Wednesday, February 17, 2021

My Favorite Razor(s) Change Slightly Over Time

 Currently my preferred shaving instrument is the double-open-comb (DOC) razor from Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements (PAA).


If you want more information, click on the above link and search on DOC. If you choose to order anything from PAA, buy using the above link, your cost will not increase, but I will receive a small commission on your purchases.

Other razors that I keep at hand have changed over time as I revisit gear previously rejected. Currently, if I'm not using the mild-shaving DOC razor, I might pull out my 1965 Gillette Tech (which has a cast Zamak head rather than the brass head of earlier versions). I also might use my Lord LP1822L razor, which I declared my then favorite in the fall or early winter of 2020.

Less likely might be my 1963 Gillette adjustable or my Weishi adjustable.

The reason my preferences are like shifting sands in desert winds is, I think, because even though I've been shaving with DE razors for years, my technique continues to evolve.

Most importantly, my idea of the ideal daily shave has changed. Previously I always had in mind a baby-smooth outcome as the ideal goal. Much experience has told me that for my face, that's a fool's errand. Now I go for close enough with no skin injury or insult.

And for me, the DOC is great. I get a consistently close-enough shave but usually with little to no skin injury. I can't really say this about any other razor.

I hope that explains any confusion.


Friday, February 12, 2021

Counterpoint: Reasons why buying a new Tayor guitar can be a valid alternative

I discussed the reasons why buying an expensive guitar may not be the right decision for many prospective guitar buyers in this article linked here: 

Thinking of buying a guitar? Learn from my mistakes and misunderstandings.


However, there are some valid reasons why a person might spend more and buy a better guitar, and some of these are not necessarily obvious or intuitive. Also, I specify Taylor brand in particular because Taylor does some things that are rather unique and worth considering.

The following are the reasons that a good and more expensive guitar from Taylor may be worth considering.

How the Neck is Joined to the Body of the Guitar

The reality of acoustic guitars -- especially those with steel strings -- is that over time, the guitar body tends deform a bit due to the enormous pull of the strings when tuned to pitch. This deformation involves the neck block -- the structure through which the neck is primarily fastened to the guitar body -- which becomes a pivot point for the neck. Over time the neck pivots toward the strings slightly, causing a change in angle between the neck and the guitar body. This change in angle increases the action of the strings. In other words, over time, the strings slowly creep away from the fingerboard, thus making the guitar more difficult and less comfortable to play.

(This is why, in my own inexpensive Orangewood guitar, I use light strings (11-47) and tune the instrument to a standard-D tuning. Both of these actions reduce the stress on the neck joint and prolong the maintenance-free life of the guitar.)

The solution to this neck-attachment deformation is called a neck reset. This is done by separating the neck from the guitar body and modifying the neck-body joint so that the angle of the neck in relation to the guitar top will be straighter. This results in the strings again being closer to the fingerboard.

A neck reset is a major and expensive repair on most guitars -- if it can be done at all. Most expensive guitars have a glued-dovetail neck-attachment joint, and the body end of the fingerboard, called the fingerboard extension, is often glued directly to the guitar top. Both of these attachment points usually have to be heated to soften the glue, and then carefully worked apart. These processes are fussy, sometime pretty difficult, and time consuming. Then once apart, the dovetail joint must be carefully re-oriented for the proper neck angle. Then, finally, the fit of the dovetail tendon must be adjusted to once again fit snugly in the dovetail mortise. When that is done, the joint and the fingerboard extension are re-glued onto the guitar body.

On guitars of low replacement value, if an owner still wants a neck reset rather than getting a replacement instrument, a luthier will sometimes be able to reduce the cost of the reset by doing what is known in some circles as a kung-fu reset. This involves not disassembling the neck-body joint, but rather simply ungluing the fingerboard extension from the top and then just sawing through the dovetail tendon to finally separate the neck from the guitar body. That done, the surface of the neck heel is adjusted to re-set the angle of the neck to the body, and the neck is converted to a bolt-on attachment instead of a dovetail, and then the fingerboard extension is re-glued to the guitar top.

Unfortunately, some guitars are so difficult to reset that luthiers with not attempt it or will charge a premium. This includes some high quality factory-built Yamaha Yairi guitars from the 1970s as well as a few hand-built guitars by various luthiers around the world. In a few cases, the adhesive used might have been epoxy rather than the more common and more repairable glue options such as hide, fish, white, or wood glues. In other cases, the joint itself may be a design other than a dovetail joint. This includes a simple mortise-and-tendon joint, and some dowel joins done with wood, or worse, steel pins.

