Mice Destroy Blues Junior!

[Billm]

Mice got into a customer's Blues Junior and chewed off big sections of wire, to make a nest, I suppose.



But the worst part was that a bunch of mouse pee accumulated over one of the output tubes, which corroded the solder and components and also created a short when the owner powered up the amp. Zzzap! It took out several power resistors, a screen resistor, and destroyed some traces.



So this amp needed a new circuit board, power transformer, and output transformer. And even after disnfecting it with Lysol, hot water, and a brush, you could still smell the mouse urine if you heated one of the affected solder joints.

[eddiewagner]

i have never seen something like that. interesting.

[marshman]

Might this be a testimonial for sealed-cab combos?

How did they get inside the chassis? I've only tinkered with one of those, but don't recall it being particularly easy access.

[Billm]

The chassis actually came out of a Two-Tone. The Two-Tone has a 10 and a 12-inch speaker in a wider cab and uses spacers to hold the Blues Junior chassis. Evidently the spacers don't fully cover the sides of the chassis and there's some room where mice could get in.

[telesavant]

Mice like WIRE....it tastes sweet to them....that's why cats chew it also. Mice can get in to virtually anything!!

[emu!]

The cause of the destruction could of been a spy from www.mouser.com

[mr_hankey]

Originally Posted by Billm

So this amp needed a new circuit board, power transformer, and output transformer. And even after disnfecting it with Lysol, hot water, and a brush, you could still smell the mouse urine if you heated one of the affected solder joints.

What's left?

Won't the repairs cost more than a new one?

[Lance]

Yikes....you know, I found some pellets near my guitar shrine a while back. I put out poison....but now I'm wondering what damage they may have done

[Joe M]

Originally Posted by mr_hankey

What's left?

Won't the repairs cost more than a new one?

Yeah, that's what I thought, wouldn't be almost as cheap to just buy a new one???

[Pepi]

That is something else In all my years of repair work that is the first. I had a guy bring me his stereo once that his cat pissed in Just think if that was an old Dumble

[Billm]

Won't the repairs cost more than a new one?

I was able to find a board for a reasonable price and the Mojo power transformer is a minor quality upgrade. The customer already wanted a better OT to drive the two speakers in the Two-Tone and he wanted a number of other mods.

I suppose I could have bought a used Blues Junior, put the chassis in his, and sold the cab and speaker, but given the other mods, the cost would probably come out pretty much the same.

The Two-Tone cab is the real focal point here. They were a Custom Shop item.

[Joe M]

Bill, do you have a pic of the cab? I don't think I've ever heard of one....

[ReddRanger]

Wow, mice can make some pretty clean wire cuts. I wonder if they post pics in mice forums to show off their work....

:)

[Billm]

Originally Posted by Joe M

Bill, do you have a pic of the cab? I don't think I've ever heard of one....

Pics of the Two-Tone are kind of hard to find. Here's one:

[ryokan]

How to build a better mouse trap...hmmm...use a blues junior?

[Teleblooz]

I hate it when that happens.

[Dan German]

Originally Posted by marshman

Might this be a testimonial for sealed-cab combos?

How did they get inside the chassis? I've only tinkered with one of those, but don't recall it being particularly easy access.

HAHAHAHAHA!!!! That's a good one! If you had a sealed cab, they'd just chew a hole in it and then still destroy the chassis. Mice are determined and persistent little critters. I watched my 13 pound cat squeeze through a 2 1/8" slot, so just imagine how small a gap a little mousey could get through. But just a warning to anyone who cleans up where there are mouse signs: wear a mask! Nothing fancy required, just the disposable ones they sell for woodworking. At least west of the Mississippi, where the risk of Hantavirus is small but very real.

[guitarzan13]

Somebody was not playing enough!!!! Now I can tell my wife " I have to play guitar tonight or the mice will destroy our investment!"

[petebradt]

Well, now you have an excuse to gut the chassis and build a 5E3 or 5F4 in its place. It'll sound better and if you use solid-core wire, they'll have a much harder time chewing through it.

[getbent]

I can't help but wonder if the mice commenting that the tone of the amp was similar to cheese.....



I kid the blues junior owner, I kid! I kid!

[pchilson]

Fiickin mice never do heed the warnings of High Voltage. Wouldn't biting into a HV wire turn them into KFC?

[4 Strings]

Now that mouse knew what he was doing...

The two tone looks sweet though.

[teleclarkster]

Did the mouse make it out alive or did he get zapped?

[Billm]

No sign of the mice, just the damage. I doubt they were in there while the amp was on.

[BrianF]

Originally Posted by Billm

Mice got into a customer's Blues Junior and chewed off big sections of wire, to make a nest, I suppose.

Very common...also known as a rats nest

[marshman]

I remember those two-tones, thought they were very cool, but I remember a fair few people were a bit torqued that Fender was trying to pass 'em off as 'custom shop amps' while they had Blues Jr. guts inside. It's a tough call--if you build a race car on a taurus chassis, will it still be a race car?

[Colt W. Knight]

I really hate mice infestations. I used to live in house that was fairly close to our horse boarding stable. One summer, we had an immense amount of rain, and the entire hollow flooded. The water didnt get in our house, but the mice who fled from the fields and barns did. It was a simple double wide setup, and once they got in there, we couldn't get them out. They destroyed the wiring and plastic plumbing in the entire house. We finally just built a new house, ontop of the hill this time.