Labor day: a day of anything but.

Today's a holiday here in the States, and I've never quite known why. I guess we just need to celebrate how much work we do over the rest of the year. The Romans, of course, had every other day off.

Spent the day as any good holiday should be spent; buying vintage phones and phone equipment from a wonderful gentleman who I met online. And hanging out with friends. And restuffing a 1953 office chair. And, well, in rehearsal.

The fella who sold me gear today (including the middle two units in the photo) offered me some excellent tips on refinishing phones, involving a Armor All Ultra Shine and an ethyl alcohol solution, which I'm excited to try out. I'm wondering if they might work just as well on effects pedals...

The beginning of the school year approacheth, so it won't be long before the workshop is filled with gear, and my inbox is filled with requests for new equipment to be installed. Our concert and jazz band tour has been postponed until the winter quarter this year, so I can put off maintenance on the road boxes until winter break, so I have time to do more organizational tasks that will make my life much easier through the course of the year. Hopefully, smooth sailing.

Pic is of four different lineman's handsets, as they developed through the ages. The middle two have special alligator clips with spikes that can be used to pierce telephone wire at any point to get a signal.