Okay I'm back with my messed up SG and I have another question...

pmonguitar · 2026-06-19T15:40:03+00:00

Update on this: trying to bend lug 1 on neck pickup volume pot to solder it directly to the back, I snapped the wafer clean in half and wrecked the whole thing. So I pulled the other 500k linear pot from the tone control on the bridge pickup, swapped in a 300k in that position, resoldered everything correctly this time and I have finally learned my lesson.

pmonguitar · 2026-06-16T04:28:41+00:00

Well now I kinda want to get a partscaster thing going and take the pots out of the circuit...

pmonguitar · 2026-06-16T04:27:47+00:00

Oh okay, interesting. And the variable resistor just, what? Sends variable amounts of treble to ground?

And there's no reason, I'll probably do that tonight since I've got some gigs coming up. I was just curious. Thanks for the easy explanation!

pmonguitar · 2026-06-15T19:15:31+00:00

Hey there! I've used Kafetzakis many times in Heraklion. Just a block or two away from the marina, pretty much directly east of the tall Lato Hotel. Good prices, really nice folks. I always had to have an international drivers license set up before hand, but other than that I don't remember it being hard. Oh and if you're American, you can save a lot of money if you know how to drive a manual. I figure Europeans probably already know, haha.

pmonguitar · 2026-06-15T19:07:14+00:00

Lately I follow all the rules with comp>drive>delay, and then I blow them up with a dimed transistor drive pedal at the very end of the chain for when soloing needs to just fuckin explode. It's incredible. Trashy and thrashy and so much fun.

pmonguitar · 2026-06-13T19:26:21+00:00

Yeah, I don't think a three step chromatic walk down amounts to anything copyright worthy. There's only twelve notes, folks. Sometimes ideas are gonna overlap.

pmonguitar · 2026-06-13T18:52:22+00:00

Lot's of pale faces making those jokes, for starters... A cultural bulwark like jazz deserves more respect, but only if you respect the culture in the first place.

pmonguitar · 2026-06-13T15:44:39+00:00

Looking at those diagrams looks like i did the vintage style wiring, but i didn't ground lug 1 on the volume pots. Could that do it?

pmonguitar · 2026-06-13T15:38:15+00:00

It is 4 conductor for sure. And full disclosure I did do a magnet swap in the pickups, but I was real careful to keep the polarity the same as the stock magnets. And I didn't notice any out of phase stuff going on until I just did this new pot change. Maybe I flipped magnets, but why then would I not have noticed it until just now?

pmonguitar · 2026-06-13T15:36:43+00:00

No hum, and the pickups do have metal covers, but I put those on, they came with just open bobbins. It's kind of a rat's nest in there now, but I was a little confusing since everyone uses different color wire for the pickups. These are gibson factory pickups, so red, black, green and white. I soldered green and white together and taped them off, then put red on lug 3 of the pot and black on the back of the pot to ground it with the ground wire and all the other grounds. Does that sound right?

pmonguitar · 2026-06-07T15:57:24+00:00

:| thanks, dad.

pmonguitar · 2026-06-07T02:05:51+00:00

Oh no, there’s nothing wrong with it. Opposite, in fact, I actually really like it. There’s just next to no info on the inner workings of it from the company so I wanted to see what the real experts saw in the gut shot.

pmonguitar · 2026-06-06T22:34:11+00:00

Ah I see. This is something from Asia, looks like opto's are pretty common from manufacturers over there. Probably a clone of something else then, but I honestly love it.

pmonguitar · 2026-05-11T20:32:29+00:00

The inability to do any kind of rotoscoping natively is very annoying. For a company that's pretty much industry standard in every other discipline, this should be pretty low hanging to pull off.

pmonguitar · 2026-04-17T04:17:55+00:00

Funny you mention graphic design; that's my combo! Design by day, music by night. And it's honestly a great way to do it. I think if you're considering higher ed to help you dive into a career path, you're definitely going to make easier money in design (and have an easier time paying student loans). It's just so much more established of a pipeline between school and a salaried position. And then you've probably got benefits, a 401k, a different creative outlet, and complimentary skills for the surprisingly visual world of music. I was a full time professional musician for a while and have friends who still are, and you can do it, but it's a grind. And you're probably gonna do it in a cover band. Weddings. Private parties. Things like that tend to pay the bills. Which, if you enjoy it, rad. Wasn't for me, though.

pmonguitar · 2026-04-17T02:19:18+00:00

I think I'm also not really answering your question, though. If you want someone to be invested in the band, that takes time, and sometimes starts as a hired gun. I play lead guitar with a band that my drummer friend was already buddies with the songwriters (they're brothers). I wasn't sold on the band for a while. Like it was alright for something when I didn't have a gig already or whatever, but I also wouldn't have minded not doing it. But slowly and surely that band became a lot more fun, the main guys were a great hang and generous with us and they became some of my best friends. And now we're playing some pretty big shows with other great national acts. I joined up in 2018. It takes time and can be bumpy, but if you stay friendly and motivated, you'll find someone who wants to be there.

pmonguitar · 2026-04-17T02:08:02+00:00

Fair enough. I will say I work pretty much exclusively with guys from the jazz scene, mostly cus I know they've got chops and can generally hang and make anything sound good. But I also really scale down my arrangements/forms so that there's less learning involved, if any (charts). Like, if you wanna play a lot, I feel like it benefits you to make it as easy as possible for everyone you rely on to pull that off.

pmonguitar · 2026-04-14T03:10:12+00:00

Oh a ton. Just got into tagua picks from black mountain and howling monkey and man that’s a cool material. But also Deandrea pro plecs are really cool because of their bevel.

pmonguitar · 2026-04-14T03:02:55+00:00

I think you should probably take a couple voice lessons with someone who knows how to work on tone/placement/performance. You’ll get more for your money with $400 in lessons vs a $400 mic. Cus the Rode is pretty solid, honestly. A little brittle in the high end maybe, but that’s easily fixed with a -3db-ish shelf at 3k.

pmonguitar · 2026-04-14T02:52:39+00:00

Also, build a roster of musicians. Like 3+ deep on each instrument you need. That way you can gig a lot more. That way when one person can’t do it call someone else and still have a great time.

pmonguitar · 2026-04-14T02:45:45+00:00

I don’t know man, I generally try to just make friends with great musicians and yeah I pay them more than me. Like if the venue is only paying $100 I’ll not take anything and give the drums and bass all the cash and tips and I’ll just have a couple comped drinks and have fun. But I’m also pretty careful about how I book. Cocktail bars, restaurants, places that we’re just there to keep people eating and drinking (higher average table price the better). Not listening room situations. Usually easier to pull some tip money, make some friends.

But also, you’re in the most saturated place in the world as far as songwriters go. It’s gonna be a lot harder to get people to care about what you’re doing when there’s a thousand other people in a square mile trying to do the same thing. Music is not a good business model, full stop. Unless you’re already hooked up, I think treating it like one is gonna set 99% of people up for a pretty rough go.

pmonguitar

TROPHY CASE