Few things going on. Bought a few 5F1 champ boards, i don't mind eyelet or turret boards, just trying these out and may make life simpler. May send a blank one out to my buddy and have him redo the hole spacing, nfb switch, few larger resistors, etc. He'll do the gerbers with a few small changes. That way i get the gerbers and can get them made a lot cheaper than buying them.
Bought 3 sets of those chinese alnico 5 strat pickups, hey, for $28 most builders can't even come close to that for parts. I used to buy supplies for 50-60 sets of pickups at a time to get discounts. Looks like genuine enamel purple wire which has gone up in price a lot compared to regular 42awg poly. Staggered , not perfect but made by sloppy workers, just like fender used to do. Had a brainstorm about winding/scatter/tension today so i may implement that on these with a before and after test. I could be on to something, which other winders may already know but keep secret.
Another Filmosound amp, this one had the 25l6 series string tubes, so it has been rewired and proper power transformer added. 6V6 push pull, 5Y3, 5879, 6SL7. Not over volt-aged and a little brown sounding but i love pentode V1 tubes. I think there is another projector in the shed, with a pair of 6L6 output tubes, that will be a bit more powerful.
BK Butler tube driver PCB. Used by many famous musicians to make famous songs. If you ever get a chance to read up on the story, of the early partnership with Chandler, the business/ divorce/ patents/ fight/reissues etc. Very interesting. Not sure what version these boards are but easy enough to make some changes if needed for other tubes, 3 knob/4 knob/ 5 knob versions. I figured order enough boards price comes down dramatically. My forward thinking 10 years back had me buy a case of 12v/500ma bare transformers so hopefully i can stuff one in a 1590BB. I've heard most clones suck and didn't copy the original or used their own design and they are nothing like it's supposed to be. We'll see.
Finally found a decent price 5F1 Champ cabinet on Ebay. Lo and behold, it was made by John Mergilli. I probably have bought 6, 7, 8 cabinets from him over the years, yet a few years back he stopped selling outright. As far as i know only made his futuristic designs/harp amps. Every now and then he puts a cabinet up for sale, maybe they are made for customers who changed their minds/canceled orders. Thing is, he makes great cabinets, quality details and you can find no flaws at all. I snagged this. Even though it's white it's a great change from the usual tweed/black champ cabinet. I know i have a blue, gray, tan 5E3 deluxe cabinets from him. At one point when he asked what color, i said "whatever color tolex you have laying around is fine with me." I do have a hunch he is building cabinets for some boutique builder as i said, no flaws to be found in his work.
Lastly, a 1952 8" Jensen speaker, it's worn, repaired a few tears. Going in the cabinet above. I don't actually expect it to live too long in a 5W distorted amp but keeping my fingers crossed. I have a feeling the Kinks "you really got me" torn/ripped/speaker sound will be visiting me.
On another note, friend of mine in NY state scored a few old amps, not cheap but not stolen prices either. A 5F11 tweed 1957 Fender Vibrolux and a 1960ish Magnatone 480 stereo amp with true vibrato, 2 amps and 4 speakers. Really odd tubes used in it but Buddy Holly, Billy Gibbons and a few others used these old amps. Will post some pictures once he starts the restore.
