitars.

All of these have only been put together as players. Tone and feel. Lightweight, balanced and specials.
The sum of all the parts really make them all quite special.

Deal of the new year?

Been looking to own this book for a while.
Not that I'm gonna try and play anything...it's not tab and ..well, I may try and learn sheet music..but doubt it...
Just wanted it...However, the cost was prohibitive...until today!
Amazon had a couple of copies ranging from 100-300 quid..
so to find a copy in decent nick for 40 euros... good deal!

The amount of junk required to make her a road legal bike...

Old girl gets a house

Finally after many moons I managed to pick up a case for my beaten up early 70's Les Paul Custom.

Case is also beaten up which will suit the old girl.

Fitted...

...but not the fit that I was expecting. I felt it was important to get the lines of the rear fitment correct, but that in turn left a lip at the front. Aye well, so be it.

In the Shed over the festive season!

Been down to the shed over the festive season and continued the work on the fiberglass fairing. It came pretty rough and without any holes of course.

So, the tools required are: a tool to heat up and burn holes into the fiberglass, a blow torch, rivet gun, Dzus fasteners and a hand drill with different sizes of spade drill bits.

The rest is fairly easy but can obviously end up in tears if not due and attention are adhered to.

As I didn't have a screen, I decided to fit the screen that came with the bike, despite the fact that the previous owner had drilled holes through the screen to attach the top fairing brackets to the frame...must have done it as an emergency as it's the most stupid work I've witnessed...

So, after sucking up the smell of burning fiberglass, and drilling, riveting etc, the fairing is now fitted.

Although currently I've fitted a different bottom half to see if it would fit. I've still to fit the lower half that came with the top half.

So, now it's off with that bottom half, and off with the top half. tape the new bottom half to the top and mark up for the holes to be burned and then tapped into the lower half. Not expecting it to be too difficult. Once that is done, it's off to find a paint shop and order up a new screen. 

Fiberglass fitting session

 having fitted up the required stainless nut's and bolts, I decided to have a go at fitting the fiberglass.
Went on quite quickly and fuss free .
Alloy fixtures were added and I made the holes into the fiberglass by hand using a hand drill and a 6/8/10 mm spade bits.