Artist '80 - Tuning/Gain control????

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Author Message   LReynolds Posted on Friday, January 19, 2001 - 5:36 am:    I recently bought an '80 Artist which looks a lot like an AR3000 with ab block inlays. I don't know much about the guitar. Is there a resource that can give me more info? I'm really in love with this guitar and wouldn't sell it or trade it for ANYTHING! What is the purpose of the Gain control as mine doesn't seem to make a difference to the sound.....I'm also having trouble tuning the guitar. It would sound perfect the one end, but on the other end it would be a little out of tune....   JohnS Posted on Friday, January 19, 2001 - 10:56 pm:    Reynolds: Here's a reference for a web page on Artists: http://www.comcat.com/~alnico5/srtist.html Exactly what the difference is between an AR500 and an AR3000, I don't know. The description sounds identical. And according to the Alnico page, both were made in 1980. It doesn't tell you that much about the electronics. There are some wiring diagrams on the site, but none are for the Artist EQ models. The closest seems to be the MC400, MC500. As for the gain control, it should make a difference in the overall level of boost. I'd check to make sure it hasn't been disabled. I know there are AR500, 3000 and 5000 owners who frequent this site. Hopefully they'll be able to help out more. I have a '78 2622 (the granddaddy of the EQ models). Unfortunately, it has no gain control. But I love the guitar just the same. JohnS ICW   Fred B. Posted on Saturday, January 20, 2001 - 12:17 am:    Reynolds, I have an '80 AR500, which has the same electronics. The gain should definitely be noticeable, it gives up to a 15db boost which can overdrive the EQ with a distortion-like sound. As John mentioned, might want to verify that it's actually hooked up, or even check that the battery is fresh. The tuners should have a torque adjustment right next to the tuner buttons, that can be made tighter so that the tuners hold tighter. If there's some slippage, that could be the cause of the tuning problem you mentioned. Then again, it could even be the nut slots dragging on the strings, which is a common problem with the half-bone/half-brass nuts on a lot of Artists from this period. Regards, Fred   timo Posted on Saturday, January 20, 2001 - 3:52 am:    Reynolds, are you refering to "intonation" when you mention your tuning problems? When you say "one end sounds perfect but the other end sounds a little out of tune" are you talking about the strings going from bass to treble or are you refering to going up the neck itself to the higher fret positions? If you are talking about going up and down the neck itself you probably need to adjust the intonation at the bridge. Your guitar has the Gibrater bridge which offers a very wide range of intonation adjustment. It's very possible that the previous owner didn't know what they were doing and misadjusted the bridge saddles. You should see some guitars on ebay with bad intonation adjustments. I wonder what they are thinking. It's like taking a wheel off your car and putting it back on with the dirty side facing out. So again, your "tuning" problem could be as simple as re-adjusting the intonation. The Gibralter bridge with it's wide adjustment range makes it possible for the previous owner to have set the intonation very, very wrong. If you don't know how to adjust intonation a good guitar store can do it for a small fee. Just ask them to "adjust the intonation".   Mark Munchenberg Posted on Monday, January 22, 2001 - 4:49 am:    LReynolds, If your guitar is in tune in one part of the neck and out of tune somewhere else it could be one of six problems. 1. Bad/old strings 2. Incorrect intonation on the bridge 3. Excessive relief in the neck 4. Incorrectly cut nut - could be too high 5. Worn or badly seated frets 6. If bridge has ever been changed or modified, it could now be in the wrong place. These six should form a checklist for you - going from the simplest to the most difficult to put right. If you need any advice or in checking these things out, post a help message here. Regards, Mark   LReynolds Posted on Monday, January 22, 2001 - 5:28 am:    Mark, My strings are fairly new, and the frets look in great shape still. It may have something to do with intonation on the bridge ("timo" thinks so too!) I myself made a few adjustments, but it only made a slight difference. Can you help? Thanx for the response Lawrence   JohnS Posted on Monday, January 22, 2001 - 11:58 am:    Lawrence: I'm still not sure which "out of tune" problem you are experiencing. Are you saying that your problem is from one end of the fretboard to other? As in, you play an E chord at the 1st fret and all the strings are in tune, but when you play it at the 12th fret the chord is "out"? This is most likely intonation, correctible at the bridge. Or that when you are tuning the open strings you start at the low E, work you way to the high E and then come back to a previously tuned string and it's now "out"? This could be caused by a number of problems. String binding or slippage is the fundamental issue. Where it's happening is the hard part to narrow down.   Mark Posted on Tuesday, January 23, 2001 - 2:33 am:    Lawrence, Try adjusting the intonation. With fresh strings play the harmonic on the twelfth fret and then play the note at the twelfth fret. They should sound exactly the same in pitch. If the fretted note is flat, move the saddle forward. If the fretted note is sharp, move the saddle backward. When you get the two notes matched the string is properly intonated. Do this on all strings and you should get a huge improvement in the guitars ability to play in tune all over the fretboard. If it still is bad, I'd check the neck relief, adjust if needed, and then reintonate. If still no good, I'd suggest your nut is too high. You may not know this, but no guitar plays in tune perfectly in every key. It can be spot on in E or A, but be out in D for example. This is because of the compensated tuning system that all fretted instruments use. Most people can't perceive the tuning