crafty

You should try using the WinISD software. It will help you determine exactly which speaker is best for the kind of box you want to build. It will also help you determine what size of box to use and whether or not to use a baffled, sealed, or open enclosure. I read about it a few years ago in Bill Machrone's column in PC Magazine and I tried it out myself at the time. Here is the link to his website which also has the links to the software manufacturer. It's shareware, so donations are optional: Bill's Marshall Bass stack It's funny how even a Marshall amp could be improved with something other than a Celestion.

Love my EMG-SA set. Smooth on the clean channel and ballsy as any humbucker through overdrive. Great top end, too.

Nice cat

Hey, think about it. When all those guys like Murray, Malmsteen, Beck, Clapton, and Hendrix were learning to play, that's how all the Strats came. Notice also how Murray has spec'd skinny frets too. The Standards and Vintage Reissues come with those, but the American series is all medium-jumbo with flatter radius. I like playing American Strats because they just play better, but it does take a little bit of getting used to because I'm just used to the setup on my MIM Standard.

You can still buy a can of TV Tuner Cleaner? I thought they outlawed that stuff a long time ago. My bad. BTW, when I was talking about reusing the old wires and soldering them to the new wires, I wasn't talking about the soldering connections. I was talking about the LENGTH of the wires. Wiring runs should be as short as possible or you run the risk of them becoming a huge antenna for noise.

Sorry it's been a few days since I replied. Anyway, baking the steel for a little bit after you've scrubbed off the excess will sort of "harden" the patina. It's not going to be completely rub proof, but it won't be flaking off, either. Here's an experiment. Find the cheapest coated pan you can find at the store. Scrub off some of the coating with scotch brite or steel wool. Place it in some sort of brine for a few days--then bake it. It will be damn near impossible to scrub that rust off. Now, if you want the metal to rust faster, bake the whole brine and steel together in the oven at about 450 F for a few hours with a sheet of aluminum foil between the pan and the steel. The only reason why I wouldn't do that is because it's a big waste of electricity or gas and it really heats up your house fast.

The little bit of hum is not a grounding problem. If it goes away when you touch the strings, your string ground is working properly. More likely the problem is when you reused the wires from the old pickups and soldered them to the new wires, you made a very effective path for noise to enter the system. Try shortening the wires a bit and see if that helps some of the hum go away. Shielding the cavity should also cut down the noise quite a bit, too. If your volume pot is scratchy, it's bad. Get a new one. Try to find the stock wiring components that frenzy listed above and the guitar will sound even better. The Delta-Tone system Fender uses with this setup sounds really cool.

I don't think Fender is so much worried about small-time custom builders ripping off business from the Custom Shop. I think they're more worried about cheap mega-builders ripping off business from the rest of Fender. Put simply, a small-run custom builder like Suhr isn't going to pose a huge threat to American Strat sales. But a builder that's right on the edge of being a powerbroker like Tom Anderson is a big threat. Just think if TA became to Fender like what PRS has become to Gibson. The Fender name will only get you as far as the first guitar that can really beat the original. G&L beat the original Teles and Strats with the ASAT and Commanche, but the quality there isn't even a threat to Fender now days. With Fender swallowing up every other American guitar name that Gibson hasn't and basically controlling Cort over in Korea, they're definitely shoring up every bit of control they have over the traditional Fender designs.

<nigel tufnel voice> But if it doesn't go all the way to 11, what's it good for? </nigel tufnel voice> Anything bigger than a 60 watt amp in a club and the sound guy, if not your band, will keep telling you to turn it down.

It's a 2.5 year old Dell 8200 laptop. When it's plugged into the wall and SpeedStep is turned off, the P4 running at full speed forces the little fans on the heat pipe to run at full speed. They tend to whistle instead of droan like bigger fans. It's really distracting in a classroom when you have 50 laptops with all their little mini-fans running, too. Add to that the clicky-clacky of the keyboards and it gets annoying fast. I think my next computer will be a PowerMac G5. I like the concept of larger fans moving at a slower speed forcing air through a ducted case.

Gee Wes, I didn't know that! I've always wondered what that strange noise and rush of air was all about coming from the back of my computer... I hate fans. I hate the fact that my computer has to have fans in it because it's sooo damn loud!! I can't imagine trying to play the guitar with that kind of distraction, although I suppose if you're playing that loud you really wouldn't notice. The Marshall Mode 4 is an interesting amp. If it puts out 350 watts I can see why the electronics would probably get pretty hot inside that cabinet. I didn't realize amps like the JCM 2000 had them, nor have I noticed them on some of the Mesa and Crate amps. Guess I just never really paid attention at the guitar store.

