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Some things I learned from my latest build

Just finished what I hope to be the mother of all travel CBGs. Pictures are elsewhere - I haven't worked out yet how to combine pictures and test together ;-).

I wanted to build a light, compact CBG for travelling, so using a Jaime Garcia box that I picked up on a business trip to Kuala Lumpur together with a 24" scale neck/fretboard (thanks here to Joel from Blues Guitars France) and a homemade LM386 based amp, have been putting everything together over the last weeks.

Now to some of the things I learned (in no particular order):

1. Steel rules actually have rather sharp edges.

2. Blood soaks incredibly quickly into untreated wood.

3. Blood stains take a long time to sand out.

4. No matter how carefully you measure things, when you fit them together, something won't fit quite right.

5. Soldering irons take a long time to cool down.

6. No matter how much you protect the box whilst working on it, it will get scratched anyway.

7. The smallest possible items (think string height adjustment screws on a hardtail bridge) will fall out and end up in the most unlikely place.

8. Don't try searching for tiny screws outside at night. It's unlikely that the local wildlife will find them interesting and make off with them - wait until it's daylight.

9. And finally .... Before pulling all wiring out and resoldering because there's no output to the jack, check that the volume pot is not wound down to zero.

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Permalink Reply by Glenn Kaiser on August 19, 2019 at 1:21pm

HA! Sweet work and great lessons learned bro! So... what sort of wattage and what size speaker in that sweet little beast? Kudos! -Glenn

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Permalink Reply by Dave Barrett on August 20, 2019 at 1:11am

Thanks Glenn. The amp is a massive 1 Watt and the speaker is 7cm/2 3/4". This was the only "reasonable" sized speaker that I could find with small outside dimensions. As it is, I had to shave some of the neck away and file down one of the string ferrules to clear the speaker.

Attachments:

IMG_6024.JPG, 2 MB

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Permalink Reply by Taffy Evans on August 19, 2019 at 3:26pm

Hopefully it only happens once.

Taff

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Permalink Reply by Dave Barrett on August 20, 2019 at 1:13am

You know how it goes - I promised the wife I wouldn't built yet another one ;-)

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Permalink Reply by KOOL DOG HOOCH on August 19, 2019 at 3:41pm

LOL next time you want to do some blood letting to appease the cbg God's, try peroxide to get the blood out of the wood .guess you never of pack rats, the little bast***ds will run off with your hubcaps if they could pry them off. If it's shinny it's gone!

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Permalink Reply by Dave Barrett on August 20, 2019 at 1:06am

Thanks for the tip. Maybe I should offer some sacrificial pack rats to the CBG Gods next time :-).

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Permalink Reply by T-Gripped on August 20, 2019 at 1:32am

Blood stains add character! [Don't ask me how I know this.]

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Permalink Reply by KaptnKen on August 23, 2019 at 10:57am

I leave the blood in and just tell everyone it has extra mojo.

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Permalink Reply by Uncle John on August 20, 2019 at 1:33am

LOL. I enjoyed and eye dentified with that.

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Permalink Reply by Art Prior on August 20, 2019 at 3:01am

I have found that anything dropped while working on a bench will find it's way to the furthest, dirtiest spot underneath and if working on a car, anything dropped will roll to its (unreachable) geographical center. As far as #9--always try the simple stuff first---of course you don't think of it till last! Art

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Permalink Reply by KOOL DOG HOOCH on August 20, 2019 at 4:29am

Rodger that!

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Permalink Reply by Taffy Evans on August 20, 2019 at 9:39am

Hi, I have Found that the CSI method of looking for clues works (small powerful torch) well for finding parts, even in daylight. I find it focuses the eyes to a specific area, works most times.

if it does not work, I call in the wife, that always works.

Taff