Lemmy passes away at the age of 70

woke up to the news that lemmy of Motorhead passed away.

I first saw and met Motorhead back in 1982 on the Iron Fist tour. back then it was Lemmy, Fast Eddie and Phil on the drums. With the drummer passing away two weeks ago , they seem to be heading off together. Obviously the original line-up broke up after the iron Fist tour and to be honest I stopped listening after that.
Lemmy leaves a legacy and quite rightly so.

a couple of pedals for xmas.....BOSS DD-2 blue label and Velvet Minotaur

I have to say I'm not a huge fan of pedals. I'm not that far advanced perhaps...it's enough to plug into the amp...
..however, I do like the odd pedal and currently looped into the jubilee is an analog CE-2, a TE looper and a Korg guitar tuner. Front of amp is a Jam wahwah. I was really keen on finding a delay that I knew I would be happy with, so the other day a Boss DD-2 came up at the right price as it was scratched and didn't have it's box and original receipt...(??) so that will be added into the loop with the CE-2.

So, for some bizarre and reason that cannot be explained...I came across the price of the Klon Centaur. Now, I think pretty much everybody  knows or has listened to the Klon. It's the mutha of all tone pedals which is basically why they now command such high prices on the bay. the same price as a second hand car...

..and just like the Dumble amps that preceeded...Bill Finnagan also covered his secrets with black goo. This of course will never stop the hardcore pedalisters and right enough, the klon centaur schematic is now readily available...or is it? Soon enough you get linked up to the Illuminati and you read about diodes that are unavailable as a giant gold dragon has them in a hill somewhere and nobody can find that sound until the hobbits and dwarfs break into the mountain and steal some...

..then, you start listening to the comparison clips on youtube...never easy when listening through the mac pro...however, you soon realise that some of the pedals are really really close to the original..
Some claim to be EXACT copies in every single way with regards outputs and all the rest...but hold on..what about the hobbits and dwarfs....believe it or not, the more you read the forums the more the arguments are laid down about russian de/9 diodes and resistors aren't the same as lord of the rings diodes and bla bla...so...anyway, after listening and reading and reading and listening..It came down to basically two options that I felt were in the right price bracket and by all accounts had enough of the klone of the klon to entice me to bring one home...
...it was either gonna be the Arc Klone V2 or the Velvet Minotaur. The price was almost the same...one had free shipping and one didn't...one was in europe so no import tax...the other wasn't..
so..on the way from Greece is the Velvet Minotaur:

comparison:-
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv4e7EqWWSI

Marshall 5110 ripped and used as 1x12 speaker cabinet

okay, the Marshall 5110 as a combo is a decent solid state combo from the 80s. But, I have a silver jubilee head and I wanted to run it through a practice 1x12 cabinet. So I decided to use the combo as the foundations as a cabinet and purchased the required fitting gear from Earcandy.

Part one is complete. However, I'm not convinced by the Celestion G12M 70 4ohm speaker, so the hunt is on for a replacement. I may just remove a speaker out of the 2x12 Jube cabinet.

Having looked around the net there are a lot of decent speaker manufacturers out there. One company that has impressed is Scumback. I'll update if and when I decide what is gonna replace the G12M 70.

Greco Custom Order 70's

Well the double neck arrived eventually.
I say that as it only took a day from japan, but 7 days at the customs due to a fuck up..

So I was happy to finally go and pick it up. And I have to say I'm more than happy with what was in the box!

I'm scoured the net to see if there are any other double necks with the same features but nothing has come up. As you can see, there are a few deviations to the norm. Apparently guitars were made at the same place Greco and Ibanez were made. That actually explains a few things.
The pickups are Ibanez super 70's. covered and uncovered. what an impressive humbucker! I did some reading about them and apparently they are unpotted and use alnico 8 for the magnets.
The positional markers on both necks are also a mystery. look class I reckon, and would rather have them like this than the std. Gibson copy. Bit more JM in these..
I haven't been able to find one other Mij double neck with the same fenderesque pickup switches in the middle scratch plate. I wonder if this was also a one-off?
Then you have the tails that are longer down the body. Apparently Jimmy page ordered his one-off EDS with this as one got better sustain. Once again, whoever ordered this back in the day knew what he/she wanted. According to the advert the necks are maple and the body Mahogany.
Finally, you have 18 Greco top end metal tulip tuners at the end of necks. quality written all over them, also high end parts and once again I can't find the same type when scouring the net.

