Eyelet board question

[clubhouse]

I’m in the early throws of restoring a SFTR, that has been seriously modded as it stands, back to near original. Consequently I’ve bought an off-the-shelf, Mojo-Tone AB763 kit for all the small parts.

It comes with the eyelet board which looks cheap and nasty. I’ve read online, and had advice from Clarry via John Gilmore, to steer the hell away from using the boards…from all parties’ experience, they can leak in high voltage applications and cause no end of noisy fault finding issues.

The board doesn’t look as waxy as the original Fender board so…my question is…can I simply dunk it a bath of molten paraffin wax to coat and impregnate the board to prevent leakage before mounting the components?

[MikeC]

Mojotone stuff is good quality. Old eyelet boards can become conductive but it'll take 50 years! I'd just use the board as it comes

[Anvil Amps Alan]

I prefer to use Turrets instead of Eyelets, Made a replacement board for a Fender Twin a while back, dimensions can be the same but made of 3mm turret material.

[RectifiedAmps]

Is it a fibre-based board like the old Fenders or a newer fibreglass/G10/phenolic type? The leakage of the old SF Fender paper fibre ones took decades to become conductive and it didnt necessarily happen to ALL of them. So you have to ask yourself how long you expect your build to last and whether the risk is worth it? If it’s not going to become a family heirloom, I’d say anything will do.

And I don’t think the wax actually prevents anything- just seems to make a bigger mess and those waxed boards still get conductive.

[Cdog]

I also built a Mojotone AB763 kit using the eyelet board. No complaints on quality, but my feedback is that turrets are much, much nicer to build with.

[MikeC]

I also built a Mojotone AB763 kit using the eyelet board. No complaints on quality, but my feedback is that turrets are much, much nicer to build with.

Gotta' agree with both you and Anvil Amps Alan. But eyelet boards look right in those old Fenders!

[clubhouse]

Mojotone stuff is good quality. Old eyelet boards can become conductive but it'll take 50 years! I'd just use the board as it comes

Yeah…see, that’s the thing. The parts kit components all look really nice…right down to the skirted knobs with the correct Fender font. Probably I’m being overly concerned due to some poor dude’s individual experience. Thanks for the reassurance

[clubhouse]

I prefer to use Turrets instead of Eyelets, Made a replacement board for a Fender Twin a while back, dimensions can be the same but made of 3mm turret material.

I hear you, man. I have some FR4/G10 garolite board from Hoffman Amps (~3.6 mm thick) and turrets to suit, as well as the drilling template for an AB763. I’d go that way with this build except that I want to sell the amp after resto and I’m not too sure if the market will get that as a “resto-mod” upgrade and pay for it…maybe/maybe not…anyway, I’m too cheap to try to sell on my precious garolite…the stuff’s spendy as to get indent these days

[clubhouse]

Is it a fibre-based board like the old Fenders or a newer fibreglass/G10/phenolic type? The leakage of the old SF Fender paper fibre ones took decades to become conductive and it didnt necessarily happen to ALL of them. So you have to ask yourself how long you expect your build to last and whether the risk is worth it? If it’s not going to become a family heirloom, I’d say anything will do.

And I don’t think the wax actually prevents anything- just seems to make a bigger mess and those waxed boards still get conductive.

It’s a fibre based board like the original Fender types. The kit purports to be a small parts assortment for an AB763 build. It has carbon comp resistors and dead-on versions of the original Fender skirted knobs and all…right down to the black and white, cloth wrapped speaker wires with “F” embossed backing cap on the speaker jack.

The end goal is to sell the amp on after resto to recoup some funds to reconcile a ton of other projects. I just don’t want any come-backs from a new owner especially over an issue like this as it’ll mean a complete redo…and the bad blood, and the suspicions, and the time…y’know…that icky stuff

Roger that about the wax. I figured as much. In my research I came across a blurb by the Victoria Amps dude who wrote that they deliberately do everything the way Leo did, including the ratty old eyelet board deal, because as they had tested it and alternatives, the OG methods and components sounded ‘better’ even at the risk of ‘quality’.

Seems to me to be a bit of a ‘Dirty Harry’ conundrum…”well, punk…do you feel lucky?” I think I’m heading toward risking there not being a chambered bullet and using the board as it stands.

[clubhouse]

I also built a Mojotone AB763 kit using the eyelet board. No complaints on quality, but my feedback is that turrets are much, much nicer to build with.

Thanks, man. Very good to hear. If it were a personal keeper I’d be using turrets as well. I’m looking at selling it after resto so I need to constrain the spend where I can. Reliability is as important as cost and audio quality can be fine tuned by the buyer. I want to get the ol’ girl right in the ballpark idea of a Twin (big and clean) but another dude can fiddle with upgrades, mods, speaker flavours.

From the old mods that have been wrought in the past, there are two that I’m thinking of leaving…variable NFB and the ol’ capped up trem/vib (slow-me-down-throb) mod. Simple enough to undo, but I think they sound cool and offer some great flexibilty

[clubhouse]

I also built a Mojotone AB763 kit using the eyelet board. No complaints on quality, but my feedback is that turrets are much, much nicer to build with.

Gotta' agree with both you and Anvil Amps Alan. But eyelet boards look right in those old Fenders!

Right there with you gents. I’m going to stick with the eyelet board only because I think the widest market possible will better understand it/not even notice it and so expedite a sale…plus I’m cost constrained (cheap) in like-mind with ol’ mate, Leo

[jeremyb]

I've heard if you jizz all over it then it will be preserved for eternity!

[robthemac]

I've heard if you jizz all over it then it will be preserved for eternity!

Is that like bugs preserved in amber?

[clubhouse]

I've heard if you jizz all over it then it will be preserved for eternity!

Dude…tsk, tsk, tsk…as I read your post there was an almighty, God thrown clap of thunder above the house…the smell of electrocuted tadpoles for eternity… rock ‘n’ roll, man!

[robthemac]

I've heard if you jizz all over it then it will be preserved for eternity!

Is that like bugs preserved in amber?

In ten million years there's gonna be a Jurassic Park of amplifiers, based on a collection of AC10s and Katanas preserved in Jeremy's semen.