I built a guitar last winter to keep myself busy while some injuries kept me from building bikes. It turned out to be a pretty great way to engage my brain during the months that the trails are either too wet or too snowy to ride.

The whole project went so well that I've decided to try to make it an annual thing. So this year I've started building a couple of guitar amplifiers. I'm generally terrible with electronics and approach it with extreme caution but there's a great web forum called ampgarage that is a helpful resource when trying to sort through all the little things that aren't exactly obvious.

I actually bought a chassis last March, but it arrived about the same time I could work and ride again and it's taken a back seat for nine months. By the time I got around to starting it back up, I decided to go in a slightly different direction with a different, more complicated amplifier that wouldn't fit into the chassis I purchased. I studied the schematic every night for several weeks and started making a bill of materials. While waiting for parts to arrive, I cut, drilled and installed eyelets in the various circuit boards.

873CC6A9-602F-4AF7-9962-12559A2A18D3.jpg . 25EB49C4-860C-4DC1-B4BD-65E9D90F2875.jpg

The blue circles were supposed to remind me to layout and drill tube access holes before I started soldering in the components