What Tesla did was big.... but not THAT big. 50 foot arcs were all over his largest coils and he did succeed in burning out a generating station in Colorado Springs, but what he did is dwarfed every second of every day by common thunderstorms.

He is still a hero to me!

Take care,
-Peter

Quote from: bwanasonicI don't think this is supposed by any reputable scientists.

no, but boy it's fun to imagine!

Quote from: Peter Snowbergbut what he did is dwarfed every second of every day by common thunderstorms

That's very true;  But there aren't many people out there trying to replicate a small thunderstorm in their workshop!  And few would claim that they could "split the earth like an apple."

I think the best thing he did (in some ways) was to practically give away the rights to AC generators to Westinghouse in order to "defeat" Edison.

hmm, seems we might have hyjacked this thread... getting slightly back on topic;

anyone heard the urban myth about the navy guy who killed himself with a 9V battery whilst trying to measure his "internal resistance" with a multimeter?  :shock:

Quote from: niftydog...in fact, you probably wouldn't have wanted to live in his home town!

Are you kidding!!  I'd love to have been in NY when he was just starting out and making history.  That would've been magnificent.

Quote from: niftydogI think the best thing he did (in some ways) was to practically give away the rights to AC generators to Westinghouse in order to "defeat" Edison.

Well, he did it more to make sure AC was developed and available to the world then to spite Edison, but the rivalry was there, for sure.  I think Edison took it more to heart then Tesla did.

Getting back alittle bit on topic, not that I didn't enjoy the side line conversation, I belive the wiring issue of the Synth Ax was part of it's demise and should be a lesson to us.

From my understanding the problem, well one of them, was that the company could not afford the inital investment of automating the wiring of the neck so they did it by hand. While this lowered the cost of manufacturing the parts the labour costs were much higher making the whole product more expensive thus a higher retail price. Because of the retail price they couldn't sell enough to be able to afford to automate the wiring which would have lowered the labour costs and the final retail price. The loss of labour to do the wiring also resulted in lack of support for the product.

Couldn't afford to automate to make it cheaper and couldn't sell enough to automate. It was a vicious cycle. One that should learned and observered by some DIYers who maybe thinking of getting into the biz...like me arrg.

Andrew

Apologies, Mr SoundTech, for not making my definitions of AC and DC clearer. In the context of the original post, it didn't occur to me that anyone might be proposing to power a guitar effect with a 10,000 VDC supply. Careless of me.

To clarify, therefore, (a) I would prefer to accidentally receive a 110 VDC shock than a 100 VAC shock, and (b) I am prepared to bet anyone $100 that I could grasp the terminals of a 12V car battery and survive the experience. With the engine not running.

Quote from: Ge_WhizApologies, Mr SoundTech, for not making my definitions of AC and DC clearer.

No apologies, my friend (and the "Mr" sounds WAY to formal for me).  I freely admit that some of my comments were beyond the scope of the original question (and therefore, I was probably very unhelpful).  I was simply pushing on the boundaries of how we tend to typically thing of problems, because we are use to certain "constants" in our experimental endeavors.  I fully enjoyed this thread, and the comments of everyone who participated, whether they were posting on the original topic, or the tangent topic.

Quote from: Ge_WhizApologies, Mr SoundTech, for not making my definitions of AC and DC clearer. In the context of the original post, it didn't occur to me that anyone might be proposing to power a guitar effect with a 10,000 VDC supply. Careless of me.

To clarify, therefore, (a) I would prefer to accidentally receive a 110 VDC shock than a 100 VAC shock, and (b) I am prepared to bet anyone $100 that I could grasp the terminals of a 12V car battery and survive the experience. With the engine not running.

I donno, I worked as a mechanic for a good number of years and after seeing firsthand someone ground a wedding ring from a positive terminal to chassis ground.. The guy still has a circular scar on his hand haha.. (my brother, what a dope...hehe...) Lots of amperage running or not.. but merely grabbing the terminals, yeah no problem, its that whole ground the two terminals together that gets your attention quick...

Regards,

Lone

i'm building a big variable resistor in the shape of a guitar right now (for bass synth style sounds). it's a raw design but should work fine: one audio oscillator sending signal trough one big guitar string pressing copper frets (nailed (!) on home-made neck), each of them connected to resistor(s) (value=note) then goes back from a coper wire to out jack.

Safety = fetish rubber glove   :wink: