Meanwhile back in Finland...

**Fumbles** · 05-10-2018, 04:10

I dig your pedalboard man!! Not to get into what could appear to be a dick swinging contest....but I'll post mine at some point. I have some pedals you might like......you definitely have some I like. I want to get the new ElectroHarmonix Big Muff Pi Triangle. It's only $99 and it sounds interesting on the demo's. They say it sounds as good as the originals. The Russian Big Muff is nice too.

I'll put up Whitey..... the Strat I mentioned that I had built with the Charvel neck. At least.....I 'believe' it's a Charvel neck.....it has no logo on it. I bought it at Guitar Center Hollywood around '84 and that's what they said it was. It too has a Floyd, routed body and is a SSH config. The S's are Seymour Duncan hum bucking....stacked coils....I hate them. The bridge is a DM Super Distortion I had potted. It was my main axe for years man!

Speaking of Guitar Center Hollywood. Some years ago they started selling used vintage guitars and amps. You should see their inventory...I was just in there. It's sick man what they have. Sick fucking prices too!!

**AK-Gunner** · 06-10-2018, 16:12

Originally Posted by Grim

If you don't come right, it's not a train smash, but would be great if you did.

Sorry Grim, all my contacts are attending a SRA competition in Rovaniemi this weekend. We have to plan something together during your next visit here in Finland

**AK-Gunner** · 06-10-2018, 16:51

Meanwhile back in Finland.... The president of Finland Sauli Niinistö (in the center with his reading glasses on the top of his nose) sat on stairs because he couldn't find a free seat in the full auditorium. This happened today at Turku Book Fair. Yes, he was offered a seat, but he said it's OK, cause he was late. Actually he was late because he just got off the stage where he was leisurely talking about a rather critical book about his use of power as a president...

**Fumbles** · 06-10-2018, 18:43

I really like that, no standing on ceremony. But where is his detail? The US Secret Service would never allow that...regardless of what our President wanted. And......with all the crazy left wing loons here who hate him, along with their country, who knows what they would do to him.

**AK-Gunner** · 06-10-2018, 18:58

The presidential detail (one guy) is taking president's dog for a piss in a park... Literally. I have accidentally met two of our past presidents in public who were protected by just one adjutant/close protection officer at the moment: Urho Kekkonen and Martti Ahtisaari and one ex-president with no detail, not even one man, Mauno Koivisto.

It's a bit different way of things around here.

How about your pedalboard? And did you notice my quiz (big prizes for the winner!):

Naming the loops makes it easier to remember which one does what, but can you guess what does the name "TOM S." stand for? (OCD -> Compressor -> Chorus -> Delay)

**KK20** · 07-10-2018, 01:37

AK-Gunner , if i may

**Fumbles** · 07-10-2018, 08:06

Originally Posted by AK-Gunner

How about your pedalboard? And did you notice my quiz (big prizes for the winner!):

Naming the loops makes it easier to remember which one does what, but can you guess what does the name "TOM S." stand for? (OCD -> Compressor -> Chorus -> Delay)

Tom Scholtz.......ie Rockman.

Also here is Whitey......a Strat I built. Paul C's body, real Floyd Rose, Charvel neck (I'm told) Seymour Duncan Classic Strat Stacks and a DiMarzio Super Distortion (potted)
This is Whitey.

This is Blackface. Blackie is the real deal......a 1964 Stratocaster I have had since 1970.

She has had a hard life and stuck with me through thick and thin and some really lean, bad years. The neck, body, pickups, bridge block and plate, jackplate, spring claw, string tree and pick guard are the same as day one....but other stuff deteriorated over the years...especially when I lived in Durban which is 'Rust Central'. I've replaced the saddles a couple times, the tuners are now the 4th set on there...Kluson Deluxes, Lord knows how many selector switches it has had, pots etc etc and it's got Schaller strap pins.

It was originally Fiesta Red.....and like a douchenozzle I had it painted white 'cos I wanted it to look like Jimi's Woodstock Strat. Then I tired of that and sent it to a guy who painted motorcycle tanks and other parts, fenders and side covers etc. I asked him to paint it black.......and the ...ahem, idiot...bless his heart......took it down to bare wood and then painted it without filing in the grain. Really nasty. That was around '78, '79 or thereabouts. It has remained unchanged since then.

Now I want to send it to have it done properly and painted Fiesta Red again.

**AK-Gunner** · 07-10-2018, 21:31

Originally Posted by KK20

AK-Gunner , if i may

Anytime K², anytime!

Originally Posted by Fumbles

Tom Scholtz.......ie Rockman.

Now this was an amazing answer and I feel dumb for not thinking about him, but this time I meant a tune, not a prog deity: Tom Sawyer by one of my favourite bands (up until 1989) Rush

Just writing a song which sounds like a crossover between Rush and AC/DC with a hint of modern melodic prog-metal. Genres? Specialization is for insects, I like diversity was it a song or military tactics.

Wow, your pedalboard looks a lot like my previous version (plus some boxes I've yet had a chance to test) which I streamlined hard: I really got tired of executing a frantic tap dance four to five times per a tune to keep up with sound changes needed for the particular part. Had to let some of my least used ones go, but we'll see, maybe I'll just buy me even larger pedalboard to compensate...

This is when I was pondering what should I use and what should I ditch.

My favourite chorus ever, Italian Costalab Choruslab is missing, because hadn't I repaired it yet when taking this photo. Also there's one box I'd love to love, the Ibanez TS9, but I keep installing it on my pedalboard just to remove it in a while. Which in fact I already did. It just sounds too harsh to my ears or something, nevertheless taking away the joy of playing. Many guys make it sound superb, like SRV, but not me, go figure... Instead I have two BOSS Super Overdrives (the proverbial Toyota Corolla of stomp boxes): one stock made in Korea and one MIJ I bought in early 80's I modded to sound a bit more like TS9, but with the inherent softness of the BOSS box.

As you probably noticed, I don't have a Wah pedal in my setup: I'll add it on front of the board if I'm playing a cover gig, but no Joint Patrol song has a Wah effect on them, AutoWah would be nice addition while soloing though. But I do have two volume pedals, one just before last two delay effects (I can cut the signal letting the delay sound ring into eternity) and the other is an expression pedal for RE-20 delay unit.

Delay with compression is the fundamental basis for my guitar sound, this is why I have four delay units on my signal path the last being an ancient BOSS RDD 20 Micro Rack digital delay super glued for 440 millisecond delay, located in the effects loop of my Fender Blues Deluxe RI amp. In the next picture it can be seen on top of the amp with my wireless receiver. On the floor is my previous setup with two BOSS BCB-60 pedalboards with the expression pedal on the side.

A question: are you happy with your Mad Professor AutoWah? I'd love to get one, so I'd appreciate your opinion...

The beautiful Whitey seems to have a Charvel neck, one just has to wonder why the decal is missing...

Please do get the blackface restored to its original glory! Can't wait to see it ready

My next music gear project? Six years ago when taking some computers and other assorted electronics stuff to be recycled, I just happened to see something interesting amongst the old TV sets and such: a 1964-1965 Hagström 310 10 watt guitar tube amplifier. Took it home, opened it, fixed some lethal wiring issues (apparently the very reason it was thrown away) and tested it: basically it worked, but it was in dire need for capacitor and pot maintenance. Today I thought I might give it a look and I think this will be quite straightforward op. Hope I didn't just jinx it...

Some of the capacitors and pots I need to replace...

Here's all I need to replace. The pots were worn so much out of specs they are totally unsalvageable...

The preamp tubes are kind of rock & roll moon rocks: vintage British Mullard and equally vintage Phillips version of the very same Mullard 12AX7/ECC83.

There will be more Gunsite compatible postings, since in a week and a half I'm going on a few day's trip to the eastern borderlands with a shooting pal just to take some selfies and such, but I just can't make up my mind on what kind of weaponry to take with me, be it a pistol, a rifle, a shotgun, a grenade launcher or some or all of them.

The parameters of the "op":

- lots of travelling on foot on somewhat challenging terrain with open areas, thick bush, marshland and hills
- long days, walking a lot
- the weight of the gear (the weapons excluded) is just under 30% of my body weight of about 0.11 metric tonnes
- we must be stealthy
- we must be able to operate in the dark
- our most probable adversary is a pissed off bear we stumble upon
- note: not a hunting trip

A question to anybody: What would be your choice?

It's getting a bit chilly around here this time of year, but luckily the guy I'm going with is more or less impervious to the cold....

**BBT** · 07-10-2018, 23:01

Yikes. He'd probably have to send out a search party to find his nuts!!

**Fumbles** · 08-10-2018, 05:26

Originally Posted by BBT

Yikes. He'd probably have to send out a search party to find his nuts!!

Well most likely they'd be frozen solid, up somewhere under his ears.That's hard core.

A question: are you happy with your Mad Professor AutoWah? I'd love to get one, so I'd appreciate your opinion...

The beautiful Whitey seems to have a Charvel neck, one just has to wonder why the decal is missing...

I'm by no means an autowah expert but yes I am happy with it. The problem is when I change guitars and go from a Strat with single coils to a hum bucker guitar. You have to fuck with the settings to get that wah to really pop. A LOT has to do with setting the sensitivity and rolling back on the guitar volume a little...say to 8 or so. But once set right it quacks man.

What I need to do is get a couple of those grease pencil things in different colors and make marks where the best settings are. I should do this will most of the ones that are sensitive to small changes....like when they are in the soft case and they can get tweaked while being transported around.......especially the Keeley Comp Plus. Or board tape. I have some 1/4" in white around somewhere.

There was one other auto was I was researching and I forget what it was now. LOL!! Anyway the Snow White won out.

I have to say man......not a pedal to overdrive. Maybe the other way around send the auto was to the distortion pedals.....but still, I think a clean sound is better. Mine is in front of my drive pedals.....when I get a chance I'll try it out and see what happens. I'll let you know.

As far as the neck......I have wondered if it was some other make. It's not a Warmoth or a Mighty Mite. There was another neck manufacturer at one point but I forgot their name. Forgetting a lot lately! LOL!!! Maybe someone had it and sanded the decals off. Does your neck have any other identifying marks on it to say it is a Charvel..... in the neck pocket area say?