Luthiery Laboratories

Doing Things Wrong

September 14, 2020

Is This Worth It?

September 14, 2020

I put the finishing touches on the web stats programming, and after a few days I can confirm that most of the traffic on the internet is bots. That is, machines querying other machines. Only about 20-25% of the traffic is human beings. So if you're one of those, consider yourself special.

* Pages Search Total Misses * Today
Humans 79160 162 79322 40.2% 8418 646
Google 53789 5 53794 27.3% 2212 180
Bing 24441 452 24893 12.6% 2743 156
Meta 27404 6 27410 13.9% 4565 24
Apple 2197 3 2200 1.1% 171 43
DDG 1217 0 1217 0.6% 2 1
Bots 8462 8 8470 4.3% 4904 112
Total 196670 636 197306 100% 23015 1162

* includes pages, posts and archives since 2025-12-05

Top Hits

1   Fret Slotting Jig
2   Danelectro Bridges
3   Volume & Tone Controls
4   Telecaster Bass
5   Silvertone 1448 Guitar & Amp
6   Hollowbody Construction
7   Fretboards
8   Series Wiring
9   Stratocaster Bass VI
10   Finishing Oils
11   Sitar Bridge
12   Danelectro Pro-1 Bass
13   Kubicki Factor Bass
14   Conversion Necks
15   Installing Frets
16   Woods etc
17   Danelectro Projects
18   Rickenbacker 4001 Bass 1
19   Danelectro Longhorn Bass
20   Osprey Bass (BC Rich Eagle)
21   Silvertone 1472 Amplifier
22   Danelectro Dead-On '67 Guitar
23   Masonite
24   Danelectro Tolex Body Binding
25   Silvertone 1457 Guitar & Amp
26   Jazzmaster Bass 1
27   Fret Saw
28   Truss Rod Channel Jig
29   Adhesives & Glues
30   Rickenbacker 325 Guitar
31   Polyurethane - Water-Based
32   DIY Buffing Machine
33   Piezos & Buffers
34   Pickguards
35   Mosrite Bass
36   String Nuts
37   Sharp Fret Ends
38   Rickenbacker 4001 Bass 2
39   Medium-Scale Basses
40   Stratocaster Micro Bass 1
41   Danelectro Longhorn Guitar

Most-Recent Hits

1   Samick Artist Series SG450
2   Rickenbacker 4001 Bass 1
3   Fret Slotting Jig
4   Silvertone 1448 Guitar & Amp
5   Fret Saw
6   Guitar Projects
7   Audiovox 736 Bass
8   DIY Buffing Machine
9   Danelectro Longhorn Bass
10   Short-Scale Basses
11   Danelectro Pro-1 Bass
12   Danelectro Longhorn Guitar
13   Audiovox Templates
14   Audiovox Danelectro-Style Bass
15   Danelectro Tolex Body Binding
16   Chinese Quality
17   @ Projects
18   Fretless Basses
19   # Some Quick Inlaying Experiments
20   Fret Slot Cleaning Tool
21   Adhesives & Glues
22   On-Board Effects
23   Rickenbacker 325 Guitar
24   Rickenbacker Projects
25   Projects
26   Sitar Bridge
27   Audiovox Stratocaster-Style Guitar
28   Double-Acting Truss Rod
29   Series Wiring
30   # KMise "US Dream" Distortion Pedal
31   Stratocaster Micro Bass 1
32   @ Fender
33   Truss Rods
34   Laboratory
35   # A Better Way to do Binding?
36   Intonation
37   Hollowbody Construction
38   Piezos & Buffers
39   # Superfreaky Part IIa
40   @ Audiovox
41   @ 6-String Guitars

Recent History

Date Day Hits
2026-05-15 Friday 646
2026-05-14 Thursday 976
2026-05-13 Wednesday 893
2026-05-12 Tuesday 814
2026-05-11 Monday 674
2026-05-10 Sunday 443
2026-05-09 Saturday 563
2026-05-08 Friday 683
2026-05-07 Thursday 470
2026-05-06 Wednesday 364
2026-05-05 Tuesday 493
2026-05-04 Monday 451
2026-05-03 Sunday 667
2026-05-02 Saturday 537
2026-05-01 Friday 571
2026-04-30 Thursday 488
2026-04-29 Wednesday 457
2026-04-28 Tuesday 530
2026-04-27 Monday 482
2026-04-26 Sunday 407
2026-04-25 Saturday 610
2026-04-24 Friday 609
2026-04-23 Thursday 511
2026-04-22 Wednesday 497
2026-04-21 Tuesday 396
2026-04-20 Monday 1047
2026-04-19 Sunday 332
2026-04-18 Saturday 464
2026-04-17 Friday 345
average 28 days 563

Originally I used the built-in WordPress functions to update the counters. Those are big general-purpose routines that are slow and ponderous, and I noticed that there was some 'slippage' - numbers that should agree would slowly fall out of sync. So for the counter operations, I wrote my own code, which does only one thing, and does it very fast and reliably.

WordPress also provides hints for some browsers to 'pre-fetch' pages. In other words, the browser downloads a whole second page in the background on the off chance that you might look at it. Apart from doubling the load on the server and network, this also makes it impossible to keep accurate counts, so I turned that 'feature' off. Who thinks of these things?

Web Stuff, 09/14/20

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Comments on Is This Worth It?

Keith:

September 14, 2020 at 5:20 PM

Keep it up - your stuff is special to us non-bots

Comments on Is This Worth It? closed.

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RetroBrite

"RetroBrite" is a name for a process that restores old yellowed plastics to new. Many plastics yellow or darken over time. RetroBriting can reverse this aging, but with a number of caveats that, in my opinion, make it pretty useless. While the process actually does work - it reverses the discoloration - the effect is temporary. After a few months, the plastic will return to its yellowed state. When this happens, you can repeat the treatment, but at some point the chemicals involved are going to start to degrade the plastic.

My first experiment was whitening some yellowed tuner knobs, and it did work. With nothing more than sunshine and hydrogen peroxide, the knobs lightened considerably. That was several years ago, and today the knobs are as yellow as ever.

What causes this yellowing? It is variously attributed to sunlight, oxygen, bromine content, and other causes. While all of these things can contribute to it, none of them are necessary. Some plastics simply turn yellow with age, and nothing will stop it. In my experience, the real culprit is simply bad plastic, and the only real solution is replacement.

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