1926 Hand-painted Royal Worcester China Set

Here is my rare and exquisite 58-piece Royal Worcester porcelain set, masterfully hand-painted by Ernest Phillips and Paul Stanley in 1926, the pinnacle of the Great Gatsby era. Each individual hand-painted bouquet of flowers is enveloped by an equally elaborate gold Renaissance revival rinceau pattern, fastidiously completed by a different Royal Worcester gold decorating artist.

Here is also a close-up video of this magnificent China:

Cotacachi Videos

Announcing two new Cotacachi videos!

More Cotacachi videos

Cotacachi, Jora 2015, Pregón de Fiesta

The Uher Tapes

I am currently digitizing the audio tapes my dad recorded with his two 1964 (my birth year) Uher 4000 Report-L recorders, one of which is displayed in the photo below. I also have his second 4000L and Uher Mix-5 mixer, all of which are in perfect working order. I used this equipment many times myself while growing up, including on one of my dad's albums. In addition to a long family history this Uher also has incredible German engineering, that distinctly warm analog sound, and a built-in speaker second to none!

Akai X-330

Here is a photo of the 1969 4-track Akai X-330 that was used by the infamous Cotacachi band, Rumba Habana (1949-1979), to produce their records. This recorder is now in one of two new rooms that were opened in their honor during an event which I had the privilege of attending today at the Cotacachi museum.

Cotacachi on flickr!

Introducing a new Cotacachi flickr group! Come see my wonderful hometown :)

Nothing

First there was nothing then came the "Big Bang", so they say. While ordinarily indicative of the theory of evolution, to me that term only agrees with the moment that everything was powerfully created as the Bible reveals.

Offshore Faith

I happened across this little test recording I made while setting up one of my project studios in 2002. This was my private musical retreat situated a safe distance away but still on the same premises as the Cancer hospital my mother and I ran for eighteen years. I laid down the instrumentation with wires coming out of everywhere, tracking the improvised guitar solo in one take while bending about 45 Degrees over the studio workstation. This is as close to distortion as any unplugged acoustic guitarist can get ;)

Process: Taylor 510 > AKG C 1000 S > Logic Audio > Nuendo, with
Timeworks ReverbX on the guitar and Waves TrueVerb on the drums > sampling and MIDI programming.

► More Recordings

Martin 000X1 Review

[Updated November 2019]

In 2008 I chose a Brunner Outdoor Guitar Deluxe over the 000X1 for travel purposes, but I still maintain that this could be Martin's best fingerstyle guitar below $1k and even somewhat higher. Regardless of the HPL back and sides and absence of finery. To my ear it is very well balanced with sweet and substantial first and second strings, making it more ideal for fingerstyle. Strong fundamentals from these two strings with enough overtones are mandatory for me nowadays, and the primary reason I consider the 000-28EC, OM-42 and 00-28 to be the ultimate fingerstyle guitars in Martin's lineup. The updated 000X1AE also has a more comfortable 1 3/4" nut, as does the new 2020 000-X2E equivalent, with more refinements.