My Guitar History

The best I've been able to pin the date, I was no more than 6 years old, probably in Michigan, when I was at a restaurant with my parents at a Holiday Inn. Why I remember it was a Holiday Inn I don't know, but I do remember that it was. There was a bar down a flight of stairs just off this restaurant. I wandered down there while my parents finished eating. It was decorated up with a wine cellar theme with barrel ends hung on the walls and such like. I remember liking the vibe of the room. But what drew me down there was a guy with a hollow-body electric guitar on a little stage playing. It was early and there was nobody else in the bar yet. I guess that's why he didn't mind a little kid coming in to listen. I remember that he smiled really big and was very welcoming. I think he was a black man, but I don't remember that exactly. I do remember his smile. And I remember the SOUND! He had a lot of reverb dialed into his amp and was playing and singing “Guantanamera.” I didn't know that then, but years later when I heard it I remembered that it was the song he had been playing. It was magical! That was the seed. It wouldn't germinate for another six or seven years and a few false starts with the violin, the trumpet, and the piano later, but once it did, it had me for life. I recently had occasion to do some Spanish songs and fulfilled a long-put-off goal of working up a rendition of Guantanamera. The Spanish words are coming very slowly, but it's a special thrill for me to do that song.

Jim, my next door neighbor when I was in 7th grade, got a guitar with his mom's S&H green stamps. It came with a little chord chart and we both learned a few chords the day it arrived. I thought, "I've got to get one of these things!" So I mail ordered a little Barclay for $10 from a Service Merchandise catalog my folks had. (That was back before they had any stores.) I don't know whatever happened to that one. I learned more chords and soon was asked to play for sing-alongs with the Jr. High church youth group along with a few buddies of mine who had also discovered the guitar. (There were an awful lot of us in 1969.) The youth group opportunity gave me more reason to push to learn. I stole a lot of knowledge from my good friend, Larry Robinson, who actually took lessons, much to his annoyance since he worked hard for the money to pay for them.

I soon discovered the limits of that first guitar, so I ordered the best one in the catalog, a bigger Barclay for $50. It wasn't a bad guitar. I bought some fancy chrome tuners for it and installed them myself with my dad's electric drill. Made it look a lot more expensive. I learned a lot on it. Even wrote my first song on it. Sure wish I still had the thing. But I had my sights set on a better instrument.

I was in a Youth for Christ singing group in high school called the Fox Valley Campus Life Singers. My first year in it, Steve Camp was the guitar player. (He went on to record a bunch of contemporary Christian albums.) Steve had a beautiful big blonde Guild that he was going to sell to me for $250. But he took it on an airline trip and checked it as baggage and the neck snapped. Many years later I found out that this is caused by a shock to the headstock end of the instrument and can be avoided by loosening the strings. I always thought somebody had opened the case and done it deliberately, but it can easily happen inside a locked case. Anyway, I bought the leather strap that had been on the Guild from Steve for $3 and it's on my guitar to this day.

I shopped all over the western suburbs of Chicago for a guitar. I was 15 and most of these trips were on my bicycle. In some shops I'd see a Martin locked in a glass case. I figured out they must be special, though I'd never heard of them before. Someone told me I should check Sid Sherman Music in downtown Chicago. I did, and found they had dozens and dozens of Martins hanging on the wall. Seems they were the Chicago area distributor. They had a never-before "clearance" deal going on certain Martins. (In the first few years of the '70s Martin expanded their factory, bought a bunch of new machinery, and cranked up their production building thousands of guitars.) The guy said he'd take my Barclay plus $390 and set me up with a Martin D-18 complete with hardshell case and I'd never be sorry. I had to borrow another hundred bucks from my dad, but I got the Martin and indeed, I've never been sorry. It's now worth at least $2,000. That's what the new ones go for. And the older they get the better they sound. I was told by one guitar shop owner a few years ago that my D-18 was the best sounding one he had ever seen, so it may be worth more. But I'd never be able to sell it now. It's almost like a member of the family. I had Barcus Barry piezo pickup installed in it after about 20 years. It's okay, but a bit weak on the low end. An upgrade may be in order.

