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Post subject: Excited about broken guitars
Posted: Sun May 13, 2018 10:37 pm
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Professional Musician
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Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2014 3:25 pm
Posts: 1023
So now I start a new chapter. I retired from service. My friends and customers threw a retirement party and gave me an old guitar stuffed with cash and autographs. I've moved off the high desert since, a hundred miles down to a green river.
Now the guitar hangs on the wall and those signatures ask me what I'm gonna do now. It wouldn't matter if it didn't have a broken fretboard, I don't play anyway. But I realized that its still an amplifier, a mechanical amplifier. Hmmmm..
So I bought a couple exciters from Parts Express and mounted them underneath the soundboard. I Drilled a hole in the tailstock for the wires and hung it back on the wall, without strings. I hooked it up to the B speakers on my stereo and listened to Gordon Lightfoot and John Hiatt to get a sense of what it sounded like. No surprise, acoustic guitar sounded very good. The bass was thin, so I've maxed the bass control to bring up the warmth.
I switched in the A speakers, my Klipsch Heresys, and was able to back off the bass. Together, they make a nice combination. The old Conn guitar really highlights guitar and vocals. Surprisingly, its slightly more efficient than the 12 inch Heresy with mid and tweeter horns. And Klipsch are known for high efficiency.
Then I hooked up a solid body and a Yamaha high gain guitar preamp and pushed it. Holy S***! That old Conn belched fire like never before. Yea, there's a limit where the exciters buzz, but to hear a distortion pedal out of an acoustic cracks me up. Two 40 watt drivers resurrects this thing like a White Gandalf with powers heretofore unseen.
If you're unfamiliar with exciters, they are speaker voice motors designed to be mounted to a resonant surface. There are many different kinds and mounting styles. I chose for robust power handling. Most are 4 ohm. They range from 5 to 15 bucks. The common application is hidden speakers for commercial or home theater sound. Mounting is with peel n stick adhesive. Find a spot between the ribbing and support the wire going to it from pulling it out of place, causing early buzz.
If you have an old friend that never comes out of the case for a bad neck, as long as the body is sound, it can be repurposed into a new speaker for guitar or stereo. You can hang it on the wall and make it sing again.


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Post subject: Re: Excited about broken guitars
Posted: Mon May 14, 2018 4:02 am
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Aspiring Musician
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Joined: Thu Dec 12, 2013 2:54 pm
Posts: 619
"Audible Art"... Interesting concept. And congrats on your retirement.

I hope you'll still visit here, I've enjoyed your posts, informative and educational. Really liked the effort you put into the difference between blackface and silverface output transformers.

Who woulda thought an old guitar would have >99dB efficiency?

I retired last August, hope you like it as much as I do.


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Post subject: Re: Excited about broken guitars
Posted: Mon May 14, 2018 11:22 am
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Rock Star
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Joined: Wed Oct 29, 2014 1:50 am
Posts: 5667
Location: Arizona USA
Congratulations on your retirement! I retired three years ago and love it. I do what I want to when I want to and no alarm clocks. I think that's one of my favorite things about retirement.

I too have enjoyed your posts and hope you will continue. Maybe even more so, now. It is such a creative idea to turn an old acoustic into a speaker. I love it. With this extra time on your hands, maybe a little more of the mad scientist in you will come out. Please share your new projects and enjoy this wonderful new phase in your life! 8)

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Marky

Remember the music is not in the guitar


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Post subject: Re: Excited about broken guitars
Posted: Tue May 15, 2018 7:54 am
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Professional Musician
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Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2014 3:25 pm
Posts: 1023
I do plan to keep busy with guitar projects. This exciter is a first step to powered guitar.
And since I'm not competing anymore, I may release some of my mods for the Deluxe series. Stay tuned...


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Post subject: Re: Excited about broken guitars
Posted: Tue May 15, 2018 9:45 pm
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Rock Star
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Joined: Wed Oct 29, 2014 1:50 am
Posts: 5667
Location: Arizona USA
TimsAudio wrote:
I do plan to keep busy with guitar projects. This exciter is a first step to powered guitar.
And since I'm not competing anymore, I may release some of my mods for the Deluxe series. Stay tuned...

Ah, that's a teaser. I can't wait. :)

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Remember the music is not in the guitar


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