The Voodoo That You Do: Part 2

Two and a half years ago I wrote a blog post called, "The Voodoo That You Do."  It was about my Crate Blue Voodoo amplifier, and the changes I made to it.  It would help to read it first to understand this post a little better.

The Voodoo That You Do

In my previous post I made a few changes to the Blue Voodoo amplifier to help the gain stage.  Namely, so I could find a sweet spot between clean and angry bees.  Changing the preamp tubes did help that, but there were still other problems.

The Blue Voodoo is notorious for having an over the top treble with weak mids and bass.  I was searching online, and it seems there are mods you can do (or rather a professional) to help balance the amplifier.

I took these mods to the best amplifier technician in town, Pro Audio Electronics of Tampa (run by Mike Jay) along with my Crate Blue Voodoo BV120.  He looked them over, and said they were pretty neat, but reminded me that an amp will only be as good as whoever thought up the mods.  In other words, he could perform the mods, but he couldn't guarantee what they would sound like.

Here they are copy and pasted from the website I found.

Okay- for this thread we are talking specifically about the BV120H. Either version. 

There are slight differences between the preamps but they are slight. The potentiometers are constructed differently as well, the blue tolex are plastic shaft and low turning resistance. The black tolex ones are metal shaft and higher turning resistance. These shafts also have a tendency to pull out during removal of the knobs. Never install the knobs until EVERYTHING else is completed.

The tone stack will be simplified and reshaped. Parts will be replaced with different values components or removed altogether. Nothing more fancy than that. Also keep in mind the modifications are not set in stone- you can pick and chose which ones to do.

clip C8
clip C17 - it robs some of the high mids
clip R101 (the 47k in parallel with the mid pot and R26) - more range of mids
change C14 to 390pF - more high mids
change R28 to 1k - bigger range of bass, you can have less bass or more bass.
change C16 to .047uF - if you need more low mids
Change R24, to 100k more resistance will give you more highs and apparent tightness in the bass.
lower R25 if you think you need more highs. most tone stacks don't have R25, replaced with jumper.

Change treble to 250kA and mids to probably 100kA or 250kA.

After talking to Mike there were a few things mods I didn't have done.  First, since there were already enough highs, there was no need to change R24.  The same with R25.  There was no need to change or mod it since it already had enough highs.  

Also, it didn't need the pots changed.  Both treble pots were already 250KL.  So changing them to 250KA would only end up changing the taper.  Nothing else.

So the mods were performed, and now comes the question, "How does it sound?"  Well, it still has a bunch of treble.  The mids and bass were both brought up a lot more.  I still could have used more.  But I will say it has a much more balanced tone.  I will agree that it has a wider range of mids and bass.

The next question I'm sure is, "Enough with the talk!  I wanna see some video action!"  Well, I would too.  However, I can't seem to cut the video down enough that I can download it on here.  Honestly what Blogger wants me to do is download the video to YouTube, and then connect it over here.  

"So why don't you do that?"  Well, I don't want to put up with YouTube trolls.  On here I can control comments with greater control.  It's just become more trouble than I want to deal with for putting up a video.    

The final decision comes to this.  I wanted an edgier/ higher gain Fender American rock sound that would crunch at lower volumes.  The Blue Voodoo does this with all these mods.  But the question comes up, "How much did you (me) spend to achieve this sound?"  

I think I only bought the amp for $200 or less.  I may have paid $150 for it.

The power tubes came out of another amp that shouldn't have had 6L6 tubes in it.  So that was a good deal.  Especially considering they are Mesa Boogie tubes.

The preamp tubes were a bit pricey since I went with the not so standard, 12AY7 tubes.  I bought two of them for $17 a piece (including shipping.)  

I was also hit with a repair bill for the Blue Voodoo.  The heater supply wasn't working and there were a few intermittent connections.  So that added to the bill.

And finally, there was the cost of the mods.  

So if you add all that up it was north of $500.  Looking at the cost I might have been better off buying an "Evil" Twin Reverb.