A final problematic situation is with some budget guitars, though they have an adjustable truss rod (which is a good thing and is used to adjust the curvature, not the angle, of the neck), if the rod is adjusted via the guitar sound hole, it may even be a very complicated process to do a kung-fu reset, and therefore expensive and impractical.

Taylor's Innovative Neck-Joint Designs

Enter Taylor guitars. In pre-1999 designs, they had a bolt-on neck design in which it was relatively easy to remove the neck. However, the fingerboard extension was still glued to the guitar top. So the technician would heat the fingerboard extension to soften the glue, and gently work a metal blade under the extension to un-glue it from the top. That done, it was a simple matter to loosen the two bolts from inside the guitar body to remove the neck. It was quicker and simpler. However, to then tune the neck-body joint to re-establish the optimal neck angle was still a matter of luthier judgement and skill.

But 1999-and-newer Taylor guitars have a fully bolt-on neck, which they call their new technology (NT) design. This involves two bolts to replace the traditional dovetail joint, and a single bolt to secure the fingerboard extension to the guitar-body top.  Better still, their manufacturing process is very precise, using shims inside the neck joint to create the proper neck angle. So when a neck reset is due, if the technician calls the Taylor factory, they will request certain measurements off the guitar, request the ID numbers from the original shims, and then using that information, send out new shims to insert into the neck joint. 

The NT joint eliminates difficult and time-consuming ungluing of the neck, while simultaneously reducing the time and skill required to re-adjust the neck angle. Beautiful.

So a major reason to consider a Taylor guitar is their precise neck-joint technology. Sweet!

Life-time Warranty

Many expensive guitars have a life-time warranty for the original owner. So when my 1998 Taylor guitar needs a neck reset or if a brace comes loose, for example, I will take it to an authorized Taylor repair shop, and the cost to repair will be borne by the manufacturer.

Environmentally-friendly Materials & Finishes

Taylor has been a leader in using alternative tone woods in their instruments. An example is using Ovankol or Sapele woods for guitar-body sides and backs instead of the traditional Rosewood or Mahogany. This environmentally-responsible manufacturing philosophy results in great sounding instruments without further threatening endangered species.

Further, Taylor has been a leader in innovative finishing processes. They use water-based finishes to eliminate hazardous organic solvents. These UV-cured finishes also provide an improved level of precision in their application, which allows for a thinner finish that yields improved tone.

Better Electronics

For those who prefer acoustic-electric guitars with in-built pick ups and equalizers, high-end guitars will have superior components that sound better and may be both more flexible and durable than their less-costly counterparts.

Taylor, in particular, installs their own proprietary pick-up systems, which have their own unique, premium sound.

Unique Bracing and Construction

Unlike some manufacturers that emphasize tradition such as Martin and Gibson, Taylor is constantly exploring new and better guitar design. Their most recent major innovation is a departure from the traditional X-bracing pattern on acoustic tops, and instead going to a V-bracing pattern. They believe that this innovation offers both better tone and volume without sacrificing structural integrity.

Solid Wood

No discussion of the benefit of high-end guitars would be complete without mentioning the benefit of a solid wood -- in particular, the solid, not laminated, guitar top. 

Sound preference is certainly subjective, and I, personally, find certain all-laminate guitars to have acceptable acoustic sound -- especially when rather lightly constructed and with a thin finish coat.  That said, it's hard to find many who think that laminate guitars sound better than all-solid-wood guitars, or even just solid-wood-top guitars.  Further, a well-maintained, oft-played solid-wood guitar will tend to sound better with age.


So those are the main reasons to consider a high-end guitar -- especially the Taylor brand. If you take care of your gear and plan to keep it a long time, it may be worth it to go high quality and go Taylor.

From the mail inbox: How to avoid ingrown hairs?

 The other day, I received an email question regarding how to avoid ingrown hairs after shaving.

Here's my reply in full, which both answers the question and also serves as that blog article I almost wrote the other day....

Hi Marc, 

Sorry for the slow reply; lately I haven't been checking my shaving emails often.

Coincidentally, I almost wrote an article today on my favorite razor, which may also be optimal for you. More on that in a moment.

Ingrown hairs are due to cutting curly hair too closely -- and with modern, disposable multi-blade designs, the hair is actually cut below the skin surface. So the answer is to use single-blade razors. My preference therefore is to suggest double-edge (DE) razors due to their long-term lower cost and the minimal environmental impact.

Any mild DE is likely to help you, but my favorite,which I now use almost every day, is this razor:

The Original Phoenix DOC Safety Razor - New NICKEL Plated!


