lrg_machine

You know it's Friday the 13th when... You've just watched the first 5 Friday 13th films and now have 5 to go

Not strictly true, the woods do make a difference so does the method of construction bolt on vs straight through vs glued in necks, fixed bridge vs floating tremolo etc. and obviously if the guitar is plugged into 4 Marshall stacks wound up full volume with a host of effects then yes the wood the guitar is made from aint gonna make much odds. The biggest difference to the sound of any guitar is the player

Jim That'a what I'm thinking, there's also the other bits and bobs that aren't "standard" like the braking system, and I also seem to have the Chassis from a sport 300 because it's got the mounting points for the cross braces which I don't think are on a normal S4s chassis. Going to be interesting to see what details Lotus come back with.

Spoke to Andy Graham at the factory yesterday and something interesting came out about my car. Here's my initial email to Andy Andy I understand from "The Lotus Forums" it is possible to receive a provenance certificate for our cars, could you please tell me what info you need (VIN I assume) and also how much the service costs, how to pay etc. My car actually seems to be a bit of an oddity in that is is an 1995 Esprit S4s but has later V8 gear change and GT3 / V8 braking system plus a few other bits that appear to be factory fit but not "standard" for an S4s, so as you can imagine I'd be very interested to find out a bit more about the car. Here's Andys reply We have recorded that you car was fitted with a ‘slave’ gearbox and CFC air conditioning which was not production fit at the time, and then passed to Lotus Engineering for the gearbox to be replaced. Any engineering work carried out will not be recorded with the build book. I have completed and put your certificate in the post tray. I will ask engineering if they remember your car and let you know if they come back with some knowledge of the car after my holiday. So it would appear I have one of the Lotus development cars. Anyone any idea what a "slave" gearbox is?

Forgetting the Fender / Gibson thing it all depends a) how much money you want to spend b) what you're going to play i.e. how versatile you want it to be. c) gigging, recording or just playing for fun at home I've owned Fender, Gibson, Ibanez and a few makes in between. forgetting the playability because what's good to one person will be bad to another, it's a very subjective thing. As you say some of the Japanese makes (Ibanez for instance) make some excellent and very versatile guitars ranging from a couple of hundred quid to a few thousand, you pays your money you takes your choice. There's also a lot of noise about Suhr guitars which many top players are using these days but they are mega bucks (bucks, being an American company) So my advice would be don't limit yourself to just Fender or Gibson, go play a few others, some a lot cheaper that F and G will surprise, in a good way. For the last point (gigging, recording or just playing for fun) If gigging, don't spend 2 grand on a guitar to gig with, it will get battle scarred and you will get upset, and unless you're playing through a top notch backline and PA with sound engineers who know what they're doing the difference in sound won't be that great to a guitar costing a lot less If recording get the best you can afford but then buy a cheaper one to gig with If it's just for fun at home, well the world is your oyster.

This one came up today at work

Steve thats what I was going to post next Heres another one

Following on from Kimbers post about bums UK US I suppose you could also have US UK

Try running SpaceSniffer It'll show you graphically what's taking up the most space on your drive http://www.uderzo.it/main_products/space_sniffer/download.html

Ooooohhhhhh ! me want now!

Oh! bold Sir John was young and fair, And bold Sir John was gay. He said, "I'll tread the morning dew, To take the air and listen to The twittering of the birds all day, The bumblebees at play, The twit, the twit, the twit, the twit, the twittering of the birds all day, The bum, the bum, the bum, the bum, the bumblebees at play." The Two Ronnies

You can't lick your own elbow! How many of you are now trying it?

If every man woman and child on the planet was given a quater acre of land it still wouldn't fill Australia

Cliff Yes bought 1st Manifold approx 5 years ago, which went early last summer. I had to buy the second manifold because they wanted the old manifold back and I had no way of getting the old one off for them to decide one way or the other without something else to put on the car. The new one was put on the car early Feb this year along with a load of other jobs that needed doing, new fuel tanks, C service etc. I just think a £50 voucher is a bit mean.

Thanks guys New manifold is already on the car, so stainless not really an option.

Cheers Steve Number of miles isn't really the issue. I live about 12 miles from work so consider that for about the last couple of years the Esprit has been pretty much my only means of transport, so at least 5 days a week 24 miles, to and from work + weekends flitting about etc. I know 12 miles is not a lot but it's more than enough to get the engine hot My conclusion was that the casting was at fault here as well, and I've heard of a couple of others that have had issues with weak castings. Just looking for other opinions. Barrie 'only' £275 plus VAT. mmmm ! cost me £525 which was including the LEF discount £140 for gaskets + fitting adds up to around the £1000 pound mark You can see why I'm a bit miffed

Lucas The car does live outside but it does get driven a lot. Got to remember I live in the "Sunny" UK

Bought one of the SWLC manifolds around 5 years ago and mid last year it developed a hole pic attached. have since bought another and fitted, been in contact with SWLC and they've offered £50 voucher. They say it's rotted due to water collecting in that area, I can't personally see water sitting there, if anything it would sit further down in the recess and the hole would be a lot lower. What do you guys think. I'm not knocking SWLC, they have always given good service, but I'm now down another £1000 in 5 years for exhaust manifolds Closer view

Don't let he smoke out Electricity is a myth, it's all run by smoke, as soon as you let the smoke out it'll stop working, guaranteed.

Mike I did find this, Vac Pump but it's from the states, it also has the pressure switch included and only needs a 12v supply

Mike The only marking that looks like a part number is K295

Mike The name on the pump is Wabco and I have searched for a replacement, to no avail, the wires are connected to a relay sized module which has Vac pump Control module printed on the side and is wired into the main loom next to the other relays in the boot of the car. Cheers

I was in Portland Oregon last November and found Wanker's Corner http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&biw=1600&bih=1042&gl=uk&nfpr=1&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=portland+Oregon+%2B+wankers+corner&fb=1&gl=uk&hq=wankers+corner&hnear=Portland,+OR,+USA&cid=0,0,8627798946766714579&ei=esaDTdjyNMeBhQfL0Y3NBA&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=image&resnum=2&ved=0CCMQnwIwAQ BeaverCreek and Needy nearer me there's also Catbrain near Castle Coombe Weedon in Northhampton Honey Knob Hill in "Wilt"shire