Your other interests or hobbies

[Chhow]

It's only my second year riding a motorcycle and I love it. I've even talked my wife into riding with me sometimes, and she knows I'm a careful driver who prefers slower but safer driving.
I also love to ride a bike, it is really great. In general, I am attracted to two-wheeled transport.
As I get deeper into motorcycles, it becomes interesting for me to study older models - these are usually very interesting motorcycles.

[3creeks]

I have become very interested in winged 410 sprint car racing and I follow both the World of Outlaws and All Stars tours. My dream would be to move to state College, PA for both the fishing as well as the PA sprint car scene.

[Flyman615]

I've been a collector since childhood. My many interests, in addition to classic fly tackle, in retirement include:

* Classic sports cars

* Narrow gauge model railroading

* Arts & Crafts (Mission) antiques and decor

* Upland bird hunting with SxS shotguns


Happy Holidays!!

Scott Z.

[PYochim]

Tennis here. I’ve played since high school off and on. Pickleball has become more popular here but it excites me as much as ice fishing does. A lot of tennis elitists look down on the pickleballers much like some bamboo elitists do with graphite rod users.

[Short Tip]

I feel like my other hobbies are just as arcane as collecting bamboo fly rods and vintage tackle.

There are vintage backpacking and mountaineering stoves, all put to use in rotation:



Record collecting and vintage hi-fi gear, especially vacuum tube gear. ( I guess the hipsters are catching up with me on this):



Last but not least, wooden canoes. Like bamboo rods, they have some real advantages for fishing, mainly they are quiet! And like bamboo rods, you don't own them, they own you.

[adkfan]

Nice Short Tip!!! I’m right there with ya

[Cimarron]

Short Tip, awesome wood canvas canoes. I grew up with Peterborough and Chestnut canoes, tripped with them, fished and adventured with them all over northern Ontario and Quebec. Still own a Chestnut Prospector. Great to see your Mad River, a friend owns its twin.

[adkfan]

[PackerBob]

Distance running…..still going in my 60’s but my get up and go waning…..being careful not to write checks my body can’t cash:). Now retired and working my way thru Canadian and international coaching certifications. Cheers!

[Brian K. Shaffer]

A pontoon cataraft helps me spend more extra days in the river.
Careful - they are wildly addictive.



You see very odd fish here in these Ozark mountains.

[mfrench]

Hi all,

I'm a bit of a newbie here, and most certainly a cane novice. I appreciate the help I've received.

My other interests are mostly in audio, and, in rock gardening.

By audio, my main love is in recording live music concerts.
But, I don't do huge labor intensive multi-channel recordings. I do two channel minimalist stereo recordings that capture the performance, and, the ambience of the hall as well.
My largest, minimalist two channel stereo effort, was said to be 225 musicians on stage at once; two full orchestras +, and three full choirs surrounding the orchestra. And I captured all of the with two microphones, and with very nice details. CArl Orff - Carmina Burana

I do my recording, as archival samplings, for non-profit.org orchestras, as my gift back to music, pro bono.

You can find a small sampling of my recordings here at the Live Music Archive, part of Archive.Org.
This is one of the brightest shining stars on the internet; a wonderful place.
https://archive.org/details/@mfrench
The Live Music Archive is a wonderful site. These recordings are there with the ensembles full permission, and acceptance. Do not fear listening to anything, or using the links in any way.It is one of the finest places on the internet.

Here, at LMA, you'll find lots of my symphony orchestra recordings, as well as electric music.
I'm an old Grateful Dead Taper, and used to roam the western states on tour, and recording concerts. There are lots of my Dead recordings at LMA as well. They've been uploaded by the GD archival team. So, you'll have to search my name to find them.
Here is a recent intimate chamber music concert that I did late last year:
https://archive.org/details/tvs2022-09- ... .edit_1644
tracks 9 through 12 are exceptional samples. You'll need to forgive the air conditioner noise. It is on SoCal, and the AC systems are always on here. I cannot escape it myself.

