rear tyre ordered

I went for the Dunlop D208RR...180/55 17

OEM Screen

Having looked around the web at costs and looking at the options, I decided to go with an original used part that was up on ebay in Germany.
So the never ending story is hopefully gonna come to an end.
Tyres still need to be purchased of course. maybe start with a rear tyre.On the other hand..I seem to remember the front didn't like being pushed..
Then theres an indicator and FINALLY...will she start?

oh, dammit..the chain soft link as well...

Plastic fantastic...my arse!

Over the weekend and the rush has been on to try and get to the point of start up. As usual the small jobs always end up taking more time and time and time again I get so angry when I remember just how pristine the bike was before somebody decided to steal her.

The main issue has been finding replacement plastic. I'm an ebayer and I swear I haven't seen much over the past year for this year of bike in this colour combo. When I did find some gear I knew it wasn't the best of condition but that it would get me back on the road. You can see the left hand panel has a battle scar and the front cowl has also been fixed previously.Don't care, as long as they fit...and thats what this evening was about.

Although first it was the headlight problem. The starter problem was solved when I discovered I hadn't clicked the connector block into the clutch setup on the handlebar.As soon as it clicked in she turned over. I was getting worried..

Now the headlights still didn't work.Everything else worked.

This evening I plugged in a new bulb and switched on the bike.Nothing.Then I hit the starter and the main headlight went on? everything worked after I'd hit the start button, but the lights stayed off once I switched her off...how bizarre..can't remember if this was the case when I bought the bike..I'm not sure if this is legal in sweden, soon find out anyway.

So then I took the decision to try and fix the fairing to the bike.Obviously when your dealing with ebay plastics mixed with a bag of bits from a bike that nearly ended its life grinding itself down a road..your gonna be frustrated.

When I stripped down the bike, many parts were sharred down to bare metal and screws had to be removed using faithful chisel friend. The fit was very tight and by all accounts I may leave two of the bolts that fit the fairing to the radiator lower bracket, off for now.We'll see how she settles..I was also gutted that I couldn't save the windscreen which I thought I had a half chance..reduced to a large scrap heap of genuine 91 kawasaki "everysodear"...but once I'd finished this evening I was very close to the finish line. A new windscreen and indicators will have to be sourced.

One thing that really surprised me was the new feel of the rear suspension .It actually reacts positivly when you sit on the bike. It has the race-kit length rods and a later linkage which seems to have really brought some movement and life into the original stiff board set up.

The 6 pots up front feel will aslo be tested as everything has been bled , from clutch to brakes.

The race rearsets and scott russell muzzy exhaust will be fitted once all the legals are taken care of.

Rush playing Stockholm tomorrow nite...

jeez, do I never get bored with this band.
Been following them since 81 which was ironically their Moving Pictures tour.And now they're gonna play the album in it's entirety.Songs like Camera Eye are awesome and despite the last minute panic attack to simply get to stockholm, I can't wait.
By all accounts its by a rented bike , there and back in 24 hours...the things you still do to see some bands..Makes it even funnier to think that the bike is almost the same one Peart decides to shoot off on all the time!

Elmwood 3100

Sometimes something comes along..this is local...and these amps are like rocking horse crap to find..

Some would say they're one of the best ever built...

Really nice tele



I posted a while back the pictures of the 69 body that I purchased to replace the 77 boat anchor body that I had. It's together with a new mint pickguard as it needed a 60's style pickguard which is slightly different and having played her a lot I'm really impressed.harmonics across the neck which is a great 77 Fender sized neck with the lightness of the 69 body and the zing of the brass bridge. The pickups are unchanged and are handmade scatterwounds by my mate slider down in sydney , Australia. The neck is such a warm pickup you start to understand why Jazz guitarists are also using the telecaster more and more.





New battery and theres some life in the bitch!

Enough was enough! Having purchased a battery charger and being rewarded with a flashing light that was morse code for "this battery is fucked", I went out a put some money into a decent gel battery.
I removed the live red/white cable from the CDI and bolted up the battery and turned the key...and voila..there is life! Everything that was connected up worked except for the front headlights which could be for various reasons, at the moment I'm hoping its the fact that the bulbs are shot!
Now I'm just waiting for some parts that still need sourcing..with the weather good its a right pain to have to wait!
I also had to look around at tyres and I'm going to go for Dunlops Sportmax sportsmarts.

