Pbass sound from Jazz Bass- closer

Success! The 43 awg wire is perfect for raising the resistance and lowering the resonant peak to about 3kHz. Standard pbass resonant peak is about 2.3kHz. I definitely get a lower thumpy sound. The one I made had a resistance of about 10k.

Tensioning is very important. Something I never really dealt with on 42 awg wire.

Tighter Tension– Higher output – lower resonant peak
Lower Tension– Lower output- brighter resonant peak

Fucked up the neck pickup but it sounded ok when playing but it could be better.
Neck Pickup- Coil resistance differences due to different tensions 5.8k/4.3k = 10.1k resonant peak 3kHz
Bridge Pickup- Coil resistance differences due to different tensions 4.0k/3.1k = 7.1k flat resonant peak about 5kHz.

So basically if I put the correct tension on both coils, I would have had much closer resonant peaks to a pbass. The tension on the first neck coil was so loose that I could move the entire coil winding just by poking it.

Also experimented with lacquer dipping pole pieces before winding. Bought some polymide tape, that cover inner coil and doesn’t take a day to dry.

43 awg I think is the limit I can tension by hand. I broke a few winds. Definitely a skill to use thinner wire. GuitarMD made some videos about tensioning. Something I would probably need If I were to use 44awg. I think 43 awg, gives just enough flexibility. I would try 44awg, but it is about 30 bucks more for 5 lb spool from remington.

Attempting to make Jazz Bass sound like a PBass

Harley Benton Jazz Bass Pickup conversion to split coil humbuckers
Bobbin Height may be a major factor in pbass tone. The pbass bobbin is .25″ compared to .5″ of jazz bass pickup. Some pickup winders say that Taller and thinner bobbins are brighter. Which IMO is true. The Jazz neck pickup is much taller and is brighter and it has less winds. So increase wind kind should affect tone dramatically. We will see how it compares. I’ll try to analyze the pickup also.

Neck Length 1.21″ Width .2″ Height .525″ Flange .6″

For bridge split coil pickup, going to try for the standard 7250 ohms, 3625 per coil. Want to keep that brightness, although I should probably overwind it due the waxing I will do. Waxing slighting lowers resistance. Also trying the perfect 100% setting from coil estimator.

Jazz bass split coil humbucker upgrade with 43awg

New 43awg came in. Going to rewind the jazz bass bridge pickup I made for the Squier affinity bass. Attempting to raise the resistance from 5.5 to 10.5. Hopefully the new 43awg wire will help me. Aiming for 10.5 k (average for pbass humbucker)

Modified the bobbin dimensions a little bit
Length 1.23″, Width .1975″, Height .533″, Flange .602″

We will see how accurate the estimator is. Going to try 9428 “loose machine” setting.
I tried “tight scatter” last time and got 3.3k instead of 3.6. More turns needed I think, number between “loose machine” and “tight machine”.

First test with 9428 turns (loose machine) got about 5200 ohms instead of target 5500
2nd test on other coil (tight machine) 9809 turns equaled to about 5400 ohms total 10.6k ohms.
Much closer on 2nd test. Will try perfect machine setting for the other jazz bass pickup kits I ordered from donlis.

Results seem a little off (+/-300 ohms) will try the “tight machine” settings on other coil.
Biggest concern was breaking the 43 awg pickup wire. I didn’t break it on first try. Gives me some confidence that I can try 44awg to get more output and darkness. 5 lbs of 43 awg is about 30 bucks more than 43awg or 42 awg

Results were successful. Pbass has upgraded pickups. Chords/intervals have that standard Pbass sound with a hum cancelling bridge pickup. I didn’t wax the pickup. Was getting some buzz but not 60 cycle hum. Grounding issues or maybe and need to wax the humbucker. The buzz not coming from neck pickup at all. Only when bridge by itself facing a tv monitor. Maybe a combination of the two.

The louder bridge pickup is definitely more noticeable now. But the previous one I made wasn’t too bad. Uneven winds on the humbucker added some noise but not as bad people seem to think. Dimarzio or SD have uneven wind counts on some of their original designs. Definitely something I don’t have to be tied down to. So much misinformation with guitar players or wannabe luthiers.

