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Now I'm just on lunch. I don't always have the opportunity to get on this much but do when I can.
I got seven of the same model of machine in from one customer. I made it thru five of them today and am honestly quite sick of them. I'm ready for something different tomorrow after I finish the last two.
I wouldn't be surprised if I had nightmares about them tonight. If only I could figure out how to Bill hours while sleeping.
it's an 81 yamaha sbg500. sort of yamaha's version of a les paul standard - it looks like an sg but it's thick like a les paul. it's a better guitar than most of the gibsons i've owned and played (barring the late 50's models,of course) and was cheap enough that i don't have to worry about it getting broken or stolen or anything.
i scored it for about half what they normally bring but it needed (and still needs)some work. the setup was atrocious and electronics needed attention and it is missing the nice hardshell case that they came standard with but, the guitar actually looks and feels like a new guitar. the setup may have been terrible on it for quite some time (hence, keeping it from getting played and beat up) i think there's 2 little dings on it?
at any rate, it's so good that it has me wanting to buy one of the higher end models from the same time period now. i had one of these before and have played several of the sg2000's and they have all been top notch guitars and their geometry tends to be to my liking a bit more than the gibson triangle thing.
being busy having fun is waaaaay better than just being busy
the short version is this:
mom and pops were are musicians and artists, pops family were all musicians and artists so i kind of grew up playing and being around it.pops is a drummer so i started on them before i was old enough to really remember. moved to bass, moved to guitar and it just sort of snowballed into playing quite a bit of everything (except most wind and keyed instruments - they don't make sense in my crazy brain for some reason?)
took an interest in recording at an early age and was playing with the reel to reel by the time i was 12.
played my first gig at 13
booked my first gig and took in first paying recording clients at 15
was on the road gigging and recording regularly by 17
went to school for audio engineering and post production and electronics engineering.
worked for and owned a couple of studios. got out of studio business.
started repairing vacuum tube amplifiers,pedals and instruments on the side as a hobby and it turned into a decent business, started building amps and pedals from scratch and branched out from there. at this point i have a full service roster where, if it is related to music i can fix it,build it,tweak it,play it and record it.the core of the business is still the tube stuff because it's such a specialized field,i enjoy the work and all the guys that were trained how to do it are dying off and i was lucky enough to apprentice under a couple of them for a while.
The whole almost kicking the bucket thing last year sort of put things into perspective - i was working too much and not doing any music with other people so i'm gonna try to do another couple of rounds of serious bands before i get too decrepit to get out and do it.life's too short to be locked up inside breathing lead fumes all day, every day so other people can make art without getting to make some yourself
man... assembly lining stuff is the worst. before i started turning them away, i would get in those new fender "hot rod" amps constantly. they hit 5 years old and everything in them just craps out-there would be 4 or 5 of them here at any given time with the same exact symptoms. "random noises,no reverb,blowing fuses" 24/7.i think i still have 4 or 5 carcasses in the amp graveyard downstairs now.
ugh....i feel your pain brocephus.
This reminds me of one of my old roommates. He started off on a spray painted sticker covered guitar he bought for $25 from a rich kid he knew in high school. Played it for years, and saved up to buy a B.C. Rich guitar. Bought his new guitar, brought it home and grabbed up his old "beater" and went outside to smash it on the side walk.
When he smashed it, some of the paint flaked off of the headstock, revealing the maker's mark. His splintered wreck had been a Gibson Les Paul.
He started bawling like a baby.
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Oh. So a body could say you live music then (-:being busy having fun is waaaaay better than just being busy
the short version is this:
mom and pops were are musicians and artists,....
Gutter, I thought that headstock said Yamaha but I wasn't sure. The machines I was working on yesterday and will finish today are actually a little different depending on when they were made but are called the same model. They have fairly different circuit cards in them but the machines basically operate the same. Most are just beat up and need things tightened or adjusted but I did have one yesterday that turned into a really good troubleshooting session with a failed component that I have never seen failed on that model of machine. At first I thought the capacitance function on my meter wasn't working right but it ended up that this big cap was bad. I had one of them that needed too expensive of a repair so I took the cap out of that one to double check.
ouch..........
the stuff most musicians don't know about their equipment could fill a library.it's really a shame what ends up happening to a lot of that older equipment.i've repaired quite a few old guitars with compound neck breaks where some kid had pulled a pete townshend on them and just smashed them into little pieces not knowing any better.of course, their value goes out the window but money ain't everything.
i actually rebuilt an amp that was in a pretty bad house fire a few years ago - if i can dig up the pictures, i'll post them up -at the very least, it's interesting to see how well that stuff can be rehabbed with some determination (and more money than sense..).
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sounds like caps are the bane of both our existences.
well..
and of course, math.....
seriously though - it sounds like the stuff you work on is built a bit better than the newer stuff i deal with.if you don't baby the crap out of the junk that comes through here, it rolls over with the quickness.It sounds like that welding stuff is built to be beat on a bit more.
either way, it's always good to learn new troubleshooting tricks!!!!
The main line we sell is Miller. It's built to last and goes thru rigorous testing at the factory and months of field testing before a new product is released. Not to mention the service support is phenomenal.
aaah, ok. i've seen the outside of some of that stuff.you should talk them in to making tube amplifiers!! they could lose a bunch of money turning out a well built product
i can count on one hand the number of audio manufacturers that are worth anything when it comes to support. it would be nice to have good dudes backing their stuff up more often.if i ever buy a welder (
), it will be a miller!!!!
As a welder at Gunderson, all our stuff is Miller. Pricy, but worth it. We probably have about 5,000 machines, some a month old, and some 30-40 years old.
I still get stuff in from time to time that was made in the early 70's and 80's and is still really cost effective to repair. A lot of the older stuff was as solid then as the new stuff is now. The difference is very few had circuit cards or if they did then they were pretty simple. The new rage is inverter power sources that put out 2-300 amps and can be carried by one person. Lots of circuit cards and IGBT/ power modules.
Don't want to interrupt. Just gonna sit a spell. Tis great to see you all conversing on real stuff here. Not a subject I know anything about, but I do like dialogue.
Plus, I'm really grateful that OTD didn't scare Gutter off. Hahaha. Liked what you wrote Gutter about your life (music and the reckoning that comes when we go thru a scary time).
Also Plan, I noticed from your signature that you are nearing a year smoke-free. I rarely pay attention to sigs. but now I get to congratulate you!
Back to your conversation gents........
Plus, I'm really grateful that OTD didn't scare Gutter off. Hahaha. Liked what you wrote Gutter about your life (music and the reckoning that comes when we go thru a scary time).
Also Plan, I noticed from your signature that you are nearing a year smoke-free. I rarely pay attention to sigs. but now I get to congratulate you!
Back to your conversation gents........
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