Mirosol

[Travis]

Been thinking lately about our good friend Mirosol. Anyone keep in touch with him lately?

[Sensei Tim]

I haven't.  

Quite a few of the old timers have disappeared :(

[Mulekicker]

I know. It's quite around here.

[Silver Blues]

Yeah, it's really too bad - I think a lot of us have run into other time commitments that prevent us from spending as much time as we'd like doing this lovely hobby. I know that I've been very short on free time since starting my PhD despite my best intentions, and my loads of ideas for new circuits to try. All that plus family obligations, hard times due to the current world situation, etc... But it's nice to see some newcomers here all the same!

[Sensei Tim]

What are you doing your doctorate in, if you don't mind me asking?

I'm still quite active in the hobby but about 2-3 years ago i decided to make the jump to doing my own PCBs and then about a year ago I made the transition to SMD.  These days 99% of what I do is SMD and i haven't looked back.

[IvIark]

I haven't spoken to Miro for a few years now.  We used to speak occasionally on Facebook but I think we all just had other important things to do which took over from pedal building.  I hope he's doing well and is happy and we get to catch up again at some point.

For me at the moment guitar building has taken over.  You should see how much wood I have in my garage

[Sensei Tim]

pics or it's all firewood :)

[IvIark]

I'll take some tomorrow and post them.  I did the same thing I did when I started pedal building and bought 100 of everything   It's daft really, I must have enough to build 30 guitars or more, but I'm a hoarder and like knowing I have plenty of stuff to hand.

[Silver Blues]

Sensei Tim wrote

What are you doing your doctorate in, if you don't mind me asking?

I'm still quite active in the hobby but about 2-3 years ago i decided to make the jump to doing my own PCBs and then about a year ago I made the transition to SMD.  These days 99% of what I do is SMD and i haven't looked back.

Don't mind at all! It's in chemistry, organometallic synthesis and related endeavours to be precise. Certainly keeps me busy (I was at the lab till 1:15 am the other night, not on purpose )

Yeah, I've got a mix of PCBs and vero going right now, lots of "to be built" projects in the "pending" box right now. VFE Triumvirate, Diamante bass comp, Phat Phuk, gonna experiment with microphones...

Do you do the SMD by hand? Hot air rework station?

[Travis]

No way Mark, me too!!

Here’s a Tele I made from scratch that I just finished wiring up this weekend

[Travis]

[IvIark]

Awesome job mate, love the maple.  I've only started during the lockdown after having made a few kits.  I've done one Tele from scratch which I did with cheapy wood and components left from previous kits I upgraded, so I didn't damage anything expensive.  I gave this to my daughter as a present to try to get her to learn guitar.  I plan on doing another from sapele (because I have loads of it and so doesn't feel as risky) and then when I feel I've ironed out the issues I've got plans for one with an ash body, wenge neck, flame maple top and fretboard.  I've got a list of at least 10 I plan on making and have all the wood and fancy tops I'll need to do them.





And from the conversation yesterday, my wood collection as it stands









Still got all my pedal building stuff there in the last one

[balazs.bencs]

Oh man, just like me.. 5 new guitars (mostly bare parts guitar bodies and necks and I do the finish, etc..).
Recently I started to wind my own pickups too!

[IvIark]

balazs.bencs wrote

Oh man, just like me.. 5 new guitars (mostly bare parts guitar bodies and necks and I do the finish, etc..).
Recently I started to wind my own pickups too!

I may do the same in the future, I decided to get the wood working bits to a good level before giving myself something else to do

[Sensei Tim]

Silver Blues wrote

Don't mind at all! It's in chemistry, organometallic synthesis and related endeavours to be precise. Certainly keeps me busy (I was at the lab till 1:15 am the other night, not on purpose )

Yeah, I've got a mix of PCBs and vero going right now, lots of "to be built" projects in the "pending" box right now. VFE Triumvirate, Diamante bass comp, Phat Phuk, gonna experiment with microphones...

Do you do the SMD by hand? Hot air rework station?

That's cool.  I did my postdoc in chemistry lab.  i prefer to be on the characterization end rather than the synthesis side.

As for SMD, i do neither.  I use JLC's PCBA service.  I have to hand populate a few parts that they have in their library but overall it's not a big deal.  I just use a fine tip on my iron.

[Sensei Tim]

mm i love flamed maple necks.  did you oil it or put a sealant on it?

[Sensei Tim]

Looks great!  I bet your garage smells divine!

[IvIark]

It’s funny but yes it does. I didn’t notice it or even think about it at all at first but as the stock built up, a couple of weeks ago I walked in and was hit by this intense smell of wood. I absolutely love it!

[Sensei Tim]

I love that smell.

in the before times when I was travelling for work I had the chance to have a trip to Baltimore which is a stone's throw from the PRS factory.  I was about to drive out there before my flight home and i kid you not when i was about 1/2 a mile from the factory it smelled like freshly milled wood.  it was amazing.

[Silver Blues]

IvIark wrote

That looks really lovely for a so-called "cheapy" build! I really like the colour.