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The BIG Reason

Music, opinions, and portfolio of Mark Eagleton, musician and web developer in Northern CA.

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  1. Broken DC in jack on StroboStomp tuner
  2. Modded K&K preamp on top of amplifier
  3. The repaired neck heel of my double bass
  4. Crack in the heal of a double bass neck joint

    Drop

    I dropped my bass the other night. It was in its heavily-padded bag, but it took a pretty solid hit to the back of the scroll on the cement. The glue line at neck joint is cracked, and the heal cap is splintered a bit, but it still holds tension. I can’t move the neck even when the string tension off, so I don’t think it’s super bad, but I plan to have it checked out before I play it again.

  5. Tremolo effects unit
  6. Members of Floss with some close friends

    Califuerte

    I lost and old friend this week. We hadn’t been very close for quite a while—the last time I even spoke to him was a few years ago now. He was a pretty important person in my life for a good decade or so, though. Since funerals and celebrations of life aren’t really an option during a pandemic, I sort of feel the need to say a few nice things about a guy who frustrated, hurt, and offended, but also loved a lot of people. And a lot of people loved him back. To me, he was a compassionate and genuine friend.

  7. Selfie in commute mask and bike helmet
  8. Boneback Sarsky Solo Project front cover
  9. Vintage G.I. Joe Cobra Officer action figure mint in box

    Masks Are Hard

    I have been sufficiently scared and socially pressured into being a militant face mask influencer. The problem is that all of the pressure is on to make your own masks, and all the how-to videos I have watch have decimated my confidence.

  11. Collage of 15 album covers
  12. 1963 Fender Bandmaster in a 2x10 combo cabinet

    Phantom Crackle

    My buddy Ivan uses this combo-ified 1963 Band-Master as his backup. It suffered from a phantom crackle that would only appear after being warmed up for an hour or two. It had been in and out of another shop for over a year, and the problem was never successfully addressed.

  14. Burned relay and wire resistor

  15. Nightclub ID Scanners and Your Privacy

    There is a small chain of music venues in Sacramento I frequent that has implemented ID scanning kiosks at their front doors. At first, I was a bit put off by this, but after doing a bit of research into the platform, I think I might be okay with it. You might not be, though. Here is what you should know.

  16. Mocked up digital Ticketmaster ticket for iOS
  17. Early 60s Fender Bandmaster chassis

  18. How Much Should Your Band Charge?

    The Sacramento Valley is going through a bit of a live music boom as of late. This is a good thing. A healthy music scene has a lot of diversity and a lot of live music to choose from. The downside is that many venues are booked through the end of the year, and many of the gigs that do come up don’t pay very well. What is a fair price to pay for live music, anyway? Allow me to offer a musician’s perspective.

  19. I Joined Another Band

    Well, I recently got myself joined up with another bluegrass band. I’m not really one to go joining bands all willy nilly. I have a good track record of sticking around in bands for a long time, so it’s important to me that everyone is easy-going, but takes professionalism as seriously as I do. And of course they need to be, you know, good. The folks in Red Dog Ash check those boxes for me.

  20. Silverface Fender Champ circuit

    Sliver-Face Champ

    About three or four years ago, I found myself falling down a rabbit hole of tube amp repair videos. It started innocently enough with the humble idea of building a custom foot-switchable preamp/mixer for my double bass. That lead to me building a few guitar stomp boxes. Before I knew it, I was watching hours and hours of tube amp repair videos every week.

Upcoming Events

I play double bass for a few bands. Here is where I’ll be next: