Home of Tone Blog
The all new ThorpyFX ER-2 Uni-Vibe!
Introducing the latest from ThorpyFX, The ER-2 Uni-Vibe! In the signature ThorpyFX enclosure, in a sleek midnight blue and black design this Uni-Vibe looks as good as it sounds. So let's dive in and see what this thing does and how it sounds!
The ER-2 receives its name from NASAs high altitude, earth observing plane, which itself was derived from the USAF U-2 reconnaissance aircraft. Much like the ER-2 aircraft, ThorpyFX taken something awesome and made it more friendly, certainly more friendly for your pedalboard real-estate. The Univibe effect is a classic, loved by many, and something Thorpy have wanted to do their own take on for a long time. It was designed from the ground up to be Univibe perfection. They wanted to deliver decade spanning classic Univibe modulation that enables you to sound like as many of the classic records that use the effect, as possible. They decided to take it much further and create our dream Univibe, shrinking it and retaining a simplicity of use that belies the pure analog complexity within.
The ER-2 receives its name from NASAs high altitude, earth observing plane, which itself was derived from the USAF U-2 reconnaissance aircraft. Much like the ER-2 aircraft, ThorpyFX taken something awesome and made it more friendly, certainly more friendly for your pedalboard real-estate. The Univibe effect is a classic, loved by many, and something Thorpy have wanted to do their own take on for a long time. It was designed from the ground up to be Univibe perfection. They wanted to deliver decade spanning classic Univibe modulation that enables you to sound like as many of the classic records that use the effect, as possible. They decided to take it much further and create our dream Univibe, shrinking it and retaining a simplicity of use that belies the pure analog complexity within.
McNelly Pickups launch the 'Silvercaster' Strat pickup set
McNelly Pickups over in Canada, one of the Home of Tone's longest represented brand, have taken the pickups designed for the Silver Sky PRS model and rebuilt them for traditional Strats with a signature McNelly twist. The pole pieces are radiused to 9.5" and matched with vintage Strat string spacing, offering a modern take on a classic sound.
Helping prepare and make ground wire connections to guitar pot casings video
The 'Quick Tips' series are back to basics, no frills videos to help guide guitarists through some maintenance and modding tasks. In this video I look at preparing and making ground wire connections to pot casings. This is something I know many dislike, or avoid altogether but I think with some simple steps it can be an easy task anyone armed with a soldering iron can master. So these are some simple and humble methods to try and help you achieve effective ground connections using lead free solder wire. I hope this helps my customers with the pre-wired kit installs, pickup installs/swaps, or from scratch re-wires using components from the Home of Tone too. These are just some of the methods I use everyday, there are I'm sure other ways to approach this, but these work for me and the parts/equipment I am using everyday.
Rebecca's Bronco Bass project
Rebecca recently got in touch and ordered one of my pre-wired Bronco bass wiring kits, along with the awesome McNelly 'Broncomaster' pickup pre-wired too. She mentioned that the overall project was being carried out on one of the newer version 'Sonic series' Squiers, which I haven't been able to see in person yet. The minor/subtle changes in spec on these new versions look superb, revised string spacing and a smaller footprint tuning machine set further improve it as a solid modding platform bass.
How-to guide - Making a right handed Jazz Bass (1963 onward) spec wiring loom
In this article I'm going to feature how to make a 1963 onward spec Jazz Bass wiring loom, but also touch on some of the finer details too so that hopefully you're not just copying how to do it, but instead learning about the parts and how they're working too. Always good to have some understanding of how your instrument works I think! But by all means, if you just want to get it made, skip through these bits and get to the wiring!
New release from Benson Amps, The Stonk Box!
Welcoming the latest Benson pedal to the range, The Stonk box! This is a thermally biased Tonebender Mk1 / Zonk inspired fuzz pedal, and brought the smiles on my first plug in test that's for sure, along with some surprise faces too thanks to it's versatility. From vintage Ge fuzz tones, to semi gated, from fairly clean boost to treble booster and fuzzy overdrive, it covers a surprising amount of ground and I've enjoyed finding them all within it's 4 controls.
