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Author Topic:  Another Frypan Comes Back to Life
James Williamson


From:
California & Hawaii
Post  Posted 16 Dec 2010 5:50 pm    
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I found this old frypan on ebay (serial #005..not sure how meaningful that is)...anyway, I've attached some pictures of the before and after...it plays great now.

The hardest part was finding the original knobs...what a search that was but finally found a few...Horseshoe is an old pre war one from a forum member...everything cleaned up as it was a mess..tuner original except one...new nut was cut for c6...

Happy Holidays,

james






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Ron Whitfield

 

From:
Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA
Post  Posted 16 Dec 2010 6:07 pm     High wow content
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What a nice Christmas present for yourself, James, and the satisfaction of breathing life back into what must be an early one has to be incredible. Congrats on a terrific job of making it (almost) look and sound like it just came from the factory. Cool there's just that bit of original gold paint left. Solid or hollow neck?
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Mike Neer


From:
NJ
Post  Posted 16 Dec 2010 6:33 pm    
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Yeah, man!
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James Williamson


From:
California & Hawaii
Post  Posted 16 Dec 2010 7:20 pm     Frypan
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Thanks guys...lovin this guitar...it is hollowneck Ron...also included the old (possibly original) bobbin and I'm looking into putting a shoe around that...it uses very large copper wire so has a 1.97 K ohm reading and only one wire coming from it ...wonder what it'll sound like...got that old dark brown cloth tape around it...hell with a ribbon mic to record with, you might mistake me for Sam Ku West or Sol Hoopii...Smile
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Kirk Francis


From:
Laupahoehoe
Post  Posted 16 Dec 2010 8:34 pm     frypan.
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cowabunga! i remember seeing that in its stripped (violated?) condition on ebay a few months back. your patience and diligence are remarkable, jim. i know some folks who could use just such talent in the restoration their early '50s italian race cars!

by the way, that's a lovely knob!

aloha,

k.
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J D Sauser


From:
Wellington, Florida
Post  Posted 16 Dec 2010 9:32 pm     Re: Another Frypan Comes Back to Life
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Congrats on your Frypan revival!
Do I understand right that you found a "few" volume control knobs?!?!
I don't know how much you paid for a "few", but I'd be tempted to offer to pay you for all just to get ONE from you!

... J-D.

James Williamson wrote:
I found this old frypan on ebay (serial #005..not sure how meaningful that is)...anyway, I've attached some pictures of the before and after...it plays great now.

The hardest part was finding the original knobs...what a search that was but finally found a few...Horseshoe is an old pre war one from a forum member...everything cleaned up as it was a mess..tuner original except one...new nut was cut for c6...

Happy Holidays,

james

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Tony Francis

 

From:
Aotearoa / New Zealand
Post  Posted 16 Dec 2010 9:42 pm    
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Killer work James!
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James Williamson


From:
California & Hawaii
Post  Posted 16 Dec 2010 9:51 pm     Frypan
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Hi JD,

Well, yes I did get a few but I split them with Kirk as he helped me with the exact dimensions of the knobs so that I could eventually find the right one.
So, unfortunately, I don't have anymore complete ones for you.

I do have have a spare one without the pointer if that would be useful for you, its exactly the same otherwise...send me an pm or em

Best,

james
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James Williamson


From:
California & Hawaii
Post  Posted 16 Dec 2010 9:55 pm     Frypan
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Well, thanks Tony.... it's not as skillful and artful as your restorations, but it did require a great deal of work to locate the various pieces and some serious elbow greese to take off whatever paint and smutz was on that one...just love it now..
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Mike Neer


From:
NJ
Post  Posted 16 Dec 2010 9:59 pm     Re: Frypan
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James Williamson wrote:
Well, thanks Tony.... it's not as skillful and artful as your restorations, but it did require a great deal of work to locate the various pieces and some serious elbow greese to take off whatever paint and smutz was on that one...just love it now..


