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Jeff R

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Everything posted by Jeff R

  1. I received an update from Ms. Johnny B this morning via Facebook ... today is John's 70th birthday. ----------------------- Hi Jeff - MrsButler here. MrB has had a pretty significant cognitive decline. There have been so many messages from friends and family for his birthday today, I'm going to see if he'll let me help him take a stab at posting something but it's kind of frustrating to find things he once mastered be so confusing. He loves loves loves all those pics of you and your kids. He remembers their names and the stories you told and sometimes it brings him to tears. Please know that even as some things change, you are still a cherished friend and continue to add comfort to his life. I'm grateful for that blessing. I'm still trying to figure out how to help him stay connected with the outside world but the using the computer isn't as simple as it used to be. If you could let the HFC know - not sure if you knew that was how he and I reconnected after a 24 year lapse. Again - profound gratitude here. But today's his birthday so we'll venture out for some BigBand tonight if he's up to it. Thank you again ~deb
  2. That's the reflection of stage lights on the saddles. They were Ibanez's standard "cosmic black."
  3. I prefer 85's A5 magnet versus 81's ceramic but it's nitpicking, I can survive just fine with either. My VR is 81/SA/SA. By the way, the second knob is not a master tone, it is EMG's fat/mid pot or whatever they called it 30+ years ago. Great at times for helping the SAs match up better with the 81. I keep it rolled down for the most part. 89 is said to be just an 85 that splits to become a SA all in one casing. My main guitar in my last gigging band (variety rock and dance covers) was 85/SA/89, with a hidden push-pull in the knob to make it 85/SA/SA on the fly. Versatile, quiet, never got shocked by a mic on a poorly grounded stage ... can't complain.
  4. If you want to pay a tech his or her bench rate to make a hidden compartment appeasing to the visually anal retentive OCD, by all means make the $$$ rain. But here's some advice from a guy who works on guitars all day ... * Uncut pickup leads not only keep warranties and (in the case of new ones) OTC exchange policies intact, long leads also ensure pickups can be swapped between guitars down the road without having to operate on them to replace short-cut leads. * When a pot or a toggle gets loose in a cavity or on a pickguard from simple use, slack in the wiring helps keep the wires connecting components from breaking. You can simply retighten and be done with it. Guess what happens when pots and switches and jacks linked by taut connections break? The guitar flatlines and you're dead in the water on stage or in the studio. That's not smart. * Excess length connection wire makes it faster and easier for me the tech - which means cheaper for you the wallet - if I have to swap an intermittent or kaput pot, switch or jack. I can just cut the old, boogered tip off the existing wire(s) and re-solder. Taut wires often have to be replaced entirely. Again, cute for The Gear Page and the IPG (Internet Peanut Gallery) but totally impractical.
  5. It will be interesting to see not only the negative effect a Mesquite move has on The Show Formerly Known As Arlington, but also the residual boon effect on DIGF. I'm glad I already reserved prime location booth space (and a big'un at that) for Dallas in May.
  6. Echotone was MIK. Shouldn't it use a metric Allen key instead of a bucket wrench? StewMac has long-bucket wrenches and an huge assortment of hex key tools that work where others can't reach.
  7. I'll treat that as a segue for relevant photos.
  8. https://reverb.com/item/74717281-hamer-usa-centura-custom-one-off-vernon-reid-prototype-white-with-martin-luther-king-jr-graphic-1990-w-ohsc I think Parker (formerly of Queensryche, now the proprietor of Diablo Guitars in WA) got the MLK from Peter? Anyway, check out the FB reel in this link. Apparently it's going back to Vernon! https://www.facebook.com/reel/2117800858555632
  9. CA glue is released very easily with heat, zero issues. I usually install via arbor press. Three small dots of 30 weight gel CA on the tang and then I wick the installed fret with 10 weight water-thin CA. If I'm installing frets with a brass head hammer (F15 and up on a traditional acoustic for example), I only wick in the 10 weight CA. Even 30 weight gel can and will splatter from a hammer hit. On that note, to protect the FB from glue where it doesn't belong, you put a layer of paste wax on the surface prior to fret installation. After installation, I remove any glue seep or squeeze-out and the wax with acetone on a cloth. DO NOT get ANY acetone on modern plastic inlays or dots! Be sure to re-oil after acetone treatment in the case of FB woods other than maple. Here's the above guitar during the refret. I had finished pressing the trunk register and had moved to hammering in the body register. You can see the sheen of the paste wax on the fingerboard and the water-thin CA, it's the bottle with the whip tip applicator.
  10. I don't overbend and try to match radius with SS, even when I glue in frets. On that note, I always glue in frets now whether NS or SS, and that's after experimenting over time with multiple reps of both glue and non-glue approaches on various fingerboards. If you want DIY tips, you gotta be more specific. There are literally dozens of tasks, techniques and tool choices associated with fretwork. The most fundamental tips I'd offer would be to tool up properly and put in dozens of reps on guitars that don't matter before you take on guitars that do matter. You learn or apply something new EVERY refret job. At least I do. And watch every pro video you can put your eyes on and look for the common denominators among the pros, whether it's tool selection, fret selection, removing frets, FB and slot prep, fretwire prep, installation techniques, bevel and end dress, LCP, etc. I'd start with the DIY fretwork playlist on StewMac's YouTube channel. Since we like eye candy, here's my most recent refret. A slot head steel string Tak owned by an 85-year old gentleman in NC. He is losing hand strength due to age and asked for a refret with NS 57110s (second-largest common jumbo), conversion to nylons and super low action.