Here are some that are on YouTube, as well:

Festive Overture - Shostakovich -- Poway Symphony Orchestra, John LoPiccolo, maestro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ1dKdT9yXk

Fantasia para un gentilhombre - Joaquín Rodrigo
Classical Guitar, Fred Benedette, and Poway Symphony Orchestra, J. LoPiccolo maestro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyj8-51j2rA&t=837s

These are my soundtracks, ^
On the PSO recordings, they do not want my overt presence on stage, or in the audience floor level. So, I get the first row of the balcony reserved, for me. These recordings are from apprx. 17th row, center, balcony first row.

So, what do you use for mastering and playback, Mike?
I'm a total minimalist.
I do my listening through a pair of 60+ year old speakers; Bozak Urbans b302a mid-century modern low-boys, that I bought from the son of the original owner, in an estate sale. They were a whopping $400 for the pair, in immaculate condition. And I simply adore them.
My amp is a $10 eBay stereo chip amp that I mounted in a cigar box. I use a D->A convertor for the digital to analog step, and that is fed by my own homebrew DVD-A high resolution digital discs.
I have converted my attached garage to be a music room, with my many decades of recordings stored in it. It is a 25'x25' space with three different listening systems; two stereo rigs, and a mono console for my 78rpm shellac collection.

I also do restorations and resto-mods on a particular manufacturers record players, turntables.
let me post this, and I'll return with my blabberings.

DId I mention rock gardening?
hundreds and hundreds of thousands of tons of large stone, all found and hand collected, sorted, and stacked.


alright, back with some of my audio resto-mods.

[mfrench]

I'm quite knowledgeable in two record player manufacturers from the 1950's, into the early 1960's. One of the two went on beyond this point, but, I prefer the early era stuff.
Those two are Presto Recording Corporation of Paramus NJ, and, Lenco from Switzerland, and you know what they say about Swiss made.

lets start early and old.

This is Audrey, my mono music console.
She started out as a cat birthing box, filled with nasty, and lots of cat kibble. She also had a burned out radio/amplifier that showed signs of a flaming burnout. There was an orignal hand-wound record player, with an electronic tonearm, and record killing huge steel needle. None of this worked, and a large part of should never be revived. So, I moved on.
The cabinet is 1928 Art-Deco, and I gutted it of the natsy, and burned out stuff, and I refilled it with mid 1950's radio broadcast record player, and 1955 Harman-Kardon mono tube amplifier.
To this end, I met harsh resistance with the Don't Ever Touch The Patina crowd, almost to a point of it being called a crime against preservation.

This is my sweet Audrey, complete with her still intact orignal finish, and, slight deviations to her facade, but with drastic upgrades inside.



Audrey drives a single speaker in this pair of of early 50's corner speakers, the top one. They are General Electric coaxial corner speakers from the early 50's.

The record player in Audrey is Presto Recording Corp radio broadcast deck from 1953.
The tonearm is a GE radio tonearm from the same era.
The record player sits on a 50lb rubber suspended solid stacked plywood plinth that I built to fit within the console cabinet; to reduce air born vibrations from causing feedback.

Audrey tool me several months to complete. And, now in natures cycle, my cat has found her, and she sleeps on her lid (well, on a pillow, on the lid).

[mfrench]

This is another record player resto-mod. This time a Swiss deck, a Lenco, but, from the just formed alliance of Presto, and Lenco, and the David Bogen ownership of Presto Recording Corp, to form, Bogen-Presto, and eventually, just Bogen.
Bogen moved away from the manufacturing of the record players, and other boradcast equip't (worlds leader from late 20's -> Bogen acquisition in mid-late 50's).
To this end, Bogen contracted with Lenco, to produce Bogen-Presto decks, and then just as Bogen label.

This is my Bogen-Presto Lenco BP-51 from 1963
It started life as a lightweight stamped steel platter deck, at the consumer level.
I took it, and, a platter and bearing from a later era Lenco that had a heavy cast white metal platter, and I did a bearing and platter swap, and made it into a far finer caliber of deck.
I then bought a large remnant slab of soapstone, and started into carving away at it.

Ultimately, in the end, this is a drastically altered high-end audiophile record player, with the better part of a year in the effort.
I converted it to a heavy platter deck, and mounted it onto 150lbs of solid soapstone for a plinth, in a very stylizied Art-Deco ethi - I absolutely love Art-Deco.


