A four knob Si Fuzz clone. With custom Sharpie design.

Here’s a Fuzz Face with custom 60s eyeball design in sharpie. This is a Si/Ge hybrid Fuzz face with a blend cap on the input.

To which my first reaction is to say, in my best thundering voice, “No wife of mine will be sounding like Jerry Garcia!”. Of course I suppress this urge with practiced aplomb. Six years of marriage and I can pin my tongue between my molars with only a slight grimace.

Anyway, at this point I’m over joyed. I explain that I have a plethora of choices! I run down stairs eager to show that all of the time and the “few dollars here and there” spent on my hobby have not gone to waste.

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Agile AD-2300 w/ p-90s, natural finish (left-handed version)

Playing electric guitar left-handed makes for a limited choice among production models – especially on a limited budget. I wanted something like an SG, and that meant the Epiphone G-400 for my price range. But then I’d be buying pickups and tuners that I’d only want to replace ASAP; wasn’t there an affordable guitar that might not need immediate upgrading?

The Agile AD-2300 seemed like it could be that guitar. It has similar specs and quality

• set neck
• similar weight, shape, and electronic controls

and some differences

• it’s not red (the only choice for lefty G-400′s)
• P-90s instead of humbuckers
• better tuners (18:1 Grovers)

It’s also about $100 cheaper than the Epi G-400, and I liked the natural look, so I decided to go with the Agile. Besides, I really wanted to see how Rondo’s quality was — they offer a lot of left-handed models, and I’d like to support that.

The (left-handed) Agile arrived well-packed and in good condition.It was actually the left-handed model I had ordered, so Rondo had  already surpassed TradeTang for filling my order correctly. On the other hand, they also had the same problems: the tone pots don’t really work except for the last 5%, when they suddenly kill all the treble — no gradual treble reduction. Also both volume knobs act as master for both pickups, so you can’t set them at different volumes from each other. Since this eliminates any sensible reason for having two volume knobs, I see this as faulty wiring [the Chinese guitar had this exact defect], but fixing it should be a simple resoldering job. Likewise the tone pots, if not replacing them with better ones.

What I really like about the Agile AD-2300:

• the sound: P-90s deliver full, bright sound, and are wired so that using both together knocks out a great deal of the hum/noise that single-coils are famous for.
• it’s much better-looking than the Web site photo, which just looks like stained wood. The actual finish looks more like blond wood with a thick clear lacquering; you could use this as a table and not worry about leaving marks on it.
• appearance is reminiscentt of Rickenbacker or even Brian May’s Red Special.

Dislikes:

• It is distinctly heavier than the Epiphone G-400.
• In addition, it is neck-heavy; natural hang position is below horizontal
• It feels a little thick in the hand, in a way that reminds me of a cheap “first guitar” …. probably not helped by a slight bow in the neck.

The G-400 is also a bit neck-heavy because the body is so light. The AD-2300, on the other hand, matches the Strat for weight and still wants to droop. A leather strap helps to reduce this, but it’s raising a question in my mind as to why I have to accommodate this guitar from drooping. I’m used to this from a 12-string, or when playing asymmetrical righthand guitars upside down, but I expect a lefty 6-string guitar to sit up in playing position without being helped.

For me, that weighty imbalance may well prove to be the deal-breaker — I wanted something with less shoulder-fatigue than the Strat for those long-might jams. I’ll bring this to band night on Friday & see how it feels in the third straight hour. But truthfully, I expect I’ll be sending this back & getting a G-400 with lesser pickups & cheaper tuners. The one bedrock necessity in an electric guitar is the body & neck; all else can be changed.

Playing electric guitar left-handed makes for a limited choice among production models – especially on a limited budget. I wanted something like an SG, and that meant the Epiphone G-400 for my price range. The Agile AD-2300 (http://www.rondomusic.net/photos/electric/ad2300nat1aleft.jpg) has similar specs and quality

• set neck
• similar weight, neck, and electronic controls

and some differences

• it’s not red (the only color available for lefty G-400s)
• P-90s instead of humbuckers
• about $100 cheaper

These differences made the Agile AD-2300 more desirable than the Epi G-400 [which I've played in right-hand models].

