(03-21-2022, 03:04 PM)FauxMulder Wrote:

(03-21-2022, 03:01 PM)IAMTAT Wrote: Ancient artifacts from dead civilizations...the more obscure and cursed, the better.
Been collecting for decades.

Post some pictures. Would love to see what you have

I'll do that one of these days.
Posted my ancient grail on ATS years ago....hoping to find some expertise on dead languages (the thing is covered with glyphs).
Now, I collect mostly pre-Columbian and middle eastern pieces.

(03-21-2022, 05:42 AM)FlyingClayDisk Wrote: During the whole PLAN-demic, the lockdowns and the oppression of, well, our freedom in general, I decided there was only so much news I could take before I was saturated to the point of insanity.  So, I decided to take up a hobby. 

I collect pencils.

P.S. - If anyone ever has a question about a pencil, or pencils in general, please feel free to ask.  I will do my best to answer your questions, hopefully not boring you into a catatonic state in the process, and tell you about this spellbinding hobby I have.

That is all.

My hobby is cooking/baking... :) 

I don't collect anything but kitchen gadgets.

(03-21-2022, 03:08 PM)AmericanBuffalo Wrote: I build electric guitars for a hobby. Did it professionally for several years. Worked at Hamer guitars and Washburn guitars. Worked as a guitar tech on the road and also toured as a guitar player with a couple bands. That was in the late 80's early 90's.
Now I am semi-retired and back to building guitars and writing a book about boutique guitars. So guitars.

Built this relic from spare parts I had accumulated.

FrankenStrat!!!

I've got a few projects on the go right now.

Here's one I'm currently putting a french finish on..




It's getting pricey to play around nowadys, luckily I've got tons of parts and electronics.

I'd like to see more of your projects!

(03-21-2022, 03:26 PM)MykeNukem Wrote:

(03-21-2022, 03:08 PM)AmericanBuffalo Wrote: I build electric guitars for a hobby. Did it professionally for several years. Worked at Hamer guitars and Washburn guitars. Worked as a guitar tech on the road and also toured as a guitar player with a couple bands. That was in the late 80's early 90's.
Now I am semi-retired and back to building guitars and writing a book about boutique guitars. So guitars.

Built this relic from spare parts I had accumulated.

FrankenStrat!!!

I've got a few projects on the go right now.

Here's one I'm currently putting a french finish on..




It's getting pricey to play around nowadys, luckily I've got tons of parts and electronics.

I'd like to see more of your projects!

Very nice! Amber shellac? I have done french polishes in the past. I have a lot of wood finishing experience. I built about 30 guitars when I had my own company back in 2009 - 2009. I have many pictures of some of those guitars. I would be happy to share!

(03-21-2022, 03:34 PM)AmericanBuffalo Wrote:

(03-21-2022, 03:26 PM)MykeNukem Wrote:

(03-21-2022, 03:08 PM)AmericanBuffalo Wrote: I build electric guitars for a hobby. Did it professionally for several years. Worked at Hamer guitars and Washburn guitars. Worked as a guitar tech on the road and also toured as a guitar player with a couple bands. That was in the late 80's early 90's.
Now I am semi-retired and back to building guitars and writing a book about boutique guitars. So guitars.

Built this relic from spare parts I had accumulated.

FrankenStrat!!!

I've got a few projects on the go right now.

Here's one I'm currently putting a french finish on..




It's getting pricey to play around nowadys, luckily I've got tons of parts and electronics.

I'd like to see more of your projects!

Very nice! Amber shellac? I have done french polishes in the past. I have a lot of wood finishing experience. I built about 30 guitars when I had my own company back in 2009 - 2009. I have many pictures of some of those guitars. I would be happy to share!

Yessir, amber shellac and I add a touch of Lindseed Oil as well.

Can't wait to see your other builds!!

(03-21-2022, 03:08 PM)AmericanBuffalo Wrote: I build electric guitars for a hobby. Did it professionally for several years. Worked at Hamer guitars and Washburn guitars. Worked as a guitar tech on the road and also toured as a guitar player with a couple bands. That was in the late 80's early 90's.
Now I am semi-retired and back to building guitars and writing a book about boutique guitars. So guitars.

