Here's my newest gatherings. The Morrell lap steel works great. It has a nice Kent Armstrong single coil pup and really puts out on my new/old Squire BP15 amp. I've put the Morrell in a A6 tuning. E, C#, A, F#, E, C#. The amp came from a garage sale for $25.
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Hey JuJu, thanks for the great advice once more. I'll do my best on the pots. I don't know if I'm comfortable with taking the cover off the old pots. I'll see. I'll try the spray and wiggle idea first. I'll be taking the old lady apart again tomorrow, as the old chord finally gave it up today at my zoo gig. My band, the Procrastinators, played right over the tiger cage. It was fun. The Electromuse did great all afternoon to the last song. It was Reck of old 97. I just finished the last verse and started down that grade doing 90 miles an hour, when her whistle broke into a scream. The pup cut out and hummed like a champ. I'll put a new chord on tomorrow. I'll get a cloth covered one and cut an end off and hardwire it in like the old chord. Wish I could get the skinny chord like the old one, but one must do what one must do... Anyhow, I'll be in there and start spraying the pots. Maybe luck will follow..? ... Dave
Nice one Dave good tohear you brought new life back to the old lady it's always good to revive old instruments - it always makes me think who has played the instrumen over the years - if only they could speak - i dare say it would have a few tales to tell !
i can't say when i will get the cast Tail units done but it will be sooner rather than later as i'm only able to Cast alloy when the weather is good (dry) so it's going to be in the next month or so in our so called summer lol !
if there vintage Pots which i guess yours are then myself i would desolder everything and remove the cover and give the contacts a very light tickle with some 1200 grade wet and dry paper followed by a spray of contact cleaner while turning the pot back and forth - a bit extreme but good old pots are the best IMO on a newish pot i'd just spray some contact cleaner inside and work the knob back and forth - in the hope it worked - if not i'd just replace the pot for what they cost - i use Ambersil - ambertron contact cleaner - good stuff it usually dose the trick :)
I'll take your recommendation on a string to use, and anytime you come up with the "unit", I'll take one...Thanks JUJU. ... Dave ... oh, and I got the old lady Electromuse going today. New strings and Knutson style tuners. She sounds great even without a pot cleaning. Any rec. on cleaning pots? Questions, questions, questions... D
Yes dave i was thinking along the lines of a all in one tail unit along with a built in pickup vol & tone just a complete bolt on item :)
as for the diddley string on the last diddley i made (resbow ) i used a Flatwound 56 gauge string and it sounded wicked a real nice Buzz to it - but on previous builds i have used the E string and tuned it down to D it all depends on your taste really and it's always good to experiment - i tend to like my diddleys with a more bass buzz than tonal ring
hope that helps - cant wait to see the diddley come together :)
JuJu Thanks for the great information. I think i'm starting to get it a little at a time. Wow, if you make some tails for laps put me down for one. That would be fabulous. Your castings are so beautiful. I like the way the Electromuse tail has everything in one plate and it looks cool too. I got the neck cut and sanded for the diddley. Simple square neck model. I'll take photos as I go and post the progress. What gauge string do you think would do your pup justice? I was thinking a G or D string.
Hi Dave sorry i'm a bit late with my responce - i would say go with a .047 cap should calm the tone down some and the diddley pot use a 250k will be a warmer sound than using a 500k - i think a 100k will be a little to thick a sound
loving the electromuse first time i have seen one looks cool - i was thinking about alloy casting yesterday and i was thinking on the lines of some Lapsteel hardwear like the whole bridge/tail setup and some bolt on headstock kind of like Bigsby used to make - would be really cool to have both the headstock and Tail section as bolt on items then it would be a case of pick your slab of wood for the body of the Lapsteel and botl the bits on ! - just one of the many ideas that float around in my head lol !
Thanks for the info Don, the lake was great today. Got my diddley bow neck cut and sanded to shape and upon returning home a nice arrival via UPS. An Electromuse old lap steel was waiting for me. Ancient wire hook up. Amped her up and by golly, she works! Photos to come...
The .047 capacitor or the .022 depending maybe on the tone pot, whether it's a 500 or a 250 pot are the standard choices. The Seymour Duncan site has a lot of the clear diagrams of what goes on what.
Yeah kinda wish I didn't sell that one. It was rich and tone-full.