This is Flinston, as named by my friends at LencoHeaven discussion forum.
(Not Flinstone. And, pronounced with a very snooty nose held high form of accenting).





I have 7 more record players in various forms of restored condition; some as perfect restorations, and others are drastic redesigns, like modern card controlled DC motors on 65 year old decks. I could go on forever on my audio weirdness. And thousands and thousands of records that I started collecting in the late 60's, and still have them all.
And, yep, I'm a g33k!

Oh, alright, two more pics.
How many times do you get to see two 150lb soapstone record players on the same table?
A modernized Presto broadcast deck on the left, with DC motor, and, Flinston on the right. These are both my builds (and there are still more than these to go). I made the tonearm on the deck on the right. Next time, I'll build one with a cane rod butt section, as it would be very similar to this build on an oak dowel.

[mfrench]

And, this is my DIY oak dowel tonearm, done a bit like a fly rod and reel (actually had this concept in mind while building it)
I lashed the silk wrapped WWII wire onto the tonearm with waxed dental floss, and whipped the finish like a fly head. Does this tie back to cane rods and wrapping well enough?

My friend at Lenco Heaven named it the RatsPaw.




This is the armrest, I call it, the Rat Trap. It is my own hand-twisted brass rod, and, soapstone laminated to brass bar stock. It intimately articulates for needle adjustments.


The tonearm, in total, balances on a needle point within a sharply divoted cup. This is exactly the same balance as a fly rod in the hand. And, the chains dangle, to damp out vibrations, just like a flyline keeps the reel steady when its in the water, dragging. This balancing concept like a fly rod was not missed in my design.

[mfrench]

I'll release with my audio highjackin'.
I'm an audio geek.

But, I can lift big things real good (said in his best bubba accent).
I'm a rock gardener.
Why am I a rock gardener?
Because rocks don't die.

I have a real rock garden, not just an accent rock here or there. Rather, it is measured in hundreds and hundreds of feet of stacked walls, planters, retaining walls, terracing, pathways, etc.
And it all done with native planting, and/or, low to no water usage plantings, with emphasis on natives.
My stones are gathered from found sources, such as roadside and off-trail bluff collapses, constructions sites, with permission. Its a rare day that I will buy a stone.
With that said, I have thousands and thousands of tons of found, gathered, hand-loaded, washed, sorted, then stacked stone. And, stacking stone never ever happens where a stone just falls into place, nope, They get lifted a dozen times or more just getting to the location, then they get lifted, flipped, turned over, tried again, a dozen times before getting rejected in the quest for the perfect fit.
I'm a really big guy, and this is my workout. I'm built like those power lifter guys that carry large stones on TV, and this is another off my hobbies.

This is at my entrance. I call it the WaterWall, due to the local water district having a 24" main right in front of it, and a valve buried in what was a dirt slope. They failed numerous times to find the valve with a backhoe, and kept leaving the soil not compacted, and I started losing my driveway. So, I dug the entire slope out by hand, found their valve, and built a retaining wall from found stone to support my driveway.



I was just out there yesterday, building a new mailbox, because of a vehicle hit and run. i built it with timber and a gabion box, filled with 500lbs of stone (that in a rare moment, I went out and bought).

This wall is but, perhaps 60' of 150'. Most of the bottom course of stone are 500lb+ stone, with the corner stone weighing a grand or more, a found and hand gathered 1000lb'er, that also required all of the above mentioned handling sorting cleaning and stacking. It had fallen out of a hillside about 20 miles from home, and came home with me.

[mfrench]

I live in a tributarial canyon of the Santa Margarita river, in northern San Diego County.
That trib is called Rainbow Creek. My yard is part of the watershed for Rainbow Creek, and I due in fact get a seasonal stream when it rains hard. I have built a mountain-like stream to contain it. I'll show that one in a bit. But, for now, this is my solution for living on a hillside, and needing to evacuate my rain gutters without causing erosion. This is my rain gutter diffuser block, that I call Rainbow Falls.