Built this relic from spare parts I had accumulated.

I love guitars.

I never played well, just good enough for most to recognize the song I was attempting to play.

Tried my hand at the piano, the flute, and violin, but my greatest love is the cello. Unfortunately, a few guys came to visit and have made themselves at home, and it doesn't look like they are going to leave. So, it does not look like I ever going to get much better at any of my instruments.

I am hoping that Arthur, Osteo, and Rhemy, take a hike, but I am sure they are rooted in for the duration.

I don’t think I really have any hobbies. That question always stumped me on job applications because I couldn’t think of anything to put there. I don’t really have a particular item that I like to collect and I’m terrible with projects because I start them but get bored quickly and never finish. 

When discussing the topic off and on with family and friends it was suggested that since I have a garden that maybe that was my hobby. I think you should enjoy a hobby though and I don’t really enjoy gardening. It’s hot and sometimes hard work. I do however enjoy eating what I’ve grown. Maybe eating is my hobby?

So there are now numerous pencil collectors confirmed here on RN.

Or at least writing utensil collectors. A broader category I guess. 

I have a drawer in one of my tool boxes I toss old ...ahem... classic pencils when they get too well used. The patina on them is amazing. They all have provenance and documentation. 

With the down turn in the economy, I imagine investing in these amazing bits of history is a wise move. No cost is too great to the savvy investor. 

I take cashiers checks and Bitcoin. Maybe ammo, depending on the caliber.

(03-21-2022, 03:20 PM)Grace Wrote:

(03-21-2022, 05:42 AM)FlyingClayDisk Wrote: During the whole PLAN-demic, the lockdowns and the oppression of, well, our freedom in general, I decided there was only so much news I could take before I was saturated to the point of insanity.  So, I decided to take up a hobby. 

I collect pencils.

P.S. - If anyone ever has a question about a pencil, or pencils in general, please feel free to ask.  I will do my best to answer your questions, hopefully not boring you into a catatonic state in the process, and tell you about this spellbinding hobby I have.

That is all.

My hobby is cooking/baking... :) 

I don't collect anything but kitchen gadgets.

I envy you.

My 88 y/o mother lives with me, and I terrify her when I walk into the kitchen or laundry room.

She is an extreme separatist. She thinks all colors should b separated and placed in their individual piles. I throw everything into the washer together. Same with the food. She has separate pots and delicate placement of ingredients, spices, and dishes. Me, just one pot. It is all going to end up in the same place together anyway.

So she kicks me out.

(03-21-2022, 03:39 PM)NightskyeB4Dawn Wrote:

(03-21-2022, 03:08 PM)AmericanBuffalo Wrote: I build electric guitars for a hobby. Did it professionally for several years. Worked at Hamer guitars and Washburn guitars. Worked as a guitar tech on the road and also toured as a guitar player with a couple bands. That was in the late 80's early 90's.
Now I am semi-retired and back to building guitars and writing a book about boutique guitars. So guitars.

Built this relic from spare parts I had accumulated.

I love guitars.

I never played well, just good enough for most to recognize the song I was attempting to play.

Tried my hand at the piano, the flute, and violin, but my greatest love is the cello. Unfortunately, a few guys came to visit and have made themselves at home, and it doesn't look like they are going to leave. So, it does not look like I ever going to get much better at any of my instruments.

I am hoping that Arthur, Osteo, and Rhemy, take a hike, but I am sure they are rooted in for the duration.

I played violin and guitar in my youth, I was fairly good I guess but no real inmate talent, I could read sheet music and keep a beat, but I was never gifted, not like some of those who played with me. I actually had a friend back in the day who got a full ride scholarship to Juilliard - so I knew just playing with people like that, that I didn't have what it takes, ya know? 

My one inmate talent truly was baking. Which isn't a particularly glamorous talent... Hahaha

What can you do? Well let's see, I can whip up a batch of cinnamon rolls or a loaf of bread, or, just for fun mind you, some pasta! Hahaha.

