Will
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willdarden.bsky.social
Will
@willdarden.bsky.social
400 followers 510 following 600 posts
Maverick progressive version of Ron Swanson with less drinking. Man of conviction. Prone to writing with fountain pens. Portland, Oregon.

GirlDad | Visual Artist (📷🖋️🎨) | Musician (🎸🎹) | Woodworker | Linguist (🇺🇸|🇯🇵) | Foodie | Xennial | Storyteller
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willdarden.bsky.social
It’s starting to come together…

…and I was able to chase down the pesky ground loop that was killing my sound.
A pedalboard in a carrying case. A total of 7 pedals are shown: - A moog expression pedal - Ernie Ball volume jr - Chase Bliss Audio Automatone Preamp MK II - Boss FZ-3 Fuzz - Boss TU- 3 tuner - Chase Bliss Audio Clean - Strymon Timeline - Strymon BigSky A flowchart showing signal chain of the pedals
January 3, 2025 at 1:21 AM
willdarden.bsky.social
First impressions from my new CBA Clean: calling this a compressor is like calling an RV a large car; the compression is a platform for everything from clean boost and overdrive to volume, EQ, and modulation, all based on playing dynamics.

Very excited to work this into my sound. Sample below.
December 28, 2024 at 1:37 AM
willdarden.bsky.social
Merry Christmas to me!

Now I just need to find TRS to TR splitters in town so I don’t have to wait a week to use it in stereo.
A Chase Bliss “Clean” guitar pedal is shown displayed on top of its packaging.
December 26, 2024 at 6:38 PM
willdarden.bsky.social
Why not just go full-bore and get the hollow body and a surf green tele to go with your Leslie 122?
December 25, 2024 at 3:38 AM
willdarden.bsky.social
Dear WSJ —

17 year olds cannot sign contracts or consent to sex with adults. The term we use for sexual contact without consent is “sexual assault” or “rape.”

Matt Gaetz gave a 17 year money and then raped her.

👏🏻 Stop 👏🏻 Using 👏🏻 Biased 👏🏻 Language 👏🏻

TYSM
Front page of the 12/24/24 Wall Street Journal print version.
December 24, 2024 at 7:54 PM
willdarden.bsky.social
Christmas Pro Tip: I was tired of spilling water when I water our Christmas tree, so I leaned on my #redneckengineering skills to build a watering system.

The pipe is an IKEA curtain rod and I sourced the funnel from our kitchen.
A man’s hand is holding a gray pipe with a funnel in the top. The background is a wide shot of the interior of a home with a Christmas tree featuring prominently. The pipe and funnel is an engineered tool for watering a Christmas tree directly into the stand without spilling from a jar or watering can.
December 19, 2024 at 8:06 PM
willdarden.bsky.social
Project 1: Travel Guitar

The onboard amp has failed and needs replacement. Do I:

- Replace it with a 9v 2.5 watt onboard amp
- Pull the speaker entirely and replace with a multi-effect
- Wire in a Bluetooth output
A small guitar sits on a man’s lap in a family room. The guitar has a single coil pickup in the neck position and a volume knob. Cut into the guitar is a circle with a speaker grill and speaker. The guitar itself has a maple neck with black dot inlay. The body is a strat-style double cutaway finished in zebra stripes.
December 16, 2024 at 7:13 PM
willdarden.bsky.social
It me
A needlepoint is pictured features caricatures of different pathogens. It is adorned with the phrase, “What doesn’t kill you mutates and tries again.”
December 15, 2024 at 8:31 PM
willdarden.bsky.social
Afternoon guitar noodling. Laid down a quick backing track and spent an hour or so just improvising.
A bedspread is covered in multiple pieces of musical equipment. To the right is a surf green Fender Telecaster. Center left is a pedal board with four pedals, a Strymon TimeLine, a Strymon BigSky, a Boss tuning pedal, and a Chase Bliss Automatone Preamp II. These pedals are resting on a bamboo tray. In the upper right corner of the photo is a Scarlett 18i8 interface.
December 11, 2024 at 2:53 AM
willdarden.bsky.social
Today’s Journaling:

Pen: Sailor Shikiori Tsukuyo-no-Minamo (月夜の水面 — water’s surface on a moonlit night), Shimoyo (霜夜 — frosty night). Stainless <F> nib.

