Hi,
I have this Hitachi Transistor Radio in full working order, except for one of the tape drive belts, which I cut to prevent it from running. Duh! Ordered same from China Slow Boat delivery so no problem with that, when it eventually arrives.
I have tried to wire it up for the Piezzo or 3 pole unit with no success. I show the opened unit and indicate that the volume control is the 2nd unit on the right. The first is the tone control. I soldered the black wire to ground (the frame) and failed to find the appropriate red wire connection by touching all the points on the potentiometer. The Guitar works fine on my Roland Street Mobile portable amp, so no problems there.
The unit has a microphone 'in' 6 point female plug in on the back. Connecting the guitar with a jack from the guitar and male 6 point plug to the radio has no effect.
All testing has been done in battery mode only.
Any suggestions and help gratefully received.
Thanks,
Dave W Ashford, UK
Replies
How about a connection from the magnetic head which I believe is just two wires.
In theory removing the head and replacing it with the jack socket should give you your input and You can use these heads for guitar pickups too, especially if you place a rare earth magnetic close to it.
Hope that's of help :O)
Cheers
Gary
Thanks Gary,
If all else fails I will give it a try. I was hoping to keep the tape head in place and intact, or can I splice the wires into the head anyway?
Dave
Actually, that's a good idea !
Praps you could connect a 3 way guitar switch like a Les Paul type. Giving you the option of tape only, guitar only or both at the same time. You might even be able to jam along to cassette tapes :O)
Funnily enough I recently bought some Les Paul switches really cheap off ebay.
Here's the link: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/270789883369?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649...
Cheers
Gary
That's really cool. Ordered 1 straight away.
So, my thinking is that it will slot in somewhere between the jack socket on the radio, and the pick up point on splicing on the head. Have you any suggestions regarding on the wiring sequence.
Dave
Well.. I can't say I've ever done this.
I've converted radios to guitar amps, but if I were trying it, My thinking would be to treat the input jack and the tape head as your two inputs and the Les Paul switch as the go between. So output from the switch to the radio amp circuit and treat the input jack and tape head as if they were a bridge and neck pickup, if you see what I mean. So you can have one or the other or both.
Hope that all makes sense,
Good luck with that, post a video if it works :O)
Here's a track I did with an old Ekco Radio I converted, which I got at the bootfair for £3 which had obviously been rescued from a skip. With a touch of Reverb she sounds fab :O)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GE9iyjZfvGU
Cheers
Gary
I'm no guitarist (or electrician!) and all of this is a steep learning curve. The switch will take some time to get here and if and when I get it right I will put up a sound clip. Thanks for your advice and input so far. Much appreciated.
I listened to your YouTube clip and if my project ends up sounding as good as that I will be VERY happy...
Best regards
Dave
No Worries,
Hope it all goes to plan :O)
I've just finished making another toilet seat guitar, only my second electric guitar build so far.
This one was a commission by a friend who was so impressed with my first one that he wanted me to make him one too. Trouble is it's so much better than my first one I'd like to keep it !! but I must be good, I had my boiler go on the house last year and I have a 3k debt to clear now.
Cheers
Gary
Awesome guitar Gary!
No doubt to compliment your client's Chamber Ensemble!!
Thanks David,
I finally got round to making a demo video for it yesterday.
This is what it sounds like :O)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLmhkOgfG94