Nexus 6P DOTM

Design Of The Month

It may not seem initially music related but stay with me. My piece of design that I love this month is the recently released Nexus 6P from the guys at Google who have partnered with Huawei for their sleek, stylish latest phone. I am a big fan of the Nexus range as I own the Nexus 5 phone and their 7 inch tablet and am big fans of both. What I like specifically about the 6P above the other phones that they have released including the 5X is the introduction of the finger print scanner in a location which seems more comfortable to the user, larger and better quality screen, better processor and two of the best improvements being the battery life and the storage space of the phone. I know I have talked about the Marshall phone and how great it is, but with this release from Google it has really swayed me into purchasing the 6P as my next smart phone early next year. Plus for new customers who purchase it, the phone comes with 90 days free Google Play Music which is the best streaming service imo. Enjoy!

Aftershokz Bluez 2S Headphones DOTM

Design Of The Month

I always have an ear out for interesting audio technology and recently I heard about this new headphone product from my girlfriend. The Aftershokz Bluez is an open ear wireless headphone system that uses bone conduction technology to deliver sound through the users cheekbones to the ear drum. This may seem to some people that they are changing headphones for no real benefit but as a cyclist who likes to listen to music when riding, these headphones allow me to hear oncoming cars and other possible surrounding dangers whilst listening to music without the two interfering with each other. It is also a great all round sports headphone product or just for lounging around the house in your pyjamas. Really smart idea!

Flux Guitars - Double Neck DOTM

Design Of The Month

This is the kind of design that I love, creative, attractive and fully functional. Flux Guitars have recently started an IngieGoGo campaign to fund their uber smart Magnetic Double Neck Guitar  (http://igg.me/at/fluxguitars/x) The magnetic locking system they use for connecting the two guitars makes interchanging and playing the guitars for different modes really easy and simple to do. If the main guitar is connected to the amp, no additional connections need to be made to the secondary guitar for amplification as long as the magnetic connection is there.

Another special thing I really appreciate from the designer is that he is offering the option of buying the larger or smaller guitar as a stand alone instrument and also if you want to switch the 12 string to the smaller guitar and make the larger one a 6 six string, all options seem to be open. If that isn't giving the customer what they want, I don't know what is. Enjoy!

St. Vincent Signature Guitar DOTM

Design Of The Month

I have been waiting for this day to roll around to talk about this beautiful guitar from St. Vincent/Ernie Ball. From the first glance it almost has a Gibson Explorer feel to it with the overall bow-tie shape. But on closer inspection, the two back panels are angled softly to give it a more modern feel and the triple pick-ups gives plenty of variation in playing style. I really dig the detailing on the fretboard as-well. The overlapping circles (which I am presuming are Mother Of Pearl) are incredibly intricate and smooth. All together it makes for a really sleek and cool guitar and I think it sums up St. Vincent perfectly.

Marshall London Phone DOTM

Design Of The Month

For as long as I can remember I have been a big fan of Marshall. Not just their amps but I have used their headphones for quite a long time now and the quality (both sound and manufacturing) is superb. When the new Marshall phone came up on my news feed I was more than intrigued. Marshall are branching into mobiles now? How much? What does it look like? Is it better than my Nexus? It turns out it is a stunning phone with obviously great sound quality including a unique dual headphone socket jack for listening to music with a friend. I'm not sure how much the new feature will be used apart from two teenage school kids on a coach en route to a class trip want to sing along to the latest Top 40 compilation. When my current contract ends, I'm going to be hunting this phone down and hopefully the price which currently stands at £399 outright will be lower by then.

Montage Of Heck DOTM

Design Of The Month

I finally got around to watching Montage Of Heck yesterday which is a movie that has been on my must watch list for too long now. Alongside telling the story of Kurt Cobains life from start to end, the thing that really made impressed was the use of animation to tell certain parts of the story when video couldn't have been or wasn't used. The animator is Stefan Nadelman, an American Film Director/Animator who has been working in the industry for well over a decade now and you can tell by the quality of his art (pictured below). It had a way of expressing his life in a realistic but emotional way that was breathtaking to me.

Other parts of the movie I enjoyed were the interview clips with Kurts mother, father, step mother and ex-girlfriend. These were all people I have never heard anything from in the past and found the things they talked about really enlightening. Great movie and definitely worthy of your time.

WillsEasyGuitar Building Guitar History YTV

02/06/15 YouTube Video

This week is a bit of a different kind of video. It is a vlog from WillsEasyGuitar where in part 1 he drives around and starts to talk about how he started as a guitar player and builder. I found this 2 part video really interesting because I learnt how Will mostly single handedly started a successful guitar business (Garvin Guitars) through constant improvement, original ideas and good decisions. Some of his designs aren't up my street in terms of taste and some of his opinions I don't fully agree with but I have respect for the knowledge he has in specific areas and I find most of his guitar related videos a must watch. Enjoy!