Ink: Pilot Iroshizuku Tsuki-yo (that’s right, another reading of the same characters — 月夜 — moonlit night)
A journal is shown with an open fountain pen. There’s and entry written and a photobooth strip is laid across the entry. The pen is a Sailor ProColor 500 Shikiori “Frosty Night,” a deep, glittery turquoise with a pearlescent white top on the cap and gold trim. The nib is a stainless steel fine nib with coloring to match the other trim.
December 8, 2024 at 8:08 PM
willdarden.bsky.social
A very classic model of Leslie. Pictured in the corner under my Mesa Nomad 45.
A music room is show. With a number of guitars, amps, and a keyboard
December 7, 2024 at 12:11 AM
willdarden.bsky.social
Lazy Sunday picking practice. #guitar #telecaster
A bearded man sits on a couch with a guitar in his lap. He’s wearing a pink graphic tee and a black zip up hoodie. The guitar is a Fender American Performer II Telecaster in surf green with an ebony fretboard and a brown leather strap.
December 1, 2024 at 11:32 PM
willdarden.bsky.social
Today’s Pen:

Sailor PGS <EF> 万葉 — “Ten Thousand Leaves”

Inked with a custom ink I call “Sage” mixed from two Iroshizuku inks.
An open fountain pen is laid across a notebook page. The pen is a Sailor Pro Gear Slim with an extra fine nib. The body and cap of the pen are a deep, pearlescent green with black end caps and gold trim. There is text on the page listing the date and names of the pen and ink, written in the ink as named.
December 1, 2024 at 8:02 PM
willdarden.bsky.social
Never did get into Lamy, more of a Japanese pen guy. I did go through a vintage phase, however.
A large variety of fountain pens are displayed on a table, laid out on a large piece of leather. Also displayed are an array of nibs, pen rests, and rulers.
December 1, 2024 at 4:12 PM
willdarden.bsky.social
#teambowtie
A selfie of a middle-aged man with a shaved head and full beard. The man wears a pair of tortoiseshell glasses perched on a bulbous nose. He is wearing a blue and red checked bow tie, gray patterned shirt, and navy blue sweater.
November 24, 2024 at 8:53 PM
willdarden.bsky.social
As requested
Four writing samples from different styles using the same pen. Each is written on a piece of gridded paper in Diamine Honey Burst ink, a honey yellow ink that shades to an orange brown. The four samples each include a title, “Architect”, “Cursive”, “Print”, or “Type” as well as the pangram “Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.”
November 22, 2024 at 7:32 PM
willdarden.bsky.social
Today’s setup.

Pen: Opus 88 Demo — 2022 Veri Peri — with Moonman <M> which I ground to an architect.

Ink: Diamine Honey Burst
A fountain pen is laid across an open notebook with the nib exposed. The pen is an Opus 88 DEMO “Veri Peri” with a custom-ground nib — the body of the pen is translucent periwinkle-colored plastic with red ebonite caps and section. The pen has a black metal clip.
November 22, 2024 at 6:01 PM
willdarden.bsky.social
A picture of Animal, from the Muppets, with the following caption: Stranger: nice to meet you Me: give it time
November 18, 2024 at 3:19 AM
willdarden.bsky.social
I have a bottle of Vert Atlantidae to go with my Sailor PGS 万葉 <EF>. I love the KWZ but the idea of cleaning that shimmer out fills me with dread.

