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Post by thetragichero on May 7, 2018 16:23:29 GMT -5
(don't know if this belongs in gallery or coffee shop, but this subforum seems to get more traffic so i put it here) so i love completed build threads, but i think it's also neat for snapshots of guitar projects as they go along (i almost ALWAYS forget to do before pictures to document why the after shots are so different) so here's today so far (i try to spend a little bit of time each day, without completely shirking other responsibilities....) op amps and diodes came in the mail! potting two pickups i swapped out the magnets in and rewired to duncan colors (makes it a lot easier than having to consult a chart in the heat of soldering). covered humbucker is a gfs dream 180 i swapped out the stock ceramic for alnico 9; uncovered black pickup is an ibanez (made by cort, as far as my searches tell me) powersound ii neck pickup that i swapped the ceramic magnet for alnico 5. both of these will go into bridge position (i haven't met a neck humbucker that i like... woof) anyway... excited to see what everybody else is working on! retrEaDIT: Struckthru something we don't want to encourage then pinned this puppy to the top!
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Post by reTrEaD on May 7, 2018 17:11:01 GMT -5
(don't know if this belongs in gallery or coffee shop, but this subforum seems to get more traffic so i put it here) Hey Tragic! Traffic shouldn't be a consideration where we place our threads but any time someone isn't sure, the Coffee Shop is always available. Depending on what you want this thread to do, The Gallery might not be the right place. Is this just an informal thread where everyone is welcome to post about their daily work on various projects and maybe toss in some pics in their post? That would probably be best here in the Coffee Shop. I'm guessing that's what you're intending here. The Gallery seems better suited to having each thread being dedicated to one project. Either after completion or an ongoing project as it evolves. I'll defer to other members of the Staff regarding that.
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Post by blademaster2 on May 7, 2018 17:12:45 GMT -5
I am doing two things right now:
1) Adding lacquer to a neck that sadly was bumped from its wall hanging hook and received some small but rough dents on the back of the neck once it hit a guitar stand (after it bounced off of my shoulder - don't ask). The wood needed some small pieces added to make it flat and smooth on the spot before adding the lacquer. I am dabbing the lacquer with a cotton swab a little each day - and it has required more than 14 applications to build up the layers thick enough that I can sand it flush later after it has cured. Trying to be patient ....
2) Trying to fit a plastic humbucker pickup cover over a Humbucker-mounting-frame holding a single coil SSL-1 pup and drilling holes for the staggered poles to poke through. I am struggling a lot to get these holes positioned correctly and despite using a precise caliper it has not yet worked (plus, the pup cover does not *quite* fit through the old mounting ring). It has been a challenge, and since it is cosmetic only I am wondering if I will ever repeat this until I get it right or just live with the uncovered pup.
3) Considering modifying my E-bow so that its sensor/actuator is mounted (strapped) on my palm near my right wrist and the 9V battery can be strapped further up my forearm with a pair of wires connecting them. If it can be done and still work, I would like to be able to play the strings normally and then place my palm over the desired string to get the E-bow to kick in whenever I want to. I would also use a rubber material on the underside of the E-bow, in place of the hard plastic that forms its housing, so that it need not make any sound when contacting the strings that are not being bowed.
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Post by thetragichero on May 7, 2018 18:34:03 GMT -5
Is this just an informal thread where everyone is welcome to post about their daily work on various projects and maybe toss in some pics in their post? That would probably be best here in the Coffee Shop. I'm guessing that's what you're intending hhere *nods* I'm the kinda guy who can get overwhelmed thinking about all the things that need to be done in a particular project (one of the reasons that i just try to figure out what the next thing i can do is and do it instead of think about it), so seeing incremental progress reminds me that it's one step step a time
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Post by gumbo on May 7, 2018 19:25:22 GMT -5
Working on the $#@% involved of the redesign of a (keyboard) electronic damper pedal to mod it so that it emulates an expression pedal for input to a synth module so that I can get easy momentary access to the extremities of travel (and therefore signal) of an expression pedal so that I can then use the programming niceties of the synth module to give me access to differing sounds within a patch on the synth module in a live situation without having to otherwise change patches within a number which is a $#@% thing to try to do on a momentary basis as this would otherwise involve a double-stomp on something and would still incur the inbuilt patch-change delay of the synth box, which is unacceptable in a live situation.
