Texas Canyon Rocks and Cave hike

Santa Clarita has a lot to offer for the casual hiker. There are many maintained trails to visit for a nice safe hike. There are also many areas that offer a little more of a challenge and some spectacular scenery if your willing to venture out to less maintained areas.  For those who want to venture off the beaten path here is one location well worth visiting.

Rowher Flats is mainly known for off road, ATV, and Dirtbike trails.  There is one trail however that leads to an awesome rock formation with some small caves.  This hike is moderate to easy and the trail head is easily accessible by most vehicles.  (I drive a Toyota Corolla and I've done this hike twice).

Once you get to the trail head you'll be amazed at how secluded the area looks considering that you are only a few miles from condo's, apartments, and strip malls. This hike is best suited for Spring or Fall as the Santa Clarita Valley gets very hot in the summer.

Below are some pictures and video of  my adventures to this awesome site.

Name that tune

As a guitarists I always want to be in tune.  There is nothing worse than kicking off a song and being out of tune or being in the middle of that perfect take on a track only to realize that you're slightly flat.

Electonic tuners have been around for many years now but are constantly evolving. No longer is the guitar player limited to one tuner that hopefully has a fresh battery or better yet, is actually in their gig bag. 

From rack tuners to the standard handheld tuners to pedal tuners to clip on tuners to tuner apps there is no reason for any guitar player to ever be out of tune.

Obviously some are much more accurate than others so using the correct tuner for the job is key. 

Rack or desktop tuners:

Strobe tuners or rack-mount tuners are best suited for professional situations such as recording studios or high end live gigs. These tuners allow for extremely accurate tuning.  That said, a pedal tuner or clip on tuner are good backups for this situation.

Handheld tuners: 

The long standing standard tuner for hobbyists or working man guitar players these tuners offer good accuracy, reliability, and affordability.  The portability is a big win for this category.  These easily fit in a gig bag or a case. 

Pedal tuners: Pedal tuners are a must have for those who use a pedal board, heck even if you don't use a pedal board you probably should have one.  They're accurate and will mute your signal while you're tuning.  Also, the mute function is awesome as a kill switch in the case that something is going horribly wrong in your signal chain.

Clip on tuners:

The past few years have seen a rise in the availability of clip on tuners. These tiny devices clip on the the headstock of your guitar and register the vibrations through the neck. While not as accurate as the rack or desktop tuners, the clip on tuners just might overtake pedals and handheld tuners as the ubiquitous option for the every man guitar player.

Tuner Apps:Everyone has a smartphone these days. There are plenty of free tuner apps and some really good paid ones as well.  It's worth having at least a free one on your phone as a last ditch effort if you find yourself without any of your other tuning options. I wouldn't rely on one as my main means of tuning my instruments but they prove useful as a backup or just a quick tune.

My Guitar Collection

Guitarists are a strange breed. Some of us only have one or two guitars. We find that special instrument and never look back.  Some of us are obsessive collectors needing one of each kind in every color.   Some of us are players and collectors who cherish both the special one that you always come back to but still have a few on the side for some variety.

 While  you can only play one at a time, each guitar does have a unique voice.  Some are dark, some are bright, some just look cool, but all of them are part of the family.

Each one has a personality of it's own that requires  special attention. Some are easy to play, some are challenging.  Some are versatile, some are very specific, but all of these are mine and I am going to share with you my weapons of choice.

Here are the guitars I use in my various endeavors from recording to gigs to just sitting around the house noodling.

What's not to like?

The below post is from many years ago on my old guitar blog but still valid today.

Enjoy

 The BUM syndrome

Guitarists are a strange lot. We are quirky,superstitious, and neurotic at best. These traits lead us to exhibit some pretty strange behavior. One of these behaviors is the BUM syndrome. No, not being an out of work bum like your dad said you would be playing guitar but BUM as in Blind Urge to Mod.

Why is it that no instrument is good enough? I have seen countless posts out there stating things like “ Got a new super duper wanko master 3000, What do I need to change to make this thing killer”. How about,” just picked up a drive-o-matic 6000 pedal for $300 on flea bay, talk to me about chip swapping”

I have several guitars, a few amps, and a good selection of pedals. I too have been guilty of this condition but only to the extent that the mods help the instrument do something it didn’t previously do well. Sure I have a hacked frankenstrat but for the most part, all the rest of my guitars are stock. Maybe a pickup swap here or there but not all of them and only after the instrument was run through it’s paces as purchased.

I can get behind a few mods right out of the gate but these are practical mod’s rather than a mod just to mod. Strap locks are a must. A $20 investment can save you a hefty neck repair. Better tuning keys, sure. If they improve the tuning stability then go for it. After that I just try to live with the gear a while to see what it will do. Remember, all mods make it different, but different isn’t always better.

  

Soledad Cannyon Movie Sets

The Santa Clarita Valley is full of great sites. There are plenty of naturally stunning locations that have caught the eye of the Movie industry.  Due to the remoteness of many parts of the area there have also been plenty of sets built as well.

On a recent adventure up Soledad Canyon me and my son stumbled upon a few of these sets. These were visible from the road but I can only imagine what else may be hidden out of sight.

Check out some video and a few pics from the adventure.

Russian Big Muff

I have a friend who had a Big Muff pedal that was intermittently cutting out. Knowing that I'm a tinkerer and build pedals I was asked if I could look at it. Of course my response was yes.

Since I don't own one of these glorious distortion devices I though tit would be a great opportunity to play around with this "Made In Russia" monster of sonic madness.


I initially thought it might be a faulty switch.  Once I opened it up and tested it with the circuit board exposed I came to the conclusion that the switch was fine but there was a loose connection somewhere.

Since EH uses a ribbon wire that is split off to the various connections on the pots, switches, and circuit board I basically started re-soldering all the connections on the pedal.

Fortunately, after I did the switch the tone control and the volume control the pedal came back to life and the sound was loud and proud with no cutting out.














Check out the demo of the revived and revitalized pedal.

Random Abandoned

While out on my various adventures I often come accros intersing or abandoned things that, while cool do not really warrant a post or video of their own.  I decided to put together a short video of some of these things that I have come across in the past few years.



Enjoy this look at the random abandoned I've found around Santa Clarita over the past few years.