I've played the fretless one (actually made by Bruce as others have pointed out) the last two times I visited Sydney. It's one of the only basses I've ever literally dreamed about.
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Inside The Secret Underground Laboratory
- Thread starter Bruce Johnson
- Start date
I've played the fretless one (actually made by Bruce as others have pointed out) the last two times I visited Sydney. It's one of the only basses I've ever literally dreamed about.
Bruce just so happens to know a guy...Well, the best cure for that condition is to get one of your own!
Rôckhewer
Commercial User
- Feb 28, 2015
- 2,922
- 9,028
- Disclosures
- Owner/Builder- RockHewer Custom Guitars LLC
Um.... ?
View attachment 3182388
Did set design paint this to give the place a little "edgy" feel?...
Ah yes, the FU Door. That's what it was officially called by the set designers and script writers. It was their idea. They painted it on the outside of the door at the bottom of one of our staircases. The scenes filmed in our basement spanned several episodes, all taking place in the bad guys' underground hideout. There are several shots where actors go down the stairs and enter the hideout through the FU Door. I think they call it a Signpost; something memorable in the background to help the audience understand where the action is taking place.
When all the filming was done and the crews were tearing down the sets and cleaning it all up, they asked us if we wanted them to leave that door painted like that. We declined. Not the attitude of our building. So, they repainted the door.
There are some other walls and doors and things that we had them leave in place. For example, there was one short wooden staircase that was old and kind of rickety. They rebuilt it to look like old concrete, closely matching the old concrete of the rest of the walls nearby. It looks like an authentic part of the building, until you tap on it and realize that it's all hollow wood and plaster. We had them leave it there. Several other dividing walls and doorways too.
Well, a couple of months have flown by, here in the Secret Underground Lab. A few new things happening, but not too much. Several non-Luthier tenants have left and moved away, so it's actually somewhat quieter down here in the basement. No movie shoots or big distractions. Which is actually a good thing. All of us Luthiers have been grinding away, cranking out instruments.
Raul Ruelas has backed away from doing Luthier work, due to overwhelming pressure from his day job, wife, young child, and new one expected in May. He wants to get back into it eventually, but needs to take a break for now.
Meanwhile, Alex Turcios has moved in, taking over Raul's shop for now. Raul is leaving his machines, including his CNC router, for Alex to use. Alex is a young guy who lives right here in Fillmore, just a few blocks away. He literally walked in the door one day, with a dream of becoming a Luthier. We've accepted him into the Lab, and are all teaching him the instrument business. He's getting his shop set up and concentrating on doing repair work. He's been getting some local customers, and jobs from the high school music department. I've been working with him, teaching him to do the Scary Repair jobs, like broken headstocks. Maybe you saw the thread on this Spector he repaired:
We're just getting started on replacing the truss rods in a pair of nice Pedullas. Alex has also been helping Keith and Jon with their instruments, and spending time with Mike, Rob and I learning shop operations. We all intend to have him do subcontract work for us. But his main thing is going to be build up his business doing repair work. We need that capability here; the rest of us are too busy with new instrument production.
Me, I have a new part time career. Ho, Ho, Ho. One of the elder Santa Clauses around town is retiring, and the city people decided to draft me to replace him. They fitted me out with a Pro Santa costume, and training on how to put it on and wear it. I'm now the Main Santa for the city-sponsored events, and also a backup for some of the Fillmore & Western Railroad's train events, and a backup for the Fire Department's various charity events.
Last Friday night was the big City Of Fillmore event downtown. The opened up the old historic theater in the center of town, and decorated up the stage. Free Meet Santa and pose for pictures night, with all kinds of other activities up and down the street. It was a beautiful event and a huge success. Continuous long lines of parents and kids filing into the theater, coming up on stage to chat with me and pose for pictures. Full capacity for three hours, without a break. It was sweltering hot in that costume, up under the bright stage lights. But it was fun, and they loved me. Because I have a strong bass singing voice, I got lots of the kids to sing Christmas Carols with me up on stage.
