Lunch Report: 02/20/2013 - Parts ala Carte

[Greenblues]

Son#1 is recovering from a fever, and Mommy has got to run some errands so I'm at home instead of work. That means today's lunch was my wife's Taiwan-style pork cubes sprinkled with scallions on a bowl of rice. She cooks this in a $150 pressure cooker with "star" anise, so it melts in your mouth with a flavour very close to what you'd get in a restaurant in Chinatown.



BTW, my wife is Japanese but her specialties are probably her pasta and sandwiches. You can get some really excellent food from all over the world here, but it's no match for the diversity back in New York/New Jersey. It's hard to find good falafel or Jamaican food in Japan, and there are zero Mom-and-Pop pizza shops that sell by the slice.

There are lots of shops that sell resistors, capacitors, potentiometers and ICs ala carte though, in a central Tokyo district called Akihabara (or Akiba for short.) Akiba was once famous as a place for engineers, researchers and repairmen to source parts, and later as a destination for tourists to get state-of-the-art Japan only MD players (remember those) and cameras. However by the end of the 90s the electronics industry shifted towards software, which brought a cultural shift from working men to geeky boys. The most popular girls group in the country, AKB48, is even takes its name and is based there.

So now Akihabara is more famous for "maid-cafes" and cosplay than it is for hardware, but it's still the only place I can go when I need parts for my amp, pedal kits or my guitar. On my last trip, I got a switch for a cheap Aria Wah/Volume pedal, caps for my Ibanez Valbee amp, and a five-ways switch for experimenting with guitar wiring. So for today's topics, I want to ask has anyone replaced the electronics (caps, pots, switch) in their G&L?

And in what costume would you like to see the smiling girl standing out front of the electronics shop dressed?

[Elwood]

There are lots of shops that sell resistors, capacitors, potentiometers and ICs ala carte though, in a central Tokyo district called Akihabara (or Akiba for short.)

cool...sorting through some drawers right now ,my desk surfaces are populated with parts...seems I always could use more though )
Radar electric and Bozotronics were my mainstays when I lived in town. Now the mailman just brings me things I must have ordered in my sleep .



I've modded G&L's that were already far beyond stock, or maybe missing everything but the body and neck.
If it's stock I do my best to keep it that way . It's so much more fun to put G&L parts in a non-G&L ...MFD's in a mexi strat e.g ...take that FMIC

Falafel rules !! (as does killer pizza )

elwood

[Greenblues]

Now that's a real man's workbench.

I'm starting to think I should try a set of MFDs in my old Legacy.

[Elwood]

Now that's a real man's workbench.

I'm starting to think I should try a set of MFDs in my old Legacy.

In my MIM strat I used MFD's at the bridge and middle, kept the stock alnico there at the neck for the warmth.
I eventually upgraded that to a red rhodes velvet hammer. I have an old emg SA at the neck pos. on a couple guitars
that works really well for me. The MFD's were a little much for me in brightness and strength in the neck position .
I'd love to get a Legacy special someday wth the gotoh blades and try that out for a while.
If I could I'd pull the trigger on this one :
Legacy Special Ebay

elwood

[louis cyfer]

i changed all the electronic in mine, pups, to a fralin tele steelpole 43 for the bridge and a bareknuckle mississippi queen for the neck. a bourne low torque linear volume pot and a bourne high torque audio taper tone pot, only wired to the bridge pup, and a .022 pio cap. i changed the control plate to a slanted switch, and flipped it around. also used a different jack with a plate instead of the old style one.

i understand a lot of those maid cafes are men dressed up as women, living a separate second life that their families don't even know about, yet a lot of them are straight. i would love to visit kyoto, and go to a real geisha place, but considering what it costs, you can buy a whole lot of g&l's for a price of one dinner, i would probably not do it. i do want to however visit one of the few remaining katana sharpeners and learn how to sharpen my swords. i have quite a few, and i do a decent job, but nothing like the masters, of course they take up to two weeks to sharpen a single sword.

[blargfromouterspace]

... but nothing like the masters, of course they take up to two weeks to sharpen a single sword.

Two weeks!?!? That would be BORING. However, I'd still rather do that than prune acre after acre of grapevines in the rain or snow.

Great workbench, Elwood. Mine was like that until I tidied up last week and now I don't know where anything is

I haven't seen the need to modify the wiring of my G&Ls, though I have replaced the pickups on them all. I think the tone control works very well and is 'tuned' just right on my ASATs.

And in what costume would you like to see the smiling girl standing out front of the electronics shop dressed?

Sumo! A girl at an electronics shop almost certainly has the build for it

[gitman001]

Hey Greenblues,

I have been enjoying reading your reports this week

My only experience with ramen was when i was at school... i used to eat the stuff everyday! Mainly because the instant stuff was so cheap.... I then used my budgeted food money to go to concerts

state-of-the-art Japan only MD players (remember those)

I was totally onboard with the MD craze. I had a friend who worked at Sony and got me a good deal on a portable one when they were released in north america. I even had a MD player in the car! Pioneer made a MD head unit that i put in my Monte Carlo years ago. They were great for live recordings and jams.

Have a good one
Scott

[Elwood]

Great workbench, Elwood. Mine was like that until I tidied up last week and now I don't know where anything is

It's one of a few around here, and It changes all the time. I just got a small stack of postal boxes (free , same size//stackable) , those and a sharpie should should help with that side effect of appearing to be organized. This is the same corner last week ( or last month maybe).

