Gut and refurb old ss combo

[Greg_L]

Also, Mrs._L said to me yesterday...."Get all that shit out of my dining room".

I said...."Babydoll, I'm just getting started."

She rolled her eyes and I'm not sure she fully understands yet that there's a Marshall 2204 build that's gonna happen right behind this one.

[Lt. Bob]

Also, Mrs._L said to me yesterday...."Get all that shit out of my dining room".

I said...."Babydoll, I'm just getting started."

She rolled her eyes and I'm not sure she fully understands yet that there's a Marshall 2204 build that's gonna happen right behind this one.

lol ..... she's been with you long enough that she knows there's some irritating thing coming!

[Greg_L]

lol ..... she's been with you long enough that she knows there's some irritating thing coming!

The key to our long loving marriage is me irritating her.

[WhiskeyJack]

Outstanding!!!!!! Looks basass. And also pretty big. Could just be my tired eyes and the small phone screen. Regardless looks good!!!

Ive never worked rivets before. They are a total mystery to me.

[Greg_L]

Outstanding!!!!!! Looks basass. And also pretty big. Could just be my tired eyes and the small phone screen. Regardless looks good!!!

Ive never worked rivets before. They are a total mystery to me.

When it comes time to pop those rivets I'll make a vid for you.

They're primitive and simple.


So now the chassis has been painted, and tube sockets and all the heavy iron are mounted and secured. This is how it is. One little mini bummer...I seem to have lost a "bear trap" tube retainer somewhere, so only one of the tube sockets has one in the photo. That will be remedied before anything important happens.

But yeah, it's starting to look like an amp now.

[Greg_L]

While I'm waiting on paint to dry, I got to work designing my board layout. I'm using a universal turret board that I will have to assemble myself. The rectifier and bias supply are usually on a separate board in Fender amps, but I want to incorporate it all into one board...like a Marshall. After a few fuckups and wasted sheets of paper and a lot of cursing, I think I got it....

I just traced my board onto some paper and got to work connecting the dots. Now I'll know exactly where I need to install the turrets.

[Tadpui]

Looking good, man! You're much more brave than I am.

I keep thinking it'd be a cool project to build an amp, but I always chicken out. Hell, I can't even figure out why my JCM keeps blowing fuses (not that I've tried, mind you ). It blew again last week. That's the 2nd one in a year, after blowing exactly zero fuses for several years before that. I wasn't even playing it that loud, it just went kaput.

[Greg_L]

Looking good, man! You're much more brave than I am.

I keep thinking it'd be a cool project to build an amp, but I always chicken out. Hell, I can't even figure out why my JCM keeps blowing fuses (not that I've tried, mind you ). It blew again last week. That's the 2nd one in a year, after blowing exactly zero fuses for several years before that. I wasn't even playing it that loud, it just went kaput.

What fuse is it blowing? It could just be a bad tube. I say "just a bad tube" like we can easily get tubes willy nilly like we used to.

[Greg_L]

Well I got the turrets installed. That was tedious.



In other news, my first attempt at painting/lettering the faceplates was a fail. I don't even have pics of it.

What I done was paint them blue, add stickers where letters will go, then paint them white, then peel off the stickers to reveal blue lettering on a white panel. This partially worked but the stickers didn't come off cleanly in some spots and took some blue with them. Then I tried to touch up the little missing blue spots and that all went to shit. I've stripped the panels and will give it one more go. This time I'm gonna paint them blue again, tape off borders, paint them white, and then use paint pens to just hand write the lettering like a child built the fucking thing. Then clear coat and then fuck it the control panels are done.

[Lt. Bob]

Well I got the turrets installed. That was tedious.



In other news, my first attempt at painting/lettering the faceplates was a fail. I don't even have pics of it.

What I done was paint them blue, add stickers where letters will go, then paint them white, then peel off the stickers to reveal blue lettering on a white panel. This partially worked but the stickers didn't come off cleanly in some spots and took some blue with them. Then I tried to touch up the little missing blue spots and that all went to shit. I've stripped the panels and will give it one more go. This time I'm gonna paint them blue again, tape off borders, paint them white, and then use paint pens to just hand write the lettering like a child built the fucking thing. Then clear coat and then fuck it the control panels are done.

you could possibly let the blue paint 'set' longer and make sure it's completely dry ..... maybe the peel offs wouldn't take any of the blue paint?

[Greg_L]

you could possibly let the blue paint 'set' longer and make sure it's completely dry ..... maybe the peel offs wouldn't take any of the blue paint?

Maybe. It was pretty dry though, at least a few days worth, and it was drying inside the house where the temp and humidity is perfect for paint drying. I wasn't 100% convinced it would work anyway. It got close though. Not a big deal. There is other stuff to do while the paint dries again.

I'm either gonna hand write the letters and make it look homemade, or stencil blue letters onto the white panel like I probably should have done to begin with.

