Posted on June 28, 2024July 8, 2024 by Dale Phillips On-Board Preamps On-Board Preamps by Bob Meltz Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Data Sheet #158, 1980 Seeing that I, like other luthiers, enjoy the finer things in life (i.e. food, clothing, shelter), it is always a pleasure to find something that a) provides the luthier with a good return on his investment in time and materials, and b) provides the customer with something useful at a reasonable price. Such is the case with this little tidbit. It happens that most of my clientele play electric instruments and I have implanted preamps in dozens of these instruments with universally good results. It seems that most electric guitarists playing rock, fusion, or contemporary jazz are endlessly searching for ways to provide them with the sound of small, overdriven tube-type amps. The most common device used to accomplish this is the “distortion box” as made by a number of companies. The disadvantages of this type of device are numerous: a clumsy box sitting on the floor with cords dangling at the feet of the player, added noise from all but the most expensive units, line loss when the effect is bypassed, etc. For all but the people who are looking to totally “raunch out”, the on-board preamp is a viable, indeed preferable, alternative. Although it provides practically no distortion of its own, the added output is enough to overdrive the preamp stage of almost any guitar amp. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of our premium web content offered to Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 4 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. If you are already a member, login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on March 7, 2024March 7, 2024 by Dale Phillips The Business of Lutherie, 1984 The Business of Lutherie, 1984 by Ted Davis, Steve Grimes, Bob Meltz, and Matt Umanov from their 1984 GAL Convention panel discussion, moderated by David Sheppard Originally published in American Lutherie #2, 1985 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie, Volume One, 2000 See also, The Business of Lutherie, 1980 by Richard Bruné, George Gruhn, Steve Klein, Max Krimmel, and Robert Lundberg Where Are They Now? by Tim Olsen We’ve got four people up here who are involved in the business of lutherie in various areas. We’re going to start by letting each of them take a few minutes and tell you about their situation currently. Then we have some questions, some of which we thought up out of our own heads and some of which were turned in by you. So then we will ask these questions and let each person give a brief answer as regards his particular situation. After that, if we have time, we will take questions from the audience. So let’s start down at the end and find out a little bit about each person. Bob Meltz: I did my first repair in 1969, when I was actively involved as a sound man for a variety of rock-and-roll bands in my area. I was one of the first people in the area to rent out small sound systems, to fill the gap between Shure Vocalmasters and humongous concert systems. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of our premium web content offered to Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 4 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. If you are already a member, login for access or contact us to setup your account.
