Who knew the decal would be the hardest part of making a guitar?

This week has been quite relaxing. I found myself getting a little bored for the first time in what feels like 2 years. I've had a chance to catch up on things I used to do in my former life, like wash my car and take Lucy and Addy for walks downtown and in Lake Conestee Nature Park. It's been wonderful.

On Tuesday night Kristi made probably one of the most delicious meals I've ever eaten. I don't know what it's called, but it involves onions, mushrooms, chicken, and cheese. For the sides we had green beans and rice. It was fantastic, and I'm thinking about making it the "guest" meal, which is the meal we make when visitors come over. Up until this point we usually make this pan seared Italian chicken. Maybe we can rotate.
Today I finally got my waterslide decal onto the headstock of my guitar neck. It has been quite a frustrating process. The first problem was that I didn't have anything to fix the ink (make it not smudge). I thought I could just use a coat of lacquer, but it really didn't work very well, and when I stuck the decal into water ink went everywhere. So I bought some decal bonder on ebay, waited a few days for it to get here, and then sprayed my decals. After they had dried I attempted to stick one on the headstock. Unfortunately application of the 3 I had made were all unsuccessful. Those things are very hard to get on straight without the edges curling. So I made 6 more, and after the first 2 were failures, the 3rd was a winner. I kind of wish it was a tad higher, but it looks good so I'm not going to push my luck.
One thing I have really enjoyed this year in general is seeing how far our yard has come. When we first moved to our house in '08 there was little to no landscaping. Here is an old blog post with some pictures shortly after we moved in. We spent many hours doing back breaking work killing grass, creating mulch beds, and planting somewhere in the realm of 50ish bushes and 4 trees when all was said and done. And when I say we, really it was mostly me, especially the digging. We bought the tiniest bushes available (they are the cheapest) so it has been fun to watch everything get bigger. This year I've been tackling the grass, which was just as big a problem. I've sprayed weeds, pulled weeds by hand, and began following a fertilizing schedule that someone from Southside gave me. Things have gone better than I imagined, and the yard is looking great, grass included. I was admiring my work and thought, "hey, I should take some more yard pictures for my blog." So here for your admiration is the Stoeber's 2010 version of our yard.

Next week I am going to Hilton Head which is pretty exciting. I don't get vacations too often, so time at the beach is always appreciated, although I do admit I'm hoping the temp stays at least in the lower 90's. I'm thinking my chances are slim.

mmmmmm Brussel Sprouts...

I enjoy making fancy dinners...most people are aware of this. Lately I have been more adventurous with my dinners. There was the swordfish, which turned out wonderfully...

This past Sunday I decided to try a grilled Salmon recipe, and for the vegetable I thought I would give Brussel Sprouts a chance. Now I have only ever tried them one time before, and it was a long time ago. My mom made them when I was young, and the story is remembered by all family members because my dad tried to pretend he liked them and ate a ton, and then felt sick later that night. We never had them again after that.

So against my better judgement I decided I'd go for it. I found a recipe on allrecipes.com which had hundreds of positive reviews, surely they couldn't be that bad, right? After washing and trimming they looked quite promising.



Things started to go downhill after they had been in the oven for a little bit. The smell just wasn't one you think of when you think of a delicious dinner. Nonetheless they looked pretty when they were done cooking.
Unfortunately that's where anything positive ends. Kristi and I both tried to pretend like they weren't that bad, but I think after the fifth one I felt like I might gag if I swallowed anymore. Kristi ate a few more than me, but felt about the same. It really put a damper on the whole dinner. That and the fact that the salmon didn't turn out quite as delicious as I thought it would. Oh well, they can't all be winners I guess.

YouTube pro...

...The Stoebers now have a  YouTube page (and I am pretty excited). My parents got us a cool Canon HD video camera for Christmas and I figured I needed to put it to good use. Here are the first 3 videos I posted!

Stoberto Customs

I have been working on building a telecaster for 2 and 1/2 years now. It's going to be sweet when it's done, and it's not that I don't care to finish, it's that I usually lack funds to buy the parts I need. I am not actually cutting the wood (although I would love to learn how to do that someday), but I am doing everything else from the finishing to the wiring. I am finished with the body (flame maple top and alder), and almost finished with the neck (flame maple/ebony fretboard w/ star inlays)...the two biggest obstacles by far. The body has a nitro lacquer finish while on the neck I actually used a gunstock oil finish (except for the headstock which will be lacquer).

The wiring I am pretty comfortable with, so as soon as I figure out something I can sell in my house I can finish up...I am ecstatic. I'm probably mainly excited about buying some pickups from a guy named Bill Lawrence. I was prepared to shell out around $200 for some Fralins or Bulldogs (quality hand wound pickups), but I discovered that Bill, who has been designing pickups for companies like Fender for years sells his own pickups with his wife Becky on their own website for...wait for it...$72 plus shipping. I mean are you kidding me? Once again...ecstatic.

The most daunting task I need to do is level the frets of my neck which involves using a heavy flat surface and sanding frets until they are all the same height, and then recrowning them afterwards. I think this part has the most potential for damage, and the neck was pretty expensive so I am a little nervous. I got a scrap piece of 2"x16" granite for the sanding (as I read this works well for a heavy flat surface), and I think I'm going to practice on my Kramer first.



That was my first electric guitar, and as I have a hard time parting with guitars I simply have upgraded it over the years with Gotoh tuners, and white pickguard, and even Fender American pickups and all new electronics. It's not bad at all, although it still has a plywood body.

I've been working on a logo for my guitar neck headstock. Some people just put a Fender logo on their builds, but I want to name it after me! "Stoberto Customs" is what I've decided on, borrowing a high school nick name that has stuck with me over the years. This is what I've got so far...but it is still a work in progress.

So hopefully (as the serial number indicates) I will be done before the end of 2010...anyone up for some donations?

New Songs...

...I wrote some new songs during Daddy Daycare (the five weeks I took off from school to care for Addy during the day). After her second morning feeding, and before we made lunch, I would play my guitar and sing for her. At first I mostly sang Jon Foreman and Switchfoot songs, but then after a while we started to write some songs together (when I say we, I would write and she would just smile). They turned out pretty well...here they are...

Song 1 - written for Kristi and I's 3rd anniversary - click here

Song 2 - a poem I wrote for Addy put to music with other words added - click here

Song 3 - a song I wrote during the Joseph series at Southside - click here