Tone Chain
The ”Network Interface Device (NID)”, also referred to as the ”Subscriber/Network Interface (SNI)” or the ”Point of Demarcation (Demarc)”, is the box, often grey and usually on the outside of the structure, where the telephone company’s wires start, the lightning protector is installed, and your phone wiring terminates. (True to telephone company tradition, the terms “NID” and “SNI” are pronounceable acronyms — they are usually spoken as “nid” and “sny” rather than “n.i.d.” or “s.n.i.”) An important feature of the NID is a test jack with a short phone cord. Unplugging this cord disconnects all of your internal wiring from the telephone company’s network, allowing you to plug a “known-good” phone into the NID to verify that the service is working up to your home or business. If it is, your “service” is fine but your wiring or a device inside are causing the problem. (See ”line lockout”, below.)
*Home and small business phone wiring is usually installed using one of these topologies:
**Star or Home Run – each jack has a wire running back to the NID.
**Daisy Chain – wires from the NID go from one outlet, to the next, to the next. (This may also be called a “ring” topology, except that it is not a true ring, since the last outlet doesn’t loop around and then go back to the NID.)
**Combination of the two – You may find a spur subtending from a point along a daisy chain, or that some outlets have a home run back to the NID while others are part of a Daisy Chain
*”Line lockout” can trip you up when troubleshooting. When your telephone line is left off the hook for more than a couple of minutes, the telephone company central office switch automatically places your line in “lockout.” This prevents your line from consuming resources that might result in denials of service to other customers. Many faults in your telephone wiring or equipment will cause the central office equipment to ”act as if” your phone is actually off the hook. When this occurs, your line goes into lockout. The troubleshooting implication is that your line may not clear for several seconds ”after” you find and remove the cause of the problem.
*Keep in mind that the problem may not be in the phone itself – instead, it may be a problem in the telephone jack or the wiring. If moisture gets into ANY phone jack anywhere in the home, it can cause the connections to corrode and eventually to short out, which could cause some or all phones to stop working. Bad splices, particularly if exposed to moisture, can also cause a phone to stop working.
*If you suspect a phone of being bad, try it at a friend or neighbor’s home where you know the phones are working. Also, if possible, try swapping the line and handset cords with known good cords from another working phone. The vast majority of phone problems can be traced to bad cords and/or bad or corroded modular plugs.
*If a phone stops working after a thunderstorm, it’s possible that lightning hit the phone line and caused a voltage surge that damaged the phone. The actual hit could have occurred several miles away, and traveled down the line to your phone.
*If a phone won’t dial out, make sure that there isn’t a tone/pulse switch set in an incorrect position (such as midway between the two positions). Note that pulse dialing won’t work if you are using some VoIP services, and tone dialing won’t work on some telephone lines (although this is no longer a common occurrence in the United States).
*If a phone won’t ring, check to make sure the ringer volume or on/off switch isn’t at the lowest or “off” setting. Also, some very old phones may have frequency-tuned “harmonic” ringers intended for use on a party line, and won’t work properly on today’s private phone lines due to a difference in ringing frequency.
*Telephone companies often offer a “wiring maintenance” plan. This plan covers repairs to wiring that meets their standards but has become defective. More importantly, this plan prevents you from having to pay “nonproductive dispatch” charges if the technician finds that the trouble is inside your house. Or, to be more precise, if the technician does not find any trouble outside your house (i.e., the dial tone is good up to your network interface). This is essentially extortion money, but is better paid than not paid: you’re paying the telephone company to shut up, be nice, and help you when you have trouble. Your reward is no finger-pointing.
Looking for an amazing custom made guitar. Tips?
I’ve been playing guitar for like 6 or 7 years now, i currently play a les paul studio, and i want to get something nicer and more expensive because im working and saving up tons of money. Not alot of the commercial brand guitars appeal to me so im looking for something off the chain, great action, playability, tone, everything. just an all around “one of the best guitars ive ever played” type of guitar.
Hey. I am into high-end electrics myself. A favorite brand, that makes their version of the Les Paul- they call it City Limits- is Collings out of Austin, TX. http://www.collingsguitars.com/electrics-290.htmd
I have a Collings 290, a Les Paul Jr. type thing with P90 pickups from Jason Lollar. This is an impeccably made guitar, that plays and sounds fantastic!
I also have a Collings i35, which is a smaller ES335 copy that is a great guitar. These guitars blow Gibson so far out of the water the entire Gibson universe melts on atmosphere reentry, if you know what I mean.
Sadowsky ( http://www.sadowsky.com/index.htmlc ), Suhr ( http://www.suhrguitars.com/ ) and Tom Anderson ( http://www.andersonguitars.com/ )make great Strat-type guitars. Anderson makes some other models that are killer, too. I have a hollow T with strat configured pickups. I used to have a Drop Top – not my fav.- and I currently have a Cobra, too. The Cobra is light, warm and easy to play with a great neck and sound. All 3 manufacturers use the highest-quality woods, construction and unbelievable electronics. I haven’t played a Sadowsky yet, but I have a Suhr Classic with their patented silent single coil system that is totally passive and preserves the bottom end and chimey highs of chlassic single-coils, and love it. It is my favorite guitar and worth checking out for sure if you like strats. The Sadowskys are a similar level of excellence.
I don’t know much about Zemaitis guitars, but they are beautiful, unusual, expensive and rare. Check them out at: http://www.zemaitis.net/
Alembic makes some amazing guitars and basses. They are most known for Stanley Clarke playing their bases and they were involved in Jerry Garcia’s guitars. They make a model called the Tribute that is a close imitation to the guitars Jerry played in the 80′s and 90′s. My favorite guitar they make is the Further, which has similar or the same electronics to the Tribute, but a nicer body to play holding and a little lighter. http://www.alembic.com/ Alembic electronics are unlike any other. They have an unusual amount of highs, powerful control over the tone and a very silent and polished clean sound.
Mcinturff guitars are supposed to be nice- like a custom made PRS. Haven’t played one myself. http://www.mcinturffguitars.com/
Hamer USA makes some nice guitars- maybe not on the same levels of these last, but still very good. http://www.hamerguitars.com/
Rick Turner makes unusual, amazing quality, custom guitars like the one Lindsay Bekingham plays. The electronics are all custom and outstanding quality. http://www.renaissanceguitars.com/
There are more outstanding small and large builders out there, but I think this will give you a start. Good luck and I hope you find the guitar of your dreams, it’s out there.
C-Tone “Happy B-Day” ft Jackie Chain Video
