New Express Build - Photos Posted

[Cantplay]

The variation in color is the chromatography of the dye as is soaks into the cells of the wood and the base colors seperate according to size.

Try a little spot on a coffee filter and get it wet and you'll see what colors its made from.

http://theexplorationstation.wordpress. ... atography/

John

[Bob Savage]

Actually the uneven staining was intended. What I was surprised about was the multiple colors that came out of the wood.
When I stain a cab it involves several stages, and some include the use of alcohol.
The softer or figured part of the wood absorbes more of the stain that the harder wood. If you sand the wood down between stain coats it gives more of a 3D effect and the figure or grain of the wood is enhanced.

By the way, the alcohol is for the cabinet.. not me

Your staining methodology is obviously impecable.. It looks like dye to me but there are several areas that don't look like dye and in light of your comments it's explained but probably not so easily reproduced. While this particular job may have surprised you the multi-stage process explains a lot of the depth you're achieving.

I can say nothing more than "amazing."

Great work.

[Bob Savage]

The variation in color is the chromatography of the dye as is soaks into the cells of the wood and the base colors seperate according to size.

Try a little spot on a coffee filter and get it wet and you'll see what colors its made from.

http://theexplorationstation.wordpress. ... atography/

John

Whatever process he used on this piece (did he dye the wood or use stain?), the outdcome is spectacular.

As I look at it dye seems less of a possibility because dye saturates more than just pores and is less likely to have the multi-color effect as we're seeing here. Either way, I'd certainly like to understand the process better.

[M Fowler]

MikeSafreed,

Great looking build and fantastic cabinet.

Larry is a great cabinet builder and I sure enjoy looking at my Distortion's Express cab.

Mark

[jtaylor996]

I have to say it was a pleasure working with Mike on this project.
And I also must admit I was a bit aprehensive when Mike told me he wanted the cab to be stained blue..
The cabinet is hard Maple and it absorbes stain a bit differently than regular Maple. Because of this the stain brought out several colors in the wood. It was actually quite a surprise.
Over the years I have built many cabs that were quite impressive, but I have to say Mike's cabinet is one of my very favorites so far.

Violin makers are very familiar with this stain behavior of hard maple. Typically they have to match colors of the heavy flame maple to the spruce top (with exposed end grain in places). They universally use a pore filler before the stain.

I went to Italy a few years back and did a pilgrimage to Strad's house in Cremona. I wanted to get into the courtyard and take a look at his well very carefully. His pore-filler remains a mystery to this day, but I'm pretty damn sure it's his well. No sandpaper in the day, and he was known to use his well for that purpose. I'm guessing the abraded particles filled the open grains.

Unfortunately, his house is now a sex shop, and even worse, was closed

[RevD]

I know many of the wood workers today and its a old technique (not sure as old as Strad, perhaps so) use pumas with shellac. I didn't know that maple really required much in the way of filler though, least modern builders don't fill it to often from what I've seen of modern Luthier's work, Mahogany like on the back of Les Pauls are filled of course.
Didn't they also use to use shark skin as sand paper? I know many of the wood workers of old used to, I've felt it, it is very rough, not exactly sure what grit it could be compared to though. It is wet and dry though . At any rate great looking cabs that Larry does no question about that and this one is no exception, the flamed maple is gorgeous!

Regards,

Don

[Lublin]

That cab is absolutely breathtaking! I want one!

[MikeSafreed]

Mark, thanks for the kind words. I know everyone is gaga over the cabinet, and rightfully so - it's drop-dead gorgeous - but the actual amp build is, to my way of thinking, pretty special on it's own. I really worked hard at trying my best to make this thing both look (on the inside) and sound like an Express. Sure, I deviated on the actual chassis, but I only have one of the original Bud boxes, and I'm saving it for a build where I have ALL of the original components (I'm pretty close, but I need a few more items, which I WILL FIND over time). I have heard only one REAL Express up close and personal, and this one reminds me of it very much. Even with a Strat and single coils, this amp will sustain a note forever. Guys in this forum keep referring to way an Express allows notes to "bloom", and this amp certainly displays that trait.

