Low Cost Semi- Retro Bedroom Studio

A few months ago I bought an old (2008) iMac with the idea of using it as a basis for getting into home recording. The iMac was in near mint condition, ran fine, and at only $30, a great deal. The plan was to start off cheap, with older equipment, and gradually update into newer apps and hardware as I gained proficiency. Coincidentally, all gear and software picked up for the first stage of this project was made in the mid 2000s.

One upside to having a relatively ancient iMac is the ability to run an older operating system (Mac OS 10.6.8) that supports obsolete yet otherwise fine sounding audio interfaces. For example, the M-Audio Firewire Solo that I picked up for $25, including a boxed Logic Studio disc. For a beginner the Logic recording app seemed a bit too advanced, but $5 at the local tech recycling place bought a set of iLife '08 discs, which includes GarageBand 4. That app, with its colorful "Fisher Price" graphic user interface, is an intuitive and easy to learn introduction to computer based multi-track recording.

Other recent purchases include a made in Illinois Shure KSM27 large diaphragm condenser microphone (like new, $120 from Music Go Round in MN), and a mint condition Utah made Bellari RP503 Tube Channel strip w/ tube preamp, optical compressor and EQ ($75 locally on c.l.).

From my gigging days, I already had a few dynamic mics and cables and other misc stuff such as old junky instruments. Our teenage kid, who's taken a few audio production courses and is way ahead of me in all this, loaned an Akai MPK Mini keyboard controller and a microphone pop filter.

Older Japan made Sony MD7506 headphones, modded with BeyerDynamic velour ear pads, do monitoring duty. Yamaha RH1C open on-ear 'phones are an alternate reference. In other rooms of the house, high quality vintage speakers - 1970s JBL, '50s Electro-Voice, and '90s Boston Acoustics - are available for checking mixes. And a portable Firewire backup drive adds some digital security.

The recording equipment was first set up downstairs, but it's often noisy on street level during the day:

Diesel trash trucks and delivery vehicles accelerating up the hill can really kill a good recording buzz. The quietest spot in the house, aside from the bathrooms, is our recently re-painted and newly re-rugged upstairs bedroom. The thick all wool Scandinavian patterned rug really brought the room's ambient noise level down.

As far as bedrooms go, it's not large, or small - basically 11' x 14', plus an alcove at one end with a sliding door to the bathroom on the left, cabinets and sink in the middle, and a roomy walk-in closet on the right. Between the big Victorian style chest of drawers and the foot of the bed is enough space for a cozy working area:

In the above picture, a green camping towel draped over the end of the white duvet cover keeps things clean, and family life harmonious.

As well as being quiet enough, the bedroom has a nice recorded sound, with a good balance of reflective and absorptive surfaces. Here's the alcove at the west end of the room - this mostly reflective surfaced space really lets an open back tube amp breathe:

Converse sneakers and an old Shure condenser mic - a great combo:

Every night after putting the iMac to sleep, all the odds and ends get picked up and put away, a 10 to 15 minute job, and the little table goes to its bed-time spot.

We discussed moving the 1940s dresser chest, and putting a studio desk along that wall, but the idea of having an easily taken down setup appealed to me.

I met a guy at a music store who had a cautionary tale: He'd gotten the studio bug, remodeled a spare bedroom into a recording space, including sound treatment panels, and bought over $20,000 in equipment and software. After his studio sat mostly unused for 5 years, he realized he didn't have many ideas to record, and ended up selling his gear for pennies.

In my case, no doubt an extra few $ worth of high end hardware would result in a better recorded sound. But it's only a fun hobby, and so far I've spent (checks notes) less than $300. That's low buck, and the audio quality is beyond good enough for my not very golden ears. Plus, I'm fairly sure my own imagination is at least equal to my low budget.

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Click or tap on any picture above to see larger, higher def images. All photos taken with a Lumix ZS25 travel zoom camera.

An Accidental Guitar

 

On a lazy late winter afternoon recently I was sitting on the sofa in the sunlight, half dozing and half noodling on this guitar (a perfect couch electric), and I suddenly realized how accidental it was. As opposed to being a purely intentional or purpose built guitar.

I’ve put together several project electrics, but they've had a more or less specific end goal in sight, unlike this hodgepodge of random parts. It started with a tub full of various components tossed into it over the past ten years, some used, most new. Then along came a precision crafted pine plank Telecaster body from Canada and, rummaging though the parts bin, it looked like there might be enough bits and pieces to assemble a guitar.

 

A Rundown of All Those Unintentional Parts:

- ToneBomb knotty pine body. Made in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Two piece knotty pine, seam straight down the middle but not bookmatched. This was one of a limited run of knotty pine bodies ToneBomb made a couple of years ago; luckily I was allowed my pick from a few available unrouted blanks (all unique and lovely), then had a choice of pickup configurations. Totally vintage early ‘50s spec in all dimensions except the P90 pickup rout, and wonderfully lightweight. It came presanded to 150 weight, and I had a happy few days outdoors in early summer weather doing finish sanding. First with 220 grit, then a couple passes at 400 (with a water coat in between to raise the grain) before I gave it three double coats of Watco oil based varnish.