Bourbon Makers: Gildas DasViken YTV

26/05/15 YouTube Video

This weeks video is about a really interesting luthier from Nantes, France. He shows off some of the breath taking guitars that he has made and restored (more can be viewed on his site here: www.dasviken.com ). What really excites me about the guy is that he doesn't just use wood and other materials that normal luthiers would use when making a guitar but he uses wood that has a story or an interesting history about it and would not conventionally be used for a guitar. He also offers more than just custom guitar design, from looking at his website he can do a whole range of small custom changes and modifications, more than you could want and dream for for your guitar. Really cool guy and totally inspiring to me. Enjoy!

Duesenberg Caribou DOTM

Design Of The Month

I would like to thank the guys at Andertons for bringing this brand back into my mind. I heard about Duesenberg Guitars firstly when they created a Johnny Depp signature model, but since then they seemed to have slipped out of my brain. Until today with the video from the Andertons YouTube channel reviewing this beautiful Duesenberg Caribou. Below are several variations on the design but my personal favourite is the second one from the top with the 3 pickups (one humbucker and 2 split coils), gold pickguard, brand own tremolo system and that sensational shade of aqua blue. From the whole design I get a real retro, cool feel and obvious well made construction that would make the guitar an absolute dream to play.

Stew Mac DOTM

Design Of The Month

My design, or more specifically design company for this month is Stewart-MacDonald. Through my project at Uni all I seem to be thinking about is guitars, guitars, guitars and more guitars so this company has been burned into my brain. They are based in the US and seem to produce every tool under the sun that can help luthiers produce excellent guitars.

Most recently I have been looking at some of their guitar jigs that aim to make doing certain tasks easier and give greater control to the builder such as the Tuner Pin Drill Jig (below) which makes lining up the tuner screws a cinch. I also bought a set of pickup templates from them recently and they are very high quality and should last a few decades fingers crossed.

The delivery of products from the US to the UK may be extortionate but when getting a job lot of goodies like I am going to do in the near future, it is well worth it.

JayBird BlueBuds X Headphones DOTM

Design Of The Month

So for the past few months I have been using on ear bluetooth headphones which I ended up buying because I got so frustrated with how easily the cable on normal corded headphones can bend and lose wiring connection at the jack end. I don't know how many headphones I went through before I bought a bluetooth set, I guess lots. The first and current set I bought were from the brand Outdoor Tech and they are relatively comfortable and fairly strong sound quality despite touch controls being temperamental as hell. Anyway, I recently looked into in-ear bluetooth headphones and fell in love with these JayBird BlueBuds X headphones. From all the reviews I have read I found that the sound quality is excellent, they are lightweight, great value for money, stylish and fit so securely that they won't drop out even during vigorous movement. These may well be my next headphone purchase. One review that shows all the details of the product is shown below. Thanks.

Fender Telecaster DOTM

Design Of The Month

The great design this month is the epic Fender Telecaster. Or more specifically my Telecaster. I recently purchased a Tele from a mate for a tidy little sum but after a strum or two it seems totally worth it. This guitar is the second Fender guitar that I own and the first electric and boy o boy does it produce some great sounds. In terms of age, I am not entirely sure the origin. The serial number on the main body references back to 1954 but the neck is printed with the custom shop logo which started decades later so my assumption is that it is a mix and match of a couple of different guitars. Whatever the history, the guitar nicknamed 'Mellow Yellow' has been a pleasure to play so far and I hope it keeps producing that same great sound for many more decades.

Italia Guitars DOTM

Design Of The Month

As I am currently working on a guitar based project on my final year at university I have been looking into lots of existing guitars. I have came across many ugly guitars and lots of copy cat guitars but one brand that are doing something special and different is Italia Guitars. The company was founded in 1998 by fellow Englishman Trevor Wilkinson and has famous clientele such as Lightspeed Champion and Nicky Wire and more. What I personally like about their guitars is the aesthetics. They have a classic almost Mod feel to them with colours taken straight out of a Vespa colour scheme and little details like the alternative pick ups and the beautifully curved main bodies. Altogether a great brand and I hope they continue producing modern classics forever more.

Case J2 Semi-Hollow Double Cutaway DOTM

Design Of The Month

It is only two weeks till Christmas, can you believe it? This year has gone by really fast and what better gift to celebrate Christmas with than one of these beautiful guitars. The J2 is from Case Guitars with whom the designer/maker (Jon Case) has been making exquisite guitars for many years and he produces handmade in the UK. So thats another reason you should love his work even though the guitars can easily hold up their own. The guitar has a unique style of its own that you don't really see on other Semi-Hollow bodies and he has really fine tuned the subtle details that make it an outstanding guitar. With Maple bookmatched and showing through, both colours look great and I am sure many other colours would look equally good. A classic guitar design aesthetic with a modern take that anybody would be proud to own.

