No More 50th Anniversary Dr. Who special

OK, so I am about to officially out myself as a nerd.  I am a HUGE Doctor Who fan.  I have been a fan most of life.  I first discovered Dr. Who when my family bought our first VCR, (way back when).  I remember I set the timer on the record function to test it (because I was a kid and kids know how to use technology better than adults) and it recorded our local Chicago PBS station in the middle of the night.  The next morning I woke up and raced downstairs to see if the VCR recorded anything, I didn’t care what it was it was just fascinating to find out if it recorded on its own.  

I turned on the VCR and saw the counter was no longer on zero.  It Worked!  So I rewinded the tape and looked to see what it recorded.  It was Doctor Who; the episode was The Talons of Weng-Chiang.  I was mesmerized by this goofy man with a really long scarf running around acting a fool.  Empire Strikes Back had just come out (if it helps to show how old I am) and I was becoming an avid science fiction fan.  I have been a fan of Dr. Who ever since.  

 

Now as Doc Holiday would say, my nerdom knows no bounds.  I have gone to Dr. Who conventions, met Patrick Troughton & Colin Baker.  I even have a hand knit replica of Tom Baker’s scarf (thanks to my Grandmother).  I have gone to comic con and horror conventions.  I have met Tom Savini and George A. Romero.  But I like to fool myself and point out I may be a nerd but I am a pyrotechnician, make my own wine and play guitar so I am not that bad of a nerd.

I should point out that I really do like the new Dr. Who series.  I prefer David Tennant out of the new Doctors but my favorite is Peter Davison.  This should give you some idea of my bias with this beloved TV series.  Anyway....  I awaited along with several million other people the 50^th anniversary special of Doctor Who this last week.  And as I watched it I was dumfounded.  How on earth could   Besides the fact that Gallifrey Anthony Ainley because I knew him first no offense to Roger Delgado fans, only one of the classic Doctors in the entire episode?  And he only appeared as a cameo at the end.

was save and frozen a while back by the Master no less, I happen to prefer
they screw this up so bad?

I really do like the way they put Tom Baker in the show, if you’re not going to use anyone from the classic days that is the way to do it.  But come on guys there are 4 other doctors still alive that would have been in it.  It is kind of cool to see that they reached back and pulled out the Zygons for a classic enemy.   But the story is not even consistent with the new series events let alone with the previous 40

years before!  It seems like Steven Moffat does whatever he wants and explains it by saying “hey it’s about time travel”.   There has to be some rules some consistency to help the improbable be believable.  

I found that the BBC movie An Adventure in Space and Time was incredible.  I preferred the movie about the making of the series more than the 50^th special.  I really like the end of it; you will know what I mean when you see it.  I also liked the comedy spoof that the BBC put up with the classic Doctors better than the special.  It is really sad when that happens.  I know that they thought it would be funny to do the spoof, and it was, but it didn’t have to be so true.

In the end I will keep watching the show, I am a fan.  But on an occasion as special at the 50^th anniversary WTF!  How do you not put in that which gave you the 50 years in the first place?  Yes I know that it is a new series separate from the old that pays tribute in its own way, but this was the 50^th.  I do like the better production of the new series.  It is nice so see better special effects and better music than in the old days.  But there is something that warms the heart with the cheesy music and$0.00 budget special effects from the old episodes.  

The New American Beauty

Well I am falling behind with keeping up with this blog.  That might be because of the release on my new CD that is available on my site Gregory Luther Music .  So it is time to write about something that I am sure no one cares about, my new guitar. 

 I am in the process of creating a guitar.  That is I an endeavoring to become a luthier, or in layman’s terms I am making my own guitar from scratch.  I am making the body 100 % from scratch.  The body is coming from a large tree that came down and is wide enough for me to get a piece that is at least 24 “.  The blank is going to be 24 x 14 x 1.75 and in a modified Strat shape.  I haven’t decided about the paint job yet.  I am not going to carve anything on it for this one, but that is in the future for the next one.

The real dilemma I have is what kind of pickups to throw in her.  I know I am going to use Seymour Duncan.  That is just a given.  What I haven’t made up my mind yet is  what one?  I have narrowed it down to three choices.  The first one is the Alternative 8 SH-15.  This pickup has a great high end which makes sense since SD reviews it as “High output humbucker with Alnico 8 magnet for extra output. Perfect for all rock styles and great for use with high gain amps.”

The next choice and the one that I am really leaning towards is the Blackouts AHB-3 Mick Thomson EMTY.  This one kick ass.  I mean it rocks. 

It was designed for Slipknot’s Mick Thomson and gives you “even tighter bottom, and more searing top end cut.”  I guess it is a no brainer it will rock since it is related to Slipknot.

The last choice I am struggling with is the LiveWire Dave Mustaine Pickup.  The best explanation why I considering this is well, Dave Mustaine enough said.  

Anyway, that is my electronics dilemma.  The neck I am going to buy.  I am not ready to make may own yet, that is in the future.  I know I am going to have 22 frets and it will be a cutaway neck.  It will be unfinished and thin with a nice bevel similar to the Clapton Strat.  I might go with a rosewood. 

All in all she is going to be beautiful.  I haven’t made a guitar in a long time and it is time to do one from scratch.  I might even do some custom work sometime next year.  Who knows maybe real soon there will be custom guitars for sale by Gregory Luther Music.