Rainbow Falls is my Art-Deco inspired diffuser for the coming-in-hot flows from my house pad, above.
It is layer upon layer of dry-stacked granite/stone countertop remnants that my late neighbor was hoarding on his property. He had piles of them. He passed on, and I asked the estate manager if I might become the new hoarder of the granite pile, and he was all too thrilled to let me haul it off. It was hand-hauled via wheelbarrow, literally uphill both ways, seriously.
Rainbow falls is thousands of pounds of 3/4" thick granite slabs from a countertop manufacturer, that I stacked one layer at a time. I hand hauled them via wheel barrow from one side of a creek valley, his side, to my side of the valley.
It ends in an unlined pond, that has enough fissures in our decomposed granite substrate, that the pond forms briefly, and when the rains stop, it quickly disappears back to earth. The exceptionally heavy flows pur out through foot deep oak leaves, and harmlessly enter the road, and quickly pour into a small trib creek, before getting to Rainbow Creek.

Rainbow Falls Rain Gutter Diffuser Block, at full flow:






This one, took a month of 10hr days to complete.

[Greg Reynolds]

DId I mention rock gardening?
hundreds and hundreds of thousands of tons of large stone, all found and hand collected, sorted, and stacked.

Nice work! I'm impressed with your project...

Welcome to the forum.

[headwaters]

Pretty, and pretty resourceful!

[mfrench]

thanks, gents.

This is my mountain stream that I built to handle an inflow from the hillside above me. Above me, I have likely 15+ acres of hillside, and, a neighbor who lives at the top who just doesn't care. She opted to grade a fire road along the bottom of the 15 acres, which created a collecting gutter, that delivers water onto my property corner, and down my northern property edge.

So, i made literally thousands of trips to my giant free boulder pile at the construction site, and, I built a mountain stream, and a wing dam to push the incoming flow to where I needed to have it go. When it got there, it enters into my dry creek, and, it efficiently vacates the property.
This dry creek venue consists of a hundred thousand tons of stone to have created. It is at the highest corner of my property, the furthest point from being an easy effort.








This is where the hillside flow approaches my property. Prior to my wing dam, the flow might hit a stick, or a gopher mound, and completely change its course, and it has taken aim at the house, or, building pad. I've created this wing dam, on my neighbors land, and without her permission, to cause her altered flow to enter my property where I want need it to go. SHe complained about the wing dam. I then corrected her with the suggestion of a civil engineer, lawyers, and court, and she let me keep my wing dam.

WIng dam overview


Wing dam right side


Wing dam left side - where the two sides meet is my spillway into my dry creek system.

Its been a couple of years since it flowed. But, it did flow for a couple of days this past week(s)

These are just a sampling of the rocks used in the dry creek:

[mfrench]

And, one last series. I don't want to risk censure for picture posting abuse, or highjackin'. But, the scale of this rock garden isn;t possible to capture in even lots of photos. It is extensive.
As I've mentioned, especially in the post above, my uphill neighbor pours hillside water onto our place. And, I've told her, where your roads pour water off onto my property, I will go onto your property, and fizx the issue, or, at least make changes that benefit me in protecting my house.
To this end, I have likely 500' of terracing that starts at my building pad level, and, works uphill. This is all done to redirect water to be wide of the house.

This is, The Wander to Yonder.
It is a long wandering pathway that leads up to the highest point on my property. To access this area required a haul of rocks of several hundred yards uphill, on a less steep access. The actual distance up from my patio is short, but, is steeper than 45º, and in some of it, quite near vertical. This required hauling the rocks those hundreds of yards to get around the steep.

This is the start of the pathway, at the outer edge of our patio:


This is the highest point, at the top of the Wander. up here, i have more terracing to redirect inflows. It is also a seating area with dry stacked rock benches as wall caps. The highest point in this terracing region is well over 9' high above the patio starting point.



The seating is below the tree, in its shade:


The Wander goes across the width of the patio, and further. This is from the patio, looking out towards the lower portion of the terracing.
I built 100% of what is seen in this image::


This is the seating area, at the very top of the Wander to Yonder.. The steps leading there are large Basalt lava cow pies. they are large natural cobblestones made from dripping basalt lava some billions of years ago. I found them by following the local electrical power grid company, as they installed new power poles. They were all to glad to let me have them, and, I am exceedingly thrilled by having them.



These basalt stone steps cover over where an inflow entered, and caused erosion. The highest stone in this area turn that inflow 90º, and run it wide of the house, and, to a point where it can enter my property without erosion, and damage.