One fun thing I’ve learned at CC over the years is that we’re not just internet usernames, we’re all real people.
I’ve learned a bit about a lot of you, and some of you I’ve had the privilege to meet in person. I attended the 2017 gathering in Detroit, and the 2015 meet up in Auburn. I know we’re all “car people” of one sort or another, but folks usually have multiple interests so my question today is what’s your other thing?
I know that our leader Paul is interested in house design and building, his excellent article here on his most recent build was one of the standouts in 2016. I know that JP Cavanaugh is interested in both early Jazz music and SPAM from his weekly blog here.
Yes, my other thing is playing the guitar. That’s me in the late 80’s with my first guitar, but the story goes a bit further back than that. Both my siblings took piano lessons, their teacher was a harsh old Russian lady who would smack their knuckles with a ruler if they messed up. I successfully lobbied against participation in this program, and that was the end of my musical career until High School.
There I made a good friend named Scott, and he played guitar very well. He still is one of these guys that music just flows out of, and inspired, I asked my parents for a guitar and lessons. They spent $235 on a Fender F-35 acoustic, and the compromise was that I got sent to classical lessons for a year. I didn’t totally enjoy that, but the finger picking technique came in very handy later on. By my final year of high school I quit lessons, but in the 35 years since I’ve played nearly every day and as Dire Straits’ Mark Knopfler says, I’ve got a friend for life.
The curse of the guitar player is that as Einstein shows here the correct number of guitars to have is always X+1. Couple that with my emotional attachment to inanimate objects and you get, well, a lot of guitars. Some have left over the years, but most have stayed. Let’s see what we’ve got in the house at the moment:
Acoustic guitars left to right:
- 1982 Fender F-35 (Korea) – My first guitar, it has great sound for a laminate top
- 2012 Taylor 416ce ltd (USA) – Mrs DougD bought this for me after she got tired of hearing me complain that I needed a quality solid top guitar with integrated pickup system. When we started shopping a sales guy said “First thing you need to figure out is whether you’re a Martin guy or a Taylor guy.” I’m a Taylor guy.
- 1990-ish Harmony H106 (Korea) – Completely terrible campfire guitar that I got for free
- 2008 Godin Ami (Canada) – Small parlor guitar for my daughter to bring to summer camp
Electric guitars:
- 1997 Epiphone Dot (Korea) – I used to think that hollow body electrics were for old guys, apparently I became old around age 35 and needed one. My friend Scott was working in a music store and this came in on a trade. It’s a real workhorse, heavy as all get out and the notes sustain forever.
- 2006 Fender Telecaster (Mexico) – I bought this last year to possibly replace the Dot, but haven’t totally bonded with it. The single coil pickups give me a lot of trouble with 60hz hum, and if I hold it just right I can pick up a radio station.
Bass guitars:
- 2002 Yamaha RBX-170 (Taiwan) – I traded a Washburn 12-string for the Dot which was worth less so they threw in the bass to even the deal. Like most guitar players I can sort of play bass, it’s actually gotten a lot of use over the years. Being a Yamaha it is rather well made for an entry level instrument.
- 2016 Squier Affinity Precision Bass (Indonesia) – Squier is Fender’s offshore made line, Indonesian Affinity is 2nd rung from the bottom on the quality ladder. I’m not even sure that the neck is maple, maybe birch?
Yamaha neck in front with interesting grain, Squier neck behind with boring speckled grain. At any rate, the Squier is my son’s expendable instrument for heavy duty use (as explained below).
Although Mrs DougD doesn’t play, both my children do. Here’s my daughter learning to change strings on the terrible Harmony. And yes, we loosened the strings before cutting them.
My son is primarily a trumpet player, he is in every conceivable band at high school. However, as a camp counselor last summer he also played bass in the camp band. Last year he used the Yamaha, which did not take kindly to the duty cycle, and to the temperature and humidity swings experienced at camp. At the end of the summer it came home with a twisted neck and busted tuners. This year he will go armed with the Squier, and a good molded hardshell case for better protection.
In addition to amusing myself daily with guitars, I have a few non-paying gigs:
I am a rhythm guitarist in Praise Band at Church. Here I am at practice playing a pink Charval heavy metal guitar I cleaned up and sold for a co-worker last year. I get to work with some incredibly talented kids which is very fun for a moderately talented middle aged guy.
Every Christmas Eve the D family gets together at my parents’ house. My brother and I play, and we all sing Christmas Carols before opening some presents.
