Guitar nerdery; I like magnetic pickups on acoustic guitar - even if it's not a faithful acoustic tone, it's easy on the ear and relays what I'm doing on the strings very directly. But it took me a while to trust my ears and realise that I like the £30 one from a Korean company better than the one from a small US company that's maybe 6x that bought new and famous people use. Musical preferences are weird!

Here we go, that's me and Tufty's set from Scotiacon up on YouTube. Truthfully, I'm wincing a bit at my vocals, but I do get into the swing of it a little better as the set goes on, and it went down well on the night.
https://youtu.be/-7mgTw4Mjzs

It's been a little while (~2 years), but the rubber otter got a swift outing at Scotiacon. I should really get him out more often!
I might make an alt for rubbery and other interests again, I deleted the last one a while ago but I'm starting to feel in the mood again.
Pic by Rossydeer

Scotiacon done - saw lots of lovely folk who I feel like I've only just started reconnecting with after a quiet spell.
And at risk of blowing my own trumpet, I'm happy at how my little music set went - I've been hesitant for years about the idea of performing solo, but actually, I know I can do it now. Even just over the time I was practicing for this set (and the confirmation was only late December), I feel like things have improved from where I was previously, I had hangups about singing and playing for a long time.
So the next thing is to bring that to some more places and get that album made.
In other ways 2026 has not been a vintage year for Scotiacon, I won't dwell on that too much on here but it has me itching for smaller, more easygoing events rather than big cons that try to be everything to everyone. The size of this con has crept up on it, and it's not always been a graceful transition

With #Scotiacon upon us, come see myself and @tuftyindigo play!
I'll be doing guitar and cittern, and singing songs about rivers, foxes, mystical hogs and absconding to the deep dark woods. We might even manage to touch on the con theme a bit.
Saturday, Castle Stage, 6.30pm

I'm struggling with feeling much enthusiasm for Scotiacon at the moment, I'm just going through a depressed and anxious spell, not feeling in the right state for a big social weekend, and the thought of having stuff ready and getting in and out each day feels like a bit of a chore.
Obviously I'll do the music set I've committed to and prepared for, but I'm trying to work out if I really feel up to being there every day for the whole con, and suiting etc. I'm just feeling a bit disconnected and not sure if pushing myself into it will really help.

Doing some guitar tweaks today, replaced the vibrato tailpiece because the old one was cheap and giving me problems. Now I can't decide if the mismatched white tip on the new arm bothers me or not

Just a post about what's going off for me, since I've been quiet and missing local events. My partner's mum has just passed away after a complicated week in hospital, which we've been down in Yorkshire with her for. Now back in Glasgow for just a couple of days to sort things and get car repaired.
We'll be up and down multiple times over the next few weeks, there's a lot to wrap up and not a large family to spread the load over. I haven't posted a lot online because I didn't want to be too heavy at people, and I'm unlikely to make it to FTR and the Glasgow meets where I'd usually see folk.