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I find it funny.  Back 20 years ago when the Protone series came out (which were great guitars), they discontinued them because they were chewing into the MIM Standard sales.  Now they're building "slightly" better Affinities and marking the as "Standards", and selling them for 30% than Classic Vibes (which on spec are superior).

Don't get me wrong - I love CVs.  I have four of them in my office right now.  Fantastic mod platforms.

Well I may as well necro this thread so I can be part of the cool kids club too.  Broke open the pedal parts tote for the first time in 10 years last weekend because I wanted to build a Lightspeed.  First thing I noticed is my eyesight is a lot worse at 48 lol.....

Went through all my old unfinished boards and managed to find 80% of the build docs.  We'll see how it goes.

Heeeeeyyy man, great to see you. I've been wearing reading glasses in addition to my regular glasses for years now . I think about you every time I pickup that SG. Looking forward to some build reports.


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Thanks Jimi, good to see you as well.  Yeah, reading ICs and diodes are a little harder now.  Fortunately I was clearly pretty meticulous about sorting them many moons back so at least it's not determining which of 4 types of ICs I;m looking at as opposed to hundreds.

Whittled the collection down to the high 50s, but somehow it's back in the 80s.

Oh man. Every time I sell a guitar, I seem to buy 3 more. At last count, I was in the 60s, myself.


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I like to think I had some influence in that.  That being said, I haven't bought a new guitar in years because prices are just insane.  The fact that Fender has rebranded Squiers and are now calling them "Standards" is an aboration.

Well I may as well necro this thread so I can be part of the cool kids club too.  Broke open the pedal parts tote for the first time in 10 years last weekend because I wanted to build a Lightspeed.  First thing I noticed is my eyesight is a lot worse at 48 lol.....

Went through all my old unfinished boards and managed to find 80% of the build docs.  We'll see how it goes.

Heeeeeyyy man, great to see you. I've been wearing reading glasses in addition to my regular glasses for years now . I think about you every time I pickup that SG. Looking forward to some build reports.


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Thanks Jimi, good to see you as well.  Yeah, reading ICs and diodes are a little harder now.  Fortunately I was clearly pretty meticulous about sorting them many moons back so at least it's not determining which of 4 types of ICs I;m looking at as opposed to hundreds.

Whittled the collection down to the high 50s, but somehow it's back in the 80s.

Well I may as well necro this thread so I can be part of the cool kids club too.  Broke open the pedal parts tote for the first time in 10 years last weekend because I wanted to build a Lightspeed.  First thing I noticed is my eyesight is a lot worse at 48 lol.....

Went through all my old unfinished boards and managed to find 80% of the build docs.  We'll see how it goes.

IIRC, Dan Huff was a big Tyler user.

Been listening to an obscene amount of metal during my hiatus from the workforce.  This one's managed to bury itself in the back of my brain.

It's been a lousy couple of days for rock n roll deaths.

I like hearing everyones thoughts on this subject, I think Alanp hit it on the head. Listen to Jack Pearson killing it on a squier and you realize its not the gear but the player.

Muadzin, I forgot about TGP, I remember it from long ago being a somewhat civilplace and a good way to score deals on gear but about 7 years ago I remember just thinking "not for me". Opinions are like assholes everyone has one and everyone thinks everyone elses stinks

what guitar are you looking for Dan?

2012 PRS Studio with 57/08 pickup in the bridge, it is easily one of the best guitars I have ever played and for what I like to do it would tick a lot of boxes. One day........

Le me check the year on mine, it's either a 10 or a 12, and I've been considering moving it.

From the practical standpoint, you could build yourself a fairly decent complete rig for 3500, so it's hard to wrap your head around that kind of number for a three knob pedal with $30 of components in it, especially if you've built one (dozen).  I don't know that in my heyday of gear buying I would spend 3500 on any one thing, it would have to have been a Private Stock build for that kind of money.  That, and I'd actually have to commit to playing again if I blew mortgage money on a pedal.

From a collectors point of view if money were no issue, sure, why not. 

Had Mod Jab #1 yesterday with my wife.  Felt really good for 6 hours, then outright crashed (i.e. slept) for 12 hours, and today feel fine beside a little injection pain.  Bonnie didn't fair quite as well,  joint pain and general lethargy today, but she typically has those reactions to the flu shot as well.

#2 scheduled second week of June.

Which one did the two of you get? Very busy at the venue?
dave

Modern a.  Wasn't busy, but it was a very small pharmacy so by definition it can't be that busy.

Had Mod Jab #1 yesterday with my wife.  Felt really good for 6 hours, then outright crashed (i.e. slept) for 12 hours, and today feel fine beside a little injection pain.  Bonnie didn't fair quite as well,  joint pain and general lethargy today, but she typically has those reactions to the flu shot as well.

#2 scheduled second week of June.

In a build that calls for a 47nf capacitor for example.. if the cap only tests at 43nf due to the tolerance variance, will that cause issues with the build?

Dave's right, but it depends on the build.  In a Fuzz/OD/Distortion, you'd likely not notice a whole lot of difference if any, because they're (typically) lower part count builds and their job is pushing the front end of an amp, not modulating the signal.  In a higher parts count complex build (like a delay), a single lower tolerance component would likely not be noticed, but if (for example) the majority of your components were all consistently under spec, you might notice a cumulative result, but then again, you'd likely need a 100% spec built pedal beside it to compare to to tell the difference.

I generally measure most of my components before I install them, and anything that's way out of spec gets sorted into the "use on a veroboard build for a random build" bag.  I typically measure all my pots when I receive them, and mark their readings so I know if I'm building an expensive part build that I'm using as near spec as I can be.

If the build calls for an oscilloscope, you might want to leave that project for a few years until you've got your feet wet.  Brian (and others) have done a really good job in defining difficulty levels of builds, and it's advisable to start from the ground up.  It'll take a while until you've exhausted those options.  And everyone needs to build every variant possible of the BMP.

Don't cheap out on the soldering iron.  Not saying you need to buy a Hakko right away (though you won't regret buying it), but getting the cheapest one available is equally unadvisable.  Adjustable output would be advantageous, as you can then dial it in for the solder you're using.

A good set of flush cutting snips is nice.  Big bulky wire cutters meant for household wring are not so much fun.  Xcelite or Knipex would be my choice, but they're expensive.  But the cheap ones tend not to last.  And never, EVER, cut a guitar string with them.

Don't cheap out on the wire strippers either.  Yes you can pick up cheap ones, but they tend to do a lousy job and break.  I think I settled on a pair of adjustable Irwins I really liked (I haven't unpacked my build kit in a long time).

A good quality step bit for drilling enclosures.

Audio probes are fairly easy to build on your own, and there are boards out there for them as well.

A good desk lamp/magnifying glass.

A small fan to blow the soldering fumes away.

A power bar with dedicated lit switch which sits on top of your build desk which EVERYTHING is plugged in to.  Because you're going to forget to turn your iron off, so if it's running off a power bar and you turn that off, you're covered.

In the late 90's a girlfriend of mine found a decent working Ibanez X shaped guitar in an abandoned garage. She said to do whatever I wanted with it so I set it on fire and bashed it to pieces against a large tree. ... for the experience.

Edit: not saying you should do this... just presenting an option

My first electric was an Ibanez X Series, which eventually got cut to pieces.  But given the secondary market nostalgia prices for X series guitars in recent times, I kind of wish I hadn't.....

I've always donated my "Not worth the cost of shipping" guitars to local music organizations or churches, which in turn get them in to the hands of kids who want to learn.  That being said, I've always made sure they're playable with at least a decent set up and cleaning before they leave, as to give the new learners a platform to start with.