It looks like this:

image.png 
If you order using the following link to access the phoenix site, I get a small commission, but nonetheless (commission or no), it's my daily driver for reasons outlined further below:  


I love this razor because....

o  It is a mild razor, which is less likely to nip my skin than any other razor I've tried

o  Yet it still shaves close enough to give me a shave as good as any that didn't result in skin injury; I just have to pay closer attention to my shaving technique for optimal closeness

o  It has a single shaving edge (like any DE razor) so it CAN'T cut hair below the skin level, thus reducing the chances of ingrown hairs

o  It's a dual-open-comb design (both the base plate and top cap), which allows for shaving even very long hair, and also allows for buffing-type shaving strokes

Because it is a very mild-shaving razor, one must be aware of the angle of razor to skin and stroke speed (slow is more effective) to optimize shave closeness. However, because of your propensity for ingrown hair, you really don't want a baby-smooth shave anyway.

Hope this helps.

Best regards,

Doug

Doug Hansford
Shave Like Grandad weblog

Wednesday, February 10, 2021

Thinking of buying a guitar? Learn from my mistakes and misunderstandings.

When I got my first good-paying job, then finally having a little disposable income in my pocket, I deided to buy a really good guitar -- a great sounding instrument that would also appreciate or at least hold its value over time.

Long story short: I ended up buying a pretty expensive guitar (and later selling it at a significant loss) -- a c.1976 Martin D-28. I had imagined that as my playing skill got better, I would "grow into" the instrument.  I confused quality with playability and did not realize that guitars come from the factory set to differing playing specifications, which determine playing characteristics, and I did not understand that playability can be adjusted. 

So unfortunately, this particular instrument had action that was playable, but was set a little high so as to maximize guitar volume -- especially for bluegrass and country players who tended to play open chords down near the nut. I could have paid to have the action lowered, but I wasn't aware of this option.

Or.... I could have bought a less expensive guitar, and paid to have that set up to meet my needs. THAT would have been the smarter way to go.

Here are a few additional lessons from my old, sad story:
  • Guitars purchased new today are likely to depreciate significantly -- even really good ones. The vintage Gibsons and Martins, which are selling for ridiculous prices today, are mostly high valued because a) they can sound really good, and b) they were produced in relatively small numbers and even fewer survived the ravages of time. Sure they have dried out, which makes for great tone, and some were (too) lightly braced, which also makes for great tone, but also reduces their toughness and durability over time.
  • Because playability can be set (adjusted) on most guitars of even moderate quality, if your guitar doesn't play to your liking, consult an expert luthier (builder/repair technician) and pay to have it improved. You don't need to replace the instrument.
  • Most instruments (those with a neck made of wood) -- even electric or those those acoustics made from laminate wood (plywood) or of synthetic material in the body -- should probably be stored in a humidity-controlled environment. Any guitar with a wood neck may eventually dry out if stored long term in a dry environment. This can cause the wood in the neck to shrink slightly causing the frets to become relatively longer. This so-called "fret sprout" can be uncomfortable on your fretting hand, or, in some cases, can damage binding on the neck. Therefore even solid-body guitars should be humidified in dry climates or during the heating season. In acoustic guitars that have a solid woods (not laminate) for the entire body or just the top of the body, these are prone to cracking and other physical damage if not stored in appropriate humidity. Changes in humidity can also affect playability as the action raises or lowers due to humidity changes.
  • When storing your guitar long term, always de-tune it to lower the string tension. The longer the storage, the lower the tension. After I bought and eventually sold that D-28, I cycled through various guitars including an Ibanez 12-string acoustic, a Harmony arch-top electric (a very poor man's Gibson 335 imitation), and an Ovation legend acoustic electric. About 20 years ago, after selling all my other guitars, I bought a new Taylor 412-ce and have had that ever since. I bought the Taylor guitar for several reasons, but among them was the fact that Taylors are known for their from-the-factory playability. They tend to have low action, which is great for players that play over the entire finger board, as well as being great for relative beginners. (At the time of this purchase, I still didn't know that action was adjustable. So for a second time, I ended up paying way more than necessary to get an instrument that met my needs.) However, with the advent of the Internet and YouTube, I had started watching guitar-repair videos. From these I learned how guitar set-ups are done. Then I acquired a kit for a semi-hollow-body Telecaster-style electric guitar. I acquired some specialized tools for guitar set ups and also used the knowledge acquired from the many luthier videos that I watched. Then finally, using the tools and experience from building the thinline Tele-style electric, I bought an all-laminate cutaway acoustic from Orangewood. Though not well set up upon arrival (despite their claims to the contrary and those of customers who don't know a lot about proper guitar set up), I did my own custom set up and repairs as necessary to make this instrument -- the least expensive guitar I've ever owned -- one of the most pleasurable to play. Even its voice is pretty darned good. This guitar cost $135. My Taylor would today cost $2400. No disrespect to the Taylor, but the Oragewood, even with its many imperfections out of the box that I corrected (with a retail value of about $100 because the $135 price included a case and shipping costs), was the much better value. If I had it to do over, I'd just have two guitars today: my thinline electric and my Orangewood Rey Mahogany. So the bottom line is this, all guitars have their own voice -- the enjoyment of which is a matter of personal taste. Expensive guitars usually have expensive materials and often fancy decorative appointments. You pay big bucks for materials and flash. Yeah, their tone may be different, and what some would say is superior; but how much better? Is a slight difference in tone worth $2000? (I don't think so for most players -- especially student guitarists.) A good playing guitar can usually be made from most instruments above toy grade, but if you're not sure, consult with a set-up expert before you purchase. An $250 guitar ($135 initial investment plus not more that $115 in adjustment/repair costs) may not sound exactly like a $2500 guitar, but paying ten times more won't buy you ten times better sound. Virtually guaranteed.

