To help those around me. To show love, peace, and kindness to those filled with hatred, anger, and pain. To educate the less fortunate in hopes of being a catalyst in their forward progression in this modern world. To show my Son how to be a man. To love my wife to my fullest capacity.
These things aren’t always easy, but most things worth doing aren’t.
The Mt. Blue Voices will be playing on March 29th at 7pm as part of the 2014 Brick Church concert series. Tickets are $10 at the door, children under 5 are free. All are welcome. Proceeds will be split between the Church general fund and the Mt. Blue Voices.
** All Brick Church concerts are performed at 21 Cape Cod Hill Road, New Sharon Congregational Church UCC in New Sharon, Maine.
The new (to me) Telecaster I bought came with a few issues, primarily that it wasn’t properly set up and the volume and tone potentiometers were completely worn out. I have replaced the volume and tone potentiometers with proper US Fender spec A250K units (originally spec’d with B500K for the Affinity series), rewired the improperly wired CRL replacement 3 way switch someone had put in, moved all grounds to a ground strip instead of the “back of the pot” method, replaced saddle intonation screws (had been cut by previous owner), adjusted action, adjusted intonation, adjusted pickup height and tighted up the tuners to get rid of an obnoxious buzz. Now it falls completely within Fender’s American Telecaster spec and it plays great!
It could use a good thorough cleaning and I will do that next time it needs strings. Overall I’m very happy with the guitar and only have $162 into it including the blow mold SKB case.
So I picked up a sweet deal of a tele. It is a late 2000’s model Squire Affinity Series Telecaster. It’s been stripped and poly’d so it has a natural finish. I already have plans for this guitar including new tuners, electronics and pick guard.
K-20X with my new telecaster
I’ve been considering removing the attached power cord from my Dean Markley K-20X amplifier and putting in its place an IEC jack with fuse. I finally did it last weekend. Not only does this allow for quick cord replacement, but also easier storage, the use of a 90 degree cord so you can put the amp closer to other devices, and it puts the fuse in an easily accessible area (back panel). The old fuse location being on the PCB was not only inconvient, but arguably unsafe (putting mains current and voltage to the PCB). The mains wiring now bypasses the PCB completely making the amp safer and easier to service.
As a side effect, I needed to relocate the power transformer to have room for the back side of the IEC jack. It is now directly under where it use to be, same mounting holes and all. This puts the transformer outside of the metal enclosure. This potentially removes some noise (though so far I haven’t noticed a difference), but as a negative, it does put the transformer in an area where it could potentially be damaged. I will be attaching a shield of some sort over it so that it cannot be damaged so easily.
**Edit 2/27/14**
I have added a shield to the transformer and some wooden brackets to the back of the amp that allow me to store a guitar cable without it falling out. Picture below.
This is the back side of my K-20X. I have added a line out jack, speaker jack and IEC power jack w/fuse. The power transformer has been relocated from inside the amp chassis as well (below the IEC jack).
Final product of my modifications on my Dean Markley K-20X