  11. Best long-term solution would be to pull the OEM bushings, dowel up and install modern FR bushings and studs. Studs dull over time, meaning trying to round up OEM posts could become a recurring PITA for you. Bench Tip: If you replace the bushings, use Garolite G10 dowel rods instead of common oak or poplar dowel material. Garolite is a fiberglass/epoxy composite that's the ultimate for FR dowel-ups. It is SUPER high density and it will not compress under string tension pressure over time like wood dowels and create leaning posts. A gunsmith turned me on to G10 decades ago and it is THE BEST dowel material. And while the common color is a pale jade green, it can be sourced in a variety of colors nowadays, meaning your dowel can be picked based on your finish color in the event some material isn't covered by the bridge's baseplate. EDITED TO ADD: This not a novice DIY job and NOT to be attempted without a drill press and proper sized, quality drill bits, so get a competent tech on the job if you're not tooled and/or don't have reps with this kind of work.
  12. ES 335s have center blocks as well, as do Epi ES clones like this Sheraton on my bench a few days ago. You work through the F holes instead of the bridge pickup cavity - see the tubing exiting the F-hole? Pull the tubing from the destination side. Same goes for LP-style toggles on the bass side of a center block. It can be tricky getting full sized pots and toggle through the F-hole, but there's always one angle/approach through the widest point of the F-hole that the component will somehow squeeze through. That's how they got in there in the first place. CTS's 500K mini pots are killer for this job.
  13. Here's how you do work in general in a S/H without access panels, courtesy of HFC alumnus Roy. Watch all three! The necessary "tools" are aquarium tubing (PERFECT for this job) and thin long and nimble fingers. Among the "tricks" are doing what you can outside the guitar and/or inside with said thin, long and nimble fingers without the tubing (toggle, vol pots, bridge tone pot), Plus BULLETPROOF soldering and harness organization; and experience/repetitions.
  14. Thank you for the kind words and my pleasure to be of service. You are so great to work with, Arnie, I look forward to next time! And thank you Mitch for the generosity that made the magic happen. For some tone, touch and versatility samples, here's a demo vid courtesy of my good friend Matt Schultz (a south Louisiana replant from Kentucky who's rising in the ranks of first-call New Orleans hire/session guitarists) ... plus a raw camera phone vid of yours truly bench testing the Carondelet 90 dogear that still resides in my restored '55 Junior. Matt and I both use old Boogie Mark series amps.
  15. Carondelet's only booth presence in DFW is the spring Dallas show, it's a better demographic for our products. Arlington is a little more vintage-centric. I joke that you go to the Dallas show if you need a good Strat, you go to Arlington if you want a pristine Strat from your birth year with OHSC and hang tags. We planned to simply attend Arlington because I haven't been to a show in a non-working capacity in years. But we recently signed on Carondelet for our debut booth presence at the Phoenix Guitar Show first weekend of November. I need every weekend between now and then to prep. PGS is hosted at Roberto-Venn, one of America's most respected luthiery schools. My Shack apprentice of two years (who doubles as my youngest daughter)is presently attending R/V in their advanced repair techniques curriculum. We get to exhibit, we get to visit our daughter, no-brainer win-win.
  16. Sure it can be done with humbuckers - Gibson has offered Varitone circuitry (pointer knob atop a numbered poker chip) since the 1950s. Gretsch had the "mud switch" which is a similar principle, just fewer caps from which to select. Remember the BC Rich guitars will all the knobs and switches? Their chicken head was a VT.
  17. For the social media non-participants ... Greg Platzer just finished a pretty impressive transformation on a Blitz. Scroll through to watch this one go from sh!tter to glitter ...
  18. OFR lists its blocks as nickel plated brass but I don't think (aka absolutely speculating) that has always been the case. A very fast Google search offered no insight as to different Floyd Rose tremolo block alloys over the ages. I think the 17mm spread fixing screws refers to how the block connects to the plate. I can't recall seeing any Floyd or Schaller with screws to hold the springs in the block, only Gotoh and Gotoh-built Ibanez Edge trems. Oversized block will necessitate cavity mods if you want to have the same huge range of motion in either trem direction. I say stick with stock or close to stock dimensions. Tungsten blocks are in the marketplace. FU-Tone sells titanium blocks and copper blocks too. Titanium is like $440-460, just insane. Sounds rabbit holey, I'll defer.
  19. TV Jones not only makes some of the best Trons on the market IMHO, they make versions that are a direct fit to a standard HB ring. My favorites are a duet of TV Jones Classics, or Classic/Classic Plus, 500K pots, .022 cap(s)
  20. HFC tribal elder content ... "two" in the number of Greg Platzer custom built basses and "four" in the number of Carondelet bass pickups in Elwood Francis's growing stable. FYI, outside of being a friend of over 20 years, Greg is Carondelet's biggest volume buyer between pickups in his personal guitars, his custom builds and his repair/upgrade/resto clients' axes. I now wind his Carondelet "Gregbuckers" (his former "Gregwinds" with an added tweak), and while he may be pulling my leg 😉, he tells me my variation is his favorite version to date. Thanks again for everything you do and have done for all'us, Ted.
  21. It is such a shame this didn't happen before Dave's passing. And I really miss our phone calls and hang outs. I have pickup clients who were former Robin Guitars endorsers - Steve Blaze of Lillian Axe (NOLA) and Scott Dalhover of Dangerous Toys (Austin). E-mail me if you'd like their contact information for book content.
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