Result!

well I gotta say I'm proud for my first effort so far!

Luckily for me,Mr or Mrs Fly (R.I.P)
is well hidden by the MXR type knob...nice one!

Finish isn't quite as crinkly as I'd like,but I'm debating if a second coat will look crap or not?
I think I'll do two coats on the bottom plate as a test and see if the effect gets more pronounced as a result...

...right then,Tea time!

F_CK YOU FLY!!!

Arrgh!!!

See that lil black spec under the Pot guide hole on the right?
a fly must have landed on the case while drying,got stuck and thats a bit of him that got left behind!
The little shite!
I'll wait and see how this dries overnight,maybe a light sand and a second coat is in order?
anyone tried two coats of hammerite before?

Lil' messy!

Ok so Today I sort of on impulse decided to stop into Halfords,
grab a can of primer and get cracking!

I've long had a BYOC tonebender that was unfinished and boring to look at
so it made a good Guinea Pig to work on
(on a completely unrelated note,does anyone know how to fix a lifted pcb trace?)

anyway I built myself a little box for spraying outside as I live in an apartment
so no chance of doing it in a Mancave/shed/attic!

Twas a bit windy,and a huge golden retriever came running up to me while working,but thankfully he didn't get too close!

so yeah first coat done,looks pretty good so far...
I'll do another tomorrow morning and then colour coat tomorrow evening...

question is...which colour to get??

EDIT:

second coat done...coming along nicely

...I'm starting to have serious doubts about a lot of "Boutique" makers!

"This is what you'll get,when you mess with Us"

So on this glorious (non Volcanically challenged in anyway) Sunny day,I thought to myself shame to waste it!
...as a result I decided to take a few snaps ;)

anyone fancy building themselves a boost?
I think "the A class" has a nice ring to it!

Boss OC-2 Synth mod

...so I seen this video on HC the other day,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up5SKmEOZeI

and remembered that my flatmate/bandmate Jimmy had one
around somewhere that he absolutely hated!
so it didn't take long to convince him to let me fire up the Soldering iron...

as mods go it's quite easy.six lengths of wire & a double pole switch are all you need

(and by pure luck Melx had kindly sent me the very switch I needed last week)

as this is the older Japanese one,finding a spot for the switch is a little tricky

but it's not impossible

this location seemed the easiest to get to 

 

So the Result?

Sonically it's pretty good actually!!!

sort of like a cross between a NES & a Fuzz Factory

He likes it,and it looks like it will go back on his board!

So I'm happy,I got some experience and he gets use of a pedal that was destined to be banished to the attic and after all isn't that what this place is all about? 

Thanks to Sean/Noisedom for the mod!

"There's not enough hours in our life"

So while failing miserably to find a link to the Fuzzmania for anybody who's interested
I stumbled across this here beauty

http://www.dinosaural.com/specials_fuzztone.asp


I'd actually seen it before but I'd totally forgotten about it
an op-amp based fuzz with diode clipping,designed by Dan from Lovetone?
Yes Please!!

I'm definitely going to build this as I know the quality of his designs
and he seems to endorse us doing it if it's for DIY purposes
so get cracking & break out the vero board lads!

now to stick more bits in the cart at Banzai,i'll never manage to build
if I keep searching/shopping

as Gomez said "There's not enough hours in our Life"

A long time ago...In A Galaxy far far away...

Ok!

I thought I'd best start at the begining





The Dan Coggins (of Lovetone) Fuzzmania
a Germanium Fuzz kit produced for Guitar Magazine a few years back
a single AC 128 fuzz that's got a nice 60's tone that cleans up well
pretty nifty for the "down by the river" vibe!

anyway this was the first time I'd soldered anything,and it definitely helped me lose my fear of tinkering around inside these things

stay tuned as I eventually add a power jack,and possibly an LED to this
(might tweak it sonically too,although it probably doesn't need it)

Well Well Well

Hello Hello...Is there anybody in there???

Right so...

quick User Disclaimer...I've no fecking idea what I'm doing!

this is my first Blog,and My first really serious explorations into how Guitar FX are built

I'm not sure what the purpose of the blog is going to be
other than to demonstrate that ANYONE with a soldering Iron,the internet and the price of a pint can build a fully functioning,100% gigable pedal

So I guess I'll start by letting everyone know what to expect over the coming weeks...
first up is building the Melx blog charity Bazz Fuzz into the very pretty LuciBox swirly enclosure
that I bought on Ebay last year

then I've a 90's Dunlop Silicon Fuzz Face that sounds crap and needs an overhaul!

A funky 70's Maestro Fuzz Phaser that shall be resurrected to it's former glory

I also have a Rat PCB in the post too!

and a few other ideas are coming together too ,the hamster maybe be dead but the wheel is still creaking away!

Also I couldn't let this first post go without saying a Big thankee
to Mel x & Kevin Demuth

Right let's get the Kettle on!