So I reckon I found a real pearl of a double neck. I'd love to know who ordered it initially.
sounds fantastic and plays really easy. The setup is spot on.

Greco double neck

had no intentions to buy a Greco double neck lawsuit copy, but this caught my eye on the bay and I started checking it out at it's source.
As already mentioned, I don't like the idea of getting a guitar that is exactly the same as Jimmy page, or beck or any of those gurus. they could basically plug into a potato chip and make anything sound good.
I liked the fact that the pattern markers weren't the norm. I also like the separate switches for the pickups  at the rear. reading the jap site gave more info. As per the norm, this was a special order from around 77. What makes it rather rarer is the fact that most necks were bolt-ons when this was made, but this came as a set-neck. So, I think this special order was worth the money the japanese site was asking, around half of the cost on ebay....

Having looked around at Double-necks, I noticed the biggest differences with most are where the tail is in relation to the rest of the body. Jimmy Pages Gibson has the tail further down the body which apparently gives the guitar more sustain than the versions where the tails sit further up.

Ducati 748 pushing the patience....

So once again somebody tried to steal the Duc. getting rather tiresome as they epic fail and leave me to pick up the parts.. this time a screwed up ignition lock and front brake disc.
The bike was put in to fix the front fork oil seal which had it fail the MOT and now that's done through a shop at silly money, the bike hasn't been the same since..

So, I'm now changed the regulator/rectifier and added a new battery to the list. I thought that would fix the issue of misfiring when warm, or the fact that I would charge the old battery it would be flat in as many seconds as it takes to scribble this...

I've checked everything with a volt meter and apparently it was charging on tickover and at around 2500 rpm...so you would have thought that was okay..but no. the battery simply died. So I bought a new battery...on the way to work the usual shit started with misfiring and general fucking around...

looking around there are several reasons for this, which just makes me more inclined to sell the bike. Don't have time for this kind of shit. temp sensors, fuel filters embedded in the petrol tank that need changed as they can draw a charge due to the fuel injector system, and bla bla Italian fucking shite electrics.. They obviously put more money into the design than the electrics that have a design fault from the start with thin wires from the generator burning out and bla bla...And yes, mine is a three phase system which is meant to be the improved version...god help any two phase persons..

I ride bikes. A lot of "bike" riders leave them in the garage and wear the leather jacket to the bar explaining how much fun their 40 minutes a week is so awesome...well bollox, rain wind or shine I need my two wheels to work!

rant over! 

80's Floyd Strat

Right, the initial plan was to make a replica of Zappas yellow strat. Obviously to a point as sticking in pre-amps and equalizers and batteries requires more effort...

Anyway, having looked around for a body , things got a bit expensive if I was gonna go new with a relic scheme. So when this solid ash body came up I thought I'd just build a similar guitar., I was fortunate enough to find two 80s Seymour Duncan vintage hot stacks and I already had an 80s HS3 Dimarzio which balances up the neck pickup.
With a floyd sitting topside without a route as done with all the later strat bodies, the string height is slightly higher, but that seems to add to the solid ash sustain and the hot stacks that seem to pick up everything including radio one... harmonics across the board and when you add in any distortion things gets really heavy without getting muddy.

Most of the plastic is from the 80s and works well with the salmon gloss (see-thru 2 grain) colour.

The neck is pretty fat which also assists a huge sound.

The wiring is setup with tone on the bridge pup. Interesting when you use 2 position between the two hot stacks. Currently wearing 10's.

Really enjoying the ride!

80's Hot Stacks (seymour duncan)

Took some months of waiting, and finally I've managed to collect some 80s original Seymour Duncan hot stacks. So here they are. As used by Zappa, one in the bridge and one in the middle position. It's either gonna be a Dimarzio HS-3 or a Malmsteen HS-4 in the neck. 

