Tuna Melt Rehouse help!!

[trumpus]

Hey,

I was wondering if any ambitious and more knowledgable DIY'er would like the challenge of helping a newbie rehouse a Danelectro Tuna Melt.  I am basically looking to swap out the switch, jacks and power jack, and rehouse it in a hammond enclosure.  I've done the search here and elsewhere, but all of the tech talk is way over my head.  I was hoping that someone might like to take this on in a photoessy type of manner, explaining the steps with some pictures?

I thought i could do it by myself, as i've built a few TB boxes.  I thought it would jst be a matter of swapping out parts, but when I opened 'er up, i realized i was in over my head!  All the components  I want to swap out are board mounted and i have read something about needing to bypass some pins on the IC chip I think.  Either way, i'm outta my league, but would like to try this with some help.

I know i've asked Clay for some help in the past here at over at TGP, and I appreciate your advice so far, but i just don't know enough to do this by myself.

Anyone up for an easy challenge?

Thanks,
Brian 

[syndromet]

Why don't you just try to build a tremolo from scratch instead. That might be as easy as rehousing the tuna melt, and is quite a lot easier to mod afterwards. I would suggest trying the kay tremolo: http://aronnelson.com/gallery/album20/KAY_TREMOLO

I also hear that the EA tremolo (http://www.runoffgroove.com/eatremolo.html) get praises from the DIY people.

The tuna melt is great, but I thinkthe kay is better and more versatile. With the blend mod, you can go from very choppy tremolo to soft, nice surf-tremolo.

[markm]

Ditto to the above!

[trumpus]

Thanks for the advice!

I definately am interested in trying my hand at my first "real" build (my previous experience has thus far been limited to TB boxes and a few pedal mods).  This sounds like a good project to take on...

i have a question re: Kay tremolo

Based on the schematic and layout at GGG: http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/diagrams/kaytrpl.gif

I only see 1 pot for speed.  I see the link you provided has the blend mod, but i'm not familiar with using perfboard yet!  What do the little red boxes mean?  Also, are the pots linear or audio taper?

The EA trem at GGG has 3 pots (vol, rate and depth) which seems more versitile, but i like the idea of being able to blend hard/soft.

Neither of these builds seems to offer the option of hard/soft or sine/square like the Tuna Melt has though, and i like having access to both.  Any thoughts?

Also, they only offer the premade PCB for the EA, not the kay, and since this is my first "real" build, i'd like to eliminate as much room for error as possible, so i think i'd rather build something on a prefab board first, then move on to making my own boards (at least that way, i'll know if there are problems, its because of my wiring, and isn't with my board).

Thanks,
Brian

[scaesic]

i really like the tuna melt because the soft setting actually sounds like a sine as aposed to a triangle.

the only problem is the house its in, it uses logic switching, i think its possible to remove one of the boards as its just the switching circuit.

i read it on here somewhere, go search

also, the pots are small and hardwired into the board, if you can cope with the house (i can) it's best avoided in changing out the offboard parts.

[syndromet]

Thanks for the advice!

I definitely am interested in trying my hand at my first "real" build (my previous experience has thus far been limited to TB boxes and a few pedal mods).  This sounds like a good project to take on...

I'd say go for it!!! It feels so much more rewarding making your effect than rehousing or modding an existing one.

i have a question re: Kay tremolo

Based on the schematic and layout at GGG: http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/diagrams/kaytrpl.gif

I only see 1 pot for speed.  I see the link you provided has the blend mod, but i'm not familiar with using perfboard yet!  What do the little red boxes mean?  Also, are the pots linear or audio taper?

The blend mod is really an offboard modification, witch means you don't have to change anything on your PCB. It only blends the tremoloed effect with the clean signal.

As for making your first vero-board, it is never to soon to start. It is quite easy, and if you run into any trouble, there are loads of people here who are willing to help. I know I am...

The little red boxes are places where you cut the traces on the board, to prevent the signal from passing.

On my Kay I used linear pots for both blend and rate. Works great. With most effects (as far as I know...) there will be an audio-pot for everything that controlls the volume, and linears for the rest. Seems you can use liears whenever you're in doubt.

The EA trem at GGG has 3 pots (vol, rate and depth) which seems more versitile, but i like the idea of being able to blend hard/soft.

If you want a volume controll on your kay, simply add it after the blend pot.

Neither of these builds seems to offer the option of hard/soft or sine/square like the Tuna Melt has though, and i like having access to both.  Any thoughts?

The blend pot on the Kay will work as a hard/soft controll. The sine/square are a little harder to make, so I guess you'll be loosing this option.

Also, they only offer the premade PCB for the EA, not the kay, and since this is my first "real" build, I'd like to eliminate as much room for error as possible, so i think i'd rather build something on a prefab board first, then move on to making my own boards (at least that way, i'll know if there are problems, its because of my wiring, and isn't with my board).

As said earlier, I think you will be better off starting with vero-board and vero-layouts. There is almost an unlimited number of vero-layouts to follow, and when you get the hang of it it's as easy as doing pcb's. I went out and bought myself a etching set to make pcb's, but I've only used it once. I think it takes to much time to make my own.

If you really want a premade PCB, and just populate the board, I guess the tremulus lune is the way to go.
http://www.tonepad.com/project.asp?id=42 It gets great reviews, and are the most versatile tremolo I've ever seen. I guess it is quite a lot harder to make, but if you stick to stock values and follow the layout, there sholdn't be to much problems.

As for the Kay, there is a layout over at GGG. I think if you are willing to pay, someone on this forum will be willing to make you a PCB from that layout.

Thanks,
Brian

The pleassure was all mine. I realized that I've finally learned enough to answer some questions. Feels good to pay back for all the help I've been getting on this forum!

Marius