Scratch the Scottish Oak

After speaking with my uncle Paul who knows a ton about guitar making. It would seem oak is the absolute worse wood to choose. So I'm going with good ole' swamp ash.

Anyways enough of the guitar stuff. Seeing as though I'm calling this blog Nerdtek I should post something appropriate. Tech stuff for nerds!

I don't personally have a cell phone. At the moment I don't really have a need for it, but I have been kind of geeking out over Motorola's KRZR. A friend of mine picked one up and I liked what I saw. He picked up an unlocked phone, and hacked his bios. Has quite a few games on it, among other interesting utilities. He also hacked his lights to suit his needs. I'll provide more of write up after I interview him.

I was a little disappointed by Palm's Foleo. The Treo was where it's at a phone and mobile computing device in one, but they missed the boat a little with it as they didn't integrate the phone features of the Treo into the Foleo. Keep your eyes peeled though as I'm sure it's only a matter of time before Palm listens to what people are saying and offer it.

As some of you know from my other blog, I'm not a Microsoft guy. I use their stuff when I'm forced to but if I can get away with it, I'm M$ free. So I've been really interested in the One Laptop Per Child project. Recently Nicholas Negroponte has brought Intel on board. After a long period of adversity between the two groups it looks like they've decided to play nice.

Scottish Oak

I found a supplier that has Scottish Oak. This guy takes great care with the wood, hand selects the logs, and dries the wood himself. I might just have to take a road trip down to PA some weekend and take a look at his selection.

I think since I want this guitar to reflect my Scottish roots Scottish hard wood is definitely the way to go. Also oak seems to have historical significance.

I also think I'm going to take the knotwork on the back of the MacMillan cross in Kilmory kirkyard as the design pattern that I'm going to etch into the backside of the pickguard.

I've included a close up of the detail. What makes this significant for me is my family comes from the Isle of Arran, where and my ancestor who came from Scotland to Canada's father was married in Kilmory. In the very Kirk where this cross is.

Linux Guitar!

I just stumbled upon a totally cool project. The Linux Guitar, an electric guitar with embedded linux. It will be able to record, playback, and of course have on board effects. Totally awesome! I was already thinking of making my own guitar with a celtic look to it, adding this aspect to it, is a great idea.

I've been researching the appropriate hardware to use. I found this it's called a System On Module, and it uses the Freescale MX31 processor which uses the ARM1136J-fS core, which includes a DSP. This will be perfect for the effects side of things.

What's awesome as well it's only 2.33" by 3" in size, that's very small footprint, and it should fit in a guitar body no problem at all.