This is what the old girl looks like right now :
Skylark Faceplate with plenty of rust (click for fullsize image)
Now it’s not going to matter one bit if I don’t do anything about the looks, but it would be nice to get her cleaned up. There is no way I am going to be able to clean around the silk-screened lettering or lines. So the whole thing is going to have to come off. I don’t even know how you clean these things.
Now, the chassis is actually just a single piece of metal, bent and punched. I’m not sure if it’s steel or aluminum but either way, it’s easily bendable.
Here is a picture of one out of the cabinet :
5T Chassis out of cabinet and looking from behind
So I suppose I could just have one remade. That would surely cost more than the amp, but I’d come out of it with the specs for new metal, which would be a good thing for anyone else trying to do this. Then I would need to get the art redone or redesign something. Again.. favors or money and no improvement in the sound.
I’m leaning towards leaving it, for obvious reasons, but very early in the process I’ll have to make the decision.. anyone have any thoughts?
Really enjoying the blog. I’ve recently come into a Skylark (my dad’s parents bought it for him brand new when he was a kid, and it’s sat in the basement for 30 years!) and I’m planning how I will rebuild it… This will be my first big electronics project!
I’m sure by now you’ve had your way with the chassis, but for my skylark I will definitely be leaving it as is… gives it character!! (2cents!)
Hey! Thanks very much. In fact I didn’t do anything to that amp at all yet. I’m working on the ’67 right now.
I’m actually very unlikely to do any cosmetic work. I just don’t have the time. If it sounds good, it looks good, right ?
Send me any pictures or notes you have if you like, I’ll blog it up. Also.. pretty please, if you have the schematic, scan it and send it along!
I have a 1966 white panel gibson ga-5t,I have a schematic and I am a newbie ,I just finished building a 5e3 clone and it came out great ,I was wondering if anyone out there would have a layout diagram for this amp it has 2 el84s 1 6c4 and 1 6eu7,I could not find the original 3 wire caps and ended up converting to 4 22uf 500volt caps per leif erickson of photoboards.theshop.com the amp worked great for about a month then the power transformer went any help would be greatly appreciated thanks
I have never seen a Gibson layout diagram of any sort. They may exist, but again, I’ve never seen them. The Schematic should be in the Gibson Master Service Manual, and for the whitefaces, I think you can tell it apart from the others because it has three transformers, PT, OT and a splitter. HOWEVER, if you have a 6C4 tube, that is almost surely being used as a splitter so I’m guess you have fairly interesting model. You wanna send me some pictures or something?
Similarly, I would have a couple questions about that PT failure. I know it can happen but I’ve never heard of it actually happening. The only thing obvious to me is that you’ve added a lot more capacitance than the other Skylarks needed, which can cause a problem that I’ve never looked up, but will. Something about excess currents. Do you still have the old can?