I’ll say now that I’m not the best player ever. Really I don’t need to be, my playing philosophy comes from Steven Van Zandt (of E-Street band fame) who said “My role is to play the clean rhythm guitar that all rock bands need. I’m not there to show people how good of a guitar player I am.”
I do try to improve, learning to play Alice’s Restaurant a few years ago was a major step forward for me (thank you again, classical guitar lessons).
It’s a fun thing, it enriches my life and hopefully the lives of others. I can do most of my own instrument repair and setup, and 8 guitars sure takes up less space and time than 8 old project cars would. Hopefully all of you have multiple fulfilling things in your life, so what’s your other thing?
Dang, I wish I could play a guitar. Tried many years ago in my youth but could not get my fingers around the neck. I have, however named my son Hendrix in honour of that legendary musician. Oddly enough, I discovered my old biography of Jimi and discovered that his father’s was James Allan Hendrix; my son’s full name is Hendrix James Allan, so that’s an amazing and happy coincidence!
I’ve been a professional photographer for nearly forty years but the digital age has rather put me out to graze in the past few years, so I’m effectively retired now and spend my time helping lady friends with their household repairs; have tools will travel!
I guess my only hobby now would be my massive collection of sealed vinyl records that litter my little house; nearly a metric ton of vinyl that I sell on a few sites on the internet. There’s plenty of spare copies in the collection so I’ve been ‘stealing’ from my own stock and adding it to my personal collection. Have developed a love of 60s and 70s jazz from working my way through an ‘Inner City’ catalogue; that and practically every over genre is in the collection; from heavy metal to disco. My mantra now is “all music is good music”.
Use to be I’d spend way too much time working on my 1981 Landrover Lightweight 1/2 ton. It required constant attention to keep it running but I now have a mercedes W124; twenty four years old and just keeps running in-spite of my neglect and abuse.
Kids all grown up and have left home. I’m on my own but with the internet and music, I don’t feel too lonely.
Attached is a poster I made for a classic car fair I attended a few years ago. It was a financial disaster and I despaired the casual way visitors pawed through the collection, creasing the otherwise mint sleeves…never again!
You should write some of these up as a CC Vinyl series
Nice idea Don. I could run an ‘identity that car’ quiz on this poster alone. Judging from my last post, I need to check my spellink more carefully!
Hope you do delboy. I’m always digging through crates and you’ve got quite a few there I’ve never seen.
Besides cars (some of you have experienced my ’65 Chrysler) my big things are trains, both real and models and photography.
The photography, both still and video tends to involve the cars & trains, but I do have quite a collection of vintage cameras, mostly made by Argus which was a mid century company in Michigan.
Sex, drugs and RocknRoll. Well, not illegal drugs anyway. These days the sex bit is just about kaput as well. Sigh. But, RocknRoll will never die. My beat up old guitars get a workout from time to time.
Some great posts here, and a good bit of commonality. I am a jack of all trades, master of none when it comes to hobbies. For recreational hobbies, I enjoy cross country skiing, mountain biking, kayaking, and collecting license plates. For more “productive” activities, I dabble in carpentry and house and car repair projects. Many years of piano lessons taught me that I have zero musical talent.
Wow, this is great stuff. Some really diverse interests here along with some common ones too.
I forgot to list my current interests in my previous near-egotistical post. In my retirement, I like to read, take walks, get on the Web, play my keyboards for my own pleasure, and listen to music – my favorite genres are prog, classic rock, psychedelia, and late-70s/80s synth stuff.
I have a few strong hobbies. The chief one is likely photography. In fact I am not so much a car enthusiast as I am a photographer who loves to snap cars. Beyond that certainly computers and radio. I have been a radio fan since high school in the 1980’s and once held the Russian Woodpecker captive at my house until he flew away (about 1989).
Late to the party here. I have these hobbies:
1. Collecting vintage film cameras. I’ve done it since I was 8.
2. Photography. Which has been a hobby only since I was about 40.
3. Blogging. And you can learn more about all three hobbies at my blog at https://blog.jimgrey.net.
I still keep meaning to drop by your blog and ask about your Cannon QL17 Rangefinder, Jim… I even have your page bookmarked. But you posted that years ago, and would likely not even see my reply if I did pop in. I still have 2 of those cameras. I took some awesome shots back in the day with mine, but have no idea how I ended up with a second one. Great little camera that was for sure.
My skillset spills over into my hobbies. I love to create images. Oftentimes, they are of cars.