I personally love Chiku Rin and I did a 4:1 mix of Chiku Rin and Fuyu Syogun that has a lovely sage color.
A green fountain pen (Sailor PGS Shikiori “Manyo” <EF>) with gold nib and trim. The body of the pen is a deep pearlescent forest green. The pen is being held in a man’s hand with a laptop in the background.
November 14, 2024 at 7:04 PM
willdarden.bsky.social
I have two tool chests like this that I love. One is my great grandfather’s Kennedy tool chest and one that I built from reclaimed built-in cabinets I scored off CraigsList for free.
A hand-built wooden tool chest is resting under a workbench in a garage. There are four drawers with simple metal handles, two large, two small. The tool chest appears to be a rough cube measuring 3’ on a side. The same tool chest from the prior photo with two of the drawers open showing their contents. The bottom drawer features a number of power tools including a grinder and a circular saw. The smaller drawer contains hand tools and scissors. A vintage Kennedy tool chest displaying the contents of one drawer and the top of the case. The drawer is filled with a selection of sharpening stones and machinist tools. An additional drawer is open featuring a variety of files and measuring tools as well as some files and rasps.
November 14, 2024 at 6:16 PM
willdarden.bsky.social
Today’s Stuff

Pen: Pilot Custom 912 <WA>
Ink: Diamine Eclipse — purple/black
Paper: Rhodia lined 90g/m2 notebook

This is one of my favorite pens. It’s classy in an understated way, writes incredibly smooth in normal position and provides an extraordinarily fine line in reverse for drawing.
A black fountain pen sits on a bamboo pen rest, sitting across a notebook. The pen is a Pilot Custom 912 with a waverly nib. There is writing in the notebook as follows: “11/13/24 Pen: Pilot Custom 912 <WA> Ink: Diamine Eclipse Diamine Eclipse One thing I love about this pen is the ability to be inverted for a very fine line.” Two ink sketches of a BBQ cart design with a kettle-style bbq set into a wheeled wooden table. There is a top and plan view of the cart, which measures 36” x 72” The bbq takes up roughly half of the cart’s top. There is a marble cutting board and a galvanized steel pipe handle indicated on the left side of the design. Art was drawn with a Pilot Waverly nib.
November 13, 2024 at 7:50 PM
willdarden.bsky.social
A screenshot of Rosa from Brooklyn 99. A Latina female police detective stands in a cluttered police precinct. She is wearing a black sweater and a shoulder holster and has curly hair that falls around her shoulders. She is holding up a young, cream-colored puppy named Arlo and speaking to her coworkers about the puppy. A closed caption reads “I’ve only had Arlo for a day and a half, but if anything happened to him I would kill everyone in this room and then myself.”
November 12, 2024 at 8:12 PM
willdarden.bsky.social
Project of the day: repair the $10 travel guitar I picked up on Craigslist. New tuners and nut. The frets and electronics need some work still and I’m +/- on my nut work.

Still could use a new bridge or at least new saddles.
Before photo of the guitar. A zebra-striped travel guitar sits on a striped rug. The strings are detached from the tuners. The guitar has a lone single coil pickup, a volume knob, and a built-in speaker with a power switch. The neck of the guitar is a lighter wood, maybe maple, with black dots. A decal on the headstock of the guitar indicates it is a “Littel Lyon by Washburn” (SIC). Closeup before photo of the headstock of the guitar. The head of the guitar sits on the same striped rug as in the previous photo. The tuners have been removed, showing the bare headstock and the old nut. A closeup of the guitar’s original bridge and saddles. The guitar, restrung on the same rug as before. The tuners and nut have been replaced but all else remains the same.
November 12, 2024 at 3:53 AM
willdarden.bsky.social
Black block letter text on a pink background that reads: YOU VOTED TO HAVE MY FRIENDS KILLED FUCK YOU
November 11, 2024 at 7:22 PM
willdarden.bsky.social
Fude nibs changed how I draw. Seriously.

I feel like it lets me be more free and less concerned with photorealism.
An ink sketch with watercolor of Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach, Oregon. A large rock protrudes from the ocean in the shape of a haystack. Some smaller rocks surround it and all appear floating due to waves and mist. The abstract silhouettes of people walking on the beach are scattered across the frame in dark ink against the tan of the beach. Whitecaps are visible in the rough surf. The artist’s signature is prominent in the lower right corner.
November 11, 2024 at 8:41 AM