This time, with my 15 year old son. I gave him his bass for Christmas and he loves it so much that he wants to do another project with me. I’m beaming with joy! We will be recreating a Gibson LP in Blueberry Burst, like the one pictured. The kit is coming in about 3 weeks. I never thought that instead of losing my kid to young adulthood for the next 3-4 years, (you know, ‘dad doesn’t know anything’) that he’d want to spend time with me building a guitar together. I swear I must be the luckiest man in the world.

What song are you dying to learn or learning to play?

Wanted to check here in the group about inputting a preamp pedal (to bypass the amps pre amp), and a noise gate into the effects loop. I have watched countless YouTube videos and can only find one or the other in the effects loop. My question is: Which would go first into the effects loop? The pre amp pedal or noise gate? Figure the amp is going to need the noise gate in the effects loop once the preamp pedal is installed…(lots of gain). Sorry, hope this makes sense. I have never used an effects loop but do know the just of where other pedals might work best in the chain. I would be using the 4 cable method for the noise gate. The preamp pedal and noise gate part just stumps me. Any help appreciated!

It came from out of the blue and happened quickly. A week before Christmas, I got a message through LinkedIn from someone I worked with at ADT (he was let go about a year before me). He told me that his supervisor asked him if he knew any software testers for a new opportunity at the company. He gave them my name and contact information. The next day, I got a call from the company's recruiter to set an appointment for a screening interview. It was scheduled for the next day. On the screening interview call, the recruiter told me that the hiring manager already wanted to interview me, but we still needed to go through the screening interview, which went well. The next day, which was Friday, I got a call from the recruiter to set an appointment to interview with the hiring manager and a few others. That interview was scheduled for Monday. The interview went well. On Tuesday, I received a call from the recruiter with a verbal offer, during which she said that the written offer was forthcoming, but that I probably would not receive it until Monday because of the Christmas holidays. I gave a verbal acceptance contingent on the written offer. To my surprise, on Wednesday, Christmas Eve, I received the written offer, which I immediately accepted. It's with a federal government contractor, so I had to go through an extensive background check. I was told the background check would take 4-6 weeks, so I expected a start date no earlier than the middle of February. Once I filled out the forms, made some corrections, and got fingerprinted by the DHS, I sailed through the background check in a week! I start the job on Monday, 02 February 2026. My work desk is ready, just waiting on the laptop(s) and overcoming my lack of motivation to put up some curtains in my office to keep the sun from peeking through the narrow openings in the blinds. What a relief! More than 150 resumes/applications submitted in over nine months resulted in one screening interview. Then in the span of a week from a recommendation by a colleague, I have a new job. Crazy!