That gold stuff on that back was the original finish. It's worn off on most FPs, but occasionally you see a clean example. I preferred to keep what little was left on mine there. Miss my original A-22 sometimes.
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Bill Creller

 

From:
Saginaw, Michigan, USA (deceased)
Post  Posted 16 Dec 2010 11:47 pm    
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Nice job on that piece James. Been there a few times.
The old coil you have was grounded internally to one of the poles. Not a great idea for sure. You can likely find which pole is the ground with an ohmeter. It grounded by contact with the magnet(s)
I seem to remember reading someplace that the very first few frypans had solid necks, then went to the hollow type. May have been BS? Anyway, you will enjoy!! Very Happy
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Tom Pettingill


From:
California, USA (deceased)
Post  Posted 17 Dec 2010 6:17 am    
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Nice save James!

Quote:
...also included the old (possibly original) bobbin and I'm looking into putting a shoe around that...it uses very large copper wire so has a 1.97 K ohm reading

If I recall right, those were wound with 38 wire and a 1.97k reading would be right in the ballpark.
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James Williamson


From:
California & Hawaii
Post  Posted 17 Dec 2010 6:31 am     Frypan
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@Mike--I had to do alot of soul searching before cleaning this one up. I too prefer to leave the original finish whenever possible, but this one was way too far gone. It deserved to have some of its original dignity restored...so once that decision had been made, I went to town on cleaning it up.
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James Williamson


From:
California & Hawaii
Post  Posted 17 Dec 2010 6:37 am     Frypan
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@Bill and Tom---thanks, I also consulted with Jason Lollar who tells me that these old ones had a differant mount (so I'm glad the mounting bar came with it)...I'm going to work with him to fit it with some new Horseshoes and see what it sounds like...exciting
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Ron Simpson

 

From:
Illinois, USA
Post  Posted 17 Dec 2010 2:57 pm    
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You did a fantastic job!

Ron
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Bill Creller

 

From:
Saginaw, Michigan, USA (deceased)
Post  Posted 17 Dec 2010 9:12 pm    
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Jason has new horseshoes now I think. The person that makes them does a superb job. I have some pics here someplace of them.......

The coil resistance on old Ricks is all over the place. I usually record the resistance on the ones I work on, and the last two were '30s models, with 1277 ohms, and 1514 ohms. I really think they were wound by eyeball, like "that looks like about enough wire" Very Happy
The last few horseshoe type coils I had wound by Jason were in the 1800 ohm range, as I requested, and I have one of those in my frypan.
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James Williamson


From:
California & Hawaii
Post  Posted 18 Dec 2010 5:54 am     Frypan
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Thanks Bill, yes I'm very familiar with the new Horseshoes from Jason as I helped broker having Frank Ford make the Horseshoes for Jason. But, the Horseshoe I have in now is an old pre-war Horseshoe which sounds great, so I'll likely stay with it since I'm told that these really old bobbins with the grounded pole pieces don't alway make good ground contact and become corroded, etc....unless of course I can find one of those really old thick Horsehoes from the very beginning....that I would have to use.
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Mike D

 

From:
Phx, Az
Post  Posted 20 Dec 2010 6:17 pm    
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Wow James how many of them things are you gonna collect? Mr. Green
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Bill Creller

 

From:
Saginaw, Michigan, USA (deceased)
Post  Posted 20 Dec 2010 6:54 pm    
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I had thought about making some of the thick horseshoes. I have a friend that has one of the really early frypans with the thick magnets. Likely not any better than the 3/16" type, but look cool. Very Happy
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Ron Whitfield

 

From:
Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA
Post  Posted 20 Dec 2010 6:54 pm     I'd say...
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They each tend to have their own personal sound, no matter how slight in comparison, so it's quite legit to collect them all, MD!
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J. Wilson


From:
Manitoba, Canada
Post  Posted 20 Dec 2010 7:03 pm    
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Maybe a stupid question, but how did you polish her up so pretty?
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Mike D

 

From:
Phx, Az
Post  Posted 20 Dec 2010 7:09 pm    
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They each tend to have their own personal sound, no matter how slight in comparison, so it's quite legit to collect them all, MD!

Words to live by Ron. Razz
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James Williamson


From:
California & Hawaii
Post  Posted 21 Dec 2010 12:57 pm     Frypan
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@Mike, don't complain...can't get enough of those sugar puffs....

@J...I first had to take the smutz off with steel wool and elbow greese and then I used "Mother's Billet" polish with a power buffer and then by hand...comes ups nicely..you can get the Mother's Billet polish at most Car Supply Stores...learned this trick from Rick Aiello...
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