I also am omnivorous toward vintage video, both fictionalized and documentary. The Rank Organization films of the 50s and 60s are recent favorites.
Although I love cars, my passion is now scuba diving. The world under the water is amazing. There are colours you’ll never see on land, and a whole ocean of interesting animals and plants to view.
My love of diving has grown over the years and it has helped me stay fit. In order to do exciting dives, one needs a decent level of physical and mental fitness. For that reason., I train in the gym four or five times a week. In addition, my wife and I walk at least 10 km a day.
Being fit is also a hobby of sorts I suppose. What I am finding at age 53 is many of my friends are slowing down and gaining weight, while I am still going strong. Being fit means I don’t have to take any pills of any sort to stay alive.
Living in British Columbia gives us the ability to do a myriad of outdoor activities. Summers are spent hiking in the local mountains, and we always try to make trip to the Rocky Mountains every season.
I don’t consider myself a “car guy”, although I’m fascinated by old cars and daily drive a 1993 Corolla wagon. Blue of course.
My main thing is music. I worked as a mechanical engineer and computer systems specialist, then left that 20 years ago to do music stuff full time. I work part-time as an audio engineer and play in a half dozen bands. Guitar is my main instrument along with bass, keyboards, harmonica, banjo, and computer generated music. The photos at the head of the article drew me right in, as I own 19 guitars and lots of stomp boxes, synthesizers, and other musical electronic devices. Pride of place would be my 1968 Telecaster. I play electronic space music, folk-rock, psychedelic jamming rock, and acoustic folk.
I collect recorded music, especially live recordings. My favorite music is Grateful Dead. I saw them many times and accumulated a huge collection of concert recordings back when you had to make a connection with another collector and trade cassettes. But my live recording collection extends to all genres in which I have an interest.
Other passions include science fiction, cooking, and old English bicycles.
Needless to say, there are a lot of fascinating people around here. Outside of my automotive interests, I also enjoy coin collecting (particularly of my home country of Canada). I am pretty huge into jazz and all that it encompasses, as well as seriously enjoying European travel (I have a real fondness/soft spot for Scotland). When I was very young I was also bitten pretty hard by the trains and railways bug; it has never diminished over time.
As Stogie says, there are indeed a lot of fascinating people on CC. My chief interest in life is cars, but right alongside it is music – listening to it and playing it. I started learning piano when I was 6, still thoroughly enjoy it a few decades later.
The best song in the world ever to play on the piano is Simon & Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water. Accoustically and finger-movement-wise it’s just brilliant.
Elvis (in his fatter years) is my favourite individual vocalist. Queen is my favourite band (just saw them and Adam Lambert here in NZ, great, great show), closely followed by Abba, with The Mamas And The Papas in the mix too.
Outside of music, other key ‘other things’ include geo-caching, architecture (especially deco and mid-century), history and European travel. But nothing holds a candle to cars!
Like you Doug, I’ve always enjoyed music, and learned a little piano at a young age. Then at about 26 years old, I decided to give acoustic guitar a try and still enjoy it, although I don’t play as often as I’d like. To answer your question as to whether you’re a Martin or Taylor guy, I’m more of a Martin guy myself, having had my grandfather’s D-28 restored after it sat in my parents attic for many years. But I have more Yamaha guitars than anything. Ironically the only motorcycle I ever owned was a Honda, but I digress….
Other hobbies include Homebrewing (I even brewed professionally at a brewpub for a brief time), amateur astronomy, swing dancing, snow skiing, photography, heck, I used to competitively roller skate…. like Paul said above, “jack of all trades, master of none”… and of course, I am quite skilled at keeping my cars clean and shiny….
Besides tinkering on cars and my classic motorcycle (1978 BMW R100S), I mountain bike a lot, plus the occasional road ride and I briefly raced short track MTB and Cyclocross, badly. Other than that I’ve been an amateur photographer since high school, and still have and occasionally use the Nikon FM I got in high school.
My college major was history and I still read a lot of history and visit historic sites. My major interest is military history with a sideline in history of technology. My favorite technology history is still “A Revolution in Time” by David Landes.
I also do a lot of hiking and some occasional Nordic skiing and kayaking.
Aviation is #1, even behind cars and trucks. It is not just that I worked for aerospace companies. In retirement I am involved in aviation youth programs, such as Experimental Aviation Associaton’s Young Eagles, librarian for the Flight Path Learning Center at LAX, Torrance Airport Association and others.
