"Latest RM Mods Brief"

[formerMember1]

oh yeah i know, I am taking it slow with amp modding/building DIYing etc...  Don't wanna get lethal shocked. :!:

the reason i got so heavily into stompbox building is cuz  about last November i got tendonitis/carpul tunnell.  lots of pain, So i am trying to ease back on the playing and heal, so i am using this time to get a better tone togther, so when i am healed i still improved on something.  i used to be into yngwie and Vai, van halen stuff, spent 6-10 hours a day learning that stuff for about 2 years and i thought speed was EVERYthing,, i got bored w/ that stuff and would rather play original rock  with influences by Sabbath , LEd Zep, Jimi H, who ,cream etc...  

I used to play those marshall jcm200's and etc... now i would rather play an old plexi with a few fuzz boxes and a wah.  Problem is, you can't find pedals like that, or you find them and they are lots of mooney.  So here i am a DIYer trying to get a good tone finally.  I was going to get a Marshall handwired amp from guitar center,(they got that thing where you don't pay for 12 months) but they didn't get them instock yet, So i wanted to see if i could attain enough know how to build one myself.  But i will probably just  buy one.
I build stompboxes cuz i don't like most of the ones out there. I built my hendrix strat clone w scalloped fretboard , cuz you can't buy a guitar like that, and it is built for me.  But Marshall plexi era amps are my favorite and i don't need anything custom about them, so i will probably just buy one.

I just hope i heal, :wink:
I am only playing 5 years, so i shouldn't have this much pain in my arms.  but i guess i condensed 30 years of playing into 5 years, so somethings gotta give.

thanks again for the help,...

[petemoore]

Ok sorry, still I want you to tell the 'next guy'.

[formerMember1]

I like the help you give me in other threads to,
And I don't want to sound like i know a lot abut amps cuz i don't know much at all, So your post did help,
thanks

[petemoore]

Everybody's different...
 I got that a while back, it's like 'growing pains' IMCase, for a time it was so bad I could play 15 seconds to 15 minutes [depending on the time of day and Blood Pressure or something] before numbness and pain stopped me.
 One thing I found that helped [besides NOT using a 90Lb. jackhammer, or vise grips all day] is Hands in Icewater till it hurts real bad, also stretching the fingers as far as they will go [firm but gently of course] to touching the top of my forearm. After some of this 'torture therapy' I could depend on hands and fingers retaining sensativity without severe pain.
 The other one is 'wierd' sounding...Cary Sage oil [orange oil too] soaked right into the 'connective' side of the wrist.
 Probably this is all 'psycho-placebo somatic', and of no use to others...just thought I'd type it...it's been a nice long time since I was 'debilitated' off the guitar, but I most certainly do remember the anger and frustration it causes.

[formerMember1]

yeah same here,  I do construction with my father.  Concrete and masonary work mostly.  Plus  playing is too much for my arms to handle.  I do the same thing, when my arms hurt i fill a bucket of ice water and soak them till they hurt worse, then take them out and do it again, I found that is the only thing that helps.  I also got a creeke near my house that i stick my arms in the summer.  The water is realy cold because it is from a spring.

I have been off of work for a few months now because the pain got so bad i can't work, If i lift anything over 20lbs or so, my tendons start to burn.
Hopefully with some Rest it will eventually go away. :wink:

About the orange oil , that might be doing something other then psychological, I drink alot of orange juice, and gatorade. It is the potassium and minerals that lubricate the tendons. vitamins help also.

thanks for your advice.

PS:My arms hurt for a month or so only when i played hard, then eventually it got to the point that no matter what i am doing it hurts.  Sometimes i can't even pick up a fork to eat, because my tendons just burn/numb.  Is that what happen to you?  
Some people laugh at me, and think i have just normal arm fatigue from playing, but they don't realize the pain is real serious, and painful, not a normal over worked feeling, but more like tendonitis.

All this typing i have been doing lately hurt too, i type a little then rest then type.  

Man this thread changed topic alot :oops:

[formerMember1]

hey guys i was wondering something,

As long as i disconnect the amp from the wall outlet, and discharge the filter caps with a bleeder resistor, is there anything else could get shocked from when working/modifying a tube amp? Is it only the big filter caps that store big charge, or do i have to bleed power out of the other caps too?

[petemoore]

Big caps [and little ones] can 'grow power' after lookng all discharged, it may be necessary to provide a path to ground for the charge over a time period when the growing occurs.
  Wait a few minutes then measure the voltage potential 'regrown and stored for ultimate safety.
 Massage, wrap 'em up tight for a while...it's a tightness thing that has directly and non directly to do with circulation, building up the muscles also builds up the connective tissue...ITCase they're in a 'bottleneck'...your wrist. I take my right thumb and push blood down into my hand, whip my hand in circles to pressurize blood into them, hold my hands above my heart to let it get back out.
 Cause and effect, in your case it sounds like the cause is enough to quicky 'build things up' to where circulation is constricted and the whole area is under pressure.
 In my case the symptoms relate in terms of split second, [what position and function my left hand is 'in'] minutes, [like what temperature] times of day [like morning/night], months and years [like the work that creates the condition and the 'healing' that transpires]..

[formerMember1]

Yeah, sometimes i wake up in the middle of the night, and the pain keeps me from falling back to sleep, also many times, i start to "heal" (i think), cuz the pain is gone, then all of a sudden it just comes back quick,

It seems when i start to feel better and i rest, as soon as i start playing or using my arms, it hurts just enough to let me know it is there, then if i keep using my arms it gets worse, (this all takes a few seconds)

I used to lift weights pretty steady for a year and half, but it interrupted my guitar playing, i couldn't play after working out, my arms would be "pumped" up and my speed slowed a lot.  (this was way before my tendons hurting)

But are you recommending lifting weights lightly to stregthen my tendons to help heal?  

One other thing i notice is, If i start playing it hurts, but if i keep on playing i eventually work thru it and it goes away, but when i stop playing and my tendons tighten back up, Look out, it is bad pain. Then i am back to the ice water, and then my callouses are ruined, and when i play it hurts cuz my fingers have no callouses, So i think it is mostly overuse of the tendons and not much to do with muscle over use, but some i guess.

thanks :wink:

[petemoore]

So i think it is mostly overuse of the tendons and not much to do with muscle over use,
 Strong muscles depend on strong connective tissue, there's alot of connective tissue in your wrists, that's what the tendons and tunnels are.
 You can increase muscle strength and stamina within minutes and days and years, the connective tissue takes much longer to develop, and in the wrist there's 'x' amount of room to do this, it's a 'bottleneck', easily 'jammed'.
 When used muscles and connective tissue 'pump up' or swell. This is what causes the tendons to mash against the sheathing. If you have any uneven surfaces on the tendons, or just swelling, and that's tight against the sheath...pain.
 Deep pain massage [just less than damage pressures] Ice, oils, all that does 'something' for a minute or longer.
 It might be a time before  any therapy 'catches up' with what's going on in there...maybe never, I say try everything you can because...why not.
 There is the surgery method, scraping the tunnels out...supposed to help 'cure' it, I opted for the 'home remedy solutions'.