Yamaha MD4 Disc Lock Manual Bypass

My Yamaha MD4, recently sold, occasionally locks the disc for no reason, making it impossible to eject and switch discs. I called Tech Support about it, and they said I could either try this or send it in to be serviced. Of course I did it myself (that's what I do), and saved myself the hundreds of dollars that I would have spent fixing it. Here's how to bypass the disc lock function and eject the disc manually:

Please note, this is not to be attempted while the unit is powered on or plugged into a power source, as electric shock may occur.  And besides, what idiot would do that anyway?

Nighthawk Blems

Here's the Nighthawk, recently sold.  Pictured are all the noticeable blemishes, not including normal amounts of pick scratches, belt rash, and a very small amount of tarnish and wear on the gold hardware.  Considering this guitar has been used and abused for 14 years, it's in pretty great shape!

Some of the dents are really hard to see, like this one.  I had to focus the lamp in my studio on it to get it to reflect a little.  The J-shaped curve to the right of the light source is the dent.An example of the pick hashing on the top.  Virtually all of this was done by the previous owner - I play pretty gently.
The sad state of the input jack plate.  Soon to be replaced.

Scratches on the neck.  The previous owner probably wore rings on his left hand.
This is a very small dent, visible just above the reflection from the window.
The pucker in the finish, right where the binding meets the body.  Very typical of Epiphone guitars.  My Epi Les Paul has the same problem, only much worse.
A few dents on the top, below and to the left of the bridge.

A little wear on the tip of the horn.  The same thing happens to my Blueshawk.  
Flecks of red paint on the fingerboard, evidence of a sloppy taping job while it was being finished.  Really hard to notice unless you look closely.


Some mild belt rash and a very small dent (just below the light source).
That's really all there is to show.  I couldn't get the rest of the belt rash to show up in photos, but it's really not much at all.  It's never bothered me, anyway.  Besides, how often do we sit around looking at the back of our guitars?

-Ben

Studio Work

Recently I started on as a session guitarist at Century Records, and we've been doing a lot of writing and tracking for some very talented artists. I'm pretty much stoked about it. Griffin Boice is a pretty great producer, and I think we're on to something really good here.


Here are a few of the artists I've tracked for. In fact, a great deal of the tracks on these sites feature myself on Guitar, Bass, and sometimes even Mandolin.


Shelby Walker



Amber Lynn



Kelly Packer



Topher Davis



Soon we'll also have some tracks up from ShaLyse:

ShaLyse Walker




You should check them all out.


-Ben