It just depends on what you're working on. The plug-and-go irons like what Wes bought are perfect for basic guitar electronics. 25 watts is plenty of heat for anything you'll do with passive guitar electronics. But if you're an electronics nut and you find yourself building or repair things like digital effects or anything with discrete components, digital readouts and fine temperature control are a must-have, especially if you're working with SMT components. Most people here will never do that, and I haven't done that kind of work myself in years. I use a Weller soldering station I picked up at Sears for around $40. It consists of a stand and a temperature control knob on the stand for a little better versatility. I'm into ham radio too, so it's nice to have the option of low temp for electronics and high temp for building antennas and feedline connections.

Ick. A guitar amp with a fan in it doesn't sound like anything I want anyway. Sounds like they may have just had a bad batch of fans come in from the fan vendor. I bet if the fan was just replaced with a quality ball-bearing unit like a Panaflow it would have been okay.

Sweet. Weller irons are the shiznit for the money.

He's not using any volume or tone controls...helps if you read the previous posts. It will save you a lot of typing.

No they don't. Musician's Friend is a different corporation based out of Medford, OR. Guitar Center is based out of SoCal. They are big competitors. Musician's Friend actually bought up all of Mars' leftover inventory after the big bankruptcy, too.

You will need a multimeter with continuity test. Manufacturers, especially ESP, change switch vendors all the time so it's just about impossible to tell unless you test it out yourself. If you are replacing pickups, just wire the new ones to the same places the old ones were soldered on.

You realize by doing that the system IS ON ALL THE TIME even with the cord not plugged into the guitar. Have fun replacing that battery once a month. Why on earth couldn't you replace the input jack with the FREE jack that came with your new pickups?!

Well, I don't want to sound like a Bose fanboi or anything, but I really think you get what you pay for with Bose products. I've had good luck with them and so have my friends. My uncle has a set of 201 Series I speakers from back in the seventies that sound just as great as my 201 Series IV's. A friend of mine had a set of 901s from 1971--they blew away just about anything new you could buy at a consumer-level audio store. Can you buy better? Of course. But it's like comparing a Les Paul to a custom Benedetto. The prices Bose charges look like Wal-Mart compared to Bang and Olufsen. My thinking with the Bose Personal Amplification system is that it would be a good choice for me because I play smaller venues and use digital effects. A Marshall half-stack would be a dream, but when you're working with sound guys that hate guitar amps, it becomes a little impractical.

So basically, you're looking to build this: Bose Musician Personal Amplification System If I save up enough pennies, I'm definitely getting one of those someday.

It's probably the springs hitting the side of the reverb tank. Happens to my cheap Dean Markley amp all the time.

There is no pickup in the world that's going to make you sound like these guys. For one thing, they all use different pickups. Metallica and Zakk use EMGs. Steve, Joe, and Randy have all used different models of Dimarzios at different points in time. EMG 81s or 85s, Evolutions, and FREDs are completely different pickups and it all depends on what you want. If you want sheer horsepower to burn, but digital effects friendly, controllable at any volume, the EMGs are peerless. If you want over the top shredding power with no brakes, the Evo is your best bet. If you want a pickup you can do anything with given the right amp and proper effects, go for the FRED.

I'll take low output and clean tone at any volume over high output and attack anyday. SD Pearly Gates are good for this if you want humbuckers. Pair a PG in the bridge with a '59 or Alnico II Pro in the neck and you'd have a deadly blues combo. I haven't personally tried the Custom Custom, but I hear that's good if you want to pay for it.

Mix up a salt water brine with some rock salt and water. Soak your piece of steel in it for a few days until heavily rusted. Scrub off excess with steel wool. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or completely dry. Enjoy.

Probably a factory defect-refinish. They probably painted the guitar with the Jimmy Shine logo and screwed it up somehow, so they then refinished it with the Cat's Eye and Scratch finish. Back in the day, you could buy a black or dark blue car new from the showroom, get in a wreck, and find out that your car had been originally painted red or white at the factory. Something got messed up at the factory and they just refinished the whole car in a different color. Doesn't happen anymore, but it could easily happen with a guitar, too.