I even made the front page of the Fillmore Gazette! A milestone in my life, for sure. Yep, that's me. The costume is heavily padded.
This Saturday evening, I'm doing one of the Polar Express runs on the railroad. They have a North Pole station set up near Piru, about 20 miles away. They drive me, in costume, inside a dark-windowed Jeep, out to the North Pole station. The train full of parents and kids comes out from Fillmore, and I'm there waving to greet it. On the way back, I walk the aisles, talking to the kids and doing plenty of Ho'ing. It should be fun.
The railroad is having their most successful year ever with these Christmas runs. They are making three runs a day up to Christmas, and they are almost all sold out. They are trying me out on the run Saturday, and I may do one or two more after that.
Raul Ruelas has backed away from doing Luthier work, due to overwhelming pressure from his day job, wife, young child, and new one expected in May. He wants to get back into it eventually, but needs to take a break for now.
Meanwhile, Alex Turcios has moved in, taking over Raul's shop for now. Raul is leaving his machines, including his CNC router, for Alex to use. Alex is a young guy who lives right here in Fillmore, just a few blocks away. He literally walked in the door one day, with a dream of becoming a Luthier. We've accepted him into the Lab, and are all teaching him the instrument business. He's getting his shop set up and concentrating on doing repair work. He's been getting some local customers, and jobs from the high school music department. I've been working with him, teaching him to do the Scary Repair jobs, like broken headstocks. Maybe you saw the thread on this Spector he repaired:
We're just getting started on replacing the truss rods in a pair of nice Pedullas. Alex has also been helping Keith and Jon with their instruments, and spending time with Mike, Rob and I learning shop operations. We all intend to have him do subcontract work for us. But his main thing is going to be build up his business doing repair work. We need that capability here; the rest of us are too busy with new instrument production.
Me, I have a new part time career. Ho, Ho, Ho. One of the elder Santa Clauses around town is retiring, and the city people decided to draft me to replace him. They fitted me out with a Pro Santa costume, and training on how to put it on and wear it. I'm now the Main Santa for the city-sponsored events, and also a backup for some of the Fillmore & Western Railroad's train events, and a backup for the Fire Department's various charity events.
Last Friday night was the big City Of Fillmore event downtown. The opened up the old historic theater in the center of town, and decorated up the stage. Free Meet Santa and pose for pictures night, with all kinds of other activities up and down the street. It was a beautiful event and a huge success. Continuous long lines of parents and kids filing into the theater, coming up on stage to chat with me and pose for pictures. Full capacity for three hours, without a break. It was sweltering hot in that costume, up under the bright stage lights. But it was fun, and they loved me. Because I have a strong bass singing voice, I got lots of the kids to sing Christmas Carols with me up on stage.
I even made the front page of the Fillmore Gazette! A milestone in my life, for sure. Yep, that's me. The costume is heavily padded.
This Saturday evening, I'm doing one of the Polar Express runs on the railroad. They have a North Pole station set up near Piru, about 20 miles away. They drive me, in costume, inside a dark-windowed Jeep, out to the North Pole station. The train full of parents and kids comes out from Fillmore, and I'm there waving to greet it. On the way back, I walk the aisles, talking to the kids and doing plenty of Ho'ing. It should be fun.
The railroad is having their most successful year ever with these Christmas runs. They are making three runs a day up to Christmas, and they are almost all sold out. They are trying me out on the run Saturday, and I may do one or two more after that.
Good for you Bruce. Giving back is admirable. Not sure I could do crowds for that long, myself, though. Good deal with Alex to. If I could go back, I’d put myself in that place when I was that age.
Rail events at Christmas are so much fun. I volunteer with the local trolley museum as a conductor/motorman through the year, but the Santa Trolley event is the most fun for me. The kids are just so delightful, especially when I'm punching their tickets and asking if they've come to see someone special, or that some guy with a red suit and beard is down in the yard, or that Santa has been asking for them. Lately, it's been one of the best parts of the holiday for me, watching the wonder in the kids' eyes, and remembering what it was like to be that age.
Sometimes during a lull I get to chill with Santa myself for a few minutes.
