Friday, April 3, 2020

Thursday, February 6, 2020

Frankenamp

I bought a Peavey Audition 110 amplifier way back in 1990 or so when I also had a pickup installed on my Yamaha acoustic guitar. I never was happy with the sound from the amp but I didn't know the difference and thought that was just how they sounded. Now I know the amp was for an electric guitar, not an acoustic. I tried to sell it this last year and got one bite. They backed out because I was too far out of the way from their Costco trip. Well, it all worked out for the better.




I pulled the amp out of storage and plugged in my license plate guitar. It sounded great! Growly, crunchy, wailing the blues great. So I can use this amp after all.

I thought I should give it a new housing. Something that goes with a home-made 3 or 4-string guitar. I shopped around some vintage stores in town and found an old paperboard trunk for $18. For an amp I was willing to sell for $35, if the project didn't work out then I wouldn't be out much money. Fortunately, when I plugged it in and powered it up it did not burst into flames. Yay!

I added a battery-powered equalizer so I could plug in a cigar bog guitar or license plate guitar that doesn't have one installed. I used some paduak I had left over from some experimental license plate guitar bodies and headstocks and used that for trim. I didn't have enough to trim the equalizer but I'm okay with that. I think all that's left to do is to apply some cool stickers.

Wednesday, January 8, 2020

Highway 61 Tribute License Plate Guitar

Using a Mississippi license plate, I thought a tribute to the Blues Highway would be appropriate. I softened up the instrument, i.e., rounded all the corners, so it's much more comfortable than the RAGBRAI guitar. (BTW, I sent the RAGBRAI guitar to our friends in Mason City, Iowa and they love it.) I also profiled the neck so it's more like a regular guitar. This guitar plays and sounds good. I hope I keep getting better at making them.