That was all hand cut out of craft wood and even the cigar box itself is homemade. (I wanted the body to be a bit larger than a normal cigar box and it’s a 3 string.)
Starting at the end of the neck it goes like this:
3 tuning heads are from a ? parted out acoustic guitar.
2 string claws are brass knurled nuts and stainless screws from Lowes.
Small brass string nut I machined from a worn out throttle shaft from an antique Harley carburetor.
Fret lines on the neck are Sharpie pen marks. (fretless so it’s bottleneck slide only)
The hard to see fret marker dots are pressed in, worn out female connecting rod rollers from an early Harley panhead engine.
The 2 brass rings around the sound holes are shaved down 3/4 synchronizer rings from a Subaru transmission.
The pickup is a Humbucker out of ? that I unwound (6k turns plus) and rewound in the scatter method with wire from several Volkswagen fuel pump relays. (This was done by setting the lathe on its slowest speed, setting a clock up, and then counting minutes until I reached the magical, and roughly, 6500 turns plateau.)
The brass semi-circle bridge cover/palm rest is a nightstand drawer handle and is notched for strings.
The bridge, which can’t be seen, is a 2 piece affair I cut from aircraft structural aluminum.
The end piece for the strings is a residential door striker plate.
Tone/volume controls, both knobs, and the cable jack for the amp were pirated from a junked out 60 year old RCA vacuum tube TV that had been hanging in a hospital at one time.
Note the back is off in that pic. I added the small slide switch at the bottom and an internal homemade boost circuit. As an acoustic it has a Dobro sound. Amplified it is muted and softer on the lower position and flat screams on the upper. A tap of the ring finger changes the output and tone in a nano-second.
I prefer it acoustic only; the electronics were an afterthought. One of my slides is a Dunlop store bought; the other is a bronze homemade slide I machined from a worn out industrial machine bushing.
The finish is a swabbing with Old English and a coat of clear urethane. Strings are Ernie Ball Super Slinkys.
And there you have it. It’s pretty high tech compared to what the ones 90 years ago were made of; a board nailed to a cigar box with a piece of wire strung on it.
I’m primarly a bassist so I don’t consider myself very good with this at all but it is addictive and the feel kind of comes to you so to speak.
This thread might be used to help the administrators develop a ranking system…You guys, the regulars, might want to update your bios so they reflect reality if you want to be taken seriously…
AAHHhh I can see this thread has drifted off into left field, it’s perhaps better the web Lackeys just start a new “Topic” instead of using this thread…
I got my first car when I was fifteen. Actually, it was two cars, a VW Beetle with a good engine and a rotted out body and a crashed front end (which was the trunk area then), and the other with a good body but a blown motor. It was my birthday present (unasked for). My dad got them both into our backyard and I was given the project of swapping out the good motor into the good body. The car with the good body also needed four drum brake overhalls. The present included a Chilton’s manual and use of my dad’s car tools. And I got my first lesson in car repair from my dad, which was simple: take care of your tools (his tools then), when you take something apart, spread the parts you remove in the order in which they were removed, and keep that arrangement safe for when you put the car back together, Work like a gentleman (by which I guess he meant, work like a professional).
I was already the house’s handyman and lawn care expert and gardener, from since I was ten. My mother used to do the lawn mowing and trimming but she was overwhelmed with us four kids. I liked the idea of operating something as serious as lawn mower, and I talked my way into the responsibility. I was surprised how easily my plan was accepted. I got an allowance for my duties, five dollars a week.
From there, my duties grew. I prepped the lawn mower for winter in our little shed and got it running every spring. I could fix anything having to with my bike, including how to straighten a wheel if it was twisted from an impact, or fixing a flat tire with a tube patch kit, which I learned at eight. My dad spent what time he could with me but he worked two jobs during most of my childhood, so I had to figure a lot of things out on my own. Like why there are spokes on a bike wheel, and why you get that cheesy little tool that fits the tiny nuts on the spokes.
Anyway that should give some idea as to my credentials. If I don’t know something I find it out. I’m trained by myself. I have rebuilt engines, replaced transmission, clutches, rear axles, shocks, struts, and I never have let anyone else touch my cars’ brakes.
I also have a decent knowledge of what causes a certain type of problem. But it is true that cars have become much more complex over the past twenty years, and if I have no personal experience with a problem, as far as this site goes I tend to just let a question go and let the top twenty guys answer the question. Not always, though.
Oh yeah, I never answer a question that has already been correctly answered. I prefer to try to figure out problems that haven’t been answered at all, or when the answer is wrong or just kind of accusing.
I’m amazed this post is from March. I have 37 years experience. Master A.S.E. Mechanic, State inspector. Former Parts ,Warranty ,Service Manager and Service Director.
This has been my career after college. I am not a former teacher, military or police officer , computer geek or from another profession that has jumped into or left the auto business.
