The old Cargo original complete with non-functioning Tone control

[mhs]

Hi,

I (Hashi in the old days), got one of the first of the Cargo's and noticed right away that the Fishman PU did not have a working tone control. Eventually it supposedly became common knowledge that none of the tone controls worked, not just mine.

Anyway, I had used my own capacitor and resistor to make one long ago, but the entire wiring circuit delaminated from the top and got me looking at it again when I played it for the first time in a year last night.

I removed my hodgepodge of parts, went back to the original, and by the time I figured out how to re-attach all the parts and get them back where they ought to be, the tone control worked for the first time with the original parts. The problem was , of course, that it still sounds like crap , (or a flight of honking geese).

Sorry for the saga. Now my question:

Anyone every figure out a 'correct' way to get that tone control working? Also: Kramster if you're out there somewhere: Didn't you put a mag PU into one of your 823 Cargos? I would like to do that with one of those lace .275" mag PU's and was wondering if you'd any tips on chopping up an original Cargo. I don't care what it looks like, just what it sounds like on a gig. I would like the PU as close to the neck as possible but will compromise on position if there's a brace or equivalent there. I don't need a hole, just a 'dugout' for this small pickup.

Thanks,

Mick (oops:: I changed my name again, but this one is real)

[kramster]

Hey Hashi how have you been... love your video with the wife (?) walking by in the background..

[kramster]

Prolly would not work on the Raw as the bracing changed..


Here is the piece that came out...

.

[mhs]

Originally Posted by kramster

Hey Hashi how have you been... love your video with the wife (?) walking by in the background..

Hey Kramster,

I'm way too many videos down the line to recall what was in any of them, but thanks. I bet my cats are in more videos than I am. My wife, surely possible.

Anyway: So what is that strange 'jug-band-instrument-sci-fi-space-by-product' thing that I assume you either used to dig a hole in the top or else used to decapitate yourself?

[kramster]

Originally Posted by Papol

Anyway: So what is that strange 'jug-band-instrument-sci-fi-space-by-product' thing that I assume you either used to dig a hole in the top or else used to decapitate yourself?

Stay tuned

[Tanque Verde]

Best pickguard ever.

[mhs]

Originally Posted by Tanque Verde

Best pickguard ever.

It might be. Anything that takes care of the problem by cutting off your fingers can't be all bad.

So, I found a friend that is going to give me a 'lace .275" acoustic pickup' which might just slide under the strings without excavating a hole using a guillotine. Even if it needs a 'dugout/crater' then it'll be pretty small and I'll just run it to the jack in there.

I prefer Mag pickups anyway so this is worth a try and then Kramster and I can be the only ones on the planet with completely insane looking Cargo's.

How does that Mag pickup sound on the Cargo? Do you have a recording using it?

[kramster]

I was thinking about the lace at one time but never got one...Sunrise sounds more electric than acoustic I would say but does sound good... never recorded with it... have put a Mag Mic in there too and that sounded good

[mhs]

Originally Posted by kramster

I was thinking about the lace at one time but never got one...Sunrise sounds more electric than acoustic I would say but does sound good... never recorded with it... have put a Mag Mic in there too and that sounded good

Well, I went crazy an hour back and 'routed' (dremel tool that had a router attachment), something resembling a pickup 'dugout' , more or less (more) the right size, and temporarily 'paint-taped' in the new pickup, leaving in all of the old pickup works. This doesn't look nearly as official as yours, in fact it is quite rough, but I had hit the point of no return with the Cargo. Either I get a sound I like from it or I give up on it, so it's nothing a little black tape or sealant can't cure, and actually from a distance looks kind of nice.

Strung it up, plugged in the new pickup and voila: It works amazingly well for a hanging-by-a-thread, thinner than paper mag pickup. I really like the amplified Cargo much more as an electric than an acoustic, but it's possible the meshing of both systems will prove to be worthwhile. Also I'm using the EJ16 PB strings with it and this pickup works well with them.