Obviously as I'm cheap as, I'm gonna order the tyres seperatly and remove the wheels and take to a shop..you save quite a lot of money this way but it is a pain in the ass...kinda follows that it would be.
I'm hoping for start up as soon as all parts are sourced...

nearly there...just a few headaches...

It's late. I've been working on the project and I'm at the point that we're getting close to start up...however, and theres always a however, a few minor questions are in the notebook..
Once again since it was stolen recovered I'm still finding parts that need replaced..pure pain in the ass...amazing what one spill can do to a mint bike..so at the moment I'm sourcing a new pipe for the water hose extension that runs left stage , which was crushed when she went down the road..then theres the engine drive nut that needs replaced after I had to wreck it to get it off...then theres the chain that will need to be split , re-run and then have another split link put in..always a pure pain in the ass imo..
...then we have the fact that the battery...which was apparently renewed when i purchased the bike..wasn't...
so, despite buying a trickle charger, it spat the dummy and flashed a green light which, according to its mini manual, meant that the battery was in such a bad way it was beyond help from this new , superb, charger..bollox!
but last..but not least...(cue drum role..)"the pink wire".
Thats right.A pink wire with a block connector fitting that is black taped to another wire which, like the program "lost", shouldn't exist. The cable its taped to is a thick red/white cable which has an eyelet fitment to the positive side of the battery..this is not to be found anywhere on the factory wiring harness..I mean, come on, a live positive wire being fed into a block connector into the CDI ??? and, taped to this..a pink wire which has a factory attachment connector that was meant to be in a block connector..but isn't anywhere on the J/K factory wiring diagram..I have read something about a pink wire in the M series CDI..see below

After many hours of WWW investigation, this was found.It's a K CDI Ignitor with an M wiring harness???
So, the question is this.When I picked up the bike from the gutter, it was on.The lights were on and it had been working. So, unless somebody has deliberatly been mucking about with the bike in storage..the set up with the pink wire and the live wire apparently worked..is it to live or a neagative?

new battery will be sourced and hopefully we'll have "houston, we have started started countdown for take-off"...

Me like...

Oh big fan of Marc Rizzo recently! had never heard of this guy until somebody tipped me to listen to Cavalera Conspiracy and from there I listened to his solo projects.
I'm sure this guy won't be popular perhaps with the purists, but I'm loving it! Specially this track, the energy is HUGE goin' on in the background and rhythms with his backtrack guitar and the bass and drums.
7 string signature guitar nowadays which probably helps..

It's great that there are some guitarists who are sticking out like Marc and dare I say it, Buckethead who I also rate highly despite his rather odd quims....

Trying to improve to find that Iommi tone..

Just unpacked and fitted some rather awesome 70's schaller mini tuners to the 61 gibson melody maker which as you can see is fitted with a custom pickguard which encloses some new electrics and two original 70s Gibson mini humbuckers.
Due to the age and size of the 61, it weighs sweet fa and pushed through an amp sounds awesome..
However...I'm thinking of changing out the bridge pickup for something hotter..
Now, obviously everybody loves the sound of Iommis JD/ John Birch SG..however these cost a fortune and just as it happens are pretty much based on his original 65 SG special which he then modified with a John Birch neck mini pup and kept the P90 in the bridge. Thats right, he had p90s which he didn't really like due to the hum..
bad news is that to find a John Birch original mini is nigh on impossible.
I'm really happy with the original vintage Gibbo mini in the neck, so thats staying put.
There are several companies selling hotter mini humbuckers.Seymour duncan, Dimarzio and another company I've found in England called gemini pickups who have something called the Mountain Queen mini humbucker which they claim has a resistance of around 14/15 K. Sounds interesting...
(http://www.geminipickups.co.uk/p90_mini_hb_66.html)
Not really sure I like moving towards ceramic magnets and of course Iommis being resin potted and not wax apparently made a difference..Hus did have two blades however working off the bottom magnet and the full size buckers had a resistance of 21k..however I can't believe his mini P90 replacement put out that much..I'll probably stick with the concept of an alnico V.That means it's a battle between the SD SM-3B or the Mountain Queen..
But now of course, just as minds are being made up, I'm toying with the idea of copying Tony and fitting a hot P90 into the bridge which SD do with a ceramic magnet..however...we shall see..gemini also make P90's..