But now a few other guitars have been added to the stable. When I started teaching college, I wanted a cheap guitar to leave out in my office, knowing that every other kid who came in would pick up a guitar that happened to be there, so leaving the Martin on a stand was out of the question. I got a Washburn for a hundred bucks on sale from Musician's Friend. It's Chinese made and certainly has limitations, but it's actually not a bad instrument. I enjoy playing it. It's certainly by far the best $100 guitar I've ever come across. Then, after moving to Fort Myers, I happened to be in a small guitar shop called “Real Guitars” looking for a backpack case that would work on my motorcycle. But I picked up a jumbo Guild and fell in love with it. There have been a few special guitars through the years that I happened to pick up in a shop and forever after wished I had bought them. Well, this was another of those situations. Only this time I had a little money and could afford it. So I went back the next day and bought the thing. It's the same color as Steve Camp's guitar I almost bought years ago, so I finally have a big beautiful blonde Guild. Guess it was meant to be after all. It's wonderful. And there is a Peavy Millennium bass I picked up used back when I was doing a bunch of recording after getting tired of trying to get good bass parts out of the on-board bass simulator in my recorder. And it looks like a nylon string Ovation belonging to my Flamenco-playing friend, Mike Anthony, may join my stable permanently. It's been living here for some time now as as a guest. There are a few others I'd like to add. I've wanted a Taylor for a long time. I picked up somebody's jumbo with a Florentine cutaway once and have wanted one just like it ever since. And of course everybody needs a Stratocaster and I've yet to own one. I had a Russtone Shark electric that I bought in Moscow on a lark at the end of a trip over there. That one was really junk. And got me into some trouble with my wife - a story for another day. Then I had a Ty Tabor signature Yamaha RGX-TT that Ty signed for me at a King's X concert. That one was beautiful and wonderful to play. But, alas, both of those electrics went on E-bay, the Ty Tabor signature fetching more than twice what I had paid for it and making a late house payment when things were tight. Thanks Ty! But, man, I hated to sell it. And then there's the 12-string I let go of in high school that has been wanting to be replaced all these years. That's about it. That's “all” I need!

Playing has brought me so much comfort and joy and both simple and exquisite pleasure throughout my life. I have spent far more time playing alone than around or with others. It has been a personal treasure of expression, therapy, creativity, and worship. And it has also been great to play for others to hear in churches, in restaurants, and at various public meetings and private events where I've had opportunity to play myself or with bands or other groups. I'm not a great player, but I'm also not a beginner. I've learned what I know of the guitar more by listening to others, experimenting with it, and just loving it than by any kind of training. Still, I have enough tricks up my sleeve that I've managed to get paying gigs now and again. I love getting paid to play. It's great validation, not to mention the ability to buy stuff, but I really don't do it for the money. I just love to play. I'm so thankful that I've been given enough ability to play music that I love. And I do consider what I have a gift. I really don't know exactly how I've been able to get to where I've gotten to, which is “pretty good” or “hack” depending on one's perspective, but I thank God that I have what I have and I do try to be a good steward: to improve, to look for opportunities to share it, and make as much of it as I can.

Some people look down on the guitar, thinking of it as a simple instrument and not fit for “serious” music. This may come from the fact that the guitar rewards a very small amount of time and effort with the ability to strum a few chords and play songs. The majority of players never get beyond this stage so there are millions of hacks playing very simplistically feeding this notion. That said, strumming a few chords has brought the gift of music and great joy to untold millions and there is nothing wrong with that. It's wonderful that unlike, say, the violin or french horn, one can start to get music out of it almost right away. But it is not a simple instrument. And it has been a part of serious music long before the first keyboard of any type was ever invented. You can never reach the end of the guitar. There are so many different types of guitars and so many sounds to be gotten from each, so many different techniques. There are so many styles of music that are great on guitar and so many songs in every genre. It is an instrument that keeps giving and giving more with every bit of effort you invest. And no matter how masterful you get, there are huge vistas of possibility out there, more than any one person could ever explore. There are virtuoso players all over who have mined treasures of astounding variety out of this niche or that. It's a world too big to take in. It's a wonder. It's a gift. And I'm very grateful for the adventure I've had on my own personal journey and the areas of that world I've been able to visit and be a part of.