You can find either the 1980's or 1990's version at around $500.  Now, I could have run into the same problem that if I bought an older Fender, it might need repairs just due to it's age.  There's always a chance it would need a complete re-tube, re-cap, and biasing.  

So, pricewise it's always a complete crapshoot when dealing with older equipment.  I always wanted a Crate Blue Voodoo and now I have one I really like.  I'm also happy to put the mods out there as they have worked for me and a host of other players.  Just remember, no matter what you play have fun with it.  

When Ordering From China...

After many years I was starting to run out of hookup wire for all my guitars and guitar repair projects.  So it was time to purchase some new wire.  Normally I would go to Radio Shack, but they've closed all their stores near me.  I checked out Home Depot, but they generally sell really huge rolls of wire.

So I thought, "Well, let's check on E-bay."  So I did just that.  There were quite a few sellers from China selling AWG #22 braided copper wire.  It makes sense there are so many Chinese sellers.  The Chinese buy tons of America's recycled copper.  They take that old copper and make new copper wire out of it.

I found a seller with great reviews, and bought 30 meters of red wire, 30 meters of black wire, and 10 meters of green wire.  Here's what I received.

As you can see I received a package with the red, black, and green wire.  But if you notice it was not on a roll.  Anytime I've ever bought wire it is usually on a spool, but not this time.  The wire was exactly as described.  It was good quality, and I was able to use a bit of it on a few projects.  Again, great wire.  But I still needed it to be on spools.

So, back to E-bay.  I looked up and found spools, again, from China.  Here's what I received.

I have to say, they were exactly as pictured.  Now came the fun part.  Wrapping all that wire on the spools.  Let's fast forward half an hour.  Just for the record, untangling the wire took longer than wrapping it.

The red wire was my practice run.  My wrapping got better with the black wire.  I have to say I picked the perfect spools for this amount of wire.  So what's a guy to do?  Well, order more.  So I have 30 meters of white AWG #22 wire on the way.  I also have two more spools coming, one for the white and one for the green.  

So I'd say it was a 99% success.  In all fairness, they didn't say they would ship the wire on spools.  I only assumed they would.  But it was nothing that a separate order of spools couldn't fix.  So more are on the way, and this much wire will keep me ready to fix guitars for a long time.  

The Tenor Guitar Project: Part 4

Part 1:  https://angjellockheart.blogspot.com/2019/01/new-yearnew-project-tenor-guitar-project.html

Part 2:  https://angjellockheart.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-tenor-guitar-project-part-2.html

Part 3:  https://angjellockheart.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-tenor-guitar-project-part-3.html

Next up on my to-do list for the guitar was to cut the F-holes.  I've always hated doing this part for a few reasons.  First, spruce wood is such a straight grain that it will split easily if you cut it wrong.  Second, I have a really crappy jigsaw cutter.  I don't use one enough to justify buying a higher end one.  So I have to work with what I have.  

First up I drilled holes where I could put the jigsaw blade.  I also put them in places where I would want to turn the wood around easily.  So we'll make a long story short, and say, "Boom, they came out this way."  Actually they needed a lot of sanding, cutting, filing, and worked on with various Dremel tools.  

They are definitely not perfect, but this is a blues tenor guitar.  It's supposed to have mojo.  My next job was to cut the holes for the pickups, but before I could do that I had to make sure where the bridge was going to be placed.  

Onto the template!

So I have everything laid out perfectly, and of course, that's when you run into trouble.  You see, I had put such a curve on the top plate the bridge didn't want to fit.  So I shortened the width of the bridge, and reshaped the bottom of it.

I'll admit, I may still need to fine tune it a bit later.  As you can also see in the photo above I marked (with an X) where the most pressure would be pressed on the top plate.  It is important that I mark it so I know where to put my bracing underneath.  

So now, I marked my X bracing on my template, and drew the where the pickups will go.  

  

As you can see I cut the holes for the pickups out with my trusty scalpel.  Now it came time for me to mark out where the pickups go on the top plate.  