errors, but experienced muso's become more sensitive to it. It could be that you are super sensitive to pitch. If so you should quit your job and become a piano tuner!!!! Regards, Mark   LReynolds Posted on Tuesday, January 23, 2001 - 3:20 am:    Dear John, The "out of tune" problem that I mentioned is exactly the 1st fret versus say the 12th. As you stated as well, an E chord might sound perfect at maybe frets 1-4, but from 8-12 it sounds out of tune a little (just a little). But I see Mark has some ideas on how to make the necessary adjustments. I'll try it out. Mark, I guess I am a bit sensitive to pitch, but I am unfortunately not an experienced muso. Hopefully I can use my ear to become one (:-...lol. In fact half of the terms used here, I don't fully understand. That's why I'll stick to my computer job....for now! Thanx guys!!!! Lawrence   JohnS Posted on Tuesday, January 23, 2001 - 1:03 pm:    Lawrence: Then Mark's got you headed in the right direction with the bridge adjustments. I find that my digital tuner makes intonation adjustments a snap. If the problem persists, and you are thinking the relief of the neck should be adjusted, stop back for more detailed instructions. This is something, that if done incorrectly, could render the guitar useless. If it ends up being a nut problem, you'll probably need professional help. Especially if you have the half brass/half bone nut.   Len C Posted on Sunday, January 28, 2001 - 1:15 am:    Another thing you might want to do is recap the active board inside the guitar. The thing uses standard value electrolytics and they can dry out. I recently recapped mine for about six bucks and it made a world of difference.   JohnS Posted on Sunday, January 28, 2001 - 8:43 am:    Len: Can you explain what exactly you mean by "recap"? Thanks, JohnS   Len C Posted on Sunday, January 28, 2001 - 5:29 pm:    On my EQ this is how it works"recapping". Open up the back plate. you'll see a circuit board attached with a couple of screws. Remove the screws. The circuit board is plugged into a harness. Gently remove the circuit board from the harness. On the circuit board you can spot a number of blue "cans" with two leads coming out of each mounted into the PC board. On one side of each of the blue cans is a negative (-) indicator. The negative (-) marker is next to one of the cap's leads. These blue cans are the electrolytic capacitors. These can dry out and lose their value. Draw a diagram noting the values and polarity of each of these caps. Basically mark down on your diagram which side has the negative marker. Write down the value of the caps on your diagram. As I recall they were 50mfd, 10 mfd and 1 mfd. All of them were rated at 10 or 16 volts. You can get these at Radio Shack or a quality electronics parts shop. Be advised that Radio Shack doesn't carry the 1 mfd cap in a "radial" version (one where the polarity is marked). The ones radio shack carries in this value is for speaker crossovers. Anyway, I don't know enough electronics to know precisely how this matters, but I was able to find a "radial" electrolytic at my local quality store so I went with it. After you get all the replacement electrolytics, desolder the original electrolytic from the board and replace them with the new ones. I recommend doing one at a time so you don't get confused like I was in the 60's Be sure to: 1) use a 15-25 watt soldering pencil so you don't overheat anything, 2) make sure you don't inadvertently bridge the solder somewhere where it shouldn't go when you solder in the new caps and 3) make sure you observe the right value and polarity on these caps. Then plug in the board and give her a crank. If the caps were bad you should notice a cleaner, quieter preamp with more headroom. I also modified the switching so that when the front switch is in one position the EQ circuit is totally disengaged. This effectively gives you a straight through signal from your pickups (after the pickup selector) to your output. In this manner you only have a volume control and pickup selector, but your guitar's output is super clean, having bypassed all the active stuff. I'm attempting to rebuild other sections of the circuit. There are newer chips that should be lower in noise, and power consumption, and could have more headroom too. This will hopefully allow me to get rid of the transistorized really shitty sounding blatt that happens when you drive this circuit too hot. If I make progress on updating the circuit I'll post the progress. Hope this helps. Apologies if I only know limited electronics. My whole education comes from rewiring guitars and building PAIA kits from 20 years ago   JohnS Posted on Monday, January 29, 2001 - 4:44 pm:    Len: Thanks for the very detailed instructions. I'll print them out and follow them to the letter when I get around to doing this.   Orval (Orval) Posted on Tuesday, April 02, 2002 - 10:45 am:    AR3000? here is a guitar listed as an july 82 ar3000, i am thinking it is an ar500, any ideas? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=854052948   Maniac (Maniac) Posted on Tuesday, April 02, 2002 - 11:28 pm:    Orval, I agree. Mike G.   Gitfiddle1 (Gitfiddle1) Posted on Wednesday, April 03, 2002 - 3:58 pm:    Pardon the Roadstar guy for butting in, but wouldn't an AR3000 have a vine inlay? Cheers Steve   Orval (Orval) Posted on Wednesday, April 03, 2002 - 6:19 pm:    the ar3000 had block inlays. i just received an email from jd and he confirmed that no ar3000's were made in 1982. my literature collection also led me to that conclusion, but you never know :?) i think this one is an ar500av. i will pass on it but will let anyone else in on this minty specimen if you are interested.   Gitfiddle1 (Gitfiddle1) Posted on Wednesday, April 03, 2002 - 6:59 pm:    I agree that the guitar in question is an AR500. If the AR3000 has block inlays, then what's the model with the vine? AR5000? Cheers Steve   Orval (Orval) Posted on Wednesday, April 03, 2002 - 7:14 pm:    steve, the ar5000 is the model with vines, and it also has limited edition in the fretboard inlays. thanks orval

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