DrNomis_44's Gold Standard STA-1M Build.

[DrNomis_44]

Just found my DIY Tonebender Mk I Fuzz pedal and tried it out with my Gold Strat, it sounded brutal, will post a demo soon.

[DrNomis_44]

Update:

Just so you guys know, I'm about to post a link to a new demo recording of my DIY Tonebender Mk I pedal in the DIY pedals forum section.

[Andy40]

Thats was a pretty beefy sound with a start doc

[DrNomis_44]

Update:


Had to remove the Gold Sperzel Tuners I had installed on the headstock because they weren't performing as well as I'd hoped they would, that's a bit of a shame cause they were virtually brand-new, they were exhibiting a bit too much backlash making it hard for me to tune each string accurately to pitch, surprising cause they are advertised as being the best tuners that money can buy on the Sperzel website, I replaced them with the set of Gold Grover Rotomatics I was using previously on the original neck, so now, because I don't have any spare sets of strings, and no money to buy more, I'll have to wait till next fortnight to re-string the guitar to be able to record any more demos.

[Simon Barden]

That's weird. I had a set fitted to one guitar and they were fine. Were they real Sperzels or a copy? Of could they be copies sold as Sperzels?

[DrNomis_44]

That's weird. I had a set fitted to one guitar and they were fine. Were they real Sperzels or a copy? Of could they be copies sold as Sperzels?

Yep, they are a full set of genuine USA made Sperzel Locking Tuners, I'm thinking that their quality control may have slipped a bit, or maybe I was just unlucky enough to get a dud set, the tuners do turn smoothly, it's just that they all exhibit about 1/8th of a turn of backlash, from reading what they said on their website, these Sperzel tuners are supposed to have minimal end-play, backlash, and tuner-shaft wobble, I don't think it's the nut that's causing the trouble cause it seems to have been cut correctly, all the strings ring-out with no sitar-buzzing, and the 1st fret action seems all good too, it's definitely the tuners that are at fault, unfortunately it's been a bit too long for me to get them replaced under warranty.

I know that they are genuine USA Sperzels since they have "USA" stamped on them, besides, they look too genuine to be fakes.


I've got a set of new 3-A-Side Kluson Revolution Locking Tuners installed on my LP Studio guitar that I recently bought, at the moment they are exhibiting practically no noticeable backlash in comparison to the Sperzels, and they seem to be doing a bit better job in keeping the LP Studio in tune.

[Simon Barden]

Have you tried tightening the screws on the end of the tuner buttons? I normally tighten them until it takes a reasonable bit of effort to turn them. It does help keep the tuner key in place and can reduce some backlash as it helps pull the worm gear against the rotary gear.

[DrNomis_44]

Have you tried tightening the screws on the end of the tuner buttons? I normally tighten them until it takes a reasonable bit of effort to turn them. It does help keep the tuner key in place and can reduce some backlash as it helps pull the worm gear against the rotary gear.

Yep, tried that, I found that it didn't help to reduce the backlash, all it did was make the guitar harder to tune up to pitch, I think when they made my set of Sperzel tuners the manufacturing tolerances was a bit off so that the gears didn't mesh tightly enough with the worm-gear, I might try buying a new set later on this year and see if I get better performing ones, in the meantime I'll have to make do with the Grover Rotomatics, just wish the Grovers didn't have a tendency to break certain strings when tuning up to pitch (the high E-string is the one most prone to breaking).

[Simon Barden]

Worth dropping an email to Sperzel and explain that you''d bought them some time ago and had only just got round to fitting them due to delayed guitar construction. They might know of a problematic batch and offer to replace them.

[DrNomis_44]

Worth dropping an email to Sperzel and explain that you''d bought them some time ago and had only just got round to fitting them due to delayed guitar construction. They might know of a problematic batch and offer to replace them.

Sounds like it's worth a try, I'll wait till tomorrow to email them then, and I'll see what they do in response, cheers mate, my LP Studio guitar is still playable so I can still record a good demo of my new Boss RE20 Space Echo pedal, but that'll have to wait till the morning.