It was time to once again use my trusty mini router.  This thing is such a life saver.

And it came out pretty good.

The pickup fits right in the hole.  So now I do the same thing for the bridge pickup.

It's almost perfect.  You see, the pickup rings are flat, and the top has a heck of an arch to it.  So I am going to have to design pickup rings for the flat pickup rings to sit onto.  The ones I will design will have a inside curve to them so they will sit flush with the body.  It will also help bring the pickups closer to the strings.  

The neck on this guitar is designed like an archtop guitar so it sits up a little higher.  The bridge is also high up, so that means I was always going to need high pickup rings to bring the pickups to their correct height.  

Now it was time to add the X bracing.  In this photo I have already rough cut the bracing beams.

My next step was to draw out where the bracing should go.

I already cut the bracing into shape and am dry fitting it.

Next up it was time to glue.

After a bit it was time to start on the other bracing beam.  

As you see I had to cut the beam in half.

Again, I cut the brace into shape and then dry fitted it.

Now it was time to "Give em' the clamps!!!"

And I perform the same steps for the other side of the brace.  I cut and dry fit it.

Then it's time to glue it up and clamp it.

Let me give it 48 hours to dry, and I'll get back to it.  

So that's where I am so far.  I'm moving right along with this project.  Stay tuned for more blog posts about it.  

Idiot Scoutmasters: The Dishwashing Paradox

This post is a continuation of my "Idiot Scoutmaster" series.  I spent a long time in the Boy Scouts of America, and dealt with a lot of idiot Scoutmasters.  Admittedly, they were volunteers and not professionals, but I still question a lot of their so-called logic to this day.

The Boy Scouts of America have a certain way to wash dishes.  It's actually a very good method.  Basically it goes like this.  You have three tubs.

The first tub is the hot water and soap tub.  This is not really any different than washing dishes at home.  You have hot water, soap, and a brush/rag.  Again, just like washing dishes at home.

The second tub is a cold water and bleach solution tub.  This is known as the cold rinse pot/tub.  So just in case the hot water and soap wasn't enough the bleach in the second tub will kill everything.

This leads to the third tub.  This is just hot water for rinsing.  Hence the name, rinse pot/tub.  The clear hot water will clean off any bleach that is remaining.  After that, hand dry and put away the dishes.  Easy right?

Well my Scoutmaster Mr. Brasher had other ideas about dishwashing.  We only used two pots since that's all that would fit on the Coleman stove.  But Mr. Brasher had a secret to dishwashing.  Let it be known that I am quoting him exactly.

"You want the dish water to be so hot that you can't touch it three times."

This, of course, lead me to the thought, "Well, how can I wash the dishes if I can't actually touch them?"  And when I say he wanted the water hot I mean like this.

I honestly saw him do this weird quick move with his finger three times in the hot water.  He would then say, it wasn't hot enough.  I looked at him like the idiot he was.  He had what looked like a trigger-finger move for quickly touching the hot water three times quickly.  He kept doing it about every minute until his finger was burned enough that he couldn't stick it back in the water.

Seriously, it hurts to even remember this.  I know what you're thinking, "Well Boy Scout, why didn't you let the dishes soak for ten minutes before you attempted to wash them?"  I have an answer you might not have thought about.

You see, I am in Florida.  I've put a thermometer in the sun during the Florida summertime.  It hit 130 degrees F. in the sun.  So think about this.  Boiling water is 212 F.  The temperature in Florida is 95 F. in the shade, and 130 F. in the sun.  So just how long will it take for the temperature of a boiling pot of water to come down to manageable levels?

Let me tell you the answer.  It doesn't.  It doesn't come down to manageable levels.  No matter how long you wait it will still burn your hands.

Since the first pot is so blasted hot Mr. Brasher figured we didn't need a second bleach tub.  So the dishes would go from the first pot (boiling water and soap), to a second pot that was just... you guessed it... more boiling water.

