I Was Wrong About Sade ~ Luthiery Laboratories

July 18, 2022

I Was Wrong About Sade

July 18, 2022

I always thought of Sade as a very stylish singer, but not necessarily a great one; kind of weak, actually. A model who could sing a bit. I was wrong. Watch these concert videos.

In this one, she cuts loose a little at the end, you can hear what she could do if she wanted to. And she is note-perfect in concert, you might think she is lip-synching the album, but she is not.

Do any of today's pop stars compare? I couldn't tell you, I stopped listening to the radio decades ago. This performance is mesmerizing - no backup dancers, no costumes, no pyrotechnics, no giant props, just a little lighting and fog, a really tight band, style, class, and natural talent. She makes it look effortless.

The thing is, Sade always sounds a little off. But consistent. Maybe she does it deliberately, certainly no one else sounds like Sade. She gets a little raspy down low, but she displays more range here than I've heard on her studio recordings. And not to forget the band, they are tight.

This is what got me started. She is consistently a little flat (in pitch.)

The studio version, just to show how well they nailed in the shows above.

Another studio track ... that extravagant two-note bass line is hypnotic,
almost like Tomorrow Never Knows. Just close your eyes ...
(Don't get technical on me - octaves don't count.)

Sade is a lot more than just a great looking record cover, although, of course, she's that too. Not a model who could sing - Sade is a singer who could model.

I wonder if anyone calls her Helen?

Music, 07/18/22

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Angled Headstock Jig

This is the angled headstock jig I built from pine scrap, with an already-cut piece of 5" Home Depot maple headstock material attached with clamps. Basically, this jig is a 90-degree square brace, as precise as I could build it. It is square in all three dimensions, the most important being the vertical direction. The final stage of construction of the jig was to smooth all the surfaces on the sander, true up the saw, and then true-up the jig face by shaving it with the saw. You can see that the angle of the headstock is easily selected on the saw. The accuracy of this angle is not critical, as long as you are in the ballpark, anything will work.

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