[WhiskeyJack]

the stickers didn't come off cleanly in some spots and took some blue with them.

Let it dry longer? Whtever the manufacturer suggests for dry / cure time double it.

Your bullshit Texican humidity is likely responsible.

EDIT: NVM. I see the above posts. I didn't read the full thread. My point remains however.

[Greg_L]

Yeah I'll try the stickers again. This time I'm gonna clearcoat over the blue, then apply the stickers, then the white. That way hopefully the clearcoat will protect the blue from the stickers.

[WhiskeyJack]

Yeah I'll try the stickers again. This time I'm gonna clearcoat over the blue, then apply the stickers, then the white. That way hopefully the clearcoat will protect the blue from the stickers.

Another suggestion: and this will be tedious as fuck but, take an exatco knife with a fresh blade and pre score the edges of some of the problem areas in the sticker overlays and decals and shit. That could be to your advantage?

I know when i used to paint model cars and trucks as a kid i would do similar things like what you are doing and i would use this exacto knife thing to aid things along. I would do pin stripes like this. I would ALWAYS fuck them up. Exactly how you said yours went. My old man said to let it dry longer and use the hobby exacto knife. Worked like a charm. I wish camera phones were around back them. I did pretty cool pinstripes and shit on some mustangs and challengers.


One of these things with a fresh blade?

[Greg_L]

Another suggestion: and this will be tedious as fuck but, take an exatco knife with a fresh blade and pre score the edges of some of the problem areas in the sticker overlays and decals and shit. That could be to your advantage?

Did that. I have a surgical sharp X-acto knife and a million blades. It didn't really help. I thought I'd have to score the edges like you say but the edges of the stickers coming up wasn't the problem. I got clean edges. It just gacked up the middle areas on some of the letters because the sticker underlayer is like that crappy paper shit that's under some stickers.

I've got a hot juicy fresh coat of blue on the panels again. I'm gonna let them set for a day or two, hit them with clear, let that set, then apply stickers and the white top coat. I will just accept whatever happens and move on.

[WhiskeyJack]

Another suggestion: and this will be tedious as fuck but, take an exatco knife with a fresh blade and pre score the edges of some of the problem areas in the sticker overlays and decals and shit. That could be to your advantage?

Did that. I have a surgical sharp X-acto knife and a million blades. It didn't really help. I thought I'd have to score the edges like you say but the edges of the stickers coming up wasn't the problem. I got clean edges. It just gacked up the middle areas on some of the letters because the sticker underlayer is like that crappy paper shit that's under some stickers.

I've got a hot juicy fresh coat of blue on the panels again. I'm gonna let them set for a day or two, hit them with clear, let that set, then apply stickers and the white top coat. I will just accept whatever happens and move on.

Cool Cool. It'll look cool regardless!!


Also good job on those turret boards too dude. I didn't know exactly how customizable those were. Very cool.

[Greg_L]

Cool Cool. It'll look cool regardless!!


Also good job on those turret boards too dude. I didn't know exactly how customizable those were. Very cool.

Ha thanks. We'll see how it goes. I'm pretty much flying by the seat of my pants here.

You can buy pre-configured turret boards for most popular amps. You have to install the caps and resistors and stuff, but the turrets/eyelets are already in place. I got a drilled but blank board so I could configure it the way I want. The far left seven or so rows of turrets will be the rectifier and bias circuit, which aren't part of the usual Fender style board. I'm not sure any of this will work out, but again, we shall see.

[Lt. Bob]

really if the sickers don't work, hand lettering from you would be fine too.
after all, that little squiggle oN my gRamps faceplate is a miniature work of art ..... ..... if you go that route be sure to put the little smiley face on it!

[SweetDan]

...One of these things with a fresh blade?

Sure, just use Jedi Mind Tricks. (Lightweight mental handle...ha!)

Yeah I'll try the stickers again. This time I'm gonna clearcoat over the blue, then apply the stickers, then the white. That way hopefully the clearcoat will protect the blue from the stickers.

The stickers may also be too sticky. My wife does these crafty painted wood signs with vinyl "transfer tape", much less sticky than kids' stickers and stuff. (She uses a specialized vinyl cutter to basically make stencils out of the vinyl.) You could try to remove some of the tackiness of your stickers by first attaching them to jeans or other non-shedding fabric then peeling them up, maybe a few times, to make the stickers less grabby.

[Greg_L]

The stickers may also be too sticky. My wife does these crafty painted wood signs with vinyl "transfer tape", much less sticky than kids' stickers and stuff. (She uses a specialized vinyl cutter to basically make stencils out of the vinyl.) You could try to remove some of the tackiness of your stickers by first attaching them to jeans or other non-shedding fabric then peeling them up, maybe a few times, to make the stickers less grabby.

Damn that's a great idea, thanks!

I certainly will try that. One of my kids has a vinyl cutter program/printer thing. I did think about getting her to make me something but I don't feel like waiting four years for her to get it done.