I dunnit!

No single event in my life has EVER driven me do something as insane as this: Create a blog to celebrate it. :-P. I mean I've done stupid things, but celebrating by creating a blog.. that tops them all..

Anyway, here's what I need to celebrate about: I FINALLY managed to design (actually redesign) and work out a circuit for my own guitar distortion effect! Alright, it might not seem such a big thing for most reading this, but you can hardly imagine the agonizing nights.. months of them actually, trying to get hold of components: first by travelling half-way across the city to the only respectable electronics shop I knew, and then resorting to breaking the solder on old junk electronics and salvaging parts.. and believe me, nothing's worse for your fingers than that (except of course if you decide to give them a bath with acids, like I did in the school lab). Then meeting with failure after failure when the guitar WOULD NOT just make any sound in the speakers.. or actually, the circuits wouldn't either make any changes in the sound (read:distortion) or they simply wouldn't send out anything. I could bang the guitar for all I cared, and the circuits wouldn't emit a beep to commiserate.

Oh and not just the circuit, my guitar too has a story.. I was broke (spent all my funds on computer upgrades) at the time this story is based, and all I had was an acoustic non-amplified simple guitar (I love it). One day before our farewell party from school, I and couple of other friends got this wierd idea of holding a rock show (you know.. play a couple of neat songs) at the farewell party for us, as a surprise.. we would be conspiring with a few 11th grade juniors to set up our stuff before-hand and all of a sudden we would jump on-stage and you know.. do the thing to 'shock and awe'.

Anyhow, we started jamming at my friend's place and I had temporarily hooked up some pickups to my acoustic and was playing with some distortion software (Guitar FX BOX) on the computer. That friend is a very talented keyboardist, and had played at some really cool places, and used to play keyboards only.. hated string instruments. I came to know the extent of that hate when I happened to look into one of his cupboards, and to my utmost horror saw a beaten-up, dusty, man-handled electric guitar that otherwise seemed to be very elegant in its days. It looked very very old though, so old that its manufacturer's name and tuning knobs had worn off. It looked vintage. He said that it had been lying inside that cupboard for a decade (did I mention that the guitar had around it a thriving eco-system of spiders and other creepy-crawlies?). And he gave it off to me as he said it was apparent that he didn't want it. An electric guitar for free?! Who'd refuse that.. of course I had to repair it a lot, work out the internal wiring as mysteriously, someone had pulled out all the wires in it. I had to fix a new spring-board too, as someone had salvaged it out of it probably.

Now, back to the story, which will end in 32 words: Today, the evening before my university entrance exam, I have finally managed to work out the circuit (and hear my speakers emit those heavenly crunchy sounds.. sounding exactly like the legendary tube-screamer overdriven). All that was missing in it all these months was grounding/earthing the right spots! Hurray!

Story ended, now about myself: Nothing. I'm just an electronics hobbyist, avid guitarist, avid programmer, and graduated from high-school a month back (12th grade or its equivalent). Love music, all types (except rap and pop.. can't bear it). Favorite genres: Heavy Metal, Hard Rock, Alternative Rock. I love classic rock and actually all rock and metal music, right from Led Zep, Pink Floyd, GnR, KISS, to Killswitch Engage, Lamb of God, Machine Head, Slayer etc..
Most respected bands: Metallica, KISS, Slayer, GnR, Led Zep.

I don't know if anyone reads this post or not (I don't care, I just wanted to express the triumphant feelings). If anyone wants to really follow this blog hoping to get some more posts, I think you should check back in intervals of decades or so.. I was too lazy to even delete my last blog, let alone open it and write a new post. ;-)