(03-21-2022, 03:56 PM)Grace Wrote:

(03-21-2022, 03:39 PM)NightskyeB4Dawn Wrote:

(03-21-2022, 03:08 PM)AmericanBuffalo Wrote: I build electric guitars for a hobby. Did it professionally for several years. Worked at Hamer guitars and Washburn guitars. Worked as a guitar tech on the road and also toured as a guitar player with a couple bands. That was in the late 80's early 90's.
Now I am semi-retired and back to building guitars and writing a book about boutique guitars. So guitars.

Built this relic from spare parts I had accumulated.

I love guitars.

I never played well, just good enough for most to recognize the song I was attempting to play.

Tried my hand at the piano, the flute, and violin, but my greatest love is the cello. Unfortunately, a few guys came to visit and have made themselves at home, and it doesn't look like they are going to leave. So, it does not look like I ever going to get much better at any of my instruments.

I am hoping that Arthur, Osteo, and Rhemy, take a hike, but I am sure they are rooted in for the duration.

I played violin and guitar in my youth, I was fairly good I guess but no real inmate talent, I could read sheet music and keep a beat, but I was never gifted, not like some of those who played with me. I actually had a friend back in the day who got a full ride scholarship to Juilliard - so I knew just playing with people like that, that I didn't have what it takes, ya know? 

My one inmate talent truly was baking. Which isn't a particularly glamorous talent... Hahaha

What can you do? Well let's see, I can whip up a batch of cinnamon rolls or a loaf of bread, or, just for fun mind you, some pasta! Hahaha.

Nice! My brother played violin during high school and college. He was fairly good. At least to my tone deaf ears. He still plays to relax. In the last few years, though he took up bagpipes as well. Which is pretty impressive but alarming as hell when he fires up inside the house or in the front yard. Drives his wife nuts.

(03-21-2022, 03:56 PM)Grace Wrote: I played violin and guitar in my youth, I was fairly good I guess but no real inmate talent, I could read sheet music and keep a beat, but I was never gifted, not like some of those who played with me. I actually had a friend back in the day who got a full ride scholarship to Juilliard - so I knew just playing with people like that, that I didn't have what it takes, ya know? 

My one inmate talent truly was baking. Which isn't a particularly glamorous talent... Hahaha

What can you do? Well let's see, I can whip up a batch of cinnamon rolls or a loaf of bread, or, just for fun mind you, some pasta! Hahaha.

You have nothing but my utmost respect.

I come from a long line of professional bakers. My great-grandmother continued baking commercially right up to her last month of life. All anyone could talk about locally, after her passing, was how they were going to miss her cooking.

She was an awesome baker. She even made her own butter.

(03-21-2022, 03:47 PM)NightskyeB4Dawn Wrote: I envy you.

My 88 y/o mother lives with me, and I terrify her when I walk into the kitchen or laundry room.

She is an extreme separatist. She thinks all colors should b separated and placed in their individual piles. I throw everything into the washer together. Same with the food. She has separate pots and delicate placement of ingredients, spices, and dishes. Me, just one pot. It is all going to end up in the same place together anyway.

So she kicks me out.

Ahhh I never saw it as an enviable trait... It makes eating out far less enjoyable (it's difficult to sit there and wonder why you just paid a fortune for a meal you could do 100 times better) and back when I was young a great cook was no rock star...

The only thing it gave me was a place to go relax and enjoy myself no matter what the world was throwing at me at the time, and for that I'm grateful for it.

As far as your mom... Lol. Reminds me of my daughter. :) Mom's and daughters are never the same, but never that far apart either... Thanks for the story, you made me smile!

During the plan-demic, my son needed a new computer. A "REAL computer" in his words.
So, after pricing it out, I found that we could save a bit of money if we built it ourselves. Which he was all for.
It allowed him to customize it within my budget and he loves that sort of thing. I was more than a bit nervous about it but I have
to say that it was a lot of fun and it made for some really great quality time with him. Which for a teenager is tough to achieve.
Although, to be fair, he built it. I basically held stuff in place and handed him the tools. The few times I tried to "help",
resulted in him uttering stuff like:  "What? No. that's.....what exactly did you do?"  Kind of like a reversal of when i helped my dad work on the car.  

