by George Pootnik
Jan. 10. 2001
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DO IT
YOURSELF GK2A INTERNAL KIT
a solution for better guitar
playing
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This was my guitar prior to the modification. Not the bad aesthetic
was the main reason why I wanted to remove the "wart" from the top of the
guitar, merely the bad access to the GK2a volume knob was unconvenient.
Behind, you can see the famous VG-8 processor
(made by Roland) which served my needs for 5 years very well. |
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This is a GK2a controler disassembled.
Only 4 screws to open. The small plug for the additional guitar
input didn´t have place in the mould of my guitar, so I have cut it
away. There´s a connector plug for the hexatonal pickup, which can
be simply plugged out. I choosed to remove the Guitar - Mix - Synth switch,
soldered a bridge to enable "always mix" position. Of course one can mount
a similar switch on a guitar, but the VG-88
, which I bought later, can be programmed to different mix values for every
patch.
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The cable of the hexatonal pickup was pulled under the bridge humbucker
and glued with hot glue on the right side of the frame. |
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Now there is some tricky work needed. I used a multicolored computer
cable string to make a bridge between the controler and the 13-pin plug. I
do not recomend to remove the 13-pin plug from the printboard, you may destroy
the circuit easily. |
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Unfortunately, I had to adapt an angled 13-pin plug to fit it in the
whole. Take care, those little contacts may easily fall out. After soldering
the wires and checking if they are OK, I have fixed the contacts in the plug
with glue. Hope that there would be a straight 13-pin female plug available
soon. |
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Had to isolate the whole circuit, a small plastic bag and some tape
stripes were quite enough for that.
Although this is a short photo-story, I had to measure and experiment
a whole week - being not an electronic technician - and my soldering techniques
are also very limited.
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Finally, an optimized funktionality is achieved. All knobs and switches
are below the right hand, quickly accessible. The original volume pot of the
GK2a is replaced with a solid 47k pot. GK-switch (S1 and S2) is a 3 way standard
switch, had no luck to find one that always returns to the middle position,
but it works fine.
People who like to have control over guitar volume and amp saturation
this way, might be more satisfied using any GK equiped gear. Anyway, it´s
a great difference...
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contacts:
pootnik@t-online.de
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