So how about you? Do you love that magical sound? Do you want to play guitar? You can! It only takes one thing. You just have to want to bad enough.

PS: a few samples can be found at soundclick.com/danphilgreen

Michael Anthony

At Salsa's in Fort Myers. Sat in with guitar pal Mike on a few songs. Fun!

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Photo test from iPhone

Mmm. Will this work



He he! I guess so! Man is this thing cool!

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Fun with my new phone

My phone has finally caught up with me. Or maybe I with it. The whole time I was in Orlando I had a South Carolina number. While here in Fort Myers, I've had an Orlando number. The last phone, the one that seemed so cool two years ago, bit the dust a couple of weeks ago. Now that the iPhone has come down into the price range of mere mortals I decided to finally take the plunge. WOW! This thing is like stepping into a time machine and zooming ahead. Unbelievable what can be done with it. Like making a blog entry for example. There are apps available for things I'm sure Steve Jobs never imagined. It's easily the most amazing gadget I've ever had. It's even reasonably easy to type on - for a phone anyway. Most technology never quite delivers on it's promises. This little gem goes beyond.

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Eat, Eat, Eat some more!!

A Day on the Water in Fort Myers

My friend, Dr. Bill, let us use his boat for the day.

Stacey had to jump in to cool off.

Lunch always tastes better when you arrive by boat.

Another visit to the spot where we got married. Stacey was with us for that too.

Took a little tour of the harbor and saw the shrimp boats.

And for dinner. . .

Riding with some new friends

Ready to go!

The meet-up.

Trying on a 750 Shadow for size.

We cleaned the bike yesterday. I wish you could have seen it!

But it was a great ride and worth getting a little wet. And we missed the really big stuff, believe it or not.

Stacey Time!

Wedding Redeux

The map below

is from a Face Book application I played with. Click on the map and you can zoom in and look around. If I could have all the money that was spent buying me airline tickets and gasoline in my life it would be a tough call, but I think I'd still rather have all the amazing experiences.

Places I've Visited

1. Rome, Italy


2. Willemstad, Curacao


3. Madang, Papua New Guinea


4. Budapest, Hungary


5. Amsterdam, The Netherlands


6. Split, Croatia


7. Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina


8. St. Petersburg, Russia

• Create your own travel map or travel blog


• Travel Info at TripAdvisor

Mon - Fri Gig

Welcome to Shell Point TV.

Home of "Shell Point Today," the only daily TV show
produced by a retirement community. It runs 24/7 on the half hour
via ch. 11 of our cable system to our approx. 2,000 residents.
We've done a lot of work on the studio since August.
Click here to see what it used to look like.

A couple of my good-looking co-workers.
And they are even nicer than they look!

My cubby hole.

Sunday Morning Gig

For a good while I was directing video at the Village Church at Shell Point every Sunday. Now I'm on a rotation every third Sunday. They have a new HD switcher, one manned JVC HD cam, and three Sony robotic HD cams. The video is for I-mag and also goes live to the in-house cable system which includes the skilled nursing facility and the two assisted living facilities, which was the initial reason for doing TV in the church. They will soon be rebroadcasting the service several times during the week.

Panasonic AV-HS400 Hi Def Switcher


Virtual monitors on one flat panel mean no more mis-matched monitors!

Sony robotic camera controller

Jason & his screens

Peep hole to reality

She's Back!

"Columbia Christmas" or "finally! family!"

