Recent content by Alan W

Well, I’ve always been a sucker for grid based point to point. It’s lovely to see an example that I could attemp.

Weird! Alcohol really shouldn’t have any effect on powder coating. Makes me think it wasn’t properly baked, or that their powder was a bit off. (But you knew all that!) I doubt mineral spirits will do much of anything, but might be worth a try. Maybe on the base plate first. I’m looking forward...

Are the holes (in the bridge plate) for the main (through body) strings large enough to allow you to deal with the offset? Otherwise I can’t figure out how you got your strings through, and the new bridge plate in the correct location. But.., that’s not important since it looks like everything’s...

No, from my memory the saddle holes and the bridge plate holes will not line up if you switch the entire “upper” assemblies; the bridge plate you’re using has the holes aligned with the straight across tele standard, and the Gotoh staggers them. This I do remember.

I added a shim idea after you had replied… Looking at your photos, I don’t see an issue. I took off an octave part and measured it, to see if you can spot sizing issues. Forgive the quick drawing.

Now I wish I had taken some photos of that Amazon bridge… the Gotoh octaves are the correct height, but I’m not sure if the screw locations will work out. I even thought about doing that switch when I had them both here (before sending back the Amz one) and there was a reason (which my 75 yr old...

My whole frame of reference for the LA2A is my Effectrode LA1A, which is about the most perfect pedal I've ever used. But I'm always amazed at how close I can get the General Tso to sound to it (at least for the settings that I usually use it at, which is very low compression and just a hint of...

This is a favorite pedal of mine, especially at 18 volts. (The sag doesn’t work as effectively at this higher voltage though.)

Most of the soldering I’ve done has been for stereo equipment I was building or modifying. Low noise was always a major priority. Along with minimizing phase issues. Layout and shielding are top priorities. I’d say that having multi layer boards with ground planes, and using surface mount...

Your comment about line of sight is right on the money, at least for me, and I hadn’t thought of that regarding that Accugroove cabinet. I’m really used to having my amps on the ground, about 6 feet away, facing right at my face. So I’m getting the beaming from my combos. That cab I’ve never...

It’s complicated! A bunch of years ago I built a small battery powered 1/2 watt amp, and used a 6 inch MOD speaker in it as a compromise in size. I always felt guitar sounded a bit emasculated through it, but discovered that my 5 string fretless bass sounds great (albeit at fairly low volumes…)...

You’d want to use a printer than can work with higher heat filaments—even with great soldering technique, I’d imagine that PLA wouldn’t do well.

I’ve always “rolled” short pieces of wire between two flat boards to get them straight. Something like MDF scraps is perfect for this. Very neat work!

At this point (and for the first time in my life!) I have 3 amps, but for pedals I first go with the most "neutral" (in this case meaning "blackface", even though I get that there's a mid scoop there)—which is the Allen Encore that I built from a kit about 5 or 6 years ago. (More our less a...

At least for me, I have greater expectations with more expensive items—pretty much with anything. And no matter where it falls on the “expensive” scale—one persons bargain is another’s stretch, to an extent. That said, I think that we’re closer to having some sort of parity (between true...