My good buddy in Pittsburgh, Flop (fabricator and owner of hot rod & scooter custom metalwork FLOP CUSTOM) has an eye, ear, and apprecitation for all things vintage and built with pride and quality from back in the day while also embracing the modern age of convenience and accessibilty. So when he recently purchased a working 1946 Zenith radio/phono he wanted to be able to play an iPod through it to hear his tunes with that warm old-timey tube sound. 

Lots of other folks have had the same idea, and there is a wealth of information out there about how to accomplish this...some very sound and some quite sketchy. I wanted to approach this in a proper well thought out manner. In short, basically what I did was construct a small outboard box with a jack for the auxillary, where the signal would transfer from stereo to mono. Plus, if there was any issue on the signal strength (from a low voltage device) I could add to this little box rather than wrestle with the Zenith's chassis constantly. I connected the auxillary to the amplifier via the volume control, and I think Flop and I were both surprised and pleased with the results. What we were hearing was a nicely analog, tube-driven amplified version of mp3 coming from his computer, or cell phone, or iPod. Plus, hearing some old country tunes filtered through an appliance of the era as pretty magical. Here's a brief video Flop took....

This sweet little Silvertone 1471 amp was found at a flea market for $30 (I hate it when people tell me this stuff!) and wasn't working. The owner brought it to COBRA Audio Emporium and let me have at it. It's a well-constructed 60's 6L6 single speaker 5 watt amp with 2 knobs (volume, tone) and I was able to quickly diagnose a bad tube (a newer one) and output transformer on the way out along with a few caps. 

I decided to use a very nicely compatible ClassicTone replacement OT. They are a high quality made in the USA item that are a little beefier than old stock while retaining all the appeal of original specs. (Oops! I didn't take any 'before' pics of the chassis interior. What you see is the above two photos is the new tubes/transformer/caps installed). A lot of people like them because of their "Champ" like spank, and I thought it would be great for this amp. There are a ton of sweet mods you can do to a simple circuit like this, but with such a clean example of this piece I felt a mild restoration was the way to go to rather than change the character of the amplifier. I installed some Orange Drops I had and with a few wiring repairs this vintage box was ready to rock.

I was able to complete the work in an afternoon and had a chance to honk on this l'il bugger with several different guitar/pickup combinations and was blown away by how awesome this amp is. With the repairs and new components this amp really came to life with a STRONG 5 watts of pure vintage tone! It is totally impressive what a wide range of tones can be wrangled from the simple volume/tone controls. There is a beautiful sweep to discover between the combination of the two. Cool yet thick but cutting cleans to just the right amount of warm grit at saturation flowed from the single speaker and impressed the ears of both the owner and me! I can honestly say this is the coolest small amp I have ever had the pleasure of working on and hope to own one myself someday! It was hard to give it back to the owner! 

With the repairs completed in a timely and rewarding manner I dedicated some quality time to a light cleaning of the inner and outer construction, covering, and polished some hardware and oiled the original leather handle a bit so it wouldn't dry/crack. Even the badge is in nice shape.

It's projects like this Silvertone 1471 that reminds me how the search for tone will continue to surprise and reward til the end of time, and is a testament to how sometimes understated simplicity in design whether through necessity or purpose can deliver quality and beauty to eyes, ears, and attitudes.

1970s Fender Musicmaster bass in for nut replacement, re-strung, saddle adjustment/intoned, slight neck adjustment, and general cleaning. These short scale basses are a cool Fender collectible that won't break the bank if you want some fiesta red amongst your gear!

Once the nut was done this Musicmaster just needed a proper set up with short-scale bass strings. Yes eventually I did clean and polish everything (not seen in these pics!).

I would also like to kindly thank whoever anonymously sent me the bitchin alabaster cobra statue...way cool!!!

Good buddy Josh Dukes from the Pittsburgh roots/Americana band THE ARMADILLOS brought his Fender Super Bassman 100 watt head in for a few repairs. It's a very nice example he scored from a storage facility. It had seen some rough 'n tumble action from his previous band (psychobilly SUPERCHARGED SUICIDE) and he wanted it working properly.