It had been so long since I had been with my family. Last time was my daughter's college graduation last spring. I got to go up to South Carolina for 10 days to see them. Until about a week and a half before I hadn't even considered that it might be possible. But some programming decisions by my boss meant that we could re-run some things and get our shows done in advance and I realized I could get away and actually use some of the month of vacation time I've accrued. It was good. Very good.

with favorite daughter

and favorite former wife

favorite son and favorite daughter-in-law

favorite son's favorite dog
(closest thing to a grandchild so far)

you wouldn't like me when I'm angry

going places

Happy New Year everybody!

Epoxy by the gallon

mass production

Staining coming along nicely. I discovered that Minwax water based "Rosewood" stain makes okoume marine plywood look reasonably close to what was already in the boat, which I think is teak veneer, once both are under a coat of epoxy.

Ready for epoxy coating but it's gotten too late and I'm going to bed. Maybe tomorrow. The exposed faces of these pieces are either going to be inside a cabinet or covered by Formica, thus no stain.

Parts is Parts

I've been busy making sailboat parts

To the left is the port main bulkhead replacement section. The two similar piece to it's right are the two parts of a fold out table. It folds down from the main bulkhead on a hinge on the bottom as you see it here and the smaller section unfolds from the larger section on a piano hinge if you want a bigger table. This will get white Formica except for the bottom of the main section that will show when the whole thing is stowed up against the bulkhead.

This is a partition/locker for behind the head. The port main bulkhead will form the left end and the V-berth bulkhead will form the right end. The top will sit on a few cleats and be a lid to the area below. The partition part will actually come up about four inches higher than the lid/shelf when installed and will have piece of teak trim on the top edge from the piece it replaces. These pieces get white Formica.

This was just going to be the bulkhead repair project, but once you get into something...
It turns out that most of the lavatory cabinet was rotten and it's a whole lot easier to work on with the bulkhead out. So off I went in that direction. There was a lot of wasted space to the right of the sink above an area where there was a hole in the bulkhead for feet to make the settee/berth on the starboard side long enough for an adult to sleep in. I added a shelf above the foot area. Should be handy for wallet, watch, glasses, etc. I still have to cut the doorway in the face of the cabinet for the storage area under the sink. More white Formica on the cabinet front and door and the counter top. The funny shape piece in the foreground is another bulkhead replacement section. On the starboard side the business end (the top) of the main bulkhead that holds the chainplate was fine but there was some rot on the bottom.

The boat didn't have one of these when I got it. It's a removable piece to fill the hole in the aft end of the V-berth. Lots of sailboats have this feature. It gives the option of either having an area where you can put your feet on the floor and sit up in the V-berth or you can use this piece and have a solid bed all the way across. It makes perfect sense if you see it in a boat.

This is where it goes. You can see the slot molded for it. The trifold door goes in the opening starting at the level of the insert and goes up. I removed the ridiculous piece of 1/4" plywood across the opening. The previous owner attached his anchor rope to it! Unbelievable! He must have never anchored in anything but absolute calm. It's amazing that it wasn't ripped right out of there. Quite a few things on this boat were not set up very well.

These were a lot of work: tri-fold doors for the V-berth and for the head. They also took 15 hinges. Fortunately I found an on-line source for stainless steel hinges direct from a manufacturer. Otherwise these would have been way too expensive. They fit up nicely and should work well, but after I got them trial fitted I got to thinking about the finger pinch hazard they poze. Mmmm... May have to rethink this. After all, I'm hoping that this boat will be a grandkid magnet, not a source of pain. Maybe I can come up with a safety system. (btw, no grandkids on the horizon yet. But by the time this boat is ready to sail?...)

The parts such as these that are going to be left with the wood showing are going to first get water based stain (per West System tech support suggestion) to try to match the original interior teak veneer plywood, of which there will still be quite a bit in the boat. I bought three colors hoping to mix up something close. Then the pieces will get a coating of epoxy for water and rot protection. Then marine spar varnish will go over the top of the epoxy. (Epoxy must have UV protection, UV breakdown being it's Achille's heel.)

