New obsession

Well, I've got a new 'favorite' thing, Need For Speed: Shift. Very awesome game. The physics engine in this game is one of the best I've played with. Then I found matt2380's Overhaul MOD on www.nogripracing.com makes the game tougher but even better, makes it one of the best racing sims available, IMHO at least.

Been awhile

Forgot I had this blog :)
Update on the Kalamazoo, I replaced all four pots, caps, wires and switch. I only kept the jack and the pick-ups.

While I had her apart I added RF shielding as described by John S. Atchley @ http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/index.php. Works great, really cut the hum down a lot, not totally but a significant amount. I also added the big cap for shock protection, I've been zapped while testing a 100w amp I was fixing, felt like the strings were cutting into my right palm.

Then the switch died and I just wired both pick-ups selected all the time for now.

Do you know how hard it is to find 250k and 500k potentiometers in a small city? They don't exist, The Source (ex-RadioShack) only has 5k and 10k. Maybe I'll order them from Gibson.

Have an update on the age of the KG2, last year with this body style was 1968. The number on the headstock doesn't seem to be of much help.

Gibson Kalamazoo KG2 Guitar

This is the Gibson Kalamazoo KG2 my step-father gave me in the mid 80's. He bought it new, I'm guessing around 1970'ish.

No sign of the Gibson name, but it is one.

Near as I can tell it is almost totally original, except for the screw I used to replace the one lost from the B string tunning head. I even have the original case.
The back of the headstock is stamped with the number 793824. If I've read the various site lists right, it was built in 1970(maybe, anyone know more info?)

It has the complete vibrola tremolo system.
And only a couple of cracks in the pick-guard.
12th fret position
Separate Volume and Tone pots for each 'Melody Maker' single coil pickups.
3 position slider switch.
It isn't easy to see here, but the neck is straight as a ruler.
Shiney!
And now for the guts of the beast.

It was always scratchy when adjusting the tone and volume, and I had to fiddle with the slider at times to get any sound out of it at all sometimes. Then recently one tone pot stuck, then spun freely, opps. My fault, now I had to open it to fix it. So here are all the gory detail.

Here she is all de-strung, de-bridged with pickguard removed

I clipped the ground wire off right at the pot, leaving all of it attached to the bridge mount.Seems like the cable plug was a bit of an after thought after it came from the paint bay.Ta! Da! Here are the poor KG2's entrails.Seems she was inspected by 26 6252.One! One! Single coil, bridge position, "Melody Maker" pickup,Two! Two! Single coil, neck position, "Melody Maker" pickup! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ahhh

all good at the 3 position slider switch, but... it has 8 posts instead of the 6 I expected, so either the switch is wrong or I am, but I've got the sodering iron and a firm grip on my reality . . . so we will see later who prevails!
Here is the control centre for the KG2, from right to left; one standard jack, two 250k pots for the tone, two capacitors labeled with '002' then the two 500k pots for volume. Then some bare, black, white and yellow wires to keep the electrons running through the 12 bar blues.
And here is where she was wounded. The one bare ground between the lower volume and tone pots broke, as did the capacitor lead, right at the cap, no saving it. She's dead Jim.

And the four new pots I got for 98 cents each are all 5k, they are not going to do the job.

More later when I get the right parts to revive her.

MVK

My Vast Knowledge