Just my opinion, but I kind of like hearing about hobbies and other interests that others have. Some of those things tie in with the mechanical world in a way.
I was surprised for some reason to hear that Tester is a drummer. That’s pretty cool in my book because my sister is an amateur drummer and her boyfriend is a pro musician.
The point could be made that drumming and working on a car with a ball peen are similar…
I build clothes dryers for a living.
We use air tools to shoot screws, so that could be akin to working on cars. The dryers come down an assembly line, same as a car factory, just that we probably build more dryers than a Ford or Chevy factory build cars in a day
We make Whirlpool, Kenmore, Estate, Roper, Inglis(Canadian brand only I think), Maytag, Admiral, Amana, used to make KitchenAid and Magic Chef brand dryers, but I think those have been discontinued. We also build the stacked units, known as thin twin, there as well and some coin operated units.
Like most things, you’re really paying just for the name on the thing. Most of our parts are used throughout our lineup, so options like sensor drying and lightbulbs will change the harness. We have a 29" and 27" product line up, and the 27" is actually in our higher end models like the Oasis and the Duet(matching dryers to the front load washers). The 29" lineup usually has the lint screen coming out of the top instead of inside the dryer door, though a couple 27" will have this as well.
There was talk of a totally retarded idea(in my opinion anyways, some may love the idea) they were gonna make available to the public, but I’m not sure if those new sets are available to purchase yet, so I won’t comment on those, but they will be about 3 grand for the set from what I hear
I’m pretty sure we’ve moved production of the front load washers to the Clyde, Ohio plant, but I’m not certain, they do make the top load washers there though. Findlay, Ohio makes the dishwashers I believe.
Your question also got me thinking just how much stuff we do “in house” there at the plant as far as parts go.
Our harnesses come from India, power cords and motors come from Mexico, console electronic parts and I believe the raw spools of steel comes from China. Not sure where our screws, rollers, or the heating elements come from. Our color powder paint comes from PPG, so I imagine even the white and dip paint come from there as well.
We stamp and paint most of our metal parts(drums, cabs, etc) “in house” and we even make the plastic drum baffles and blower wheels “in house”.
I wrote a long answer, pushed the wrong button and lost it! Oh well. I’m a lawyer and a judge, and I’ve been fixing machines since I was a kid. I just want to know how things work. Everything. Honda scooters, TV remotes, kitchen stoves, cars, furnaces, copying machines, mortgage backed securities.
I'm quite out-credentialed 8-). I'm 31. I started with a 1972 Fleetwood (in the 1990s), then a 1985 Chevy Celebrity with the 2.5L. A 1990 Plymouth Acclaim (3.0L Mitsubishi V6), a 1989 Dodge Shadow (what a piece of junk, I got PLENTY of practice repairing it), a 1988 Buick Century, a 1994 Chevy Corsica, and now a 2000 Buick Regal.
Really, I'll replace hoses and belts, on the Acclaim I replaced all 6 fuel injectors (they started leaking), I've done some A/C work (like replace a broken hose for instance, have an A/C shop evacuate it, then convert to R134A myself.) I took off the entire intake manifold on the Century to run cleaner through it, it had 220,000 miles so the buildup of varnish and gum was rather excessive. I've cleaned idle air bypasses and EGR valves on my cars. I helped a friend's friend out, whose heater core sprung a massive leak -- ghettoed it up by just looping a hose he already had under the hood to bypass the heater core. I've done a few "I have ~$0 but need a quick fix" type things like that. I didn't and still don't have the tools or time to dig into the engine internals and such, but am not going to pay a shop to replace a hose or change my air filter either 8-). I think I'm a pretty good diagnostician though, I've had pretty good luck figuring out just what has gone wrong when I or my friends have car trouble (whether I can actually fix it myself or not, at least I'll know what *needs* fixing.)
I do think if I had not gone into computer science, I would probably be a wrench instead, I do like the idea of working on cars more extensively, I just devote to much time to my computers (Windows-free, so don't worry, this doesn't mean "doing updates and removing viruses" haha).
That machine is funny…as soon as I saw the unit do its thing on “you tube” I immediately knew what was inside and how he did it. The movement of a servo is very distinct if you have had as much time playing with them as I have. I thought in my head how he wired a servo to do that and I cant believe that I was dead on correct about it (confirmed after seeing the parts photo). I am either a Super Genius…Or Totally Useless. I have about 30 nice cigar boxes lying around gathering dust…not anymore… Smell my soldering iron heating up?..now for the batt packs, the micro switch and the toggle…CAKE
Hi all,
Token Canadian here, suitably strange tastes…
Ducati and other weird Italian bikes, 280Z getting a V8 transplant… '48 Pontiac, Spartan trailers, Land Rover…
Came by it honestly growing up with slant-6 plymouths and ford pickups… (switching to the 4-barrel on my 302 DID give better mileage, re the bit on the show a while back…)
Cheers
Rick
