u/PSYKO_Inc

This was a completely unnecessary purchase, but too freakin' cool to pass up. I had seen the listing for it earlier in the day and added it to my watch list, and around midnight the seller sent an offer for 25% off and it pushed me over the edge.

Solid acrylic Strat body, super heavy but I love the look. Almost tempted to change out the pickguard for a mirror chrome one. Or maybe acrylic antifreeze green.

Now to find a neck...

After some late night ebay shenanigans, I have found myself in possession of this very well-loved Strat body of unknown provenance, for a cool £10.66. I had a generic loaded pickguard and jack plate in the closet to throw into the mix, so I decided to take a shot at a relic build.

Now I just need to find a proper neck, tuners, bridge, screws, strap buttons, and all the other miscellaneous bits. Crazy how these things seem to multiply. Might try out one of those ebay brass trem blocks.

How would you build out your dream partscaster on a ramen noodles budget? Is it terrible that I'm tempted to buy yet another pickguard (one of the few parts I already have) to charge the look? Thinking mint could be cool for that aged vintage look, or black for a less relic'd than the real thing SRV look.

Just kidding, it was used so there is no warranty.

So I picked up this Boss Katana Mini on ebay for around £45. Thought it would be a good little practice amp, and since it's got the option for battery power, might be good for noodling around in the back garden by the fire pit.

WHO GIVES A CRAP?

Yeah I know. In stock form it's pretty underwhelming. But what a lot of people don't know, is that toan is stored in the balls speakers. So before I ever even plugged a guitar into it, I ripped it open and started drilling holes in it.

I used a switched jack, so without an external cab connected it plays through the stock speaker. When a cab gets plugged in, it disconnects the stock speaker and plays through the cab. Note that the stock speaker is 4 ohms, so ideally you'd want a 4 ohm cab, but since I don't have have one of those, I tested with 8 ohm and 16 ohm cabs, which predictably worked just fine.

Big difference in sound, way fuller and better low end response than the stock speaker (as expected.) The big surprise is that it's also a whole lot louder than you'd expect. Will it cut through the mix against a drummer in a live setting? Probably not. Will it get loud enough to annoy my wife at the other end of the house? You're goddamn right.

Based on the Five Cats Pedals One-Knob Fuzz, built with the Ritual component values. Didn't have a 680nF cap so I built the rest and waited until I made my next Tayda order, but then had to get creative when the cap wouldn't fit in it's spot. Looks a little weird, and barely cleared the lid, but it works.

Second knob is a voltage sag/"dead battery simulator" control in series with the B+ feed to the board. Has a 100r resistor from the voltage source (minimum resistance, used to filter out power supply noise), pot is a B10k, and has a series 2k2 to ground to set minimum voltage. May step that one up to maybe a 10k though to get a more usable range. As-built, it hits the ratty-sounding sweet spot at around 9-10 o'clock on the knob, and shuts off entirely at around noon.

Fun little build though, and the sag control adds some interesting sound options.

It's amusing how little current is needed to start a Prius from the 12v battery. Car was sitting for 6 months while I was working overseas. Fired right up with this dubious contraption.