Meanwhile, a week ago I sent Fishman and Peavey (never heard from Peavey) an email about the Cargo tone control, and they (Fishman) popped the innards into a package and it's on the way here, so maybe I can get that piece working as well.

I need to figure out the hard part now, which is how I'll route cables so that I can actually plug something in and use it to gig and record, and how I'll mix together the two pickups if that's what I want. Give me a week or two for a recording-worthy rig and a you-tube upload.

Note: for anyone else crazy enough to want to do this, you probably need about a 1/16th to 1/8th deep crater for the pickup to rest in to be at the perfect height for amplification. Mostly this just takes you to the 'bracing' if you're using a router and are careful. This goes pretty fast with a dremel so you have to be careful not to drill through the entire top.

[Kitchen Guitars]

I wonder what My CA Cargo T-Shirt is worth?

[kramster]

The cut out looks good from here Hashi...ha... I based my cut out on the size of the Sunrise..some of my other sound hole mags don't fit in there..hope I can get the new Baggs in there... post a pic .

Finishing a video on that contraption today...

[mhs]

Originally Posted by kramster

The cut out looks good from here Hashi...ha... I based my cut out on the size of the Sunrise..some of my other sound hole mags don't fit in there..hope I can get the new Baggs in there... post a pic .

Finishing a video on that contraption today...

I knew someone would make me figure out how to post a pic.. OK, but it is just a crummy cell phone pic. The only thing done is the dugout and a temporary stick on job with tape. I'm working on modifying an old humbucker 'frame' for the edges to make it appear flush. So now I'll spend the next 5 minutes figuring out how to post a picture.

The other thing is that I'll still have to route the cable into the body, so will drill a hole to the right a bit and figure out how to combine both systems and have them come out either a single 1/4 phone or TRS 1/4 phone. I don't really want two 1/4 jacks on the thing.

[kramster]

You are a wild man ... cutting up your Cargo... but I am proud if you..

The washboard thingy on my above photo is explained here..
....⬇

http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...d.php?t=238364
.

[mhs]

Originally Posted by kramster

You are a wild man ... cutting up your Cargo... but I am proud if you..

The washboard thingy on my above photo is explained here..
....⬇

http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...d.php?t=238364
.

;

Ah , washboard.. Yeah, there is probably room for a Jug and some other stuff on that thing. Keep up the fine work.

Yes, I know people think I'm nuts, but the laugh is on them, since I am really nuts. I had a talk with the Cargo before surgery and we discussed what we should do in case of a need for 'heroic lifesaving measures', but I told the Cargo there was only one possible ending to that scenario and it was in the dumpster. (funny: my spellchecker wanted to change dumpster to kramster)

So we agreed just before I put it under anesthetic (removed the strings), and I went in with my 20 year old Dremel blazing at 6000RPM and just about amputated my arms and legs, and once I got near the Cargo, it kind of 'did itself', which surprisingly to me, didn't screw up the bracing (or not yet), and didn't get so far out of line I couldn't make it look OK by using some trim (like around every body-mounted humbucking pickup on earth).

So the problem now is that the **** thing sounds much better than it ever did before so I want to play it. I know from experience that if I screw around with one of those 'wire-vanishes-into-pickup' setups that it'll fall out somehow and become another paperweight. I wound up ordering a few caps and resisters and op-amps to make an active Piezo/passive Magnetic mixer or else I'll have to choose one or the other.

I've done this on an old Gibson archtop before so the concept is proven. I can get both types of pickups to work either through a TRS stereo or if a mono jack is plugged in, blended into a single amp. I think that due to some other things and how long it'll take me to get this together, an upload of how it sounds can't be expected for 2-4 weeks. I'm really tempted to make a recording just plugging in the mag pickup and micing the amplifier.

Adventures in Carbon: Part II.

PS: What is really irritating is that for the first time in years I listened to a few of my old Cargo recordings done using the piezo I've been griping about for three years, and they sound really good. That's just not right.

[kramster]

That dumpster-kramster thing...ouch... rest of the story is good though... fun stuff.. living on the edge like we do,,, or something like that