...and finding more rocks from the valley and dragging them up to the house so I can build some more terracing but that is dependent on the unpredictable weather at the moment over here so I at least I am sometimes glad (?) that I always seem to have 53 projects on the boil at all times and can get around what would otherwise be a rest from all this stuff and a nice cup of tea...
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Post by newey on May 7, 2018 21:24:46 GMT -5
Well, didn't actually work on this today, as real life intervened. But I was working on it a couple of days ago. This is my cheap-o kit guitar build. Once I finish the wiring it'll be ready to string up- although the trem/bridge may need a bit of massaging. After I couldn't get the trick 6-way switch to fit, I just used the 3-way switch that came with the kit, with a P/P for OOP. The bridge pup is an Entwhistle noiseless and the neck pup is just a cheap HB (w/thecheesy red-pearloid covers) I had lying around.
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Post by blademaster2 on May 8, 2018 8:20:50 GMT -5
Newey, that is looking great!
It will be a very cool, minimalist guitar when you are done. Can you post some audio of it when it is ready?
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Post by sumgai on May 8, 2018 10:58:26 GMT -5
reTrEaD took the words right outta my mouth:
(don't know if this belongs in gallery or coffee shop, but this subforum seems to get more traffic so i put it here) Hey Tragic! Traffic shouldn't be a consideration where we place our threads but any time someone isn't sure, the Coffee Shop is always available. Depending on what you want this thread to do, The Gallery might not be the right place. Is this just an informal thread where everyone is welcome to post about their daily work on various projects and maybe toss in some pics in their post? That would probably be best here in the Coffee Shop. I'm guessing that's what you're intending here. The Gallery seems better suited to having each thread being dedicated to one project. Either after completion or an ongoing project as it evolves. I'll defer to other members of the Staff regarding that. This thread stays here in the Covfefe Shop. Beautiful.
sumgai
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Post by thetragichero on May 8, 2018 12:48:39 GMT -5
in terms of real work, i am putting the last touches on a guest bathroom i have a working month's worth of time into (about 4 and a half months in actual time) and tearing up the carpet in the next room to get a new floor started my day off with these: i've heard of beater guitars, but this was more like the brutalized redheaded step child (at my old band's last show, i used the neck as a drum stick against a crash ride until it snapped...). neck pocket cracked due to probably the softest wood i've ever seen used (i have a couple of pauwlonia guitars that are not nearly as mushy as this was) so glue and clamps, plus filled 5 of the trem mounting holes so i can redrill for another neck finally off-gassed enough to finish sand/polish. there are some divots that were too deep to sand out but i'm okay with that, as well as the playable area being a different color from the stock fender poly. will go on the white strat underneath it once the pearl pickguard makes its way from the buddist monks who are crafting it (hey i can make up any story i choose... it's TONE PLASTIC lol)
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Post by thetragichero on May 23, 2018 17:25:40 GMT -5
clipped out direct out jack to add an analog delay emulation switch (caps across feedback pot) and must've clipped the lead to ground from the switch so this was tossed around during a move, sat around untouched for 6 or 7 years today i wired that back, wired in switchcraft jacks and a second switch (caps across level pot) it worked outside of the enclosure but not all buttoned up tried insulators in case there was a short. still no dice had a hot iron so i hit all of the diet joints and apparently r8 had a broken lead that must've lost contact when the board was under pressure so a new resistor and it works! now to sell my analog delay on ebay...
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Post by blademaster2 on May 24, 2018 9:34:06 GMT -5
What a great way to get two effects in one.
If you compared it to a Boss DM-2 with your new LPF added, how does it compare?
One of the things I liked most in the DM-2 was its low noise - virtually disappearing when no signal was coming through - so if this was as good in that respect it is a very useful effect.
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Post by thetragichero on May 24, 2018 10:06:10 GMT -5
never played with the dm2, but it's cleaner sounding than the dod fx 96 analog delay.... that one definitely has some grit to it (not always undesirable). the only thing I'm not fond of on a stock dd-3 is the hifi-sounding repeats. these mods give me options to fix that
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Post by thetragichero on Jul 24, 2018 21:37:24 GMT -5
fugly wiring and enclosure job, but i turned a regulated 19v laptop power supply into a power supply for a pedal board. 9v (welllll it's an lm7810 to give that fresh 9v battery sound) and 12v (let's see what some more headroom can do) fun little project!