I'll admit, the dishes were clean, but it took us Scouts an hour to wash dishes.  And remember, we'd have to do this three times a day.  Honestly, we spent most of our time just cooking and then washing dishes on campouts.  Literally six hours a day was devoted to just cooking and washing dishes.

Now maybe that's not a bad thing.  I do cook well, and I've never had complaints about my dish washing.  So I do have to thank Scouting for that.  But I will say this.  When I wash dishes I make sure NOT to use boiling water.  Hot?  Yes.  Boiling?  No.

For more of my interesting Scouting stories follow these links:

Idiot Scoutmasters: Once Bitten, Forever Stupid

Idiot Scoutmasters: A True Story of a Scout's Canteen

Bored Scoutmasters and the Tale of the Wampus

Adrian reminisces about his childhood days with the Boy Scouts

Installing The Spoils Of Rock!

In my last post I wrote about the items I picked up at the Orlando Guitar Expo.  Now it was time to install some of the pickups I bought.  I was really curious about the 59' reverse polarity and Pearl Gates Plus set I bought.

The first thing I knew I was going to do was flip the magnet in the 59'.  I didn't want it to be a "reverse polarity" either.  Actually, I got to thinking, and remembered what the players on the Seymour Duncan User's Forum talked about.  They said that an Alnico 2 magnet in a 59 sounded great.

In my Dean Icon I changed the 59's Alnico 5 magnet out for an Alnico 4, and really liked it.  So I was more than enthusiastic about changing the Alnico 5 for an Alnico 2 in this pickup.  So I took the pickup apart, and ended up getting hostile.  You know why?  Look at this photo.  Do you know what is wrong?

That magnet is black.  That means it's a ceramic magnet.  It is NOT an Alnico 5.  This could mean a few things.  First, someone changed the magnet.  This pickup looked to be wax potted after the fact, so I am leaning this way.  The other possibility is that, they came this way from Seymour Duncan.

For those wondering what an Alnico pickup looks like, here is a side by side comparison.

Notice how the Alnico pickup looks shiny like aluminum?  That's what the magnet that was in the 59' should look like.  Not jet black.

It got me to thinking, I should check the Pearly Gates Plus.  Now a standard Pearly Gates pickup has an Alnico 2 magnet.  A Pearly Gates Plus has 200 more winds per coil, and comes with an Alnico 5 magnet.  I opened it up and found this.

That's another black ceramic magnet.  It should not be there.  I ended up changing it out for an Alnico 5 magnet.  So I ended up putting everything back together, and installed it in my Honeyburst Plaintop Epiphone Les Paul.

After getting everything straightened out it sounded amazing.  I mean it was just awesome.  The 59' with an Alnico 2 magnet sounded like a true blues pickup.  It still had the slightly mid-scooped PAF sound, but it just sung.  

The Pearly Gates Plus just screamed.  I could see someone could have just this pickup in a single pickup guitar, and be happy with their sound.  This pickup has "Texas Tone" written all over it.  I'm going to have to break out a slide, and try playing it that way.  

The next thing I wanted to try out was the Rio Grande "Muy Grande: Stelly" pickup.  I was still ecstatic about picking it up for $15.  

So I installed it in my black MIM Stratocaster.  The Rio Grande website said it was a cross between a Tele bridge pickup and an overwound Stratocaster pickup.  Once I tested it out I could see what they meant.  

When over-winding Strat pickups they tend to go one of two ways.  The first is they tend to become more overdriven.  The highs come down, and the mids and bass come up.  Think of Dimarzio's Red Velvet.  

The second is that they become "bigger."  They will still stay clean, but the sound is bigger and louder.  Again, the highs come down a bit, the bass goes up, and the mids stay just a hair scooped.  A good example of this would be Dimarzio's FS-1.  

This pickup was definitely the second type of pickup.  It was big and clean like a Tele bridge pickup.  It was fairly balanced.  Again, the highs came down, the bass came up, and the mids were slightly (very lightly) scooped.  

Unfortunately, it's just not my sound.  I liked the Artec rail humbucker I had in there before much better.  No problem.  I can sell this one on Reverb.com.  I can actually make a pretty decent profit on it too.  