Living Colour

Back in the day I heard this band were playing a small local down in Stockholm, about an hour away where I lived. I went down and was blown away by the musicianship of the band members. I obviously had already bought their stuff, but live they were so dynamic.
Funny story about that gig, I stood at the front row and kept shouting between songs that there weren't any t-shirts for sale...ok..so kinda daft now, but back then it was all about tour t-shirts..almost like something historic to have.
So, at the end of the gig the lead singer took off his living colour US shirt and threw it at me. Still have it and still wear it.

Now that Youtube is spilling out so much media it's brilliant to find these clips. Musician ship at a high level and highly recommended if you haven't come across them previously!

Tele Power!

Cool Pix #2

cool pix

Always fun when you find a picture of the likes of Hendrix who is synonymous with a Fender, to be sitting with any other guitar (apart from the Gibson flying V of course).
Here he is with a Les paul junior special.

keeping an eye on this at the mo..

So, I wonder what this is? By all accounts it's a Les Paul Junior Special, hence the four pots.(?)

Looking at the body and its been stripped and plugged with a wrap around added as opposed to the standard bridge and tail setup. Looking around the bridge humbucker and it also looks like it's been plugged, so maybe a standard p90 / P100 has been replaced by the humbucker. With no serial number on the back of the headstock and what looks like paint stripper running down the front of the headstock..(!!!) it's anybodys guess.

I'll have to check out a bit more. I do like the concept anyway.

nuff said.

J&D Brothers Les Paul LS-1

 To kick off my eldest sons guitar collection I bought him a J&D Gothic style matt black guitar with satin nickel finish. Cool looking guitar with 2 humbuckers and at a price around 2000 swedish kronor, I felt a lot of guitar.
However, having played it a few times I realised the neck was more like a whammy bar and it was impossible to play. I looked at the neck plate and to my utter surprise it only had 2 bolts fitting the neck to the body.Impossible , I thought, nobody could be this stupid.
I took it back and immediately got my point across to the local tech in the shop.They were also rather surprised how such a mistake could be made. Lets just say they're not in the catalog anymore..

As I always get a decent discount it wasn't a case of money back, but a another guitar. My son mentioned something about wanting a Paul rep , so after a few calls an LS-1 was dropped off at the shop and dusted down.
A few things surprised me immediately about this Made in Taiwan/China guitar.
First of all, the weight.It had a decent weight and seemed to be made from some fairly solid wood.Then the actual sunburst looked really good and it had a proper maple cap. I wasn't aware of it at the time, but this was a 4000 kr guitar.
I was sceptical about the bolt on neck, but everything else was fine for my kids second guitar.
A few months went past and there were some complaints about a buzz on the G-string.I tried to move the saddle in the bridge and the gold screws head just came off.Untreated marshmallow by all accounts.
The local tech gave me a replacement and I tried again.But nothing helped. My Charvel Custom shop was loaned to the boy and the LS-1 came down to me.

The neck came off and I tried out the truss rod.It worked.It just didn't need any truss-rod adjustment.
I then tried several variations of cardboard under the neck to get a better angle.With some adjustments at the bridge and the neck to body spacers*, I finally managed to get something remotely sounding correct.
But the G string still buzzed.
Ahhhh...the nut.I had a gander and noticed the cuts on the nut were rather interesting.So I cut 5mm from an older b string and stuck it in the slot and then restrung. She worked! No buzz. Basically to get the guitar optimum would be to replace the nut with another.

And I have to say, for the value of the guitar, its a great buy! I don't think they make these anymore with the same headstock design as it was rather close to the original Gibson open-book headstock. But it really looks good with this headstock design.
The electrics are all fine and the pickups are apparently ceramic magnet pups which also do the job.
You can get various different sounds from the guitar which really comes into it's own when pushed through a good distortion pedal ( Ibanez SM9), probably helped by the solid body weight.

