tedmich

The Bravo is a cool little amp, a few tweaks away from being epic if you like high gain! They regularly sell for $375-450 on Reverb. I got one of Clist for $50 with an internal fuse blown. Since the tubes are all hidden (PAG in Peavey speak) many who own them have no idea they aren't solid state. For future reference they benefit GREATLY from a better speaker, bagging the reverb and a few mods to lose their sizzle. One guy on the Youtube played his through a Mesa Thiele and it was godlike! I'm working on (2) currently but just the amp shells with no speaker box. I've had /rebuilt a couple Peaveys, all purchased dead off Clist (some way more dead than others!)

While as a Ph.D. Chemist I am quite interested in different coating to improve a fretless neck, I remain most enthusiastic about the possibility of using a ridiculously hard (and currently fairly cheap) wood to make the fretboard. I am speaking of Ipe (Tabebuia serratifolia), sometimes known as Brazilian Walnut. Ipe is the king of the JANKA scale (which measures the pounds of force needed to push an 11.28mm ball bearing half way into the board) at a whopping 3680 lbs Granted this is a bit subjective but Ipe is easily 2.5 times harder than "hardrock" maple (Acer saccharum), and its commonly used for decks (until they empty the Rainforest). While its a bit green/brown it stains and polishes well and I've even found some nice figured pieces in a pile of decking. Get ready to use a TON of sandpaper and elbow grease to radius sand it, its a bit like sanding marble...