Due to the budgets involved, I'll wait and see what I do with the 80's solid ash I picked up. salmon gloss it's pretty nice as it is and I'm not sure if it's worth going through the hassle of stripping it and getting a respray. We shall see. it's a nice weight and together with the 80s floyd, will do the job nicely.

right then, just need to wait until the second pup arrives and then the soldering iron comes out..

and now with the floyd bridge and neck..it's not the yellow of Franks but it's gonna be a similar setup

Works OW01

Barr the Öhlins forks and the dry clutch, my project is basically the same. Oh, and the works YEC swing-arm. Question is if I should source a YZF swingarm or just keep the standard OW01 arm..

The YEC frame strengtheners on the side of the frame are the same. The airbox looks the same...mine is a Harris item..And of course the radiator is slightly different, mine is a YEC item from a YZF by the mounts on it..

Dark months on the horizon

right then, it's soon the busy period in Sweden as everything starts getting dark earlier....apparently for most this is a hyper depressing time which explains the manic reactions in the summer months, but for me it means the end of the rugby season and into the projex season.

The Ow01 project was shelved for a few reasons. Due to an issue with the works head and setup I had to take out the fully tuned owl engine and stick in the extra engine I got with the bike which is a YZF750 engine.To solve the issue I needed another OW01 cylinder head which was just purchased around 1 minute ago. The works cams will slot right in and the issues I had should be sorted.

So it's head down to get the project on the race engine finished. Otherwise the rest of the bike is pretty much ready.

98 Peavey EVH Hardtail

I used to own a Pat Pend Peavey EVH quilt top with a floyd.
Lovely guitar , but one I stop using so much. Not sure why, but just wasn't that keen on the floyd.
So, a mate said the best guitar he'd ever played for tone was the hard tail version of the wolfgang.

So been looking for one for a while and one finally came up on the bay.

The Spirit of Semtex

back in around '93 we were at the day of champions at Donnington park.
After a rather fast get-off at the Craner Curves due to our sponsor giving us the wrong brake fluid which ensured the ISR 6 pots didn't actually work when it mattered, we were standing there in the rain with KR tape at the ready when a Suzuki Grand Prix technician came over and asked if we needed some help.
He was very keen on harleys and mentioned his hill climber which was built up by himself with leftovers from the Suzuki grand Prix bike parts.
Paddy then said, if it was raining, we could borrow some grand prix wets for the qualifier. We took off the marvics and gave them to the techs and got them back with GP wets. We were almost not allowed to even look at these tyres as the compound was that secret..
After the rain stopped and the track dried they were off quicker than you could say "wot"?

The bike that Paddy built is was and still is a total beast. This was back in the day when 4 valve heads by fuelling were very exotic and untried and nothing had ever been built for a big twin. My own racing bike had some very special parts, like carbon fibre pushrods and hand made alloy cylinders and heads..but this beast was different. It's all in the name: "the spirit of Semtex". Nice to see a more recent pic of the bike as she's been in bits, along with Paddy, after hill climbing.

Rocking Horse crap...

just as you think there is no chance , one turns up on fleabay...
These usually only can be found as a top and bottom yoke, connected together with a rather expensive titanium shaft..
As my original OW01 top yoke doesn't have a cast for an ignition barrel, I've been racking my brains for a while..but here it is, time to finish off the project.

"Franx" project

one step closer.

80's build.

So on this build i decided to go the way I would have probably gone back in the early 80s.

The neck is a very nicely made modern c neck from the Strat elite. Adding this to a lightweight 62ri body got me thinking about going mint green again but then I decided to stick on the 70's pick guard  with 70's black original covers and knobs as well as a 70's RI bridge with brass charvel string holders. 

The Elite Stratocasters of 83/84 are responsible for the neck and it's absolute class. The back is stripped of all laquer , so feels awesome and the schaller/Fender tuners are a class act on their own. beautifully cast. As written elsewhere, the quality of these guitars was on par with the custom shop and going on the quality of the neck and tuners I can understand why people are scripting as such.

Bridge and neck pickups are vintage Dimarzio and she's wired up with a tone on bridge and neck pickups with middle pickup running straight through. middle pup is an alnico 2 SD. As per the norm all the screws are relic so she looks as if she could easily have been from the early eighties except for the body shape. Those with a keen eye will notice the hole which hasn't got a screw in it as 70's pick guards don't fit directly on 11 hole 62 bodies.

80's Floyd Rose for Zappa project sourced.