The Bassman's guts were beautifully clean for the most part. Josh kept blowing fuses (and breaking the fuse holder!) during gigs. He was lucky that he addressed the problems in time before he got a hot order of the "red plate special"!!! A few components and genuine Fender hardware, fresh tubes and proper bias adjustment got it tightened up. Josh has seemed real pleased at the way the amp is SUPPOSED to sound, and I had a good time honkin on it with a few different guitars before I got it back to him. You just gotta love Fender silverface gear.

PART 1
Blair Powell of Pittsburgh rockabilly band HIGHWAY 13 recently brought this 1995 WASHBURN J-6S Wes Montgomery model archtop in for a mild restoration. While Blair is the upright bass player for the band, he received this guitar on a trade and wanted to put a nice player's instrument together. The previous owner did some mild customization to the guitar - the gold hardware was removed, pickups were replaced with P-94s, a Bigsby was installed, and the knobs were replaced with "8 ball" automotive valve stem covers. The guitar hasn't been strung or played in almost 10 years and was pretty beat to shit. 

The Bigsby was misaligned and the device itself was problematic (more on this later). This is what caused stress cracks on the archtop when downward pressure was applied to the tremelo arm. The bridge is completely missing.

The input jack was smashed in and caused considerable damage to the wood. I'm guessing a straight plug cable and a few beers are to blame.

At some point stock tuners were replaced and there were a few mounting issues.

The nut is broken at the high E. Again the issues with the tuners are visible here. But you just gotta love that headstock inlay!

Believe me I "get" why this was a cool idea for knobs at one time, but frankly they are just too big, cumbersome, and are no longer doing this guitar any favors. It appears one actually interfered with the Bigsby action because of the size and the way they were installed. (More on this and other practical cosmetics later).

PART 2
I started tearing the guitar down to inspect all electronics and give the whole thing a preliminary cleaning. Above, you can see the results of when the stock tailpiece was removed and they mounted the Bigsby.

During the preliminary cleaning I found a lot of dirt and debris (and corn chips?!?) inside the hollowbody, in addition to a pick and the plastic number "2" and letter "P" which I believe was a small child's attempt at communicating he wanted "to play" this fine instrument.

After some minor wiring repairs to the toggle and pots I reinstalled the pickups and started to place, fit to scale, and shape the rosewood base & roller bridge replacement. 

So up next was the Bigsby...it polished up nice and I addressed the mounting and performance issues. The more I eyeballed it something seemed bent or "off" with the actual device, not just the mount. I consulted with a mechanic buddy of mine for a second opinion to confirm I wasn't crazy, and without knowing a thing about guitars (but a lot about precision) he agreed it was imperfect. BUT they are made of aluminum, so you can't just put it in a vise and beat it til it's straight! Older USA made Bigsbys like this one were factory cast and actually finished by hand, resulting in some imperfections. A common one was the holes for the hinge pin were drilled off-center (case in point). 

The device does have some "slop" and play to it which compensates during the mounting process; I just needed to spend some time mocking it up in several positions to nail down what would work best for performance AND aesthetically for this particular (the Bigsby B7) model and guitar.

I determined a better position to mount the Bigsby where the angles of the string to bridge to device are proper, and where the device itself absorbs the pressure of the armature in use rather than the wood/body of the guitar. A nylon washer shim corrected most of the alignment issues. I incorporated the strap button into the mounting hardware to bring it more towards center (I felt it was too far "forward" to the edge for comfort). I reconnected the ground wire and filled the holes mentioned earlier.

I'm no luthier by any means, so I repaired the input jack damage the best I could with some light routing, wired up a new jack, and mounted it securely with a plate.

PART 3 
Time to get this guitar buttoned up. After some more cleaning and a coat of "COBRA Venom" guitar polish, I installed these classy knobs. They are blackened brass with mother of pearl tops. I feel they really compliment the headstock inlay and keep true to the "black and blonde" vibe this guitar wants to put out.

Blair decided he didn't want a pickguard after all. I conditioned the fretboard, strung it up, gave it a full set-up. Note the strings now align with the pickup pole pieces.

Yep, everything works now.

Yep, everything is starting to polish up nicely.

As for the crooked machine head mounts, I first aligned them all as parallel as I could, but found the tops of the tuner knobs to be too close to the headstock for comfort and ease of tuning. So I went back and decided to slightly angle each side with the flow of the curved headstock, so each end of an individual knob is equidistant from the headstock at all times during rotation. It looks best and works best, end of story!