Turkey Tuesday

Ack! I finished my lunch report, but my internet connection reset and it was lost before I could post it! My apologies for the late lunch!

Lunch!
Lunch today is a spinach pie, it's another RI type thing. Sort of like a calzone, it's a pizza type dough stuffed with spinach that's been cooked with olive oil and garlic. Today I have a slightly worse for you version which includes cheese, mushrooms and peperoni.



Off Topic:

The talk of pine guitars got me thinking of past projects I've worked on. I'm a do it yourself kinda guy. Mainly because I am cheap, but also because I like the feeling you get from a successful project. That being said, most of my projects never get completed or end up just plain wrong. Three of the more recent projects I've been working on are a fuzz pedal, which I gave up on, and two guitar cabinets. The first cab I made out of an old organ, most of the work was done, I just removed some parts, chopped off a bit and put the top back on, still I consider that one a success because I could have really screwed it up. My wife even said "Wow, that ACTUALLY looks good, I don't even mind it"


The current project is a 1x15" cab built to the dimensions of the smaller fender bandmaster cab. My skill level is beginner at best, so the jury is still out on this one. But I finger jointed the pine, and assembled the box. It's not quite square because my cuts were off, but hey as long as it doesn't fall apart and sounds decent I'll add it to the short list of successes.





What are some of your successful/botched projects? are you thick headed, like me, and keep trying?

G&L Topic:

BBE has made changes over the years to George and Leo's processes. Of course as technology progresses and such these changes are sometimes necessary. What are some changes you like? What are some things you wish they'd bring back or offer as a factory option?


I like the newer necks, they're chunkier and you have your choice of neck profiles. I miss the crinkle aluminum pick guards and hardware, wish it was a factory option.

-Dave

No projects on the go on my side right now, lots of plans though.

I would like to see black hardware back. I would like to see SS frets become available.

I'm also working on a couple of speaker cabinets - a 1x10 and a 1x15, I've had both speakers sitting around for a while now and really need to get cabs built as I haven't heard what either of them sound like in cabinets. I've done most of the work for the 1x10 (an Eminence Rajin' Cajun), I just have to cover it and solder the speaker in, but the materials haven't arrived yet. I used plain old butt joints and screws. I want to finger joint my 1x15 cab too - I bought a dovetail saw with the intention of using dovetail joints, but as a complete beginner I was in over my head!

Another project I have going is a veggie garden. I've never gardened before, mainly because I've not had a garden. My new house has a garden big enough for a couple of veggie pathches, so I dug a few out. I planted zucchini (one of my favourite vegetables), tomatoes, basil, silverbeet, rocket etc. in the last week or two and everything has sprouted! I should have a lot of tomatoes in 3 months time!

I'm also about to start building a pedal or two - I'm etching the PCB's today and will most likely solder most of the components I have on. I'm making a Zendrive clone this week (once I get the right sized op-amp, I accidentally ordered the ultra small one - doh!) and perhaps a Klon next week. Oh, and I have drawn up plans for the cheapest, quickest outdoor table I could imagine, made from only 2 pieces of ply, a few screws and some polyurethane. As you can probably tell I'm on holidays at the moment and have no work/study to do, which is why I have so many projects on!

G&L Features: I'd really like to see a metal string ferrule block brought back on the ASAT Classic.

Lunch today was courtesy of Quiznos. I got my usual which is the Classic Italian on Rosemary Parmesan bread. I get it with all the veggies including the jalapeno and banana peppers.

There was a bit of buzz on the G&L amp but it seemed to fade pretty quickly. Has anyone seen or heard one in person? While amps were definitely something that Leo and George had mastered, I'm not so sure if the G&L brand is something that connects people back to the days of Fender and Music Man amps. And again, the market is full of small scale boutique builders. Maybe something like the old Silvertone package where the amp is built into the guitar case. These amps like the zvex nano would lend themselves pretty well to something in that format.

RickT

Good suggestions! I haven't heard anything about the Whippersnapper in a while either.

Blarg, good luck with your projects! I think you're better off using the PC boards, I tried using breadboard and once it's all soldered up it's hard to determine where you made a mistake. Veggie gardens are great, I'm planning on planting one in the spring, I had a couple friends plant theirs this year with good results. Finger jointing that cab was more difficult than I thought it'd be. I ended up consulting my friend's Dad whose been a carpenter for many years, I went to his shop expecting to bang it out quickly with some sweet power tools instead he hands me a hammer and a chisel and says have at it! I'm hoping that adds mojo to the cab

-Dave

Last edited by Dave_P on Wed Nov 24, 2010 9:26 am, edited 1 time in total.

Spinach pie etc. some of my favorite edible things, very tasty. Need to introduce those to the southland.

Not that handy with hammer, nail, screwdriver etc. My projects become repair projects for my engineer wife.

I also like the newer necks and miss the crinkle aluminum pick guards and hardware. Thankfully our own Thumbs helps replace or rebuild where we want it. Not sure about the G&L amp attempt or lack thereof. One amp at NAMM and instead of Whippersnapper they should have called it Casper (or Vapor!) I do like the BBE pedals. Enough to own a handful of them. Now about the G&L pedals... where is this going? Move all pedals to G&L brand, keep BBE and have a few G&L or just confuse us all. My thought is either move all to G&L brand or introduce new BBE instead of G&L labeled pedals. All rambling aside, I love BBE pedals and want to get my hands on a Buckshot.

Blarg, good luck with your projects! I think you're better off using the PC boards, I tried using breadboard and once it's all soldered up it's hard to determine where you made a mistake.

Yep, PCB is the way to go, make it about 1,000,000,000 times easier. Breadboard is horrible stuff to work on if you're following a wiring layout and don't know a lot about what you're doing. Things can take up a lot of space on breadboard. I'd only use breadboard if I were testing something.

I think your cab looks just fine - cover it with something and nobody will ever know how bad you botched it!

This spring I stopped saying gonna, gonna, gonna and built a raised bed vegetable patch. Much to my surpise I managed to improvise some mesh fencing to keep the possums out. The biggest surprise is that the vegetables are actually growing in soil from my compost bin. It's going to be a bumper year for tomatoes, snap peas, basil and broccoli.

Have G&L ever made a 12-string guitar? My ASAT semi-hollow has some very Rickenbacker like tones in it on the bridge position. I'd like to hear a 12-string version. I reckon it would sound even better for 60's style jangle.

Have G&L ever made a 12-string guitar? My ASAT semi-hollow has some very Rickenbacker like tones in it on the bridge position. I'd like to hear a 12-string version. I reckon it would sound even better for 60's style jangle.

Someone was working with G&L on an ASAT Z-12 (12 string Z-3), it may have gone the way of the Whipper Snapper

http://www.guitarsbyleo.com/GALLERY/OWNERCUSTOM/Z-12.html