For sale is a Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face from 1969/1970 that's been rebuilt by Pigdog / Steve Williams. It's in excellent sounding silicon Fuzz Face with original BC209 transistors. It's in mint condition since the rebuild and has been tested briefly before being stored back in its box. It comes with the original box, cloth bag and cards that it was shipped it with.
See below for the full write up from Steve himself.
Don't hesitate to message me with any questions.
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Rebuilt Fuzz Face
A very well travelled original 1969-1970 Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face lands at my door a few years back. It was in terrible condition, most of the paint had flaked off including the original (transfer type) graphics, missing back plate, missing/replaced switch, one of the knobs was missing, the potentiometers were unusable, the original capacitors had leaked, the wiring was in a shocking state etc.
I set about a full refurbishment which included the following:-
Full strip and repaint including repainting graphics. The case was in pretty good shape and we spent a while testing various (silver) hammer finishes to find one which was virtually identical to the original
Replace back plate with handmade replica to original vintage spec (including rubber feet) and replace the main securing screw with suitable slot-head type
Clean PCB, including replace both electrolytic capacitors and resistors where necessary (The tropical fish capacitor was given a light clean and tested fine, no cracks etc)
Replacement potentiometers
Replace one knob with modern (RS) equivalent
Replacement (PP3) battery clip
Replace switch (with Carling)
Complete rewire
The original BC209 transistors are still in place and untouched. There was absolutely no need to remove them or replace them. The biasing is done via careful resistor selection and this silicon Fuzz Face sounds exactly how a good vintage one should with a huge amount of fuzz on tap and decent clean up from the guitar.
Likewise, I managed to rescue the battery holder and securing screw. The original rubber pad was in good condition and rather surprisingly so was the Dallas Arbiter label. The original Rendar jack sockets were also in good condition after a little clean up. The cardboard circuit insulation under the PCB was reusable as well as the original securing screws.
