Grateful Dead Music Forum

I really love this guitar. It`s like JG said about his hands liking the way the Irwin`s felt. And I`m getting some good tones but not the enchilada yet. I`ve ordered a pick-up ring and jack-plate from Matthew and I plan to get a pair of Super 2`s and a Carvin single coil. I also plan on getting Waldo`s unity gain buffer. I have a few questions though. Are there a specific brand of 500 and 25 tone and volume pots I should get? Any recomendations for where to purchase these? I noticed at Dozin`s site that there is a brown/tan circular thingy (.02) attached to the tone pots. What is this and does it come with the tone pot? Same question for the 3 rectangles with 6 holes. Also, is there a higher quality of wire that I need to buy? What gauge? Thank you in advance for any help and thank you to every one who posts here. I`ve learned so much in less than a year here. Wish I`d found this site about 10 years ago. The money I would have saved from all the mistaken purchases I`ve made! Oye Vey!

The "tone pot" is not a tone pot unless it has that brown circular thingy attached to it. The capacitor is what makes it a tone pot. A pot is just a pot.

You will be happy with the results of your endeavor. Just make sure you can split the coils of the Super 2s.

Jim

the "rectangles with holes" are DPDT switches...

Yeah, make sure you are totally ready, have all the parts, know exactly what is going where, etc. before you "gut" anything. Or just take to a friend or someone who knows what's going on with all the switches and wiring, etc.

Jim

Regular Fender or replacement pots will work fine. For a signal inside the guitar, same wire is fine. I get my odds and ends at radio shack I got my DBDT switches there. I was much like you before I really dove into this community of guitar players/musicians/music lovers with a common purpose. Dozin's site was the first schematic I read about Jerry's configuration, even though I knew of what he had, it was all smoke and mirrors until that day.
The people here will help you as you build, learn how to play, or shop for gear too. Our kind culture lives on though cyberspace. I would suggest doing one project at a time ie the pickups, pots, the buffer, OBEL. When you finish a small piece of the project, you will at least have a working guitar to gauge your progress for bugs. If you have a backup guitar, you can take your time and save your sanity that way. Also, you can ask specific questions and search the data base for answers pertaining to what you need to know at the moment, which saves on redundancy. The wiring is not that difficult a project if eaten a bite at a time, but undoing everything at once would be a feat. I would also see if you have a friend that can help you if you aren't that handy. I would have to wonder though, Alembic did a bad job? Jerry used their expertise frequently in search of the tone for many years. I thought the alembic tributes had all the switches and loops built in?
Good luck Bro! ---JB
PS. once you get to the OBEL get a buffer.

Man that takes some guts to gut it I had a Skylark that I sold because I couldn't get past the electronics. They were definitely high fi but not much else. Couldn't get them to work too well with my limited set up, i.e. didn't sound good with a TS or especially a Vox wah. Though it was perfect with a Roccaforte Custom 80, think very loud high gain. I considered gutting it because it was so easy to play. Those guys really know how to make a neck. Now I'm kicking myself for not keeping it. Anyways here's some pics of aforementioned: http://s468.photobucket.com/albums/rr46 ... 20Skylark/

Got any pics of your Tribute? Would love to see it.