Removing Goop From A 1974 Maestro Sustainer SS-3

[ilponiz]

Hi everyone,

just bought this pedal from e(vil)bay few weeks ago:



it wasn't working and, as i read all over the places, the cicrcuit was well-protected with think black goop:



i looked for info about the removal of that sh*t and i ended up with this:





fortunally, few minor damages were down to the traces so that i will easily redrawn them in the next days. as for the components side, is there any method you'll suggest to remove the goop without damaging too much the rest?

thanks in advance to anyone who'll help me in doing that (i consider this as the first active contribution to this great forum  )

by the way, i guess there's no schematic available for the pedal, isn't it?


have a glorious day
poniz

[theehman]

The official Maestro schematic showed the wires connecting to a large block.  That's it.

[ilponiz]

The official Maestro schematic showed the wires connecting to a large block.  That's it.

Hi Ron,
thanks for the info and, let me add, thanks for all of your excellent EH designs 

so, it's virtually impossible to get info on this pedal, i guess...

anyway, given that my unit isn't working i'd like to keep on removing the goop and see what's beneth. any suggestions on how to do it?

my regards
poniz

[theehman]

The official Maestro schematic showed the wires connecting to a large block.  That's it.

Hi Ron,
thanks for the info and, let me add, thanks for all of your excellent EH designs 

Just to clarify, I am not now, nor have I ever been, an EH employee or designer.  Just a fan and collector.

[Zedmin_fx]

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://solgrind.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/tubeworks_303_smooth.gif&imgrefurl=http://solgrind.wordpress.com/2008/03/13/tubeworks-pure-tube-tw303-smooth/&usg=__5HSGw1XFv7yISCfC85AJWOVmfCM=&h=1155&w=1530&sz=205&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=aRv7b4oSCbcQ0M:&tbnh=113&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtube%2Bworks%2B303%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN


Email this dude he might help ya out he did it to a jetter gain stage red ( look at the pots under recent posts)

[ilponiz]

The official Maestro schematic showed the wires connecting to a large block.  That's it.

Hi Ron,
thanks for the info and, let me add, thanks for all of your excellent EH designs 

Just to clarify, I am not now, nor have I ever been, an EH employee or designer.  Just a fan and collector.

just to clarify...I'm a jerk!  anyway, from fan and collector to fan and collector: thanks! 

[ilponiz]

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://solgrind.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/tubeworks_303_smooth.gif&imgrefurl=http://solgrind.wordpress.com/2008/03/13/tubeworks-pure-tube-tw303-smooth/&usg=__5HSGw1XFv7yISCfC85AJWOVmfCM=&h=1155&w=1530&sz=205&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=aRv7b4oSCbcQ0M:&tbnh=113&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtube%2Bworks%2B303%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN


Email this dude he might help ya out he did it to a jetter gain stage red ( look at the pots under recent posts)

hi zedmin,

thanks for the link, i just mailed him and looking forward to hear from soulsonic

regards
poniz

[Mark Hammer]

Given how little competition there was in 1974, the odds of it being "gooped" for the purposes of protectng I.P. were very small.  Besides, Maestro did not goop their other boards.  So, my guess is that it  has some light source and LDR in there, and the goop was just a sledgehammer attempt to assure light-tightness.

[ilponiz]

Given how little competition there was in 1974, the odds of it being "gooped" for the purposes of protectng I.P. were very small.  Besides, Maestro did not goop their other boards.  So, my guess is that it  has some light source and LDR in there, and the goop was just a sledgehammer attempt to assure light-tightness.

hi mark, thanks for the idea you suggested. i assume the maestro sustainer is some kinda compressor or what?
from the traces that came out the goop there are two different ic's in here...the rest is yet to come!


poniz

[frank_p]

Wonder if the discontinued Guyatone Sustainer D had a similar circuit.  If so it would be a fuzz with long sustain...

[ilponiz]

Wonder if the discontinued Guyatone Sustainer D had a similar circuit.  If so it would be a fuzz with long sustain...

hi frank,

do you have a schematic for the guyatone?


looking at the trace side of the circuit i could spot the following pads used for:
- 2 IC's with 14 lugs each
- a few diodes
- at least 7/8 polarized electros


more to come soon...
and thanks to analogguru!


poniz

[Renegadrian]

How much did you pay for that?

[frank_p]

do you have a schematic for the guyatone?

No, but I would like to, everything is so crammed in the mini box that I can't read most of the values of the components.

looking at the trace side of the circuit i could spot the following pads used for:
- 2 IC's with 14 lugs each
- a few diodes
- at least 7/8 polarized electros

njm4558ld chip (8 leads ...?)
7 electros caps
8 film caps
3 ceramic caps
1 monolithic cubic blue cap
5 transistors
3 pairs of diodes plus one lonely diode, plus one for power protection it seems
all resistors soldered in standing vertical position.

so it might not be similar.

When I bought it I was sure it was a compressor, but it's a fuzz with a lot of sag (it seems from the website).
In no way it sound like an amp as claimed again on the site.
With the gain at minimum and guitar volume at 5, can sound like a descent effect for soloing.  Otherwise it's a wall of noise-distortion generator. Chords don't pass in this, unless it's two notes... at most.

Cramming everything seems to be a good technique, as goop is, against reverse eng. ...

Yours
F.H.P.

[ilponiz]

do you have a schematic for the guyatone?

No, but I would like to, everything is so crammed in the mini box that I can't read most of the values of the components.

looking at the trace side of the circuit i could spot the following pads used for:
- 2 IC's with 14 lugs each
- a few diodes
- at least 7/8 polarized electros

njm4558ld chip (8 leads ...?)
7 electros caps
8 film caps
3 ceramic caps
1 monolithic cubic blue cap
5 transistors
3 pairs of diodes plus one lonely diode, plus one for power protection it seems
all resistors soldered in standing vertical position.

so it might not be similar.

When I bought it I was sure it was a compressor, but it's a fuzz with a lot of sag (it seems from the website).
In no way it sound like an amp as claimed again on the site.
With the gain at minimum and guitar volume at 5, can sound like a descent effect for soloing.  Otherwise it's a wall of noise-distortion generator. Chords don't pass in this, unless it's two notes... at most.

Cramming everything seems to be a good technique, as goop is, against reverse eng. ...

Yours
F.H.P.

hi frank,
i think it's different...at least, there's no trace of a 8-leads chip in the maestro sustianer. as i wrote before, there are 2 different 14-pins IC's

anyway, thanks for your help
poniz

[frank_p]

Cool. Still, wonder how the Maestro sounds like... 

We now know that theses are two different beasts.

Yours Poniz.