Split coil Jazz Bass pickup 42awg

Just bought this super cheap squier pbass with a jazz bridge pickup. I already replaced the bass humbucker with the pbass pickup I made in Roberto Venn class I took. Sounds a lot cleaner than the stock ceramic, which wasn’t too bad just lacked the chord clarity I like. The jazz pickup is super noisy it doesn’t hum cancel, going to attempt to split them sorta like artecs here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/282514580839

The youtube is a bit different he splits it in unequal halfs and adds more magnets to add inductance. I am just going to split it in half and wind it up to about 13.5k like the artecs. This is brighter bridge pickup I just want it to noise cancel when blending with neck pickup. If it were a neck I’d probably go experiment more but I don’t use that much. I just a touch of more brightness in the mix.

Bought the pickup kit from CEdist.com and cut it in half with bandsaw. Going to calculate the winds. In series adds the resistance’s together.

UPDATE:

Finished the wind but it’s a bit underwound. Got up to about 8000 winds but still not enough, I would need 43 awg wire for it to get up to 8K or more. But when I tested in bass, it sounded ok, underwound to 5.5k but the hum is gone. Which is the main point. This bass has a weird passive blend. Doesn’t really act like a typical blend. Think I’ll keep the underwound bass. It’s a nice combo, give it a hint a chime when I dime the bass pickup and the sweetspot is about 7-8 on bridge pickup volume. Maybe I can install an active blend. I’m really liking this bass. Most fun slapping I’ve ever had on a bass.

http://www.jdguitarworks.com/coil/coil.html

Length 1.225″, Width .195″, Height .535″, Flange .6″ target 3675 ohms each
about 7882 turns for each coil total resistance should be around 7.35k based on antigua’s Fender custom 60’s analysis.
First coil came out to 3.3k 2nd coil came out to 2.2k. The second one got messed because I trying to lump wire together towards the middle of bobbin. I think that is what caused the lower results.
https://guitarnuts2.proboards.com/thread/8617/fender-custom-pickups-analysis-review

FV-1 PedalPcb troubleshooting Error connecting CH341(-1)

https://forum.pedalpcb.com/threads/error-connecting-ch341-1.11239/
Error connecting CH341(-1)
Had some troubleshooting issues. Power at IC5 wasn’t at 3.3v. LED kept flickering, had shorts in TL072.

Power was fluctuating at 1.5 to 5volts and wasn’t getting 9v either. Also usb connection wasn’t working for ASProgrammer.

Drivers were needed on my machine.
Tried first two here:
https://www.onetransistor.eu/2017/08/ch341a-mini-programmer-schematic.html

Also some noob issues, had LEDs reversed and wrong input pins on jacks. Overalll a great PCB, very solid for resoldering also, pads are solid.

I really like the USB ability, kind of future proofs it or lets user ability to add/edit own patches. Only issue is it only has 3 presets. Would love if Pedalpcb made a dev board with rotary switch for 8 presets.

Spincad ThreeTap Delay Ringmod Feedback

Digital Larry’s ThreeTap really sounds super clean. Feedbacks are super crispy. Ring Mod put in feedback loop with a reverse scale offset on Pot 0. Set -.01 on output low, -.99 output on offset, sounds different then when I used 0 on output low and -1 on offset. This delay is so clean though, tried on other delay blocks, not quite as crisp. Happy accident I guess. Sometimes you get lucky and the less tweaking you do the better. But I should put some filters on it.

Spincad Code Dissection- Editing file to generate java based Spincad Blocks

@name ThreeTap
Name of block

@color “0x6060c4”
Color of block

@audioInput adcl Input
@audioInput feedback Feedback
Audio Inputs

@audioOutput output1 ‘Tap 1 Out’
@audioOutput output2 ‘Tap 2 Out’
@audioOutput output3 ‘Tap 3 Out’
Audio Outputs
output1, output2, output3 = reg0, reg1, reg2 from equ lines, normally in spinasm file.
Tap 1 Out, Tap 2 Out, Tap 3 Out, generated for control panel only, not normally in spinasm files. Used with @isPinConnected

@controlInput cIn1 ‘Delay Time 1’
@controlInput cIn2 ‘Delay Time 2’
@controlInput cIn3 ‘Delay Time 3’
@controlInput fbk ‘Feedback Gain’
Control input for pots
cln1, cln2, cln3, fbk, replace the pot0, pot1, pot2 in spinasm code. Because the pot choice is interchangeable or modular, you can set whatever pot to whatever control.
Delay Time 1, Delay Time 2, Delay Time 3, generated for CadBlock, not normally in spinasm files. Used with @isPinConnected