Gretsch G5622T DOTM

Design Of The Month

Ever since I became interest in guitars Gretsch have always stood out to be as one of the best in terms of sound quality and of just looking proper sexy. Recently, a relative very kindly agreed to pay most of the way towards the black guitar below seeing as the price was a little over my personal budget. This equals birthday and Christmas presents for the foreseeable future as I'm sure you figured out. The guitar arrived on Tuesday to high expectations and when I removed it from the packaging I was not disappointed. It is a fine work of art that just screams great craftsmanship. It is a pleasure to play and I am going to treasure it for the rest of my life. If you haven't tried a Gretsch out yet you really should, you will be a fan.

Telecaster DIY Kit DOTM

Design Of The Month

I am currently learning how to design and make electric guitars and in doing so I recently purchased the Telecaster DIY kit (pictured below) from Ebay. I had such a good time customising the main body and headstock, varnishing the wood to a nice shiny finish and soldering all the components together and that is why it is my design of the month. It helped me understand the process of wiring a guitar, how a whole guitar gets built up and I also learnt where some mistakes can occur like how to varnish the wood in nice smooth coats without scuff marks. If you are in any way interested in guitar design, I would definitely suggest picking up one of these kits. You can pretty much get all the major model shapes out there so go pick one up.

House of Hungarian Music DOTM

Design Of The Month

I have recently found out about this really cool piece of architecture. Its a design proposal for The House Of Hungarian Music in Budapest created by New York based Leeser Architecture. The whole build has no straight lines or planar surfaces which creates such a fluid and organic shape. It is clear that the feel of music was inspired in this design. Part of the building is meant for live music performances and is shaped and constructed to provide the best acoustics quality possible to the audience. Also throughout the building there are walkways and viewing platforms that make the most of the surrounding landscape. Beautiful!

Vango Arc DOTM

Design Of The Month

Seeing as the festival is winding down around this time of year I thought what better to talk about than an obvious must for camping out in a field. I have recently upgraded my tent after it has taken a beating and just about survived strong weather conditions at festivals, to this tent from Vango. I chose it because Vango is a brand I trust and they produce great high quality goods and the design of it isn't like your average dome tent. The two poles working to create an arched tunnel which works really effectively against wind and rain alike. The arches also gives the feel of a church/chapel-ly thing. I also like the design because the distinctive shape really stands out and proves that not always the most conventional design is always the best. I cant wait to hit the next festival season hard in this!

The National Bowl DOTM

Design Of The Month

The design I have chosen is The National Bowl in Milton Keynes. I recently went there to see Pearl Jam perform with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and OFF! as support acts. This was my first visit to the venue and it was a bit of a nightmare getting there with the parking prices being extortionate for a venue of that size that should have at least some on site parking. But once I actually got in to the venue it was a different story. The set up is very much like a main stage at a festival and the crowd was equal in size if not larger. I spent the majority of the show pretty close to the front and the atmosphere was as you can assume, very electric and exciting. Later on in the show I made my way to the outer edge of the field and up onto the sloped verges and I have to say the sound did not lose any quality over the distance. The way the whole place has been designed makes the sound travel so well and still keep its level of quality. The engineers who created this venue really deserves some high praise to make any gig great whether you are in the mosh pit right at the front or enjoying dinner with your children on the outskirts. (Below is a sky view and a couple of snaps of
Pearl Jam) Absolutely amazing!

Birds Eye

Up Close

Afar

Chrissie Hynde - Stockholm JA

June Album 
New Feature!!

I have decided that once a month I will post a particular album that I have been listening to and am a big fan of. It will always be out on Thursdays and it will replace one of the DOTF spots reducing that down to once a month opposing this feature. Mainly I just wanted a space to share new/old albums that I want more people to listen to/enjoy and I didn't want to just post designs that were scraping the bottom of the barrel for the sake of it, so I thought this would be a good change.

So this past month I have really been diggin' the Chrissie Hynde début solo album Stockholm. To be honest I wasn't too knowledgeable about her time in The Pretenders and the music they produced but that doesn't matter when listening to this album. It happily stands alone in its own right. As a new listener with fresh ears she clearly has a very distinctive sound to her voice and to the songs as a whole. My favourite tracks from the album are Dark Sunglasses (video below) which was one of the released singles, Sweet Nuthin' which has clever lyrics and a catchy chorus, and the album finale Adding The Blue which is a slower acoustic number that shows Chrissie Hynde in a different but still impressive light. Even though I have picked 3 of my favourites, this album easily has 7-8 tracks that would do well as singles which is no bad thing. Enjoy!