- Fender Classic Player ‘50s series Stratocaster neck, made in Mexico in 2022. Over a few months I bought five various Tele necks, and I’ll cut that long story short to say they each had flaws, fit issues, or been misrepresented by the sellers. One day I took the neck off my Strat project guitar, put it on the ToneBomb body - it fit perfectly - and that’s where it stayed. Fender calls it a “soft V” back profile, I've always liked the shape. My first good quality guitar, a 1947 Martin D18, had a similar feel neck - the guy I bought that Martin from, a pro player in L.A., had sanded its original harder V-shape neck down a bit, and it was a great guitar to learn to play on. Until recently most Yamaha acoustics have had that neck shape; this Fender neck and the one on my 2005 Yam parlor are very close. Here's the same neck, mounted on a Strat project:

 

 

- Gotoh vintage type tuning machines. Nickel plated steel, with “butterbean” Waverly style buttons. Japan

 

- Fender vintage style round string guide, nickel plated steel. USA

- Gotoh nickel plated steel neck plate. Japan

- Fender nickel plated steel strap pegs. USA

- Gotoh Les Paul style output jack plate. Curved nickel plated brass or nickel. Japan

 

- Switchcraft output jack, new old stock, unknown date, possibly 1970s. USA

- Gotoh control plate, nickel plated brass or nickel. It’s reverse mounted, a bit easier to grab the volume knob. Japan

- Gotoh bridge plate, nickel plated brass. Cutaway sides for comfort, and cutaway rear for possible use with a Bigsby tailpiece. Japan

 

 

- Fender “Vintage ‘58” bridge saddles. Solid and smooth unthreaded steel. No intonation compensation, but my not so secret Tele adjustment seems to work: keep messing with the string length until chords sound okay, and you’re done. Most of the Telecasters I borrowed when I started doing country bar gigs had these same style smooth steel barrel saddles. To my ears, better tone and sustain than either brass or the thinner threaded steel types, and amazing they're still made today. USA

- Fender vintage-type rear body string ferrules, nickel plated steel. USA

- Gotoh “Gibson Speed” style volume control knob. Japan

- Gotoh “dome” Tele style tone control knob, heavy knurled nickel plated brass. Japan

- CTS (Chicago Telephone Supply) 250k audio taper potentiometers; one w/ splined split shaft, one w/ a solid shaft. Both new current production. Mexico

 

- Sprague .039uF capacitor. It's old, maybe late '50s or '60s, I don't really know; a vintage sized large tube, probably mylar composition construction. I have a limited stock of old and new caps; tried a few of them with a home built external (yet in-circuit) tone capacitor tester, and this one worked well with the two disparate type pickups. Smooth jazzy tones rolled back with the neck pickup, and tames any tendency toward harshness in the bridge pickup. USA

 - Oak Grigsby 3-way blade switch. NOS (New Old Stock), spring loaded. It's mid '90s, old enough, and was cheaper than a new production one. USA

- DakaWare switch knob, NOS 1950s, maroon barrel style. Chicago, Illinois, USA. A gift from friend David.

- Mighty Mite neck pickup; Gibson single coil “P-90” style. Made in Korea mid 1990s, Alnico magnet, 8.5k. Bought this from a seller named Martha; Martha, it turned out, was a really cute Labrador puppie!

 

- Philadelphia Luthier Supply P-90 cover, unplated solid nickel. USA.

- MojoTone bridge pickup. “Broadcaster” model, flat top magnets, string-wrapped and wax potted coil, 9.6K. Made in Georgia, USA

- WD pickguard, thick one ply, 5 screw. USA

- Wherever possible, all screws are nickel plated flat blade type, not phillips. Various makes; Fender, Philly Luthier etc. USA

- Currently the strings are a GHS Gilmour set, gauges .010, .012, .016, .028, .038, .048. Next string change I’ll go back to my old fave Hybrid Slinky set: .009, .011, .016, .026, .036, .046. A very minor difference, with the slightly lighter set hopefully having a bit better couch noodle-ability.

 

A Low Power Couch Noodling Amplifier

 

Here's a photo of my living room amp, along with another piece of vintage furniture:

 

 

A quick description: a modified 1950s 5F2A circuit built into an old small PA amp chassis (I'm guessing maybe 4 watts at most), sitting atop a Hammond M3 organ external speaker cabinet with an Altec Lansing 417-8C 12" inside. This cab, without 12" speaker, was a gift from Nashville Tele slinger extraordinaire Chris Wade, from whom I also got the mid '90s Japan Fender Stratocaster body shown above.

Accidental Addendum:

 

 

Luckily there was a set in the string stash box of what Ernie Ball calls Hybrid Slinky (.009 - .046), in this case GHS Custom Light. From geographic necessity in a past life, I learned to be mostly agnostic regarding string brands, and always used whatever I could find. After the string swap, the Accidental Pinecaster and I retired to the ancient Flexsteel sofa, and there it was: all the wiggly couch noodle-ability anyone could ask for.

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Photo of the living room amp was taken with an Olympus PL-5 w/ a Lumix 14-45mm zoom lens, and the Strat project guitar was shot with a Lumix ZS-25 pocket camera. All other images were taken with a 2016 iPhone SE.

ps - One last photo:

The living room is in the process of getting some new furniture and some old removed, so stuff is being temporarily rearranged. A bit crowded, but it makes an interesting picture (see above).