Possible voltage meter install?

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beepx22

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I'm customizing a guitar for a video and possible stage use. need to know if anyone would have any suggestions for possibly putting a vintage voltage or amperage guage into the body, and would like for it to be functional. any help would be appricated, thanks all.
 

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Concerto412

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very cool idea, the only prior use of it that comes to mind would be the Nigel Tuffnel signature EB/MM, "Mr Horsepower". But, there were only 25 made and a quick search reveals more than one person looking for a way to replicate the idea, with no success stories that Ive found so far... :(
Now I REALLY want to figure this out, how hard can it be? (By Clarksonian law, it's difficulty has just increased immeasurably).
 

beepx22

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well only one way to find out right lol. also thinking of mounting a small tube in a body cavity, but i might just power it through a battery set up. I'll get some pics up as i do this. Making a steampunk style guitar from a Schecter A7+, no matter what it'll be a neat project.
 

CD1221

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this is entirely do-able.

I would approach it by using a buffer/amplifier (will need to be battery powered) using a single transistor or fet should do the trick, but a small opamp circuit may be just as easy, to create a large enough signal to drive the meter and not load up the guitar signal. use a diode and a capacitor to create an envelope follower.

vintage awesome.
 

littlephil

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^Yeah, you need some kind of circuit to actually drive the meter. I'd say someone other than EBMM has done it, so there is probably some info out there for what you need.
 

Rook

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this is entirely do-able.

I would approach it by using a buffer/amplifier (will need to be battery powered) using a single transistor or fet should do the trick, but a small opamp circuit may be just as easy, to create a large enough signal to drive the meter and not load up the guitar signal. use a diode and a capacitor to create an envelope follower.

vintage awesome.

This is exactly it, though you can get VU meters that work on very very low voltages. Tiny even.

I'm afraid there's no low voltage option for tubes, if you wanna get it glowing your looking at some serious voltage.

This is what you want

http://www.meterdistributor.com/SIMpdfDOC/round_datasheet.pdf

Then you just need a small buffer to drive it.

In fact I'd be confident enough to say if you went for a 0-100 millivolt meter, you'd need no buffer.
 

beepx22

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hey guys thanks, I think this might just work, I'll be sure to post something up if it ever gets done lol
 
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