Tuesday, November 3, 2020

My Epic Guitar Saga

 It's Election Day

I hope you have voted or will vote today. And I further hope you vote against partisan tribalism, juvenile name calling, authoritarianism, the flood of lies, cronyism, subverting the constitution, putting children in cages separated from their parents, and generally being a publicly-proud asshole. I also hope you voted against any politicians who supported the head rump in DC.

My Current Guitar Journey

After a hiatus of almost 20 years, I started playing the guitar again in the summer of 2019. At that time my only guitar was a 1998 Taylor 412ce. This being a solid-wood guitar, it requires humidification during the heating season, which is a bit inconvenient. It has a nice, protective hard-shell case, but taking it in and out of the case and always having to ensure that the in-case humidifier is not dry seemed too much of a hassle.

Thinking About a Cheap, Knock-around Guitar

So last fall I started shopping for a laminate-body guitar, which is less fussy when it comes to humidification; it's unlikely to develop sound-board cracks due to dryness. At my long-favored guitar seller, Elderly Instruments of Lansing, Michigan, I got talked out of buying an all-lamiinate guitar, which they don't even sell.

Instead, I bought a Taylor Academy12-en, which had a solid spruce top but laminated sides and back. It was also a nylon-stringed instrument with the body joint at the 12th fret. It wasn't quite a classical guitar though because the fingerboard was curved like a steel-string guitar.

Acoustic Set-up Issues

Even though both my Taylor guitars were set up either by Elderly Insturments or the Taylor factory, neither was actually within the action specifications published by Taylor. So with some trepidation I began the process of learning to set up my own guitars and acquiring the specialized tools to do so. With both of these instruments set-up modifications only involved adjusting the neck relief (the curvature of the neck) and lowering the saddle height.

The Electric Guitar Kit

Then over the winter of 2019-2020 I bought an electric-guitar kit. It was a Telecaster shape, but with a semi-hollow body -- often referred to as a Thinline (TL) The nature of these kits tends to be that if you follow the assembly directions, which are not at all detailed, you merely end up with a GSO: a guitar-shaped object.

Such was the case for me. So after carefully setting up my TL GSO to Fender specifications and putting on a new set of strings, it still didn't play quite right. It had string buzzes, which were coming from the saddle. After much consternation, confusion, and rumination, I realized that the neck pocket wasn't routed exactly right, and I needed a neck reset to change the angle just a bit to get more downward pressure on the saddles and thereby eliminate the buzzing. This reset is accomplished relatively easily on Fender-style guitars because the necks are bolted on rather that glued in. So by making a shim wedge of the appropriate size and thickness, one changes the neck angle.

So I played the remainder of the winter, spring and most of the summer of 2020 with my three guitars. By late summer I came to recognize that though I loved the tone of my nylon-stringed Taylor, the thickness of the nylon strings and the higher action that they require was incompatible with my steel-string guitars, which I had come to prefer.

So I sold the nylon-stringed guitar. But I still had a hankering for an acoustic guitar with steel strings that didn't require pampering and was inexpensive enough that I could take it anywhere without worry.

The Orangewood Experiment

Enter Orangewood Guitars, a relatively new mail-order-only company. Their PR is excellent and their reviews were over the top -- suspiciously maybe too good to be true. But I took a chance and ordered one of their lowest-priced full-size guitars: the Rey mahogany (all laminate) grand auditorium cutaway. Their guitars are advertized as manufactured in Indonesia and then get a so-called professional set up in the USA.

