# The Great Ongoing Guitar Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [January 31, 2010, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172 "2010-01-31T23:20:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 26
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2010, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/501 "2010-06-06T22:00:15Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > I could easily unsolder each of the pots and measure across the outer terminals to get the value (thereby avoiding the issue of good/bad/stuck wipers. Ah, good point. I’d forgotten that can just stick an ohm meter on the outer connectors to get max resistance. > [@](#): > > I checked the Carvin site (no help of course), but in the forums, it seems people using other models found their pots were linear. I would prefer to have the correct taper, but if push comes to shove, parts is parts. This has [come up before](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12233327&postcount=30). Based on that post, you may want a log pot for the master volume (and gain?), if nothing else. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2010, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/502 "2010-06-06T22:20:38Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > Ah, good point. I’d forgotten that can just stick an ohm meter on the outer connectors to get max resistance. > This has [come up before](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12233327&postcount=30). Based on that post, you may want a log pot for the master volume (and gain?), if nothing else. Thanks for the link to the other thread. I think then, that even if the original volume pots do turn out to be linear, an audio taper may be a better choice. The amp is supposedly rated as 250W. I sure don’t want the problem of having to choose between “off” and “full blast” when I go from a setting of 0 to 2. As to the bass and treble controls, I may have to take measurements at off, full, and half settings to see if they are linear or not. I will probably order a schematic online, but right now I’m chafing at the 20$ price. It’s not exactly a complicated thing, so I am still thinking “wtf. 20 bucks for what’s most likely a reprint schematic that is probably only one sheet?” ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2010, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/503 "2010-06-06T23:45:19Z")
Once again, guys, that $200 Rondo seems to have a good reputation. You really might consider it. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/504 "2010-06-07T00:16:21Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > Once again, guys, that $200 Rondo seems to have a good reputation. You really might consider it. Are they mail-order only? GC doesn’t seem to carry them (or at least I can’t find it on the site – if I search for “rondo”, the search engine gives me 90 hits on “round” :rolleyes: ). Buying a guitar by mail order isn’t going to work for me – I won’t buy a guitar I haven’t played, so I avoid mail-order-only brands (e.g. Carvin). I’m sure its a nice guitar, but I gotta follow my gut. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/505 "2010-06-07T00:23:01Z")
> [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](#): > > Most guitar shops I’ve been to have been entirely honest about whether it is or isn’t a solid top - that’s a pretty big point for most folks. That does seem to be the case. First thing on the feature-lists I see online is what kind of wood and if it’s a “solid”-top. Although “solid” seems like a spongy word – plywood is “solid”, isn’t it? It’s not a gas, liquid, plasma or Bose–Einstein condensate, so it’s solid! 😛 But it seems like “solid” means “not-plywood” in those descriptions, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/506 "2010-06-07T09:53:44Z")
They are mail order only. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/507 "2010-06-07T11:19:39Z")
you guys have have been busy…a few thoughts: - \*\*SteveG1 \*\*- my two recommendations: look for the amp’s schematics on line and call Carvin. I suspect that at Carvin’s website or at an unaffiliated fan site there are amp circuits and discussions about the pots and other components - such is the web. And if not, Carvin is a direct-to-consumer business, so they must have to deal with service issues like yours and may even sell replacement components - or can point you in the direction of places that do. Do some research. - \*\*squeegee \*\*- it sounds like your mindset is right: get a decent inexpensive acoustic and start working your way up if you get traction with it. I have played Seagulls and like them; same with Takamines. Nothing substitutes giving a few a test drive. - Tele with .11’s - yeah, they’re not nearly as scary as folks think they are, especially if you tune down a bit. I like both the tone I get and the resistance they provide when I am plucking with my middle and ring fingers along with flat-picking. Doing something like Cold Shot by SRV with the sharp note attack and his unique Texas shuffle is much easier on a heavier gauge. - Solid tops - yeah, for the most part, they matter - or at least have become a code word for better quality. What’s funny is that the boutique luthiers now offer “double-tops” - two laters of super-highly-desirable top material, like “sinker redwood” (i.e., wood harvested from old logs found in an old shipwreck in a lake somewhere) with a special polymer web material in between - they are all the rage. And a form of sophisticated plywood. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/508 "2010-06-07T16:55:58Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > you guys have have been busy…a few thoughts: > > - \*\*SteveG1 \*\*- my two recommendations: look for the amp’s schematics on line and call Carvin. I suspect that at Carvin’s website or at an unaffiliated fan site there are amp circuits a… After several days of searching, I found it. Needless to say, I downloaded it so I won’t have to hunt again, and I will be keeping a blown up copy (in a protective envelope) inside the amp cabinet from now on. Now that I know the part values, it’s gonna be easy 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/509 "2010-06-07T21:47:12Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > After several days of searching, I found it. Needless to say, I downloaded it so I won’t have to hunt again, and I will be keeping a blown up copy (in a protective envelope) inside the amp cabinet from now on. > Now that I know the part values, it’s gonna be easy 🙂 So were the pots log or linear? ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2010, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/510 "2010-06-08T00:47:40Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > So were the pots log or linear? The diagram doesn’t indicate which, so I’m gonna get audio/log taper for the volumes, and linear for all the others - bass, treble, reverb, tremolo. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2010, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/511 "2010-06-08T16:25:03Z")