@sliderLabel inputGain ‘Input Gain: ‘ -24 0 0 1.0 1 DBLEVEL
@sliderLabel fbkGain ‘Feedback Gain: ‘ -24 0 -6 1.0 1 DBLEVEL
@sliderLabel delayLength ‘Delay Time (ms): ‘ 0 32767 16384 1 0 LENGTHTOTIME
Control panel sliders and buttons generates controlpanel .jav files
SpinCAD-Designer-0.98-1032/src-gen/com/holycityaudio/SpinCAD/ControlPanel
This only affects the visual number in Spincad, has no effect in real world use with pedal assembled. Once a file is edited/created in Eclipse then the java files are automatically created or edited when saved.

// establish the base address for this module
@getBaseAddress
// then allocate the buffer
mem threeTap delayLength

// input connection must be there for any code to be generated
@isPinConnected Input
// read the input and write to base of delay line
@isPinConnected Feedback
rdax feedback,fbkGain
@isPinConnected ‘Feedback Gain’
mulx fbk
@endif
@endif
rdax adcl, inputGain
wra threeTap, 0.0

// tap 1 ———————————————————–

@isPinConnected ‘Tap 1 Out’
equ output1 reg0
clr
or $7FFF00
@isPinConnected ‘Delay Time 1’
mulx cIn1
@endif
@getDelayScaleControl tap1Ratio delayLength delayOffset
wrax ADDR_PTR, 0
rmpa 1.0
wrax output1, 0.0
@setOutputPin ‘Tap 1 Out’ output1
@endif

// tap 2 ———————————————————–
@isPinConnected ‘Tap 2 Out’
equ output2 reg1
clr
or $7FFF00
@isPinConnected ‘Delay Time 2’
mulx cIn2
@endif
@getDelayScaleControl tap2Ratio delayLength delayOffset
wrax ADDR_PTR, 0
rmpa 1.0
wrax output2, 0.0
@setOutputPin ‘Tap 2 Out’ output2
@endif

// tap 3 ———————————————————–
@isPinConnected ‘Tap 3 Out’
equ output3 reg2
clr
or $7FFF00
@isPinConnected ‘Delay Time 3’
mulx cIn3
@endif
@getDelayScaleControl tap3Ratio delayLength delayOffset
wrax ADDR_PTR, 0
rmpa 1.0
wrax output3, 0.0
@setOutputPin ‘Tap 3 Out’ output3
@endif

@endif

@name ThreeTap
@color "0x6060c4"
@audioInput adcl Input 
@audioInput feedback Feedback
@audioOutput output1 'Tap 1 Out'
@audioOutput output2 'Tap 2 Out'  
@audioOutput output3 'Tap 3 Out'  
@controlInput cIn1 'Delay Time 1' 
@controlInput cIn2 'Delay Time 2'  
@controlInput cIn3 'Delay Time 3'  
@controlInput fbk 'Feedback Gain'

equ inputGain 1.0
@sliderLabel inputGain 'Input Gain: '  -24 0 0 1.0 1 DBLEVEL

equ fbkGain 0.5
@sliderLabel fbkGain 'Feedback Gain: ' -24 0 -6 1.0 1 DBLEVEL 

// total allocated memory buffer for this delay
// create a Control Panel with a Slider Label
equ delayLength 32767 
@sliderLabel delayLength 'Delay Time (ms): ' 0 32767 16384 1 0 LENGTHTOTIME
		
// tap 1 length in % (control panel value) 
//	'@sliderLabel' ename = ID controlName = ID (minVal = SPINDOUBLE maxVal = SPINDOUBLE initVal = SPINDOUBLE multiplier = SPINDOUBLE precision = INT (option = ID)?)?

equ tap1Ratio 0.85 
@sliderLabel tap1Ratio 'Tap 1 Time (%): '  0.0 1.0 0.85 1000.0 2  

// tap 2 length in % (control panel value)
equ tap2Ratio 0.60 
@sliderLabel tap2Ratio 'Tap 2 Time (%): ' 0.0 1.0 0.60 1000.0 2	
// tap 3 length in % (control panel value)
equ tap3Ratio 0.45 
@sliderLabel tap3Ratio 'Tap 3 Time (%): ' 0.0 1.0 0.45 1000.0 
Read the rest

Spincad notes Spincad Builder- Designing own blocks- Adding Frequency knob to Ringmod block

Installed Eclipse to use SpinCad Builder. This will allow me to create new blocks. The major limitation is no main frequency knob on Ring Modulator block, the control on there now control the LFO speed. The main Frequency is locked into the patch. I’ve made some cool patches but the frequency is set usually around 220 for A note.

