kenneth_b

I love the Mickey Baker books, with one caveat. He doesn't describe much of the theory behind his lines. You end up memorizing a bunch of licks. Arnie Berle has a book on scales, with the jazz player in mind, and then you can figure out how Mickey is constructing his lines.

Not to be a smart alec or anything, but wouldn't it just be easier to write the settings you like on a sticky note? Hell, you could even have a printed card laminated to the back or top of the amp. Lovekraft has already pointed out the dangers of power on the face plate. Now that I'm older, on the downward slope toward 90, little things like getting a buzz from an electical appliance don't seem so funny. Tread lightly.

Ansil: Is there more to your page than the entry page? I get a 404 when I click on the Penguin.

I don't think the tube vice solid state is an either or. The amp is just one link in the tone chain. I'm not a metal player, or enthusiast, I play and listen to jazz. Kenny Burelll is known for his tone, and I've seen him live with several different amps. Oddly enough, I couldn't hear the difference. I'm assuming because so much of his tone comes from his archtop and from his attack. I have a blackface Fender Deluxe Reverb, with an Eminence speaker, a Yamaha g100 solid state amp, and a cheapo Kustom 16R practice amp. I like the Fender tone, but the tubes are shot and the amp needs some tlc. I've been looking around at new amps and here's what I think of the tube v. ss choices: Tubes Pro: Plenty of amps with the tones I like (jazz, remember). Mesa, Victorria, Ampeg, Fender, Peavey, etc. Most of the players I like are using tubes, with the exception of Mike Stern, Jimmy Bruno, and a couple of others. Tubes Con: Fragile. Heavy. Sure, in the suburbs you might only go from parking lot to the gig. But, in the city, you might have to ride the bus or take a cab. I used to play with a stand-up base player in San Francisco and on the bus he was no man's friend. Hassle. Do I really want to change my tubes every couple of years. Is anyone else unhappy with the choice of Russian, Chinese, or NOS tubes? Where the heck should I buy the tubes? SS Pros Lighter. Reliable. No warmup. SS Con: Lot's of ss amps sound like hell. The ss amps I do like have twenty bazillion modeling options, which someone might like, but I'd never use. At the end of the day, I'll probably keep my Fender. When my kids get big enough for me to get back out, I'll buy (or build!) a small ss amp. Probably a Polytone, Evans, or a Tech21. Audio equipment in general, and especially guitar amps, are surrounded by myth and legend. I do believe that tubes are over hyped, but that has driven the amp makers to produce more tube amps in response to the hype. I don't really think I've helped you make a choice.

Javacody: I'd be really interested in your design for a little gem like amp with 7 watts out. Could you let me know what chip you're going to use and what other mods need to be made? What I'd really like to learn how to make is a 10-12 watt output clean amp, with reverb.

Polytone amps have a famous clean tone. I saw Kenny Burrell, and he played one. Gigging jazz musicians like the Polytone because they are light and durable. Jimmy Bruno also uses one. Pat Martino is currently using a Mesa Boogie amp, and used to use a variety of Fenders. He plugs his Gibson signature guitar straight into the amp. Tech21 amps have a great clean tone, although they do come with a bazillion modeling options. I'm thinking about buying one and learning to ignore most of the knobs. I saw a great woman guitarist the last time I was in NY city, and she arrived with a Tech21 in the back of a taxi. Roland amps, JC120 or the Cubes, are clean. I find them sterile, but Pat Metheny and his ilk like them. Peavey Classic 30, believe it or not, is a popular clean amp amongst jazz guitarists. Just thinking out loud here, but the Polytone is to my ears the best clean amp I've listed. But, they are hard to find. I'd probably go with the Tech21 and learn to ignore all the crazy knobs. I found a clean sample of the Tech21 on a jazz guitar news group: http://www.homepage.mac.com/getken/kenmusic/whatloveis.mp3

Yamaha makes nice guitars, for the money. I played with a guy who had a Mike Stern model, and it was a great axe. I never would have considered one before I saw how nice his guitar was. That said, this is a great time to be a guitar player. There are so many nice, affordable guitars out there. The factories are doing a great job.

I'm looking for any piointers to building a 'boutique' solid state amp for jazz guitar. Something like a Polytone Megabrute or an Evans amp. All the homebrew sites I've been able to find are about building tube amps, ax84, etc. Any links, books, or other advice would be most welcome. Thanks.

I had to open my nut up (ouch!) because I use fat (013's) strings. I used some emory paper folded over a feeler guage. Dan Erlewine suggests using the wound strings as a file.

Greetings: How wide should the center block be for a semi-hollow body guitar? I'm using a tele bridge, which is a bit less than 3 1/4 inches wide. I was going to use a humbucker in the neck. I'm thinking 4 inches is plenty wide for all the hardware, and for routing a neck pocket. Advice?

Tru Oil is a great product, but you can also use Watco oil penatrating varnish. You can find it a Home Despot, or any well stocked hardware store. Tru Oil is usually stocked, in little, overpriced bottles, at gun stores (for finishing stocks).

Can you believe that Nike hasn't got after him for that swoosh shaped f-hole Hopefully, I'll get a chance to start bending my sides this weekend. Anyone have any thoughts on how a formica top will stand up to a string through (the formica will be backed by the poplar center block)? I'd like to avoid ferrels in the top. Thanks for the girlbrand link. I really like his "anti-birds eye" stance.

As far as using wood grained laminates: my feeling is that it isn't wood, so why fake it? HPL laminate is a cool material in it's own right and is available in some stunning finishes. I made my 4yo daughter a bookshelf with this cool, lavender colored Formica that looks like a color wash type of finish. The material is so easy to work with. The red laminate you are consindering sound cool. I considered a solid red top, with matte black sides and back, but didn't want to buy two sheets until I was sure of how they sound. The low end Martin acoustics use some type of HPL for the sides and backs. Over at the MIMF, lots of people are making acoustic instruments with HPL sides and backs, still using tone woods for the tops. Another advantage of HPL as a guitar material is the complete lack of finishing. Just wipe with a wet rag and play!

I'm using Illawarra Brush, which I just ordered. You can find it here: http://www.wilsonart.com/laminate/consumer...ts/viewitem.asp Select the pattern from the pulldown. I'm using grade 350 HPG, the horizontal postformable grade. I practiced bending on some scraps from a local kitchen/bath shop. The sides are going to be 2 inch thick, with binding strips top and bottom for the top/back. I have a poplar center strip wide enough for the bridge and pick-ups. Black TOM bridge and a Seymour Duncan Alnico 2 neck pick-up (no bridge p-up, I play modern jazz). I'm using a Stewmac neck, only because they are inexpensive and I wanted to keep this one simple, in case it doesn't work out. I'd prefer to use a shorter scale neck, and if all goes well, will make the next one myself. I'm 'borrowing' a shape from Pagelli, http://www.pagelli.com: http://www.pagelli.com/e/2instrum/image/gr...orne_body_g.jpg Between work and my kids, I'm moving really slow. I"ll post pictures when I get something done.

I'm building a Formica guitar, actually I'm using WilsonArt laminate, and it bends fine using a heat pipe. That's how Bill Machrome built the formicaster. The trick is using the postformable products -- those products designed to be bent using heat. Dunno about Maonite.