This is a new base for the 9 gal. aft water tank. It's upside down. The original one was rotten and in a pretty dumb spot. It wasted a lot of area in the starboard locker behind the galley. There was an area under the galley next to the cooler that was completely inaccessible and unusable. I'm moving the tank to that area and, lucky me, the existing hoses all still work. This new base will be epoxied and tabbed to the hull. Also will be coated all sides with epoxy to hopefully not suffer the rot of it's predecessor.

Previous tank location. New location is in the foreground next to the cooler chest, the foam insulation of which is visible to the right. The tank will come to just aft of the galley sink through hull visible in lower left. A former owner put a plywood bulkhead in the locker thus closing off this entire area from use. I removed it. It's a huge amount of cubic space. Plenty of room for an inflatable dingy, a couple of outboard motors, and still room for lots more. This picture was made holding the camera down through the hole in the galley counter top where the stove top would normally drop in.

This is the original galley backsplash. It's removed to get, you guessed it, white Formica. If you hadn't figured it out by now, the galley top is going to be white Formica too. the old reddish brown Formica was just dark and dreary looking. The white should freshen up the galley and the head nicely and make all brighter. It's hard to believe that my little 27 foot boat is about to swallow up two 4x8' sheets of Formica laminate, but planning indicates that I have enough for all the parts but there will be very little left over.

There was a funky smell in the boat when I got it. Not horrible, just mildly annoying. I thought it was in the old cushions but taking them out didn't change anything. I scrubbed the inside of the hull and everything with diluted Clorox bleach. Still the smell was pretty much the same. Now that I've removed basically all the rotten wood from the boat, the smell is almost gone. So if your boat has a musty scent that you can't get rid of, look for some rotting wood. The smell is the least of the problems associated with rot, but I never thought about smell being an issue with it. It is!

Boat Progress at Last

Main bulkheads as they were when I purchased the boat. Note rot surrounding port side chainplate bolts in upper left of picture. (For you non-sailors, this is the attachment point of the shroud (cable) that holds the mast up. Pretty important that the wood NOT be rotten.) The leak that caused the rot was where the chainplate penetrated the deck - a common problem on most sailboats. On the starboard side, the wood in the upper part of the bulkhead was sound, but the bottom was rotted from a leaking lower shroud attachment point aft of the bulkhead.

Section of port side main bulkhead cut out and hull ground in prep for new fiberglass tabbing.

Same port bulkhead cut out seen from front side.

Starboard side main bulkhead with rotten section cut out. Also the lavatory cabinet has been removed. Some of the parts had rot so I made all new parts for it.

Bulkhead section of 1/2" Okoume marine plywood ($80/4x8 sheet, Lloyds certified, imported from France - quite hard to come by!) trial fitted into place. Rotted section along bottom of rest of bulkhead also being replaced. Epoxy and fiberglass materials showed up today so it shouldn't be long until this is epoxied into place. (Buying the stuff online saves a ton of money.) Per West System tech support's suggestion, I plan to use a water based stain on the bare wood first to try to match the teak veneer original plywood as closely as possible. (You can't put oil based anything under epoxy.) Home Depot has a line of water-based semi-transparent stain (Lowe's didn't have any). It's only available by the gallon but at $20/gal. that's less than oil based stains. The guy there said he could custom color it to match for me. I'm taking some wood samples of the old finish and some scraps of the new bare wood. We'll see how that works out. Then the pieces will be coated entirely with epoxy. Then I will install them in the boat. Later they will get a coat or two of spar varnish for UV protection of the epoxy.

Back online at last

As of tonight I have an internet connection at home for the first time in just over 13 months. I have been able to check email at work but all social networking sites are blocked there so I've been gone from the blog and the facebook and all that kind of thing. I have much less time for it these days but now that I can take a peek from time to time at home I may show up a bit more often.