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Post by thetragichero on Nov 9, 2018 13:39:50 GMT -5
was driving lazily (have a total of 3 hours worth of work to do at two different houses so why rush?) and saw this on the side of the road : it's a Baldwin interlude with fun machine. quick Google says probably early 80s so I doubt it is tube based, but these generally have decent speakers and passive components to strip for my parts bin edit: I've done some unfastening and peeking at this in my carport. there's about 5 miles of wire in there, several different circuit boards (basically the entire back is boards) with about a million diodes and resistors, some transistors, some old Sprague orange drop caps. I have no earthly idea how anyone would be able to repair these things. twist ties all over the place used to keep wires together and attached to the back. I'm not sure if molex connectors were too expensive or something, but the main method employed for attaching wires to the various boards was by twisting around a pin connector (I guess it's not meant to be rugged) here is what I'm guessing is the power amp board (pair of 2n3055s and MASSIVE heatsinks) and another board (the rest are still semi attached - started getting too dark to continue working under a florescent light that needs a new ballast) trying to look up simple power amp schematics to use these 2n3055 in... I'd love to cobble together a solid state backup amp that would fit in like... a half rack unit - sized enclosure.... i just keep thinking up more projects, i know edit 2: here's a daylight photo of it partially gutted. I shan't need to purchase wire for a bit insurance guru
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Post by blademaster2 on Nov 13, 2018 10:56:15 GMT -5
fugly wiring and enclosure job, but i turned a regulated 19v laptop power supply into a power supply for a pedal board. 9v (welllll it's an lm7810 to give that fresh 9v battery sound) and 12v (let's see what some more headroom can do) fun little project! I was wondering how this laptop worked out for you. Did you get the 9V (10V?) and 12V outputs smooth enough so that no switching supply noise came through? I gather it switches at fundamental frequencies high enough that it is above audio anyway, but I wondered if that could modulate down into the audio range. If not then I like this as a way to salvage stuff like that for pedal use. Computer hardware is so much more frequently scrapped than guitar gear (where the vintage market loves old stuff, like my Boss DM-2). Also, have you had success using the 12V power on 9V pedals?
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Post by thetragichero on Nov 13, 2018 11:13:22 GMT -5
it works great! read up on all the pedals on my board and none would benefit from the extra 3 (technically 2) volts, so it's just the 9v output I'm using. my gut tells me that having the 10v regulator coming off the 12v regulator (instead of 19v from the wall wart) means less thermal stress on it, but I haven't done any maths to back it up. I use the enclosure as the heatsinks for the regulators, and even after being used for several hours it's only warm to the touch here's a picture of it on my board, in its repurposed laptop case:
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Post by thetragichero on Nov 13, 2018 11:48:55 GMT -5
speakers and most of the pcbs from organ are now inside. 6" speaker was made in Taiwan and not terrible sounding (thinking maybe I will make a small solid state combo amp for it). it's actually heavier than the 12" which was made by Oxford (who at one time supplied speakers for Fender) with a date code from 1982. cannot find information on the 12ij4-48 code (12 is 12" ij should be one letter for power handling. Js came in some of the 12w amps). should sound pretty good when put in an enclosure (tested it with alligator clip leads sitting on a table). there is a certain beauty to the patterns made by the resistors, diodes, and increasing capacitor sizes on some of the boards already listed the 3 40pin microcontrollers on ebay. looks like I can get almost ten bucks apiece for those lots of cmos logic chips (bit of googling re: the 3 cd4024 chips led me to schematics for sub octave generators), lots of op amps (mainly mc1458 but a few others), the big aluminum cylinders are inductors, tons of diodes I've never seen before (oranges and blues and quite pretty)... good haul for sure!