I DID get him back though. When he finally fired it up, I took a couple sniffs of the air, looked concerned and asked him if he smelled smoke.

All in all a lot of fun. Wouldn't mind doing it again!

(03-21-2022, 04:10 PM)NightskyeB4Dawn Wrote:

(03-21-2022, 03:56 PM)Grace Wrote: I played violin and guitar in my youth, I was fairly good I guess but no real inmate talent, I could read sheet music and keep a beat, but I was never gifted, not like some of those who played with me. I actually had a friend back in the day who got a full ride scholarship to Juilliard - so I knew just playing with people like that, that I didn't have what it takes, ya know? 

My one inmate talent truly was baking. Which isn't a particularly glamorous talent... Hahaha

What can you do? Well let's see, I can whip up a batch of cinnamon rolls or a loaf of bread, or, just for fun mind you, some pasta! Hahaha.

You have nothing but my utmost respect.

I come from a long line of professional bakers. My great-grandmother continued baking commercially right up to her last month of life. All anyone could talk about locally, after her passing, was how they were going to miss her cooking.

She was an awesome baker. She even made her own butter.

That's awesome, and yep that's what I'm known for locally too, my food. I used to cook all the time for the holiday dinner parties at my husband's former employer. When they closed down it made everyone sad because they were going to miss my food... 

I'd still be baking and running around passing out homemade goodies to people but for the rebuild of my lower spine that I haven't fully recovered from. But I'm looking forward to the day I can get back to it...

My hobbies are playing the drums, occasionally composing/producing music, and collecting coins.  Mostly quarters.
I got all the US state quarters, all the US state park quarters, and now they appear to be doing women in history or something...
I also collect books. Lots and lots of books.

(03-21-2022, 01:08 PM)FauxMulder Wrote:

(03-21-2022, 06:56 AM)vonclod Wrote:

(03-21-2022, 06:34 AM)FlyingClayDisk Wrote:

(03-21-2022, 05:58 AM)vonclod Wrote: Did you ever get to putting a stereo together?

Hey!  Good to see ya!

You mean building the tube amplifier and electronics?  Yeah, got that done.  Works great, just as I had hoped.

 I guess some tubes might be a bit harder to get now? A few of my guitar gearhead buds are concerned.

I have heard this as well. Luckily I just replaced tubes in my Marshall not too long ago. Also have a few digital amps

I have a few tube heads, if you have em biased right, should last a long time..hopefully longer than the war.

(03-21-2022, 03:39 PM)NightskyeB4Dawn Wrote:

(03-21-2022, 03:08 PM)AmericanBuffalo Wrote: I build electric guitars for a hobby. Did it professionally for several years. Worked at Hamer guitars and Washburn guitars. Worked as a guitar tech on the road and also toured as a guitar player with a couple bands. That was in the late 80's early 90's.
Now I am semi-retired and back to building guitars and writing a book about boutique guitars. So guitars.

Built this relic from spare parts I had accumulated.

I love guitars.

I never played well, just good enough for most to recognize the song I was attempting to play.

Tried my hand at the piano, the flute, and violin, but my greatest love is the cello. Unfortunately, a few guys came to visit and have made themselves at home, and it doesn't look like they are going to leave. So, it does not look like I ever going to get much better at any of my instruments.

I am hoping that Arthur, Osteo, and Rhemy, take a hike, but I am sure they are rooted in for the duration.

I'm the same, love guitars/amps, but I'm a hack guitarist at best..lol, always have a few around, enjoy it, but I just don't have that gift some do.

