Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

You're right Greg, It should have been delivered to Trotty's!

dswp wrote:For the record, I do not believe that it is the lamps that generate the heat on the 331.

As we all know, it is well documented that one of my lamps is not working on my 331LS (Thanks GG). However, it is the metal housing that sits dead center of the guitar that is the heat generator. I believe that it is a rectifier (I could be wrong).

The bent piece of aluminum is the heat sink for the 3-SCRs which drive the three bulb circuits.

The rectifier is a full-wave bridge comprising four diodes (small black tubular devices), which sit on the treble-side circuit board right next to the primary filter capacitor ( the single largest component on either board--the silver canister approx 3/4" in diameter and 1 1/4" in length).

It should also be noted that the lamps (which are approx 2W each), taken in sum total, generate about as much heat as a 20-25W single bulb enclosed in a small space with no air circulation. You can imagine that the air in this space soon uses up its ability to dissipate the heat from the heat sink and the bulbs, leading to an increase in the internal temperature of the guitar's body the harder the instrument is played.

Every one of the half-dozen LSs I have inspected, has had small burn marks on the underside of the Rowlux lenticular ("swirly") material over at least one, and more often, several or all, of the bulb positions. This is because the OEM "lozenge" type bulbs have scant clearance to the underside of the plastic. This can be minimized by replacing the lozenge-shaped bulbs with spherical bulbs of a similar bayonet base size. These, however, have lower watt ratings, so will have shorter service lives, and are not available ready-tinted, so the tinting will have to be done by the LS owner.

jingle_jangle wrote:Very soon, I will have a schematic for Type 2s. Now I need a Type 1.

Just finished repairs to the electronics on Kenny Howe's T2; it should be good for another 35 years!

YaHOOOOOOOO!!!

8mileshigh wrote:Some pics....................

A LS model with neck binding. COOL!!!!!

As I have said in other 331 topics; I have always used #53 bulbs from Napa Auto.
They are small globe(as opposed to the #57 which is large) 12v bayonet bulbs.
I NEVER had overheat or burn marks with either of mine using these bulbs.
I played 1.5 hr sets with them and never had a problem.
Of course, I played with the light control as if it were a volume during leads
and the like....

John, thanks. I've read your posts, but neglected to search them for the numbers. The extra headroom that the spherical-head bulb buys (#53) will prevent the burning of the Rowlux.

I think I need one again!.....

So, in theory, I could ask Dave to play his special version of "Machine Gun" on his lightshow, at shredding speed for a couple of hours, causing the guitar and Dave to burst into flames??

CooooOOOOOool!

Pity it didn't arrive Downunder, Graham...... would have loved to see you shredding on that one!

So..... bushfires predicted this summer - halfway between New York and Philadelphia, eh?

paologregorio wrote:

8mileshigh wrote:Some pics....................

A LS model with neck binding. COOL!!!!!

They all have neck binding, Paul.

kennyhowes wrote:
They all have neck binding, Paul.

If you see a 331 with out neck binding, it's likely a fake.
Body depth is another give away...
331's are thick,@ 1.75" like a Capri.

8mileshigh wrote:It is a type 2. They don't have it. I bought it about 6 weeks ago. It's currently in transit from Japan. I have no idea what Music Ground are doing with that picture, nor do I care.

Nice Graham! Congrats. Post a video or some pics of it in action whenever it arrives I'd love to see them!

Cheers,
-Collin

Cheers Collin,

Here's my MG 331..........

http://www.rickenbacker.me.uk/www.ricke ... ls.html#47

chefothefuture wrote:

kennyhowes wrote:
They all have neck binding, Paul.

If you see a 331 with out neck binding, it's likely a fake.
Body depth is another give away...
331's are thick,@ 1.75" like a Capri.

Oops.

Obviously I have been so dazzled by the performance of the Lightshow models when I've seen them that I neglected to notice that they had binding on the neck...

Now if they only came with triangle inlays....

Ahh,
And body binding both sides....
A 361....

That'd be sweet....!