[Vintage-Audio] A Special Thanks

[Duane Fischer, W8DBF]

Let me wish each of you a very peace filled, prosperous and prostate piddle 
problem free 2007. Unless you are a female, in which case please ignore the 
third good wish and instead have a purse snatched free year.

I would like to thank all of you on this most fascinating topical list for 
the assistance you have rendered to me throughout 2006. Your vast amount of 
experience, incredible assortment of facts, astounding NOS spare parts 
inventory, neuron stimulating collections of schematics and operational 
instructions and infinite reassurances that the 6V6 used in my vintage mono 
amp from the fifties in a push/pull audio output circut won't soar in price 
to equal that of the latest postal stamp price increase! When I telephoned 
my branch post office and asked the counter person how much the new first 
class stamp would cost and how much the second ounce would be? She said "To 
check their web site, as those who worked for the postal system were always 
the last ones to know this information." Absolute truth! Gee, now if that is 
not a good arguement for having the federal government once again regulate 
the postal system ...

I appreciate "everyone" on this list and value all of your contributions 
very much. One especially bright spot for me was the signing on of Lee 
Hazen, a former RCA Nashville Studio B sound engineer. He has enlightened me 
numerous times with inside information about technical procedures during 
session recording and about some of the artists personalities. A brilliant 
man and one whom I know will provide some of you with answers to your 
questions too.

This list does not have a large subscriber count, but all of the members are 
"in the groove" when it comes to a comprehensive understanding of vintage 
audio recording techniques, transcription, editing, repairs, operation, 
useful mods, little known operational techniques, tips learned over the 
decades etc. A fantastic group, all! Thank you each for being here, offering 
your help to others and sharing your skills and wisdom with all of us. You 
guys are the best!

Just to assure you that all hope is NOT lost when it comes to the current 
teenage generation -

My oldest grandson, Brandon, age fifteen, is now playing the guitar. He 
actually is doing this on his own and is very serious about it too. He has 
sat down with Grandpa here and educated me on guitar terms, techniques and 
so forth. Since I am not a musician, I do not know much about music in the 
technical sense. When Brandon gets into the technical terms as he explains 
the finger moves on the various strings ... I stop him about sentence three 
and remind him that he needs to translate these musical terms into their 
normal conversational English counterparts as Grandpa has no clue what the 
heck he is saying! So he does and I actually learn something. I am proud 
that he is taking the guitar seriously.

Now he stayed here for a number of years and went to school in my district. 
His parents live within the Flint city limits, I do not. Hence he was 
exposed to Ham Radio, Short-Wave DX'ing, moderate difficulty electronics 
projects of mine, sound reproduction, audio recording etc. He also was 
exposed to all sorts of different types of music. Note that I said "music", 
not "noise"!

He could tell what set of speakers I was using from the opposite end of the 
house and often instructed me to switch to the "JBL's Gramps, they rule!" He 
was right every time too, as I was not using the JBL Century L-100's! 
Obviously the boy had taste!

The other night he was here for a few minutes to assist me with a computer 
problem - he reads the display and Grandpa does the software installation or 
mods or writes the actual code. During a mental mind rest break he was 
telling me of his latest guitar projects, which included joining a band. He 
mentioned that he was at the school getting ready to practice and was 
messing around playing some older tunes. Several students asked him if he 
knew such and such a song, he did, so he played it for them. He had left his 
guitar case open on the floor. He heard something from where it was, turned 
to see what was going on and noticed a pile of coins in the open case! 
Apparently the students were showing their gratitude and tossing pocket 
change in the guitar case! He was proud. So was I. Whereupon I immediately 
asked him if I could borrow twenty bucks! Silence. Then he started chuckling 
...

Then he surprised the old blind dude. His friend who is the vocalist for the 
band and plays rhythm guitar, was using his father's stack and amplifier. It 
was all tube gear from the sixties and Brandon loved the sound. He conned 
his buddy into letting him plug his guitar into one of the channels and EQ 
it! Talked about the mellow sound that had a warmth depth to it, did not 
have the sharp harshness the digital equipment had and the quick snap to the 
notes instead of the mushy sound todays solid state amps have.

Gentlemen. There may be hope for this younger generation that many of our 
grandchildren belong to. Somehow I sense that Grandpa is going to be asked 
to assist in the purchase of an older tube amplifier and cabinet with a pair 
of twelve or fifteen inch speakers for Brandon's birthday! (LOL!)


Duane Fischer, W8DBF
dfischer at usol.com
HHI: Halligan's Hallicrafters International
http://www.w9wze.net
HHRP: Historic Halligan Radio Project
http://hhrp.w9wze.net