New Guitar Day!

Just when you thought it was safe to go to Sam Ash . . . I run into this!

The Hamer Sunburst Archtop in Transparent Black. Never thought I was a Trans Black person until I met this beaut. I had secretly been coveting a replacement for my Les Paul, due to the weight and ergonomic concerns of that guitar. I ran into this, for the paltry sum of $239 (it seems Sam Ash is closing them out), and what a guitar it is! It has a full maple cap on top of mahogany (That picture with the finish scraped away proves it), the electronics actually worked, the pickups sound really nice (Great PAF tone) and the ergonomics are unreal.

Amp Progress

I had a nice day in the shop on Saturday. Now all we're waiting on is Tolex. The frame for holding the amp at an angle is done, the grill frame is complete (and made from one piece of 3/4" plywood, I might add. Literally, I will cover it with tolex when it comes in, mount everything, and be able to fire it up. Things are getting exciting.

3 Days of Sawdust

I spent three days last week in the shop with the amp. My dad and I had to plane and rip a whole mess of Oak, so he offered me to make the amp out of solid Red Oak instead of plywood. I jumped at the chance. So after we had gone through the stack of wood, we found a couple of cosmetically challenged but solid boards for me to use.

Afte ripping the pieces to size, we dadoed the sides, to make the joint between the sides and top/bottom, and to accommodate the inset pieces for the back. Then, we used a cable clamp to glue and nail the whole thing together.

The next day, I made the baffle and rounded over the edges. The baffle was . . . interesting to make, because I had to cut circles by hand. . . . just a bit stressful. It turned out well, though.

I also mounted the rails for the baffle on day 2. The plan is to mount the baffle to these rails, and then use a 3/4" piece of plywood to make the grille frame, and velcro it directly to the baffle, simplifying the construction.

On Saturday, I painted and mounted the baffle, and devised the system for holding the amp chassis in place. It should make for a very sturdy amp.

Footstompin' DIY

In playing with my new Mosfet 100, I was at first bewildered by the lack of a channel-switching button, pull-pot, or anything. I thought, well, here goes $80, let me plug a 1/4" phone plug into the footswitch jack and hope nothing blows up. . .

And it activated the boost channel! So upon closer examination, the jack was a shorting jack. When nothing's plugged into it, it short-circuits the whole jack, and the normal channel is activated. When you open the circuit (by sticking a plug in the jack), the boost channel comes on. Fairly simple.

So with a paper clip, I shorted the plug, and as expected, the normal channel came back.

So, from there a footwswitch was no big deal. I had a spare switchcraft jack and 2pdt footswitch, but what would I enclose it with? I thought about an Altoids Box, but that wouldn't stand up to the rigors of ROCK. The only other thing I had at the house was a Schedule 40 4" PVC Cap. Voila! Now, would a PVC Cap footswitch be Emo, or Punk?