Steel Guitar Black Box Stuff

Steve English · Post by **Steve English** » 12 Apr 2009 10:22 am

I love my new BB! (Thank you Dean!! and Brad) I've played it on four gigs with two different guitars and three different amps, and I'm hooked.....

Here's a mount I put together that works on both guitars. I'm about to make a new slip-on mount where the BB hooks onto the cross piece (instead of the thumb screw), but pretty simple concept. Easy to mount, easy to reach, easy to pack.

If there's any interest, I'll be happy to show how I built mine.

Wes Hamshaw · Post by **Wes Hamshaw** » 12 Apr 2009 12:14 pm

Hi Steve,

I just bought a BB from a forum member (haven't received it yet) and would be
most interested in how you did your mount. Thanks....Wes

David Pinkston · Post by **David Pinkston** » 12 Apr 2009 1:06 pm

How much to make me one?

Lee Baucum · Post by **Lee Baucum** » 12 Apr 2009 1:09 pm

That's a good way to mount items on the guitar. Let gravity do the work. It's similar to Dale's Slyde-Cars.

I'm curious to know why the unit is attached to your guitar. Aren't these just plug in and play devices? Are there adjustments that need to be made from song to song? Or, perhaps, ease of moving the guitar on and off stage?

Lee

David Pinkston · Post by **David Pinkston** » 12 Apr 2009 2:13 pm

The shorter the cable is the better and sometimes you tweak the vari-z...

Not sure how critical cable length is..

Steve English · Post by **Steve English** » 12 Apr 2009 3:00 pm

I like playing with the variable Z knob, especially when using a distortion effect.

After hundreds of hours in the lab this morning, here's version 2.0

3/4" steel, sticky-backed-velcro (soft side) so not to scratch the legs, and thumb screw (most expensive part)...... I like this one better.

I'm trying to figure how to mail these out for the very least amount of $.....

Len Amaral · Post by **Len Amaral** » 12 Apr 2009 3:24 pm

Hi Steve:

Nice looking unit you have there to mount the BB. I would be interested in making one for my BB.

Thanks,

Lenny

Brad Sarno · Post by **Brad Sarno** » 12 Apr 2009 4:00 pm

Steve,

great work! That is awesome. I like version 2 you show here. You may be getting a LOT of emails...

Brad

Jon Light (deceased) · Post by **Jon Light (deceased)** » 12 Apr 2009 4:03 pm

Yes. Very clean. Is the BB case tapped for the thumb screw or is there a piece of hardware that receives the screw?
Very nice.

Steve English · Post by **Steve English** » 12 Apr 2009 4:20 pm

For those of you who make your own, be careful not to run the thumb screw in so far as to contact the circuit board on the inside!!!

I glued a couple of small washers to my thumb screw, and used a rubber washer between the BB and the steel bar.

The thumb screw I used is available at Ace Hardware for around $3.50 + tax. If you can find them at Lowes or Home Depot, they are about $1 less.

Here's version 2.one-half (using 1/2" steel instead of 3/4"), and it seems to be plenty robust for single neck guitars, but I'd go with 3/4" for double necks.

Steve English · Post by **Steve English** » 12 Apr 2009 4:31 pm

Jon,

Mine came with two threaded 8-32 holes, one towards the top and one near the bottom. I use the top hole for mounting.

Brad,
Thanks!

Disclaimer:

This "mod" will not improve on the already superior sound of the Sarno Solutions Steel Guitar Black Box.

Lee Baucum · Post by **Lee Baucum** » 12 Apr 2009 6:49 pm

After hundreds of hours in the lab this morning, here's version 2.0

I'm thinking a photo of you wearing your lab coat would be good. People will take you much more seriously.

Steve English · Post by **Steve English** » 12 Apr 2009 7:40 pm

Here's serious:

While in the lab, I was dissecting a bungee cord to harvest the hooked ends that I originally started this project with, and........

I immediately recognized a use for the rubber strands...

That jig's going to catch me a bigmouth bass sometime in the next two weeks.

I love working on steel guitar stuff!!