When it arrived it was good news and bad news. The good news was that it seemed well assembled from a visual point of view. The bad news was that the strings and frets were badly oxidized, the action was too high, the bridge was not fully glued in place (the corner of a sheet of paper could slip under the back edge a couple of millimeters in one spot), and the neck was seriously back bowed to compensate for set-up short cuts by their "professional" set-up technicians in California.

My Modification to the Rey Guitar

My previous experiences adjusting the action on my other acoustic guitars as well as assembling and setting up my TL allowed me to correct all the defects as follows:

  • I removed the strings and straighted the neck via truss-rod ajustment
  • I checked the frets for level, and they were close, but not to my satisfaction
  • So  I leveled and re-crowned the frets, which was a quick and easy job, and this also removed the oxidation
  • I then put new strings on, which were of a thinner gauge (11-48)
  • I adjusted the neck relief again using the truss rod
  • The action was still too high (I was setting up to Taylor specs), so I filed the nut slots and lowered the saddle as much as I thought could be done, which wasn't quite enough to get Taylor action, but it was acceptably close
  • I applied some water-thin super glue to the bridge-top joint in the spot where it was not completely glued down
  • I reamed out the string-peg holes, which were a bit too small to allow the string ball ends to easily pass through. This also allowed the pegs to be positioned to a more uniform height above the bridge.
  • Then I tuned to guitar a whole tone low -- to standard D tuning rather than standard E.
The result was fantastic. Great sound, great playability. I posted a review on the Orangewood web site, but they deleted it, which explains the myriad over-the-top reviews from people who don't know much about guitars. I also posted a three-star review on Amazon, which can still be read.

So I suggest that if you order an Orangewood guitar, have an extra $100 or so in reserve to pay a good luthier to set up the instrument properly and optimally. That said and done, it may still be a good purchase decision.


Thursday, October 29, 2020

New Favorite Shaving Tools, Products, Processes.

 I've been minding my own business these past months, when I was not writing blog articles. My business included my daily shaves, of course.

But I've continued to try varying processes and products. As a result I've reached some new conclusions, identified new favorites.

My New Shaving Process

I've gotten closer to mainstream preferences in these past months. This includes my shaving preparations.

These days I have on hand a small, empty, plastic yogurt container, a plastic scuttle (from Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements -- it's unbreakable and I really like this product!), a shave cream or soap (more about that later), and a washcloth.

I take the yogurt cup, scuttle, and wash cloth into the kitchen. I first wet the wash cloth and heat it for 30 seconds in the microwave oven. While that is heating, I moisten my whiskers with cool tap water, and I fill up the yogurt cup and scuttle with tap water.

When the wash cloth is warm, put the filled cup and scuttle in the microwave for 90 seconds. While that is heating, I use the warm, wet wash cloth to further wet, warm, and, thereby, soften my whiskers.

When the cup and scuttle are warm, it's back into the bathroom for the shave. There I dip my shaving brush into the yogurt cup of warm water, make lather, and apply it to my whiskers.

What Kind of Lather?

I obviously haven't tried all shave soaps on the market. However, I have a jar of shave soap from Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements that is my current favorite; it's called Pareidolia artisan shave soap. My wife likes the residual scent on my skin, and I love the rich creamy texture of the lather. It is the finest that I have tried, and it has allowed me to be more flexible in my razor and blade choices.

I have also tried the Cremo brand shave cream, which I initially didn't like because they recommended applying with one's hands. Yuk! A greasy mess, in my opinion. However, some time ago I put a dollop of Cremo into my scuttle and used my brush to make a lather (of sorts), applying it to my face with the shave brush.

Now this was a process that I could endorse.

Both Pareidolia and Cremo provide me with superior shaving lubrication. I prefer the soap, which results in a more water-friendly clean up, but both provide me with superior shaves.

New Favorite Razor

My latest favorite razor, my go-to razor most mornings, is the venerable Lord LP1822L -- the three-piece design with the L.6 razor head and the long aluminum handle.

This razor was slightly too aggressive for my use as an every-day razor, but with the updated process and my favored shave lathers, I find this instrument to be just right.

My shaves have been going so smoothly (pun intended) that I find I can use just about any brand blade from my vast inventory (except for Chinese blades) and get a smooth, comfortable shave.

The Actual Shave Process

All the preceding processes and products have changed my actual shave as well. I now generally perform the common three-pass shave: with grain, across grain, and against grain. On some days I do a second against-grain pass for an extra-smooth shave.

That's it for today. Come back again soon. I have some ideas for upcoming posts that you may find interesting and enlightening.

My Favorite Razor(s) Change Slightly Over Time

 Currently my preferred shaving instrument is the double-open-comb (DOC) razor from Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements (PAA). If you want more in...