Sometimes during a lull I get to chill with Santa myself for a few minutes.
good stuff, Bruce. you're an asset to that community!
i found myself making a run to Fillmore about 3 weeks ago on short notice. i drove in late on a friday night and was gone on Saturday morning by 7, but i made time to drive a couple blocks to see the building that houses the shops. The drive in on the 126 has always been one of my favorite roads in Southern California. every time I make the drive i wish I could drop a little house right into one of those beautiful little valleys.
i found myself making a run to Fillmore about 3 weeks ago on short notice. i drove in late on a friday night and was gone on Saturday morning by 7, but i made time to drive a couple blocks to see the building that houses the shops. The drive in on the 126 has always been one of my favorite roads in Southern California. every time I make the drive i wish I could drop a little house right into one of those beautiful little valleys.
You should have stopped in! I'm sure I was here, working. My main working hours are 10 pm to 5 am, 7 days a week. I'm also usually here 10 am to 5 pm. And most of the other hours too.
Freekmagnet
Commercial User
You had a reason to come to Fillmore on a Friday night? You don’t hear that every day.
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right? Doing a solid for a buddy who needed a delivery of batteries for his work. saved him drive time and loss of productivity and I scored some Christmas cash and a cool road trip.
I'll keep that in mind the next time. will drop you a PM should the opportunity arise again. thanks!
Very cool, Bob! Yes, there definitely is something magical about the mixture of Christmas and old trains.
After the holiday season is over, the railroad is also going to fit me up with a Conductor suit, like yours. They run the tourist trains several times every weekend, through the year. Every train has a Real Conductor, which requires training and license. Plus they have one or more Fake Conductors, who just walk the aisles and talk to the guests. They have a few guys who do that; a few hours for a small payment. I'll be a Backup Fake Conductor, available on short notice to fill in as needed. I'm barely three blocks from the station. It'll be a fun side hobby, to get me out in public and to have some hours riding old trains.
Here's the web site for the Fillmore & Western Railroad:
Fillmore & Western Train Ride Adventures & Movie Productions FWRY
Speaking of trains, we're negotiating with a large private model railroad club. They have a huge 30' x 60' HO scale layout, and are getting kicked out of the building that they are currently in. There's a good possibility that they may move in here, in the basement, down in the old wing. I hope it happens! Year-round model trains, and real ones going by outside.
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My "conductor suit" is mostly pieced together and modified bits from eBay. The hat is from a police and firefighters supply store, which I added gold cording and the hat badge to. The blazer and overcoat were modified with appropriate Connecticut Co. buttons; my vest is actually Long Island Railroad. Pants are regular navy blue work pants. I have a pocket watch and chain, and a ticket punch. It all works. I try to look as correct as I can, because I feel that the position is part theater, and visitors appreciate it.
Our museum isn't a working trolley line anymore (though it was, from 1900 to 1947 before the museum took it over), so we don't have the same licensing requirements as a bona fide railroad, but operators do have to take a class that runs for five or six consecutive weekends each spring. The average age of the trolley cars in the collection is more than a century old, and the museum takes preservation safety *very* seriously, so the training is thorough, and we are tested and reauthorized annually. I would imagine you'd love the shop there--those guys are constantly restoring and repairing trolleys from around the country, and they do an amazing job. One car I can't wait to see fixed up (as a static display only, unfortunately) is The Mineola, the private subway car of August Belmont, who started the IRT in NYC and also owned the Belmont Hotel and the Belmont Raceway, among other things.
There is a local rail museum as well, with steam locomotives that offers a "hands on the throttle" program that I'd love to take part in, but last I checked it was $550, and that's not in the cards right now. It must be in the blood, though; my great-grandfather, and his father, were engineers on the New Haven Railroad. My great-grandfather worked from 1900 into the 1950s and was there for the changeover from steam to electric on the line going into Grand Central. (I wish I knew this while he was alive; he never told any stories about it.)
BassHappy
Supporting Member
Freekmagnet
Commercial User
Oh yeah, we Luthiers all joke about being elves making toys for rich little boys.
