Au contraire. I attended the Marxism 2008 conference in Melbourne. Twas awesome, with some excellent international speakers, gained some fascinating insight into the struggle against the ANC’s post-apartheid implementation of neo-liberalism and the situation of the working class in China at the moment.

I forgot about teh intertubes in my current handyman frenzy. A lot of the same points apply, but forget about the motor. Or the mototr.

(Paul, a router is a box that “routes” network information around a network. Typically they have two or more network connections on them and run software that looks at the addresses on the network traffic and sends it down the right connection. On a dial-up system, your PC is effectively the router. On a broadband system, either the broadband modem acts as a router or in my case it’s plugged into another, bigger router as there’s more than one device that needs access to the internet).

I’ve never owned the woodworking kind. The networking ones, they usually die when bits of power supply fail. Generally, they are only 5 or 6 integrated circuits which are surface mounted and therefore unfixable by shaky handed humans. However, you may be lucky like I was and it’s just a few of the human sized components around the power plug or the plug pack itself that have failed. Dead diodes and resistors usually look odd - burnt and hot. If the plugpack has failed, take it to Jaycar and ask the helpful assistant for an equivalent. If the router itself has failed, open it up. If you can’t identify the faulty components with a visual inspection, you’re usually out of luck without more sophisticated testing equipment (aka buy a new one).

I also hate manufacturers who build stuff with proprietary screw heads, but that’s another whine for another time.

Brian, I gather it was under warranty but receipts unfortunately are hard to put your hand on sometimes…

If so, pls email me at

mbahnisch at gmail dot com

Yeah, I think now that it’s the switch. I’ll replace the capacitor anyway, too. Ta again.

Check the switch. You could do this without any outlay by just bypassing it and temporarily soldering the pickup outs to the lead that leaves the switch.

I’m sticking with the simple 3-way SPDT for now, FDB, KISS just to get the damned rig firing (I may go for the deluxe six pozzy Imperial Stormtrooper Mega-Flex Million-Combo job later), but…yes, I am using the original - it seems fine, and I’m a tight-arse - so that may be the most logical next thing to ts, I guess. Or…maybe the capacitor I’m re-using - yeah, yeah, I know, but… - for the tone pot could be mucking me up, too. (Is that likely? - ie if I have a dud tone cap, can that knacker the whole loop? I wouldn’t have thought so…)

BTW, FDB, I had a go at DIY DI you suggested, but then half way through fiddling with it - I’m s-l-o-w and p-o-t-t-e-r-y (and a f/t dad) - we got a semi-permanent Monday gig in a pub, which is kind of a jam affair (ie other muso’s occasionally drop in), and I figured it was time I got a proper DI box anyway.

Thinking about it, guess I’ll buy a new selector switch tomorrow. Thanks again, gents. I’ll let you know how it sounds, btw, when I get it going. I think they started putting hummies on factory Teles around 71 or 72. Be interesting to see what these one do, given that this copy’s only ever had nasty tinny singlies in it.

That, and the tuning problems…no wonder I gave it to my mate 20 years ago…

Had a pretty routine easter break in all, so I’ll share some mudanity.

Took a few snaps at the cemetery: including a little pictorial resurrection series, and also some shots of the v. large Irish memorial in the cemetery. No idea how they got permission way back, to honor Irish patriots, none of whom are actually buried in the cemetery.

Anyway, on Sunday, a mob of true believers gathered at the memorial for their annual easter sunday pilgrimage. I waited to mow the nature strip, until they had finished their speeches - jeez, they went on and on. My English neighbour grizzled about victims of IRA bombs, but not very loudly.

Caught up with my footy buddies for the first round, an away game, at the pub. Shite game, but not expecting much this season.

Cooked big Sunday night dinner for our close neighbours and kids, and another mum & her daughter, which then had to stretch further, for unannounced friends of theirs, which it did.

Managed to wash the car finally, no more spider webs! A huge huntsman had crawled across the windscreen driving up the shops, umm, probably not a safety feature… and mowed said nature strip, which runs down the side and across the front of the house, about twenty feet deep. The house instantly turned from shabby to respectable, as I pushed the borrowed victa around.

Checked out the sales, for some autumn work clobber yesterday - ended up only buying a pair of brown Havaianas thongs, to replace the wafer thin pair I was wearing, and christened them at the beach. Water still warm.

Avoided to going to the Royal Easter Show.

FDB, I’m using GOTOH pickups and unless the manufacturer and almost every wiring site online is playing tricks on me, the color conventions for the wiring is fairly clear and consistent (although much of my trouble shooting has been changing combo’s just to be sure…man, I wish these guys would get a little consistency going with their nth/sth, start/fiish colour matching…). Anyway, it all gets a bit spaghetti-ish but I don’t think I’ve duffed up the polarities. I was planning to get a bit fancy and incorporate a six-way selector switch to give me series, parallel, single coil/humbucker options…but for now I’m just using a straight three-way selection to try to get the things working. I haven’t replaced the original selector switch - that’s my next option - but it seemed to CT OK. Anyway, I’ll keep fiddling…I have a feeling it could be that switch, or the capacitor I’m (re-using - yeah, I’m a cheap-skate) for the tone button that’s causing probs.

Ta gents. Of course, pottering through snafus is part of the plezh. (I think they started fitting hummies to Teles around ‘71 or ‘72.)

Jack - are you wiring the humbuckers in series or parallel? Either way, polarity matters - if the coils are wired out of phase with each other you can get near-total cancellation, which combined with bad wires/soldering/switches/pots could result in the odd shit you’re hearing.

Other than that, I’ll add to the chorus of “check your solder joints”. Are they shiny and have they flowed right into the junction, or are they blobby and dull?

BTW - did you replace the selector switch? These can get really dirty and the contacts are usually made of flexible strips which can get fatigued or bent with age. Also, be sure it’s a SPDT (single pole double throw) switch with “centre on”. This will mean you can have one, the other or both pickups going.

Anyway, good luck!

the NF art deco apts back in the day when the student/art crowd could actually afford to live in them.

Sometime before the Crimean War.

Long time passing - when I moved to New Farm in 2002, I checked out Casa del Mer, and even back then it was $325 a week for an apt. Shudder to think how much it would cost to rent there now.