So, really pleased to get the guitar sounding okay and staying very much in tune.Intonation hasn't be looked at as yet.I'm actually toying with the idea of sticking some other  pickups into this body and use the set of four push/pull pots I was given when I purchased the Peavey EVH. Better buy some extra solder and start looking at schematics!

Black to Black

So, one of my all time favorite projects has been the 78 Black Telecaster with Sliders scatter-wound pickups and an all brass Andy Summers style bridge.The neck is really nice and all in all she sounds brilliant...however..she's actually beyond boat anchor weight, given that she has a solid brass bridge and saddles.With a mint green pickguard and Mr Horsepower sticker, she's always been a favorite..but the weight...just too much..

..for a while now I've been looking around for a body to retain her used looks but keep her quality and as  luck might have it I found a decent replacement body weighing in at 4LBs 8 ounces, a 1969 telecaster body that had been stripped and refinished in black. Personally think it will keep the character of the guitar and I'm hoping this is indeed an upgrade on the 78 body which I will sell to finance the most recent purchase.

Gonz0's TonE

Let kick off by saying the Peavey EVH Wolfgang is an amazing guitar! It's one of the best buys and never ceases to amaze me! Right then, thats that update done and dusted..

Okay, whats new..well, quite a bit actually..been spending some time with a guy whose been touring for like 12 years around the globe and he's been up at the house trying out my guitars and we've been talking tone and I've been watching him play some riffs..
So, discussion got around to looking at building some guitars...what would that guitar be etc...
Well, thats all I need to start the little grey matters going haywire.
Obviously costs come into the equation, but at the same time if you want something a wee bit special it's gonna cost more than something you can pick up thats made in Korea..problem is the Asians know how to make a good quality cheap guitar! So, the question is of course, why would somebody want something I'm gonna design and put together?It's gotta be good, it's gotta be original in some respect and of course its gotta not only sound good but look good and have a design that is slightly different than any other...Okay, sounds all pie in the sky right? Wrong! Been there, done that and bought the t-shirt.
back in 91 they told me there was no way you could build a Harley davidson road racer that would be as good a handling bike as a Japanese bike.

Guess they were wrong....Now these frame kits are in Australia to the USA.

So, Pre-study has started and my god there are so many options out there!
set neck, bolt neck, body design, neck contour, materials, finishing, bridges, pickups, floyd or no floyd..

So, the first thing is to look at things you know work and obviously what you'd want yourself.
I have a few guitars in the collection which vary in design, pickup design and different necks and different body weights, so I have an idea of what I perceive should work together.

Okay, it's early days, but I know what I want with regards the body design. It really didn't take too long once I looked at the design of a certain guitar I own which reminds me of a land speed record car as opposed to a guitar.Sounds bizarre..it is...but I can't reveal anymore until I have the prototype finished...
Now then...looking at all the necks on the guitars, from Schecter guitar research to EVH Peavey to Charvel...there is one neck that sticks out which would be easy to replicate the compound and radius which is it's forte.Not too big, not too slim and just the perfect neck..It would be easy to replicate the dimensions anyway.
Hardware can always be changed..but to start off, you always need a good set of tuner pegs.
Now then..hard-tail or trem? once again a tough one I reckon...with the pickups I have in mind I think the best setup would be a string thru body. Tone comes from more than just the woods..it's an equation that is the sum of all parts in the matrix.
I'm fairly confident the pick ups I have in mind will not disappoint.

There are a few classic old ideas out there to be read, copied, stolen...wood under the pickups, pickups directly bolted to the chassis..even the tone of Andy Summers guitar is apparently assisted by the fact that the brass bridge plate is cracked so he bolted down the pup to the chassis..
All these bits n bobs assist I reckon. Asymmetrical necks like the Peavey Wolfgangs are out of reach, but there are several things that come to the table and which aren't difficult to trial and error.

Whatever happens, I wont be disappointed with this project.
I'll be updating once the first bodies/necks are in...otherwise it's gonna have to be kept kinda secret.Which is a pain of course for anybody whose actually interested..but its gonna be a good adventure!