I got just about Ho'd out last night. I got a last minute call that one of the other Santas called in sick. I ended up doing two of the Polar Express train runs last night, one right after the other. It may sound like easy fun, but it was actually quite demanding work. The costume is swelteringly hot, and it takes a lot of concentration to talk one-on-one with that many kids and parents, right in a row, for several hours. All while acting in the joyous character manner, talking deep and loud to a crowd, singing, etc. I was exhausted and drenched with sweat when I got home.
The routine was: I'd get dressed in the costume (which takes about 15 minutes) in an office in the train station, then wait in there. As soon as the train rolled out of the station, the Elves (mostly hired teenagers) came and got me and quickly helped me into the seat of a pickup truck. We zoomed down the 126, passing the train (which was doing about 12 mph), and turned off onto a dirt road down near the town of Piru. Bounced down through the paths of an orchard to a spot near the tracks. In the dark. I trusted that they knew where they were going.
It was the North Pole, all dark as we pulled up and got out. They all hustled about, fired up a generator, and brought up the lights. And here was this little town of sheds, all decorated up like a winter scene, in field of orange trees near Piru. One guy quickly climbed up on the roof of the main shed and started up a snow machine, which started floating down on us. Another guy adjusted the spotlights and lasers. An inflatable Rudolph the Reindeer near me was slowly coming up to shape. This was all going on in minutes, and we could see the headlight of the approaching train about a mile away. It was surreal and comical.
Meanwhile, I put on my hair and hat, checked my appearance and got into position on the platform in the lights, next to the North Pole itself. One of the elves, a young guy who's going through auto mechanics' school, is standing next to me. We were chatting about cars as the train pulled in, about 6 feet away. It crawled slowly through the station, an engine and eleven cars. As the passenger cars go by, I'm right in view of window after window of parents and kids, waving and squealing. I'm waving and Ho Ho'ing as loud as I can. It's a long train. I'm getting tired of waving by the end of it.
It comes to a stop with the end of the last car right in front of me. The elf and I quickly hustle up inside. The train shifts into reverse, and starts backing up. All the way back to Fillmore. Now, I've got 30 minutes to go all the way through 6 passenger cars. That's 5 minutes per car, and there's maybe 20 groups of parents and kids per car. I had to hustle. Big cheers and waving as I entered each car. Then I went down the aisle with a big bag of Candy Canes. I made a point of stopping and making eye-to-eye contact with every single person. Wishing them a Merry Christmas and handing the kids a Candy Cane. Many of the kids I'd pat on the head or hold their hand for a second. Really important to make that personal contact with them. The parents, of course, are going crazy with their phones, taking pictures and videos.
It was a hustle, but on both runs I successfully finished up the last car as we were pulling into the Fillmore station. But that's not the end of the show! As soon as the train stops, they hustle me off and over into a rail car next to the station. Inside, it's all lighted and decorated up with a big chair and a big box full of Jingle Bells. I plop down in the chair, and about half of the people coming off the train line up outside. The elves escort in one family group at a time, and I spend several minutes with each. Passing out Jingle Bells, posing for pictures with the kids, then kids & parents with the elf taking the pictures, asking the kids what they want for Christmas, talking and singing with them for a moment. Then the next group, with the same jolliness and enthusiasm! This goes on for close to an hour.
Hustle back over to the office. Take a break for 20 minutes, drinking water with the coat and hair off. Then get ready for the next train. Repeat the whole process. It was a grind. But it was fun and fulfilling, and I'll be doing it again. They said I did great, and I'm now qualified as a Train Santa. I didn't get any calls today, but I'm available and ready if they need me Monday. A new part-time seasonal career. Just what I need.
This morning, I've got a serious bass voice. Real exercise of my lungs and diaphragm and vocal cords. Good for me actually. I'm trying to build up my bass singing skill. Yesterday afternoon, before the trains, I played bass and sang Christmas songs for two hours with my musical buddies over in front of the Roan Mills bakery.