David's Coronet project
Really pleased to see how well David's Coronet project came together, so much so I figured it would be nice to feature it here on the blog too. He kindly approached me recently about supplying one of my Coronet replacement/upgrade wiring kits, but with a small revision to the pot values as he was planning on a really cool New Yorker pickup conversion. The pickup is one of Curtis Novaks lovely repro items, so an honour to have my wiring alongside that! Only changes I made over my standard Coronet wiring per David's requests was the pot and cap values, opting for 250k / .047uF to better suit what he was hoping for tonally from the New Yorker pickup, over the factory dogear P90 (which I usually spec as 'standard' at 500k / .022uF). Very pleased to receive an update and these photos today of it all finished up and looking oh so good! Love the revisions he's made, via the pickguard, pickup and control knobs. I have a big soft spot for these reissue Coronets, and this one might be my favourite of seen yet, unreal! Big thanks to David for including me in this project and using my Signature Series wiring kit.
Guitar pot grounding; Wire or shielding, which is best?
If you've considered modding or replacing your guitars wiring, you might have considered your shielding or grounding methods too. If you've ordered a replacement wiring loom, whether that's from myself or from another supplier you will have likely noticed that there are ground wires between the pot casings. Exact method or wire used possibly may vary between maker, but generally speaking there will be some form of ground connection present.
How-to guide - Installing and adjusting the Descendant 'Companion' bridge
This one has been a long time coming! After the popularity of my Descendant Vibrato install/adjustment guide, it was due time that I follow up with a guide on installation and adjustment of the superb Companion bridge by Chris Swope at Descendant. If your purchase a bridge, it does of course come supplied with some superb instructions courtesy of the man himself, but I do hope this feature helps along the way too :)
Home of Tone at the Stourbridge Record & Music Fair
Our friends over at Record Culture in Stourbridge town centre have organised 'Stourbridge Record & Music Fair' to be held at the Stourbridge Town Hall on Saturday 4th March 2023. Lee kindly invited me to be a part of it, so I'll be exhibiting along side an awesome selection of record, art, music vendors right here in our hometown which I'm really looking forward to.
Product spotlight - Strat wiring kits!
Stratocasters have played a major part in my guitar playing life and I think as a result I naturally put a lot of care and attention into the Pre-Wired harness range for them. Over the years I have further developed the specs available so I can offer a great selection for players hoping to refine their tone and find controls that suit the way they play. But with such a broad range of options for a single guitar model, I thought it would be useful to shine a spotlight on the range and discuss how each would suit certain Strat sounds and variants to hopefully guide you in finding the right kit.
I'll break these options down into sections, looking at Vintage inspired specs, to modern takes and alternative pickup combinations to help you in navigating this article and find the kits suitable for your requirements.
I'll break these options down into sections, looking at Vintage inspired specs, to modern takes and alternative pickup combinations to help you in navigating this article and find the kits suitable for your requirements.
A tribute to Fern
Last night I learnt of the news that one of my peers, friends and very long time Home of Tone Supporters, the lovely JM Davis Fernandez 'Fern' had passed away. I had the pleasure of following his work, speaking a lot over the years (our instagram direct message feed was a long one that's for sure) and meeting and I was always left with a smile afterwards. Such a unique vision for his own builds, always showing his personality and creative outlook throughout and I admired that a great deal. He was always kind enough to support the Home of Tone too, I remember a photo he sent me of the little brown paper parts bags that I send items out in, I had stamped it with the UFO logo and he loved it so put it in a little frame at the workshop. A little gesture I'm sure, but it meant a lot to me. I'd often pop a little fallen bit of fern leaf in his parcel labels when I'd ship stuff his way, going to miss that for sure. From me, my family and on the behalf of the Home of Tone followers, I want to send our wishes to his family and close friends. Thoughts are with them and Fern is on my mind for sure. X