I was wondering what kind of life I can expect out of the tubes in my Blues Junior. Is it a function of the number of hours they’ve been powered up, or how much you drive them, or on/off cycles, or …? I’ve left the amp on overnight accidentally a few times, I assume this takes away some of their lifetime, although they were just idling. It sounds like one of them is going a little microphonic; I’ve gotten some odd whistle/squeel a few times but it went away almost immediately. I have not yet popped the cabinet cover and tapped the preamp tubes to see which one it is getting flakey. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2010, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/512 "2010-06-08T16:56:12Z")
[QUOTE=squeegee] I’ve left the amp on overnight accidentally a few times, I assume this takes away some of their lifetime, although they were just idling. [/QUOTE] The valves, sorry, _tubes_ mainly get stressed by heating/cooling so leaving them on is good for lifetime, not so good for you electic bill. Bigger amps have a ‘standby’ setting where the high-tension voltage is off but the heaters are left on. So you’re not stressing the valves\* in between sets/takes whatever if you’d otherwise be powering down. In my experience they last pretty much for ever, certainly years and years, though their performance probably suffers with age. In thirty years I’ve had maybe three or four preamp valves go microphonic (though they still worked) burned out a couple of EL84s and never had an EL34 fail. - sorry I just can’t write ‘tubes’ in this context. Toothpaste come in tubes. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2010, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/513 "2010-06-08T19:13:59Z")
> [@Small\_Clanger](#): > > The valves, sorry, _tubes_ mainly get stressed by heating/cooling so leaving them on is good for lifetime, not so good for you electic bill. Ah, that’s good to know. So when I turn the thing on for a few minutes to practice, then shutdown, that’s the same tube-wear is a leaving it on for hours more, and again shutting it down. Huh, good to know. > [@](#): > > In my experience they last pretty much for ever, certainly years and years, though their performance probably suffers with age. In thirty years I’ve had maybe three or four preamp valves go microphonic (though they still worked) burned out a couple of EL84s and never had an EL34 fail. Yeah, that was my feeling, too, until the amp got that little squeel. FWIW, the amp in question, a Blues Junior NOS, was a GC demo unit before I bought a few months ago, so it’s likely gone through many tube power cycles. > [@](#): > > - sorry I just can’t write ‘tubes’ in this context. Toothpaste come in tubes. Yeah, but “valves” are for plumbing or car engines. Let’s fix this with a different word for these things. How about a portmanteau of the two words: “talves”, or “vubes”? Or howzabout “amp-bulbs” ? I like that one. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2010, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/514 "2010-06-08T21:41:37Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > Once again, guys, that $200 Rondo seems to have a good reputation. You really might consider it. If that isn’t “rich” enough, take a look at this. Warning… try not to spit cooffee, beer, or soda all over your keyboard 😃 [http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=370388299222](http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=370388299222) ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2010, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/515 "2010-06-08T22:05:11Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > Yeah, but “valves” are for plumbing or car engines. Let’s fix this with a different word for these things. How about a portmanteau of the two words: “talves”, or “vubes”? Or howzabout “amp-bulbs” ? I like that one. “Lampes” are what those are called in French, though in Québec they’re referred to as “Bulbes” - just to add some more confusion to the mix… ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2010, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/516 "2010-06-08T23:12:46Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > If that isn’t “rich” enough, take a look at this. Warning… try not to spit cooffee, beer, or soda all over your keyboard 😃 > > [http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=370388299222](http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=370388299222) How about drool? Oh, god. All original. First month. 1954 Stratocaster. I was expecting some blinged out acoustic. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/517 "2010-06-09T01:48:33Z")
> [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](#): > > “Lampes” are what those are called in French, though in Québec they’re referred to as “Bulbes” - just to add some more confusion to the mix… Okay, I guess it’s hopeless to get everyone on the same page then. Too bad, I like the fr “Lamp” term, because that’s what tubes/valves/bulbes look like, little lamps. I have to admit to some minor GAS over the tube question. I was perusing the [Eurotube](http://www.eurotubes.com/) site, and GASing over a set of [Fender Blues Jr High gain option](https://ssl.eurotubes.com/cart/index.php?page=view_products&category_id=7&sub_category_id=31) lampe/bulbe/valve/tubes. But I can overdrive the amp with a broad selection of pedals, so it’s not a burning issue really, at least until that microphonic tube gets too annoying. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/518 "2010-06-09T03:01:38Z")
You want some GAS? I’ll GIVE you GAS. [http://chrisguitars.com/](http://chrisguitars.com/) This guy sells used stuff. But he’s really reputable, and he describes things pretty well. But that’s not the most interesting thing I’ve found. I found this store on ebay that sells stickers. for your neck. And for your body, for like fake cutaways. Apparently, they’re so thin they don’t bother anything. [http://stores.ebay.com/Jockomo-InlayStickers\_\_W0QQ\_sasiZ1](http://stores.ebay.com/Jockomo-InlayStickers__W0QQ_sasiZ1) Including, say, some Rosewood colored ones, so you can hide your inlay dots. Or some other interesting patterns. ---
**Author:** ![phungi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phungi/32/395_2.png) [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/519 "2010-06-09T14:19:11Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > You want some GAS? I’ll GIVE you GAS. > [http://chrisguitars.com/](http://chrisguitars.com/) > This guy sells used stuff. But he’s really reputable, and he describes things pretty well. minor hijack, but Chris needs a web site overhaul… my eyes are burning from the yellow-on-purple design… ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172/520 "2010-06-09T15:08:13Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > You want some GAS? I’ll GIVE you GAS. > [http://chrisguitars.com/](http://chrisguitars.com/) > This guy sells used stuff. But he’s really reputable, and he describes things pretty well. I bookmarked that site… That guy charges fair prices, much better prices than I’ve seen elsewhere. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172.md?page=25) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-guitar-thread/527172.md?page=27)