An old L-2000 neck just got the ski jump removed from the 7-12 fret area. A heat bend took care of most the back bow,
it still needed a little leveling.The frets were very hashed so it was an easy decision to do a refret.
I put a few coats of casey's on the back of the neck ,(after a little less than two weeks of smoothing ), it looks so cool with the original varnish cracks under a new smooth coat. I'll take some pics. The fretboard will get some oil and a little burnishing .
and here's another side of the room...the G&L neck is far right (not much to see with that pic).




elwood

[meowmix]

I think the metal pg is an excellent replacement for the plastic ones. Move to locking tuners if not there. If inside, change the caps to silver mica.

My 30th had a slotted shaft 1Meg pot. Which is neither good or bad, but G&L put a metal ring in the knob to handle it better. Weird! Why do that? More trouble than it is worth. Since I damaged the shaft, replaced with a solid shaft.

I buy most of my stuff from mouser, website is much better. Digikey is okay, they have more parts, harder to find, shipping is unknown, but the EEs I talk to like them better because they have a wider selection. TubesAndMore , eBay, partsexpress, and amazon. Shop around and see who is cheapest. Obviously.

[glvourot]

That lunch looked great !

I do remember Akihabara being quite frenetic. It was nine years ago so I'll have to go through some photos to jog the memory a bit. I do remember the Hirijuku girls mugging for the cameras of legions of middle aged men however. That was interesting.

I prefer to keep my guitars stock, if it ain't broke, don't fix it .

The girl out front can wear a Rodan costume.

Louis, I watched a television program once about the making of a Katana. If I recall correctly from start to finish there was about fifteen people involved and it took 6 months. Beautiful blade and each one gets a unique pattern etched into the steel ( master sword makers pattern). One of the last sharpeners was a guy using a pebble sized super rare stone of some sort, I wish I could remember. The ones made by these guys cost a fortune. Handmade from start to finish. They used to test them on prisoners back when, you can imagine how sharp a five person blade had to be.

[LeoFThe Champion]

Hey Greenblues, your wife's Pork looks very good
Eleood , I have a question about the heat bend . I need to fix a ski jump in an old Mahogany L1000.
What is that process about?
Regards
Anthony

[louis cyfer]

That lunch looked great !

I do remember Akihabara being quite frenetic. It was nine years ago so I'll have to go through some photos to jog the memory a bit. I do remember the Hirijuku girls mugging for the cameras of legions of middle aged men however. That was interesting.

I prefer to keep my guitars stock, if it ain't broke, don't fix it .

The girl out front can wear a Rodan costume.

Louis, I watched a television program once about the making of a Katana. If I recall correctly from start to finish there was about fifteen people involved and it took 6 months. Beautiful blade and each one gets a unique pattern etched into the steel ( master sword makers pattern). One of the last sharpeners was a guy using a pebble sized super rare stone of some sort, I wish I could remember. The ones made by these guys cost a fortune. Handmade from start to finish. They used to test them on prisoners back when, you can imagine how sharp a five person blade had to be.

glv, they are indeed expensive. i have a few handmade swords. not period though. i have been looking at some auctions of period swords, but i think i want a shamshir first.

[Greenblues]

but considering what it costs, you can buy a whole lot of g&l's for a price of one dinner, i would probably not do it. i do want to however visit one of the few remaining katana sharpeners and learn how to sharpen my swords. i have quite a few, and i do a decent job, but nothing like the masters, of course they take up to two weeks to sharpen a single sword.

"Why do you want hattori hanzo's steel?"

Actually, food is not THAT expensive. A bowl of udon in a train station costs less than $5, and there are some inexpensive lodging options like business options. Hell, I might even be able to put you up in my practice room/work shop, but I'm 3 hours from Kyoto by bullet-train. When I visited that region as a student, I remember staying in hostels and lodges listened in the Lonely Planet for about $30/night.

[Greenblues]

I was totally onboard with the MD craze. I had a friend who worked at Sony and got me a good deal on a portable one when they were released in north america. I even had a MD player in the car! Pioneer made a MD head unit that i put in my Monte Carlo years ago. They were great for live recordings and jams.

Me too! I still listen to my old MDs in my old Mazda Familia. The sounded at least as good as MP3s, but had the benefit of being able to record and edit them on the fly, then put in in your shirt pocket. I kinda miss them actually....

[Greenblues]

I buy most of my stuff from mouser, website is much better. Digikey is okay, they have more parts, harder to find, shipping is unknown, but the EEs I talk to like them better because they have a wider selection. TubesAndMore , eBay, partsexpress, and amazon. Shop around and see who is cheapest. Obviously.

A round trip on the JR to Akihabara costs me $10, which is 2~3x what I'd pay for shipping. So I'm thinking of going to mail order for parts, too. However, the best kebabs in Japan can be found there, too. I think I've just been inspired for today's lunch report!

[louis cyfer]

but considering what it costs, you can buy a whole lot of g&l's for a price of one dinner, i would probably not do it. i do want to however visit one of the few remaining katana sharpeners and learn how to sharpen my swords. i have quite a few, and i do a decent job, but nothing like the masters, of course they take up to two weeks to sharpen a single sword.

"Why do you want hattori hanzo's steel?"

Actually, food is not THAT expensive. A bowl of udon in a train station costs less than $5, and there are some inexpensive lodging options like business options. Hell, I might even be able to put you up in my practice room/work shop, but I'm 3 hours from Kyoto by bullet-train. When I visited that region as a student, I remember staying in hostels and lodges listened in the Lonely Planet for about $30/night.

i meant dinner at a real geisha restaurant. they are insanely expensive.

[Greenblues]

Oh, I think you mean ryotei. Yeah, that's for politicians and executives. The trick is to make friends with one and get invited to one on their expense account!