So I was glad to test all these pickups out.  You win some, you lose some, but overall I'm happy with everything I did today.  Any day I get to work on guitars is usually a good day.  So I had a good day.

The Orlando Guitar Expo: Bringing Home The Spoils... Of Rock!

This past Saturday I attended the International Orlando Guitar Expo.  Unlike previous years I didn't bring anything to sell or trade.  I didn't have anything that I absolutely needed, so I was free to browse and take my time.  I did keep an eye out for certain guitar straps and 6L6 tubes, but didn't find either.  But here's what I did find.

There was one dealer I was able to work with.  I bought most of my items from him.  The first thing I found in his box of parts was two Gibson pickups.  He had them marked for $5 and $1.  He said they were both Classic 57's, and that neither was working.

I checked the $5 on my multi-meter, and I managed to get a reading on it.  The other one was broken on the top (upper right pickup in the photo,) and I could see the wire coming out of it.  I didn't bother to test it because it was obvious it was broken.  I tested it later, and yes, it was broken.  But the magnet itself was worth at least $1.

The other pickups he had were out of a Big Apple/Double Fat Strat.  They were a pair of Seymour Duncan pickups, a reverse polarity 59', and a Pearly Gates Plus.  If you notice they are not white, but they are not cream colored either.  Since Dimarzio owns the patient on double cream bobbins, Seymour Duncan made these pickups in "Parchment" color.

I had wanted a Pearly Gates pickup so I was more than happy to pick this one up.  I couldn't bypass picking up the 59' neck pickup.  I know this set blends well, so I was glad to buy both.

About a month ago I bought a Coffin Case guitar case that was missing a handle.  This seller happened to have a lot of case handles so I picked up three.  I also saw a fancy tailpiece that I could put on one of my archtop guitars.  So I ended up paying $100 for the four pickups, three handles, and a gold tailpiece.

I also purchased a chrome pickup cover for $5 from the same seller, and I bought a Seymour Duncan pickup cover from another dealer, also for $5.

There was one dealer who had all sorts of pickguards.  Since I am always working on Stratocasters I thought I should pick one up.  I managed to find an All-Parts pickguard in pearloid for $10.

As I was looking through another dealer's bin I found a Rio Grande pickup.  It was marked for $15 so I asked him the price since that had to have been wrong.  He said, "$15."  I tested the pickup and it worked.  I was more than happy to pay $15 for a pickup that normally runs $78 new.  I bought it just for the sake of reselling it.

Another great thing I managed to snag was three $10 Guitar Center gift cards.  I kept walking by the booth, and different salesmen kept handing me cards.  After a while they started to recognize the guy in the black Gambler style cowboy hat (me.)  But I was glad to snag three gift cards.

To show my sincerity I bought three sets of acoustic strings for $12 from the Guitar Center salesmen.  I also happened to need acoustic strings since I was out, but it was the right time/right place.

So that was my trip.  I only played about five guitars while I was there.  Everything was completely overpriced.  I could go on Reverb.com right now, and buy any of the guitars there for less.  I will say they had a lot of vintage guitars that aren't readily available.  And you could actually inspect and play them if you wanted.

In all fairness the guys who bought their own gear to sell or trade were also completely ridiculous on price.  I saw one guy going booth to booth, and was turned down by everyone.  He was insanely overpriced on what he had.  Him and another guy were trying to sell guitars for more than what a dealer could sell them for.

90% of the dealers there only wanted to deal with Fender or Gibson.  Anything else they didn't want to buy or trade for.  That's one reason I tended to look at the Gretsch Guitars.  Although, anything that had the words, "Gretsch" on it sure wasn't cheap either.

But there are a few important things I have to remember.  I had fun.  It was an easy drive this time.  I managed to buy a number of items that I can resell to make up the cost of the trip.  I also left the show with money still in my wallet... a first!   So I'm happy with the trip, and am looking forward to next year's guitar expo.