Just joined up!

[CitizenCain]

I'm a forum haunter par excellance, but never heard of this place. I stumbled on it by accident! I saw a couple of the guys I know from other places (Hi Brian Krashpad and kerc. Anyone else here?) so I thought I'd drop in here for a while and see what's up.

I'm a tinkerer and modifier, lover of vintage/rootsy guitar tones, play in a part-time surf band with some guys at work and just generally love to see, feel, hear and play with guitars and amps.

This is me...

And these are a couple of the projects I've done...

Voodooized Jimmie Vaughan Strat

Gretschified Epi ES-295, although you can see it's back closer to stock in my first pic

LP Mahogany Studio wrap bridge conversion and Tru-Oil finish

I love dinking with stuff and then talking about it :AOK: Ask me any questions you like!

 

[just strum]

Welcome to the forum, you appear to be pretty serious about this guitar thing. You will fit right in. I have a couple of Epi's myself and enjoy them a lot. Also have a Fender American Deluxe Strat that I enjoy just as much.

I don't have one of those shirts, I'll have to work on that.

 

[Robert]

Welcome! I need a shirt like that too...
Nice guitars!

 

[tot_Ou_tard]

Really nice axen Cain.

Which one is Rosebud?

 

[Suhnton]

Looks like you took the tailpiece out of the LP and did the wrap-around thing. Very nice equipment, especially that ES-295 and Carlson amp. Never heard one of those though. Wait, that Epi in the first pic is different. You have two?

 

[CitizenCain]

Hi guys! Yeah, I love me some guitar stuff :dude:

Suhnton, that's the same ES-295 in both pics. The Gretschified version never lived up to expectations so I recently went back to a more stock config with teh dual P90s. It sings! Alas, the Carlson is no longer here. The nice thing is I made some money on it :bravo:

 

[t_ross33]

Nice shirt - it would go good with my new Gretsch 5120

All kidding aside, welcome aboard CC. Good to have you here.

 

[Spudman]

Hi and welcome.:wave:

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Welcome! Glad to have a friend of Krashpad and Kerc here. I like your modded Etschiphone too!

 

[markb]

Hi, do tell us all about that Carlson Tremopup.

 

[Gil Janus]

Welcome aboard TheFret. I would say that you will fit right in here with the current crew.

Those are some nice guitars. Congrats.

Gil

 

[CitizenCain]

Hi, do tell us all about that Carlson Tremopup.

That was a very sweet amp. Not many of these made, right around 20 from what Mark Norwine (amp's builder) figures. This one was one of only two Mark put alnico speakers in stock, the rest, and all the Turbo Pups, used ceramic speakers. When I bought this amp I PM'd Mark on TGP with the serial number. He said he remembered this amp as being one of his favorites, he said it turned out "just right" and was tempted to keep it and build another for the guy who had ordered it :rotflmao: This one was built with Weber 10A150T speakers instead of the usual 10F150T or Californias of the early models. Trivia tidbit: Mark was the one who worked with Ted Weber to develop the first California speakers with paper dust caps, which is now a hugely popular option. They came about during the Turbo Pup's R&D phase when Mark was voicing speakers. He's always used Webers exclusively.

For those who don't know, the Turbo and Tremo Pups were built by Mark Norwine under the Carlson Amplification name. Mark is a highly respected amp tech/builder from New Jersey. He only built a few hundred over the course of Carlson's existence. The Tremo Pup came in late in the company's life after repeated requests to add a trem circuit to the Turbo Pup.

The design concept of the Pups was a blackface style preamp mated to an EL34 power section, all tuned on the conservative side to be voiced as a really clean jazz amp. It's a 2x10 config with dual EL34s that puts out only 35 watts. You can crank this right up and it stays beautifully clean. The charm of these amps is the incredible harmonic structure of the voice. They bring out the very best in every guitar that's put through them. Also, being endowed with almost limitless headroom, they are total pedal whores! I used a Blackstone MOSFET OD into mine and it just ate it up. It's like the Blackstone became part of the amp. The whole setup melded into a highly responsive unit.

Dang, now I'm starting to miss that amp!

 

[Jipes]

Welcome to the Fret Citizen Cain Nice collections of projects :AOK:

 

[Brian Krashpad]

Welcome again CC! This is a great no-drama place, you'll like it I'm sure.

 

[oldguy]

Hi and welcome!
Nice intro, and nice story 'bout the Carlson.

 

[scottl]

Heya Cain! I remember you! How you been?

Scott

 

[kerc]

He's a madman, I tell ya!

 

[mrmudcat]

Cool !!Very warm welcome!:beer:

 

[CitizenCain]

Thanks guys, it does seem like a very low pressure place. I need that right now

Hi Scott, what'cha been up to?

 

[warren0728]

welcome cc....great intro and shirt....enjoy.... ancake:

 

[evenkeel]

Terrific intro. Welcome!!! :beer:

 

[luvmyshiner]

Welcome aboard CC!

 

[duhvoodooman]

Welcome to The Fret, Cain. Some very cool gear there, my man. Would love to hear one of those Carlsons some time. And if you're ever looking for a good handbuilt pedal, I'm your guy! :AOK: :beer:

 

[peachhead]

Welcome to the Fret- great pics! :AOK:

 

[Carlström]

i've seen you somewhere before....i'm lurking this place now and then aswell CC, good place to hang! :beer:

 

[CitizenCain]

i've seen you somewhere before....i'm lurking this place now and then aswell CC, good place to hang! :beer:

I see there's no screening process for membership :beer:


duhvoodooman, I was cruising the links in your sig. Definitely some cool stuff going on! I'm interested in your Firefly amp. I've got an idea in mind to try and build a small tube amp using a reverb transformer I have laying around here as an output trans.