The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

I think I'll just hang on to this guitar, thank you very much

I hope someone has permissions to remove my earlier errant post from the board. On my first try at posting pictures, I copied the links from Photobucket and after posting realized they didn't include the opening IMG bracket...

Those with sharp eyes may notice the 8-track deck in the corner of one picture and the SV-3700 DAT machine in another. I never give up on a technology, so matter how bad or annoying it is, but that's for another board...

I'm glad these pictures got people fired up. Now I want to find out more about one of the Aria guitars I saw in the Member's treasures section...GAS never quits...

I can't say that I blame you.
Seriously, she's beautiful and new ferrules shouldn't be more than $10.

Got any LaserDiscs to swap?

je (two DATs, three S-VHSs, six LDs, five stereo cassettes, two 8-track cassettes, a 4-track cassette, an 8mm & a turntable...)

_________________
...doing bad things to good Vantages since 1985...

1981 AV-320
1981 AV-320
1981 AV-325
1982 AV-320
1982 VS-695-12
1982 VSH-445
1983 AV-330
1995 VST 33 CE TBK

Geez - even I don't have any laserdisc media. You've got me beat there...

I do have an Akai reel-to-reel that I've never been able to part with. I don't think I can even pick it up anymore

So now that I've bought a Skylark, how am I going to find the room for all the other UM guitars I'm inevitably going to wind up buying?

It just happens. You provide a good home and they'll make room for themselves.

Okay, guys - you can see how long I went (a couple of months) without modding this Skylark...But this is the first time I've altered guitar electronics and I'm just proud enough of how it turned out to show it off!

The control cavity is a bit busy now, as you can see :



I added a Stan Hinesley LC varitone and a version of my own passive distortion circuit I've been working on for a while that has a three position switch with two distortion positions and a bypass in the center. From the front it now looks pretty much like a 2588 that's red:



Having never drilled through a guitar before and considering I knew I couldn't easily find another one of these guitars if I screwed it up, I'm relieved it turned out so well. The range of tones is larger than ever, there's no battery to worry about since everything is passive, and the only thing missing that a 2588 or a TS-600 would have is the boost, which I can add post-guitar, so I'm very pleased. No significant hum or switching noise was introduced as a result of the mods and they work well together.

Man, that's an awesome looking rig! Nice job.

Nice job!...what did you use to make the "distortion" ?
I make my own "Vari-Tones", so I'm curious which value "caps" yours has in it...any idea?
I used to have a 2588, and have been thinking about making some kind of clone, for years...and now that I have the know-how, I just might.
I'd love to hear any sound clips, or vids you could post.
Norm

Sorry it took me so long to respond - between trying to prep a house for sale, working, and working on a master's degree, I have very little time for stuff that's actually fun...like these boards! Hope you're still out there to read this, skylark41!

The distortion circuit is really just a three-way switch that connects two germanium diodes between the positive and negative sides of the output jack in one direction, a neutral position, and two silicon diodes in the second active position. The diodes are connected in opposite directions in parallel across the output. They cause a sort of 'clipping' of the signal that provides what I think is a pretty cool distortion sound. The germanium and silicon seem to have a slightly different sound and after testing them I decided I liked both so made my switch with both types. I haven't seen anyone else do this, so far. I have seen some passive switches that had one type of diode or the other, but not both. The main thing is, you need fast switching (Schottky) diodes with very low voltage drops - germanium is .3 volts and silicon is usually .6-.7, but I have found some silicon diodes down in the .25 volt drop range. The other thing is that in order for the clipping to happen, you need hot pickups - usually humbuckers - in order for the effect to be usable. I tried some tests with alligator clips and the Skylark and loved the sounds I got, especially when you factor in the coil tap and phase switch sound colors. Now the sound is just that much more flexible.

I'm not sure what value caps he uses, but I'm very pleased with the quality of the Varitone switch Stan Hinesley made for me. The parts are first rate and he uses both a choke and caps so that his varitone is a true notch filter, rather than cutting out a much wider range of frequencies like the all-caps designs do. I couldn't even find a decent switch or choke locally at any price. For 40 bucks I just didn't see how I could go wrong. You might want to check out his site at http://www.stanhinesleypickups.com/passive_controls.htm - he didn't pay me to post that, either.

Thanx solodude, that's a very cool website...I love electronics & stuff like that. (He's got some cool pickups too)
BTW...do you know what value inductor is used in that Vari-Tone? I'd like to add one to my other Vari-Tone to compare the difference between the two.
Norm