(03-21-2022, 05:42 AM)FlyingClayDisk Wrote: During the whole PLAN-demic, the lockdowns and the oppression of, well, our freedom in general, I decided there was only so much news I could take before I was saturated to the point of insanity.  So, I decided to take up a hobby.  I decided I was going to learn how to play the guitar.  You see, I had the same notion about 40 years ago when I was in college...I was going to be the next Eddie Van Halen, I was!  Well, that didn't work out back then, I sucked at playing the guitar.  BUT...I'd kept that old Peavy electric guitar I'd bought, and it bounced around with me when I moved about fifty times with my career.  During the lock-downs and the Martial Law like oppression which followed to protect us from...well...I have no idea what the fuck we were being protected from, other than being shielded from seeing what was really going on with our government's death spiral.  We were required to put masks on our face, and THEY put masks over our eyes, but I digress.

During the WU-cold, I decided to play the guitar.  I dug out that old Peavy electric guitar and started learnin myself some guitar.  This went on for a couple of weeks until I received a Certified letter in the mail one day.  It was a Cease & Desist Order, from an attorney...on behalf of my dogs!  Did I mention that I really SUCK at playing the guitar??  So, my plan of learning to play the guitar was pretty much a bust.

Then I started another hobby.  I used to love doing woodwork, but my wife turned that hobby into a bunch of work, so screw that.  And there were many others, just like that.  So anyway, I had this new hobby.  Only problem was, I didn't know I had a new hobby.  I just thought I was doing my usual thing of sitting on my ass while I'm waiting for hip replacement surgery (which really sucks by the way).  But I was getting more and more involved in this hobby I had no idea I even I had.  This last part is actually true, believe it or not.

I woke up one day, and someone emailed me to ask me about...a pencil, of all things.  My brain was on autopilot (it may have been the pain meds, I dunno), and before I knew it I had written this person 4-5 paragraphs of some wickedly detailed information on...pencils.  "My Gawd!", I said to myself,..."I collect pencils now...as a hobby!".

It's true, I am a fairly avid pencil collector.  Now, as an Engineer approaching retirement, and an old school Technical Draftsman from back in the day when they used to do such things, I'd always had a keen interest in all manner of writing instruments (i.e. Pencils, Pens and anything else which will write).  I have a really interesting pen collection (fountain pens mostly), but pencils are what I'm really focused on.  Did you know there's a whole world out there of pencil collectors??  I didn't, but I do now.

I go through phases in my pencil collecting, but if it's a pencil, I collect it.  I collect wooden pencils.  I collect mechanical pencils.  I'm currently in a mechanical pencil collecting phase, primarily because I currently have more wooden pencils than 50 of me could ever use in five lifetimes.  My wife doesn't even bother asking anymore what UPS delivered today. 

Now let me tell you, collecting pencils is a spectacularly exciting hobby!  I mean, I'm sure most people think the only thing more exciting than collecting pencils is probably collecting stamps (I have one of those collections too, but it was willed to me).  That, and watching grass grow and paint dry, but by golly, I collect pencils.  And, I'm damn good at it too, dammit!

So, I felt it was critically important to share this information with everyone here.  I have no idea why!  I guess it's because I'm a dork, a dork with a cowboy hat, and I didn't already have enough to do with raising cattle on our ranch and working full time in aviation engineering, so I needed a hobby!

I collect pencils.

P.S. - If anyone ever has a question about a pencil, or pencils in general, please feel free to ask.  I will do my best to answer your questions, hopefully not boring you into a catatonic state in the process, and tell you about this spellbinding hobby I have.

That is all.

I used to play the guitar a lot. I still have several but have not been all that interested for some years.  

My pandemic hobby was/is fine cooking. I've been trying to make complex dishes just for the adventure. I've even gotten pretty good at making my own pasta.

(03-21-2022, 06:56 AM)vonclod Wrote: Thanks! good to see you as well.

Very cool, I wish I could build my own gear. I guess some tubes might be a bit harder to get now? A few of my guitar gearhead buds are concerned.

Yeah, some are going away, but they are being replaced by others.  Technology now is such that there are tubes now with the same pin outs and voltages which will accomplish the same thing, just a different manufacturer.  I'd be really surprised if tubes for Marshall will ever be unavailable, there's way too much demand.  Now, some other obscure off-brand stuff from long ago might not be able to get tubes, but again, it's a demand issue.