Leon wrote:
http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs...ries.html?vp=1

As was stated by one of the people who left a comment on the Youtube site -
it takes me back to our younger years. We couldn't afford to buy cool
things so we had to improvise and build stuff that we were interested in.
Some of it was really stupid stuff that really did not require a lot of
engineering - like bike ramps that were inspired by seeing the Joey Chitwood
show or the Jack Kochman's Hell Drivers at that local fairground. Today
that would be considered dangerous - but back then we did it - *without*
bicycle helmets! We even made T-shirts with our "car number" on them with
magic markers.

We made our own rubber band guns - yes, we did play games that involved
killing an enemy. We weren't sensitive yet. We built forts out of
dead-fall tree limbs and the likes. As we got older, we built modified
versions of a fort for... shall we say... other uses...

Yup - we did clip playing cards into the spokes of our bikes with clothes
pins. More than one on each wheel so as to sound proper.

I could take any old scrap of anything to make something passable for my
intent, to emulate what the retailers were selling to people who could
afford to buy that stuff. My imagination sometimes had to fill in the gaps
a bit...

When I bought my first guitar amp, it was just a Fender brain. Really can't
even remember the model of the amp but I do remember that it used 6L6 tubes
for the amp stages. I had to build a speaker cabinet to fit under it. It
might not really have been as pretty as I now recall it to have been, but
back then I seem to recall it looked pretty good and of course - it sounded
great. Just ask me. Had none of the "proper" tools or knowledge to do this
kind of thing. Used my dad's table saw (now my son's table saw... so
freakin' cool!) for some of the work, a ****ty jig saw for some of the
cuts - including cuts that should not have been made with a jig saw... Did
not even know about, or worry about the real design considerations of a
speaker cabinet. Just built a 2x12 cab to fit some speakers that I got from
somewhere. Sounded just like Led Zeplin in my basement. I think...

Just stupid ramblings of an old fart that can appreciate kids reaching out
and trying to do something, and without just going out and buying all of the
parts. Sorta creating something.

Hats off to these kids.

I have many more stories about things we created for entertainment as kids.
For a complete list, please send $14.49 to receive a complete price list per
item...

--

-Mike-