Well, it's Christmas day, at last! No emergency Santa calls yesterday, so I guess my duty is done for this season. Whew. I rested most of yesterday; my back was sore.
Feeling better today, back out in the shop. I'm the only one here in the Lab. Nice and quiet. Some coffee and Christmas Swing Jazz playing. A good day to work on misc jobs that have been sitting around. I'm building a machine for accurately cutting fret wire to length, for Keith and I to use. And my buddy John G down the hall gave me a cute wooden cabinet on casters that looks like it will be the perfect base stand for my little Walker Turner 12" bandsaw. I've been wanting to get it running for years. Some fun shop projects for this afternoon.
Plus I'm finishing up three bass necks for Pat Wilkins, for NAMM. And of course, there's all my Scroll Basses and vintage Ampegs and....
This week between Christmas and New Years is usually pretty quiet here. A good time to get solid work done.
It's been exactly five years since I moved in here. My first night in the building was Christmas Eve 2013. Almost all of my machines were safely moved in, randomly parked around. Boxes piled up everywhere. I slept in a sleeping bag on the floor, surrounded by my stuff. A cold, quiet night. A major turning point in my life. Wondering if I'd made the right decision.
I was looking through the image files last night, remembering the move. Here are some shots:
The empty shop, about the first week of December, as I was just beginning to pile up stuff in the back corner.
Another late night trailer load of machines. For most of the machinery trailer loads, I'd load up in the afternoon in Burbank, then take a rest nap in the evening. Drive up to Fillmore late at night, arriving around midnight. Unload the machines, rest break, drive back down at 4am. Catch some sleep, do it again.
Mid-December, starting to fill up with the machines.
The heavy stuff. The black Leblond 17 lathe is my heaviest machine at 3400 lbs. It was a trailer load by itself. I brought it up fairly early and moved it into its final place. Keith helped me on that load, rolling it off the trailer and into the shop. That's the Royersford 21 drill press on the left.
Other machines temporarily lined up in bay 15. I moved everything around with pallet jacks.
Loading up in Burbank. I used this shorty Ryder stakebed with a lift gate for the mid-sized machines and workbenches.
Feeling better today, back out in the shop. I'm the only one here in the Lab. Nice and quiet. Some coffee and Christmas Swing Jazz playing. A good day to work on misc jobs that have been sitting around. I'm building a machine for accurately cutting fret wire to length, for Keith and I to use. And my buddy John G down the hall gave me a cute wooden cabinet on casters that looks like it will be the perfect base stand for my little Walker Turner 12" bandsaw. I've been wanting to get it running for years. Some fun shop projects for this afternoon.
Plus I'm finishing up three bass necks for Pat Wilkins, for NAMM. And of course, there's all my Scroll Basses and vintage Ampegs and....
This week between Christmas and New Years is usually pretty quiet here. A good time to get solid work done.
It's been exactly five years since I moved in here. My first night in the building was Christmas Eve 2013. Almost all of my machines were safely moved in, randomly parked around. Boxes piled up everywhere. I slept in a sleeping bag on the floor, surrounded by my stuff. A cold, quiet night. A major turning point in my life. Wondering if I'd made the right decision.
I was looking through the image files last night, remembering the move. Here are some shots:
The empty shop, about the first week of December, as I was just beginning to pile up stuff in the back corner.
Another late night trailer load of machines. For most of the machinery trailer loads, I'd load up in the afternoon in Burbank, then take a rest nap in the evening. Drive up to Fillmore late at night, arriving around midnight. Unload the machines, rest break, drive back down at 4am. Catch some sleep, do it again.
Mid-December, starting to fill up with the machines.
The heavy stuff. The black Leblond 17 lathe is my heaviest machine at 3400 lbs. It was a trailer load by itself. I brought it up fairly early and moved it into its final place. Keith helped me on that load, rolling it off the trailer and into the shop. That's the Royersford 21 drill press on the left.
Other machines temporarily lined up in bay 15. I moved everything around with pallet jacks.
Loading up in Burbank. I used this shorty Ryder stakebed with a lift gate for the mid-sized machines and workbenches.