Ulric Utsi-Åhlin · Post by **Ulric Utsi-Åhlin** » 13 Apr 2009 12:24 am

How many mm´s of safe space bottom plate-circuit
board?McUtsi

Steve English · Post by **Steve English** » 13 Apr 2009 6:54 am

Ulric,

Approx 1/8" (3.175mm) space.

The 8-32 screw can thread into the hole about 1/8" and has a good tight feel.

I used a 8-32 x 1/2" thumbscrew and it's passing through a 1/8" thick piece of steel stock, a rubber washer, and I glued two small/thin washers onto the thumbscrew also.

It's easy to feel the board if you go too far in.

Steve English · Post by **Steve English** » 13 Apr 2009 8:01 am

Here's how I measured for a good placement. I measured approximately 6" down from the end plate, and then measured horizontally across (outside of leg - outside of leg)for the correct length. The mounting hole on the rear of the BB is located 3" down from the top of the BB.

This insures that the plugs going into the top of the BB will not interfere with the end plate tuning.

If any of you that own double-necks would make this measurement on your guitars and send me the make/model/ and inches across (to the nearest 1/4")it would be greatly appreciated. I'm try to come up with a way to ship these as cheaply as possible.

The single neck version seems like it would fit in a "priority mail" envelope and could be sent anyway in the U.S. for $4.95. The D-10 length is going to be slightly longer and I don't know if it can fit in the same packaging.

For any of you that want one of these, and don't have the facilities to cut/bend steel, I'm trying to figure out how to get it to you cheaply as possible. I'm not interested in profiting from this, and any money over shipping and basic supplies would be donated to the forum.

The most expensive part is the thumb screw. If you do not need to disassemble the mount from the BB, then a simple 8-32 x 3/8" machine screw could be used and save $3-4 from the total cost! I do have a clip-on version coming up, but don't know what's involved in cost yet.

I'm trying to keep the whole deal around $10 shipped for the single-neck size.......

Michael Maddex · Post by **Michael Maddex** » 13 Apr 2009 9:31 am

Steve, could you use this style thumbscrew instead? These babies should be less than a dollar apiece.

I'm not in the market for one of your brackets, just offering a suggestion.

Bari Smith · Post by **Bari Smith** » 13 Apr 2009 9:48 am

My luck...My BB doesn't have the 8x32 holes.........Mine is BB#100....wonder if the warranty is still good?

Steve English · Post by **Steve English** » 13 Apr 2009 10:04 am

Michael,

I did try those. They are a little too long (could be cut), but most importantly they lack a "stop" such as a washer at the head.

When having to remove the thumb screw during setup and tear down each night, I didn't want a bunch of little parts that could get lost.

Thanks for the suggestion though, I really appreciate any comments.

I do have an great solution that would eliminate most of the cost, but it requires removing the circuit board from the chassis and I wouldn't recommend that to anybody....Brad would kill me!

Steve English · Post by **Steve English** » 13 Apr 2009 10:09 am

Barri,

I believe two small "L" brackets could be attached to the BB using the top/side chassis screws. I have a 12hr day at work today, but I'll check that out when I get home.

Thanks,
Steve

Brad Sarno · Post by **Brad Sarno** » 13 Apr 2009 1:00 pm

Do keep in mind that the older Black Boxes do NOT have the 8-23" threaded holes in the base of the chassis. These new models all have the threads however.

Brad

Mike Poholsky · Post by **Mike Poholsky** » 13 Apr 2009 5:33 pm

Might be interested in the Jig! Looks like a BASS catcher to me.

Steve, I like your style.

Steve English · Post by **Steve English** » 13 Apr 2009 8:37 pm

Thanks Mike, the skirt is actually 6" long.

Here's version 2.br549

The "QR" (Quick Release) mod eliminates the costly thumb screw. This expense is substantially reduced down to the value of my labor, which I've been told is unmeasurable. This also eliminates any "parts", and greatly simplifies setup/packing.

This one's solid.

Coming shortly is the alumim..... alummmum..... aluninmu... aluminum "Bo-Tique" version for the road warriors and tragically hip market.

Steve Norman · Post by **Steve Norman** » 14 Apr 2009 12:01 am

do the rubber feet screw out? another source of holes if they do...

Steve English · Post by **Steve English** » 14 Apr 2009 6:44 am

Good call...They do!

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