Push/pull Pot, With On Board Effects

[imanoob]

Hello, have recently started building a guitar, and have now come to the wiring stage.

I have been toying the idea of having some sort of on board effect on my guitar, so when i take it to school i can WOW my friends. However, i was unsure of a way to do this (im not that tech with electronics)

While studying different schematics to wire up my HSS strat (although the neck is a SD vintage rail, so more like HSH) I heard about Push/Pull pots.

I was wondering if anyone knew if it is possible to put a simple WAH circuit, or tremolo circuit (or any other effect) into the guitar so when i pulled the switch, it activated the effect, and when the pot is turned it alters the effect.

If anyone can help me to do this i would be very grateful.( i have a few different effect schematics, but if anyone has any that they know are good, please let me know)

also, if anyone has a good idea or schematic on how to wire a HSH, 2 tone 1 vol, 5-way switch fender, then please also let me know.

I know its a lot to ask, but thanks for all help

[Tim37]

http://store.guitarfetish.com/modboards.html

[Ripthorn]

2 tone 1 vol into a 5 way switch is really common, check stewmac.com. You could definitely do it, though any board you make yourself will be much larger than a commercially produced one. If you want to see what effects you can make, check generalguitargadgets.com and runoffgroove (they have tremolo and faux phaser circuits you can build).

[psw]

welcome to PG imanoob

on board effects are of course possible, but not as good as you might think. I recently tried the optical tremolo modboard from GF and had trouble with it, was disappointed with the performance and it was very hissy...shame, but that is my experience with that board only...

The other thing is that a lot of effects need to be in different parts of the chain...I'd like an onboard delay for instance, but these notoriously use a lot of power meaning battery life would be short and quality go down as the power drains...but it would also be ideally at the end of the signal chain (say after distortion or other effects) and that is not possible once built in. Also, you can't use it with any other guitar. A wah might be cool as a radical tone control circuit perhaps...but generally, though the idea still appeals sometimes, it is better to have your effects off board...just an opinion and from someone who has tried to do it!

In fact, the tremolo was built into the blueteleful guitar (linked below) but after much trying, it was eventually abandoned and the sustainer built into it instead. A sustainer of course being an "effect that by necessity needs to be "on board"...

You will find quite a few other threads around here on the subject, it has of course been done, even commercially, but generally not been proven to be that satisfactory...

pete

[imanoob]

Thank you for all the sites!

I have looked at the MOD boards on GF, and was sceptical about them,and ha read reviews on them, nd decided early on not to try them, which is why i was aksing for effect schemtics, so i could try different circuitsin the guitar itself.

And if that doest work, thn buy some housing for whatever i make, and use it off board.

Thank you ripthorn, i was thinking of using the mod-able wah circuit on generalguitargadgets.com

[Paul Marossy]

I stuck a Maestro Boomerang wah circuit in my "SpankenStrat". Designed a compact PCB for it, too.

http://www.diyguitarist.com/Guitars/SuperStrat.htm - see the links next to the last picture on the page.

It kind of sounds sort of like, but not exactly, that dual parametric filter that Frank Zappa had in most of his guitars.

[imanoob]

Thank you very much paul, im a fan of your diy works, and have looked at a few of your pedals on the site.

This on board wah is just what i was lokking for, and hopefully, i'll be able to get it to work on the push/pull tone knob. Any ideas on how i could get this to work?

thank you once again

[Paul Marossy]

Thank you very much paul, im a fan of your diy works, and have looked at a few of your pedals on the site.

This on board wah is just what i was lokking for, and hopefully, i'll be able to get it to work on the push/pull tone knob. Any ideas on how i could get this to work?

thank you once again

Cool, glad you like my website.

As long as you have the physical room to put the circuit in your guitar, you could use a push-pull pot that has a DPDT switch on it. Just wire it like a standard true bypass switch. You'll be either routing the hot wire thru the wah circuit or having it bypass the circuit. I put that wah circuit between the guitar's volume control and the output jack. The only other thing to think about is how you want to do the pot for the wah itself.

Does that help?

[imanoob]

I think room wise, i will be fine (fingers crossed)

would this be how to wire it up as a true bypass? http://www.singlecoil.com/tb-strip/dia5.html

would i be able to connect the circuit to the three lugs on the DPDT pot, so when it is pulled, it becomes the pot for the wah circuit, or would this affect the guitar's sound even when the DPDT pot is pushed in?

Im not really par with electronics at the moment, (im only in my first year of studying it) so any help is much aprreciated

[Paul Marossy]

That true bypass scheme would work OK. It's one that's using grounded circuit input on bypass mode. Not really needed on a wah circuit, it's usually used on high gain pedals that tend to oscillate when in bypass mode. But it would work fine for your application.

[imanoob]

Thank you very much paul.

However, i have decided, instead of having a push pull pot. To wire up the first tone as a master tone, and have the second as the 25k pot.

[Paul Marossy]

Cool man!

[imanoob]

Hey paul, ive just finished making the wah circuit, following the diagram from your site.

All i seem to get is just a very harsh hum.

here are a few things i think it might be, but im not sure:

I used BC108's first, but i will be able to get 109's shortly

Obviously, my inputs and outputs aren't jacks, as its inside my guitar, so i have the hot wire from my Vol pot joined to where the battery joins with the first resistor (68K), and ive tried the ground lead from the Vol pot connected to where all the components are grounded.

And then Ive connected the hot lead for the output jack to where the 25K pot connects with the 1uf cap, and its ground to the the ground of the circuit.

I've tried other things to help (in vain) aswell, but i wasn't really expecting much.

Any help is much appreciated.

cheers

[Paul Marossy]

Hey paul, ive just finished making the wah circuit, following the diagram from your site.

All i seem to get is just a very harsh hum.

here are a few things i think it might be, but im not sure:

I used BC108's first, but i will be able to get 109's shortly

Obviously, my inputs and outputs aren't jacks, as its inside my guitar, so i have the hot wire from my Vol pot joined to where the battery joins with the first resistor (68K), and ive tried the ground lead from the Vol pot connected to where all the components are grounded.

And then Ive connected the hot lead for the output jack to where the 25K pot connects with the 1uf cap, and its ground to the the ground of the circuit.

I've tried other things to help (in vain) aswell, but i wasn't really expecting much.

Any help is much appreciated.

cheers

Hmm... it sounds like your circuit is miswired somewhere. All I can suggest is trying all of the usual troubleshooting stuff like verifying that the circuit is getting power, all grounds are connected together, etc., etc. I know it works because I used that same PCB layout in my own guitar...