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Post by JohnH on Nov 13, 2018 14:07:58 GMT -5
it works great! read up on all the pedals on my board and none would benefit from the extra 3 (technically 2) volts, so it's just the 9v output I'm using. my gut tells me that having the 10v regulator coming off the 12v regulator (instead of 19v from the wall wart) means less thermal stress on it, but I haven't done any maths to back it up. I use the enclosure as the heatsinks for the regulators, and even after being used for several hours it's only warm to the touch here's a picture of it on my board, in its repurposed laptop case: I just want to say that I LOVE those Hardwire pedals! I always wanted them since they started to be released last decade. But in 2017 they became available down here NOS at blow-out prices. So I got the whole set new! - about the last moment in time it was possible to do so. The overdrive, delay and reverb you have are excellent (mines a Supernatural 'verb though). I also like the trem/rotary and chorus very much. Here's my collection, with a couple of other guest pedals, on a board that I made for them to sit on my Marshall VM:
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Post by thetragichero on Nov 13, 2018 14:44:16 GMT -5
I can't think of a reason why they never got popular (at least in the circles I've been around) besides the fact that at times digitech/dod has been almost a curse word. great sounds and rock solid build quality (I was a drunken a-hole and these pedals took all of my abuse and kept on chugging along) to me they've kinda been a secret hidden in plain sight
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Post by thetragichero on Nov 14, 2018 16:12:25 GMT -5
salvaging parts from the organ's pcbs this board has a tca 350z which I guess is an obscure bbd chip. that shall go in the bin with the other delay chips I purchased for some time in the future where I envision myself with enough patience to breadboard delay circuits
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Post by thetragichero on Nov 27, 2018 0:26:45 GMT -5
cross between an op amp big muff and a regular big muff (in place of the second of the three op amp stages, I placed the first transistor gain stage of the regular big muff). will test later this week in a testing rig I've been working on. will post a schematic once I tweak values. 80% of this build came from parts I've salvaged from the electronic organ
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Post by reTrEaD on Nov 27, 2018 22:05:21 GMT -5
80% of this build came from parts I've salvaged from the electronic organ Organic Big Muff?
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Post by thetragichero on Nov 27, 2018 23:31:40 GMT -5
wired up in the testing rig I threw together from some scrap plywood, shielded by the best kept secret (nashua aluminum hvac tape is super cheap at big box hardware store and it seems that the adhesive is conductive!). will test tomorrow, but I'm at least not getting a port supply short (added the fuse holder because fuses are cheaper than new supplies)
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Post by blademaster2 on Nov 28, 2018 9:50:43 GMT -5
Wow - good luck with that!
I have never had much success with those white breadboards (I started to think I was simply not able to design anything that would work), but I started getting a far better success rate when I started soldering up my circuits.
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Post by thetragichero on Nov 28, 2018 10:41:58 GMT -5
oh see I do a lot of dumb things like wire pots backwards or misread pinouts so just a quick testing has already saved me the normal amount of frustration
after a series of dumb mistakes I have it passing sound that sounds great on the low strings but beyond dull on the high strings. clipping is crisp and full and it's not remedied by the tone control so I'm guessing I have a low pass filter with too big of a cap
time to setup testing rig in front of the TV and hide from the Florida winter chill!
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Post by thetragichero on Nov 28, 2018 14:01:39 GMT -5
tweaked to taste and working! unfortunately the only op amp that I liked on out was a tsh22in (I was hoping that one of the 18 mc1458 I pulled from the organ would work, or at least something more common, but no dice), which is either poor circuit design on my part (really I just stole parts from various big muff schematic) or just dumb bad luck I'll redraw a corrected, neater schematic and upload later
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Post by thetragichero on Nov 28, 2018 17:05:41 GMT -5
now to figure out a perf board layout...
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Post by thetragichero on Dec 1, 2018 13:56:09 GMT -5
most of the wire salvaged from the organ. mostly 20 gauge solid wire (I've been getting 22 gauge tinned stranded wire but this stuff seems a lot more durable), a couple of one for sections of shielded write, and some 600v wire that'll go in my tube amp pile these were meticulously held together with waxed floss or something. almost a shame to undo all that work, but I may never have to purchase wire for guitars/fx again lol
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Post by newey on Dec 2, 2018 9:08:31 GMT -5
Probably not an issue with solid core wire, but I always check used pieces of stranded wire for continuity before using. I had an issue once where the insulation seemed OK but there was a "pinch point" or perhaps a manufacturing flaw in the stranded core that caused me a whole lot of head scratching before I figured it out.
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Post by thetragichero on Dec 23, 2018 23:27:04 GMT -5
among other things breaking around the house this holiday season, the dryer was a casualty of trying to get all of my drop cloths washed and dried in one load...... SO I was drying our laundry at the laundromat and got to thinkin' about op amp dirt boxes.... specifically grafting a rat into an op amp big muff (between the input buffer and clipping stage). two singles and a dual op amp become two duals and hopefully I can start using up some of these 1458s I pulled from the organ. will wire up some pots tomorrow and fiddle with some values. right now I'm leaving out the filter and tone stack, will hopefully stay out so I can pop it in an enclosure I had an underwhelming jfet overdrive in years ago
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