VonBonfire Deluxe ....

This has just become obligatory for you now as far as I'm concerned. :LOL:


Thanks for chiming in bro!

I know @japetus loves his custom OD too.

Me, Japetus, and JBT also have The Spaceman Equinox Pultec EQ Uncle Waynzo cloned. It's absolutely killer to boot and by boot I don't just mean Carlos™️ by Carlos Santana footwear.:LOL:
I only have 2. The CE2 clone, which is glorious, and he built me a Crambone (DOD Bi-FET) but I haven't tried it yet. I'm having some hand issues so I'm mainly playing acoustic to keep the stiffness worked out. I'm sure the Crambone will be a homerun as well!
 
I only have 2. The CE2 clone, which is glorious, and he built me a Crambone (DOD Bi-FET) but I haven't tried it yet. I'm having some hand issues so I'm mainly playing acoustic to keep the stiffness worked out. I'm sure the Crambone will be a homerun as well!
The Crambone came out really good ..... that DOD Bi-Fet circuit is a sleeper for sure .... I've got one on my board now
 
I only have 2. The CE2 clone, which is glorious, and he built me a Crambone (DOD Bi-FET) but I haven't tried it yet. I'm having some hand issues so I'm mainly playing acoustic to keep the stiffness worked out. I'm sure the Crambone will be a homerun as well!
Sorry to hear about your hand. Hopefully just going easy on it for a while will ease some of the stiffness. Could always lower your action and lighten your touch. Maybe go a gauge lighter. I wound up doing some of that just because I was so heavy handed in my approach it was affecting my progress negatively. I've never had that natural SRV kung fu grip unfortunately.
 
Sorry to hear about your hand. Hopefully just going easy on it for a while will ease some of the stiffness. Could always lower your action and lighten your touch. Maybe go a gauge lighter. I wound up doing some of that just because I was so heavy handed in my approach it was affecting my progress negatively. I've never had that natural SRV kung fu grip unfortunately.
Unfortunately, it's the beginning of arthritis. Runs in the fam. I just bought a Taylor GS mini for the ease of picking it up and playing and the smaller scale.
I'm also in the process of going to all 24 3/4 electrics. I'm kicking the seeing a specialist can down the road for a little bit.
My action is pretty damn low as it is, but I really appreciate the advice.
 
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Unfortunately, it's the beginning if arthritis. Runs in the fam. I just bought a Taylor GS mini for the ease of picking it up and playing and the smaller scale.
I'm also in the process of going to all 24 3/4 electrics. I'm kicking the seeing a specialist can down the road for a little bit.
My action is pretty damn low as it is, but I really appreciate the advice.
No problem man. I also went to 24 3/4" electrics in 2015 and been tuning everything to Eb since the 90's which also helps. If you have a tune-o-matic with a stop tailpiece you can either top wrap the strings or just raise the stop tailpiece to reduce felt tension. Not sure if you're doing a lot of bends but that's kind of where my happy place is and my issues were with strats 25.5" and 11 gauge strings, trying to play 3 hour shows, sometimes 2 of them in a day. I just don't have that hand strength plus it left me with many nights of torn cuticles. I think the best thing you can do is like you said, keep your hand stretched out. If you don't use it, you lose it. Good luck man!!!
 
No problem man. I also went to 24 3/4" electrics in 2015 and been tuning everything to Eb since the 90's which also helps. If you have a tune-o-matic with a stop tailpiece you can either top wrap the strings or just raise the stop tailpiece to reduce felt tension. Not sure if you're doing a lot of bends but that's kind of where my happy place is and my issues were with strats 25.5" and 11 gauge strings, trying to play 3 hour shows, sometimes 2 of them in a day. I just don't have that hand strength plus it left me with many nights of torn cuticles. I think the best thing you can do is like you said, keep your hand stretched out. If you don't use it, you lose it. Good luck man!!!
I haven't gigged since the 90s, but the last band I was in, we tuned to Eb and I loved it. It's actually my favorite tuning. My go to for strings for the last 15 years or so has been 10s on my 24 3/4 and 9.5 on my 25.5 + top wrapping when it's a TOM setup. I might try 9.5 on my Les Paul, but I have a feeling it's going to be too slinky. I do like to bend quite a bit.
 
I haven't gigged since the 90s, but the last band I was in, we tuned to Eb and I loved it. It's actually my favorite tuning. My go to for strings for the last 15 years or so has been 10s on my 24 3/4 and 9.5 on my 25.5 + top wrapping when it's a TOM setup. I might try 9.5 on my Les Paul, but I have a feeling it's going to be too slinky. I do like to bend quite a bit.
I also use 10's on my 24 3/4 but the rest of the set is custom for some of the reasons we discussed. 10-11.5-15-22-32-42. If I can't find the 11.5's I just grab 12's but I try to keep the strings as slinky as possible since a loud amp makes up the beef for the thinner lower strings and the thinner lower strings are less inclined to blow a speaker if you strike them with authority.

I tried going to a 9.5 but the sustain loss was too noticeable and I suspected also that it wouldn't withstand the gig beating of a thousand bends.
 
I can't find a pic of the other one you have .... just the inside .... where's the Texas Heat edition ?

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Nice !! you threw a @BeZo button on it
Yeah I like those but it does obscure the light on it a little bit. That's actually an older pic, I built a new board and tidied up the cables and wiring a good bit. Had to have them purple ernie balls to match my hat!
 
how do you like that Meridian ?? Spaceman makes some cool stuff .......
Yeah they really do have some interesting designs. It's pretty sweet. Plus it's purple sparkle and has a pulsing jewel light. I'm barely using it as an effect if you look at the settings there, but it's arranged for a subtle doubling that isn't noticeable until you shut it off. I do think it alters the tone somewhat but I think that is more tied to the doubling than to any component related stuff inside of it. The only downside so far is if I'm picking softly on slow soul tunes it doesn't engage the doubling properly, so for those one or two songs I shut if off.

I need to explore it some more. It can do some really sweet flanging and chorus stuff, it's just that for gigging I like to leave all my effects on just for a core tone rather than an actual "effect". So it was expensive for what it is, but that's life. The entire board was kind of diminishing returns for the kind of $ I sunk into it but it beats just a blue note flying solo and I wanted something new and a little different for the next series of recordings. Mission accomplished!
 

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