There is a Corvair-powered homebuilt aircraft that I am building. Planes and automobiles combined.
I love listening to music, but have absolutely no aptitude for writing or performing. Instead, the house is full of early 1970’s audio equipment, the peak of analog electronics, KLH speakers, AR and Pioneer turntables, Kenwood amplifier, Marantz and Pioneer receivers, Nakamichi tape deck, etc.
I’m a huge fan of ’70s audio gear too which I consider a high point in audio-related industrial design. How could the same era that produced the Mustang II and polyester leisure suits give us all those awesome-looking receivers and tape decks? I own a Marantz 2245 that my dad bought new (below; pics grabbed online but same as what I have) which sounds better than everything I tried to replace it with, and of course looks way cooler. Also, amazing FM reception. Several sets of speakers – JBL L100 (the classic speakers shown in the Maxell blown-away adverts), Bose 301 Series II (back when Bose made serious speakers, not overpriced “lifestyle” systems), and two pairs of Electrohome speakers that look more like lamps than speakers and throw the sound 360 degrees. I have two BIC cassette decks, a T-2M and T-4M. The former couldn’t look and feel any more classy, and the latter I just find hilarious because *nobody* would expend that kind of effort on a cassette deck from about 1984 onward. But these are from the late ’70s and early ’80s just before CDs took over and cassettes were crucial.
My turntable is an unspectacular Pioneer quartz direct drive, but I have an awesome Shure V15VxMR cartridge that cost more than the turntable and sounds the part. But I have a sad story to relate about the stylus: I had to pack the turntable (and many other items) into storage for a few years, and to protect the expensive needle I lowed the built-in guard, secured the tonearm, and as a last precaution I taped the tonearm in place so it couldn’t move. Then I put the turntable in a box and stored it away. When I moved into my previous home I retrieved the turntable, opened the box, and discovered that ALL THREE of the precautions I took failed – the tape lost its stickiness, the tonearm worked its way out of the clip, and the stylus guard retracted. And that let the tonearm slide back and forth against the rubber record mat and broke the needle. And replacement needles are no longer made. There’s a third party company that makes replacements of a different design that get mixed reviews on audiophile sites; I might try it. Or I could just try a new cartridge but I really liked the V15’s musicality, not to mention that little damped brush that hoovers up all the dust and makes my records seemingly last forever.
BIC T-2M cassette deck: (love the classic analog VU meters and the high-quality damping of every toggle switch, knob, and piano-key transport controls…. photos don’t do it justice)
…and BIC T-4M cassette deck:
I dig those cassette decks; I have some 500 cassettes in my analog tape stash. Or more. I’m afraid to count how many there are but they don’t take up a lot of space so it’s no bother.
I have 4 Marantz Model Twenty Six receivers scattered all about the house and my office. I got them back when they were plentiful and CHEAP on Ebay. My Dad got one in the early 70’s that still rolls right along.
Wow!! so many interesting hobbies here. I am 56 and getting over the (it’s over feeling that i’m sure some others have felt at 50) I collect danbury and franklin mint 1/24 scale cars. i’m also a techie(and treckie,first series Kirk is best!!!)I like flagship phones iphone and Samsung mostly i feel Apple put a cap on that hobby as i have the Iphone x and have found that it is not worth $1000+. i also have been inot comic books since 1975. have collected an expensive set of omnibus editions of both Marvel and DC. i have interest in game consoles own a ps3 and 360 also ps4 pro and my favorite Xbox one x(far superior to ps4) i am a casual gamer with games like the Mafia series and Hitman as favorites. i also am a huge Godzilla fan since i was a little kid and collect figures. i also like reading mostly anything about my Lord and King Jesus and i like to read and find info on what our corrupt goverment and it’s agencies are up to . I mostly stick to myself and family. Wake up our freedom is being taken away from us piece by piece. I also study psychology and read up on most things that interest me…like cars.
I have been trying to learn how to play guitar since I was 12… I am 50 now and I still don’t get it right.
Motorcycle is definitely my other thing but living in a town where winter can last 8 months makes me think a bike here may not be very practical.
Perhaps starting my life from the scratch in 3 different countries since 1999 took the time and money I should be spending in a hobby.
Photography is my other big passion (outside of cars). And primarily, I love to bring both my passions together in photographing cars. You’ve seen some of my work in my COAL articles. You can actually see how I’ve improved over time as my COAL articles progress. Here some more that I’ve shot…. because I also love showing off. If you want to follow, i’m on Instagram.com/michaelbrianstudios
My husbands E350 Bluetec
A friend’s modified E60 550.