If you look closely at some of the internal pictures, you'll see some neat things, like real Rubycon 22/25 bypass caps. But, I did deviate from an original and installed a shielded grid wire on pin 2 of V1. So, the amp looks fairly close to an original on the inside, sounds really great, but no one will ever confuse it with an original from the outside. I think it's the best of both worlds - modern looks, but the guts of a classic tone monster! And, yes, your cabinet is a gorgeous work of art. It's what made me turn to Larry for my cabinet.

[MCK]

Indeed your build is amazing. I am a newbie coming along slowly with my first build and your detail shots were quite helpful in clearing some of my questions. Thank you very much for sharing such a beautiful build. Enjoy your new amp in good health.

[amplifiednation]

Beautiful!!!! That cab is gorgeous. Mike are you keeping this for yourself? Very authentic looking wiring and the perf board/clips are extremely cool.

[M Fowler]

Mike, indeed your build is very well done and great pictures for the newbies to follow in making a traditional wreck.

Even with a Strat and single coils, this amp will sustain a note forever. Guys in this forum keep referring to way an Express allows notes to "bloom", and this amp certainly displays that trait.

Mike that is great your amp is working so well enjoy

Mark

[MikeSafreed]

Taylor, I built this amp to be used as a demo model at the various guitar shows at which I display all my amps. For example, this coming Sunday, January 15th, I will have at booth at the Ohio Winter Guitar Show, in Columbus, Ohio. It's the largest show in Ohio each year. I'll be taking at least 10 different amps to the show, all of which will be used for demos and hopefully generate orders for new amps. I don't sell my demo amps at the shows. I play them out with my band to make sure I have the bugs out of new models, and to create interest from other players who see my band, Tess & The TrueTones, perform. For this show, I'll be taking 2 Express amps, the blue one and another one I posted a couple of months ago that's in a Blonde & Black Tolex cab, plus a Rocket that will also be in a Blonde & Black Tolex cab (if the cab gets here in time - it was shipped to me today). Those 3 amps will be in addtion to 7 Fenderesque models, ranging from a Tweed Deluxe-style amp, up to a Super Reverb-style model, and one very special Tweed Deluxe model into which I incorporated a varistor/tube driven Magnatone-style vibrato. It's called a FrankenMaggie and is one of the most interesting amps I've built in many years. I'm hoping that the blue Express will generate an order or two and that I can pass those orders on to Larry for more cabinets. I still haven't put together a price for an Express - I think most of the clones out there are way overpriced - but since they are difficult to build correctly, they probably are worth a little more than the average boutique amp. But, almost everything I sell is priced too low (according to my competition). I'd be interested in hearing from the folks in this forum what they think is a fair price to charge for an Express clone. I'm not trying to market my amps through this forum, but your opinions concerning values/pricing would be appreciated.

[eazilyled]

I've built and sold literally hundreds of Fenderesque amps, and this my 2nd Express (with a Rocket nearly completed). I was really careful this time to try to duplicate the wiring paths from the photos of a real Express, and I tried to use as many original components as possible.

Looks great Mike! Regarding your comment about using original components in your 2nd build, do you think it made much difference to the sound from your 1st build?

[hans-jörg]

Hi Mike,
gratulations too.
The only thing I see is: excuse my poor skills, the 1 Ohm resistors at the powertube are bypassed. How can this resistor see a right value (mA). Is´nt this measurement affected by the bypass?

Hans-Jörg

[MikeSafreed]

Hans,

It's the angle of the camera lens when looking at those 1 ohm resistors that makes the jumpers look like they were connected. The jumpers to pin 1 really weren't soldered to pin 8. It looks like it in the photos, but there was a space between the jumpers to pin 8... Sorry for the confusion... I had biased the power tubes in, started to remove the 1 ohm resistors, took a phone call, and then took the photos thinking I was ready for pics. I should have waited until those resistors were out of the amp before I took the pics.