The Agile arrived well-packed and in good condition. Some minor cavils: the tone pots don’t really work except for the last 5%, when they suddenly kill all the treble — no gradual treble reduction. Also both volume knobs act as master for both pickups, so you can’t set them at different volumes from each other. Since this eliminates any sensible reason for having two volume knobs, I’m calling it faulty wiring, but fixing it should be as easy as getting out the soldering iron & redoing the connections. Likewise the tone pots, if not replacing them with better ones.

What I like:

• the sound is good: P-90s deliver full, bright sound, and are wired so that using both together knocks out a great deal of the hum/noise that single-coils are prone to
• it’s much better-looking than the Web site photo, which looks like stained wood. The actual finish looks more like  blond wood with a shiny finish

Dislikes:

• It feels distinctly heavier than the Epiphone G-400
• Surprisingly neck-heavy. Natural hang position is below horizontal

The G-400 was also a bit neck-heavy — how could it not be, when the body is so light? — but was distinctly lighter than my Stratocaster.

For me, weight may prove to be the deal-breaker — I wanted something with less shoulder-fatigue than my Strat. I’ll bring this to band night on Friday & see how it goes.

I found this on the street some years ago. I dug it from under my desk today and took some pictures. Not sure what to do with it. I assumed it was broken since it was on the street.Not sure how to test this. Looks like it has two rechargeable batteries inside, with a jack for a charger on top, 9v 12v? Looks like it has a TL072 as a preamp and a TDA2002 as the amp. Google seems to think this is a 6 to 10W amp.

Sometimes you have to buy a new guitar. Sometimes you just give in. I saw this and was inspired. Not sure why, it does have a unique look. I figured the expense was not justified. After thinking about this for a week, I came up with the idea to hawk some old junk on ebay. Which in the end worked well.

I had not bought an Agile guitar before. I had heard good things about them. They get high reviews on the internet. I have to say this instrument lives up to the hype. It’s well built and plays great. Overall the instrument looks great. There are a few tiny flaws in the finish, you need to really look to find these.

A few features I like. Single pickup single control strips everything down to the bare bones. The plain top with out a lot of clutter has a nice unique style. The pick up is a P90 style. I don’t own a guitar with one of these so it adds a new sound. The pick sounds good. Its’ got some “twang” that you don’t get with humbuckers.

If you are into making things with electronics you probably need to test them out from time to time. Paul Falstad has a really great on line circuit simulation app. It’s a Java applet.

Try it out here:  http://falstad.com/circuit/

Here’s a picture of a Fuzz Face I mocked up. Notice the scope at the bottom. The scope on the left is the output and the scope on the right is the input, a 40hz sine wave. Hmmm, no distortion have check the values again.

JKowalski posted a nice tutorial on this over at the DIYStompbox forum, here.

I traded a Fuzz Factory Clone for what looks like an old PA that’s been modified to work as a guitar amp. The Webcor has two speaker connected with what looks like a giant oil and paper capacitor. One speaker looks to be about 6 inches across and the other is about 4 inches.

There are four tubes: 12ax7, two 12ab5 and a 5y3-gt rectifier. I’m not the tube expert, but it looks like the 12ax7 is used as an input preamp. The two 12ab5 tubes are set up in a push pull configuration.From what I’ve read it sounds like the two 12ab5s put out about 9w max. The amp is pretty quiet, good for mellow practice.

Here’s a few pictures.

I just started building up a project and I realized the PCB layout I printed from the Stompbox Cookbook is backwards! Beware if you plan to build a project from any of these layouts.

I think I can save my build by either bending the IC pins over so the chips are upside down, or soldering the chips to the copper side of the board.