Have a great day at the Lake! Now I wish I was there.
Comments
Hey JuJu, thanks for the great advice once more. I'll do my best on the pots. I don't know if I'm comfortable with taking the cover off the old pots. I'll see. I'll try the spray and wiggle idea first. I'll be taking the old lady apart again tomorrow, as the old chord finally gave it up today at my zoo gig. My band, the Procrastinators, played right over the tiger cage. It was fun. The Electromuse did great all afternoon to the last song. It was Reck of old 97. I just finished the last verse and started down that grade doing 90 miles an hour, when her whistle broke into a scream. The pup cut out and hummed like a champ. I'll put a new chord on tomorrow. I'll get a cloth covered one and cut an end off and hardwire it in like the old chord. Wish I could get the skinny chord like the old one, but one must do what one must do... Anyhow, I'll be in there and start spraying the pots. Maybe luck will follow..? ... Dave
Nice one Dave good tohear you brought new life back to the old lady it's always good to revive old instruments - it always makes me think who has played the instrumen over the years - if only they could speak - i dare say it would have a few tales to tell !
i can't say when i will get the cast Tail units done but it will be sooner rather than later as i'm only able to Cast alloy when the weather is good (dry) so it's going to be in the next month or so in our so called summer lol !
if there vintage Pots which i guess yours are then myself i would desolder everything and remove the cover and give the contacts a very light tickle with some 1200 grade wet and dry paper followed by a spray of contact cleaner while turning the pot back and forth - a bit extreme but good old pots are the best IMO on a newish pot i'd just spray some contact cleaner inside and work the knob back and forth - in the hope it worked - if not i'd just replace the pot for what they cost - i use Ambersil - ambertron contact cleaner - good stuff it usually dose the trick :)
I'll take your recommendation on a string to use, and anytime you come up with the "unit", I'll take one...Thanks JUJU. ... Dave ... oh, and I got the old lady Electromuse going today. New strings and Knutson style tuners. She sounds great even without a pot cleaning. Any rec. on cleaning pots? Questions, questions, questions... D
Yes dave i was thinking along the lines of a all in one tail unit along with a built in pickup vol & tone just a complete bolt on item :)
as for the diddley string on the last diddley i made (resbow ) i used a Flatwound 56 gauge string and it sounded wicked a real nice Buzz to it - but on previous builds i have used the E string and tuned it down to D it all depends on your taste really and it's always good to experiment - i tend to like my diddleys with a more bass buzz than tonal ring
hope that helps - cant wait to see the diddley come together :)
JuJu Thanks for the great information. I think i'm starting to get it a little at a time. Wow, if you make some tails for laps put me down for one. That would be fabulous. Your castings are so beautiful. I like the way the Electromuse tail has everything in one plate and it looks cool too. I got the neck cut and sanded for the diddley. Simple square neck model. I'll take photos as I go and post the progress. What gauge string do you think would do your pup justice? I was thinking a G or D string.
Hi Dave sorry i'm a bit late with my responce - i would say go with a .047 cap should calm the tone down some and the diddley pot use a 250k will be a warmer sound than using a 500k - i think a 100k will be a little to thick a sound
loving the electromuse first time i have seen one looks cool - i was thinking about alloy casting yesterday and i was thinking on the lines of some Lapsteel hardwear like the whole bridge/tail setup and some bolt on headstock kind of like Bigsby used to make - would be really cool to have both the headstock and Tail section as bolt on items then it would be a case of pick your slab of wood for the body of the Lapsteel and botl the bits on ! - just one of the many ideas that float around in my head lol !
An Electromuse! That's cool! I love old lap steels. I have plans for a Supro but I will probably just do my own design. Have fun with that new LS!
Thanks for the info Don, the lake was great today. Got my diddley bow neck cut and sanded to shape and upon returning home a nice arrival via UPS. An Electromuse old lap steel was waiting for me. Ancient wire hook up. Amped her up and by golly, she works! Photos to come...
Hi Dave,
The .047 capacitor or the .022 depending maybe on the tone pot, whether it's a 500 or a 250 pot are the standard choices. The Seymour Duncan site has a lot of the clear diagrams of what goes on what.
Yeah kinda wish I didn't sell that one. It was rich and tone-full.
Have a great day at the Lake! Now I wish I was there.