Maserati Ghibli I got to shoot.
Away from cars, old and new, and the industry around them, I’d identify old planes, especially turboprop and early jet passenger aircraft, some old trains (British ones really, steam and diesel), and the music of Mike Oldfield, Edward Elgar and J S Bach. I’d love to be able to play the organ (or any instrument) but that’s never going to happen.
Quite a bit of time is spent as Chair of our local Classic Car Club and as a visitor guide and interpreter at Nuffield Place, home of Lord Nuffield, William Morris.
Also cooking, proper (warm) British beer, cleaning Alfa Romeos, avoiding football and not gardening.
I play guitar and own a few, including an Epiphone Joe Pass II, but my main focus, the thing that helps me focus on what’s real is theology. My current study is “The Temple, Its Ministry and Services as they were at the time of Christ” (1874) by Alfred Edersheim.
Cool, my X+1 guitar target is an Epiphone Emperor Regent, basically the same thing with a single floating pickup instead of the dual humbuckers.
It’s not easy to find one…
I’m late to the party, but I perform improv, voiceovers, and do a little acting.
Slightly late here but I’ll chip in. Great to see so many different hobbies that combine with an interest in cars!
Besides spending a ton of my time on the internet – privately as well as professionally – I greatly enjoy hiking, architecture, reading on recent history, and drawing, mostly (Euro) comic-style. No guesses to one my favourite drawing subjects!
My latest obsession might just be this post. I’m intrigued and awed by the range of interests and talents here. This has made me miss hanging here at CC on a daily basis all the more. My move late last year to a new metro area and a very demanding job have kept me away, but I’m SO glad I tuned in to catch this particular exchange.
It’s inspiring to read of all of the interests and hobbies that other busy people manage to stay active in and keep a passion for. It has truly spurred me into action, and I’m looking forward to rekindling some old interests and passions and indulging in some new ones.
I’ve long been a bit of a foodie, and love to cook. I do keep this interest alive, as well…we all have to eat, but I must admit that I’ve recently turned to the rather pedestrian as I find myself cooking mostly for just myself. I’ve also had a long term interest in design and architecture, specifically mid century stuff. I’m far better at playing the radio than I’ve ever been at playing any other instrument, but I do maintain an interest in audio equipment and have long wanted to acquire some of the items that la673 highlights in his post above. Writing has also bee a lifelong passion, but once again I’ve often had the best of intentions only to get sidetracked as “Life gets in the way”.
The reality for me lately is that I find myself single at 50, having just put a rather turbulent relationship with an on-again-off-again addict on ice. In addition to that I’ve spent the past 25 years raising (first actively and then as a distant financial participant) 3 children, which clipped my financial wings a bit, and somehow along the way I seem to have lost the fire to keep an active hand in any of the things that inspire me or intrigue me. So having only read through about 1/3 of the posts above, I intend to read through all of them. It’s certainly time to re-ignite the spark of creativity and wonder in myself and get back to focusing some of my time on the things that bring me joy. So thanks guys (and ladies). I think I needed that. And what an interesting bunch of people you all turned out to be. To think I stumbled upon all of this after following a link to a story about a 1980-something Plymouth Sapporo back in 2014.
My name here is somewhat autobiographical… I graduated in 1985 and I’m totally into music. Yes Ozzy and metal, but other stuff as well. ’70’s pop, country, etc. I play bass guitar and have a Fender Jazz and a Dean acoustic. I have a Dean Vendetta 6-string guitar and a cheap keyboard also.
I have been through the Second Coming of the muscle car and drove several cheap beater versions of these.
I currently detail cars at a dealership which handles Porsche, Audis, and Volkswagens. I have been in the auto biz in various capacities for 30+ years, including autobody, working in a wrecking yard and project cars.
I live near Mt. Baker (near Bellingham, WA) out in the woods where I enjoy barbecueing, drinking beer, and in general being a pest to my wife. Bought a place here last year that needs some help. I’ll be busy. That’s good.
My DD is a ’93 Ranger Sport. Wouldn’t mind finding a Bronco or a ’67-79 F-Series.
Reading, reading, reading. Cars, history and philosophy (and politics). Quite a boring guy in terms of arts, crafts and any kind of manual work. I can’t handle any kind of tool without braking something. I can’t appreciate most art. But I DO love country music….