#1 resource for Cigar Box Guitars, Free Plans, How-To, Parts & More!

fishing barter wild idea...I have alot of power transformers but can't seem to build necks

I just got a wild idea...I have thousands of new old stock (surplus) power transformers from an electronics manufacturer in Benton Harbor, MI, from anot-sso-great-idea venture I undertook years and houses ago. Few people won't figure out who I'm talking about, but I am being facetiously ambiguous for two reasons. If you were to ask me if I have such and such a transformer for such and such a model product, I'd have to say I have no idea, and if I DID know, I'd have a heck of time finding it for you because they were poorly organized when I bought them and worse now move since being moved two or three times and having a PC crash with my inventory info.

I also do not have any perfect exact transformers for any classic tube amps. I had some oddball tube amp ones long ago but they are gone now.

What usually happens is I dig up a box in the basement of ones I think are interesting and 'useful' (subjective opinion), and scrounge up some data that allows their repurposing.

I desperately need to make some effort to sell or barter some for several reasons, not the least of which is that my basement is nearly impassable now and I can't really work on ANY projects...seriously that paralyzed...

So my crazy idea was to propose the idea of bartering power transformers for necks which are a serious barrier to me finishing a fraction of the instruments I think I'd like to make wit hall the stuff I've acquired. Maybe there are people out there for whom cranking out necks is cheezy easy.

If anyone thinks this is remotely practical (I have to ship the heavy stuff, so I get the shipping charges) and have soem flexibility in your needs, drop me a note.

Meanwhile , maybe I'll start making a list of those items that catch my eye here for which I can provide data.

Thanks

Murray

0 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Murray on March 7, 2011 at 6:06pm

Oh, another excuse I have is struggling with trigger finger on one hand, and no woodshop access at this time, other than bugging neighbors for help.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Dan Sleep on March 8, 2011 at 4:00am

Does a transformer have coils of wire inside it? Would a disassembled transformer have the type of wire that someone could use for making magnetic pickups for CBGs?

I don't know jack about transformers, obviously.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Murray on March 8, 2011 at 4:09pm

For Dan:

Actually, you could say you DO know jack or his cousin...you're right about the wire, but most have wire that is heavier, and since most are impregnated with varnish or an epoxy-like mess they called Perma-Fill, it's pretty hard to salvage wire intact. Junkyards don't even buy them for the copper because they have to get them apart...so they pay scrap steel prices. :O(

For Wes:

Ok, maybe that was too ambiguous an idea. Maybe if I chose some specific transformers and gave a heartfelt description of what wonders could be accomplished, and how, I might be able to make them sound more interesting :O)

The fact that I have them in such quantity tells you I have a biased opinion...I've always been a transformer junkie. When I was a teenager, a shelf in my bedroom closet came crashing down in the wee hours of the night because it was made to hold a few pairs of dress shoes and some towels, not the huge Kenyon swinging chokes and plate transformers I had up there!

Obviously I need help, but there are no 12 step programs for electromagnetoholics. My wife says I better not die with a basement full of transformers or I WILL hear about it, wherever I am!

I guess have to start scrounging around and see if I can come up with a project amp or something that has some specific interest.