Original Ring Modulation code made from Frank Thomson, Experimental Noize.
http://www.spinsemi.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=95

;POT0 : Control frequency
;
equ s reg0
equ c reg1

;Then initialize the oscillator by setting one to xero and the other to -1
;we do this just once, during the first cycle of operation

skp run,endset ;do not execute if already running
wrax s,0 ;set s to 0, (acc should be zero)
sof 0,-1 ;set accum to -1
wrax c,0 ;write to c
endset: ;jump-to label

;Now do the LFO, using pot0 as a control for frequency

rdax s,0.02 ;read the s register, change this value between  0.001 and 1.0
mulx pot0 ;multiply by pot value
rdax c,1 ;read the c register
wrax c,-0.02 ;integrate the c value, this value MUST be the negative of
;what ever you set the value in 'rdax s,X' to above
mulx pot0 ;multiply by pot value
rdax s,1 ;read s reg
wrax s,1 ;integrate the s value

;Either the s or c register will be producing s waveforms (just shifted in
;phase), so either can be used as a modulation source. The maximum
;frequency of this LFO is Fs/2pi, which should be high enough!

mulx adcl

;and output the result

wrax dacl,0  

Copying and editing spincad files here, when saved, generates all the java files for blocks and control panels.

Tremolizer.spincad below. This are what I’ll copy and edit to create new patches, I do have to convert it from spinasm code. Just have to figure the assembly code and all the “@” lines conversions to add a control output. I think the easiest way is going through all the readily available patches and reading the fv-1 manual. The patches have a lot of notes in them especially from spinsemi.

// This control block takes a signal (usually an LFO) that goes from 0.0 to 1.0 and 
// allows you to adjust the width via a control input.
// There is also a control panel setting for maximum depth

@name Tremolizer
@color "0xf2f224"
@controlInput input 'LFO Input'
@controlInput width 'LFO Width'
@controlOutput output 'Control Output'

equ depth 0.75 
equ output reg0

// variable - Name - low - high - multiplier - precision - option 
@sliderLabel depth Depth 0.5 0.999 1.0 100.0 2  

@isPinConnected 'LFO Input'
rdax input, depth

@isPinConnected 'LFO Width'
mulx width
@endif

sof -0.999, 0.999
wrax output, 0.0

@setOutputPin 'Control Output' output
@endif

To Rebuild the .jar file, so you don’t have to keep running eclipse to check your new blocks out. Click Project Folder > Export >Runnable JAR>”SpinCADFrame – SpinCADBuilder”>Finish



Spincad Ring Mod Distortion .spcd

POT 0 Ring Mod Frequency – Overdrive Volume
Full Clockwise- More ring mod movement, More overdrive Volume- automatically modulating
Counter Clockwise- Slower ring mod movement, Less overdrive Volume- automatically modulating

POT 1 Ring Mod LPF
Full Clockwise – Brighter Higher Ring Mod Freq coming through
Full Counter Clockwise- Lower Ring Mod Freq coming through

POT 2 Triangle/Hypersawtooth Blend – Clean LPF- Overdrive Gain
Full Clockwise – Heavy with Hypersawtooth LFO -More treble
Full Counter Clockwise – No distortion – Natural Ring Mod sound – More bass

Versatile Ring mod with parallel distortion that is volume modulated by ring mod frequency pot. Pot 0 and Pot 2 control multiple functions. The LFO is really tamed on this on lower frequency of 666Hz. Pot 2 cleans up distortion a lot, all the way left removes almost all of it sounding like a normal ring modulation. I really like this one. I learned that just playing with the pots and adding multiple controls to it can really add variety and accentuating the ring mods many overtones.

A regular distortion blend just sounds so harsh. The mids, and mid highs get really get muddy. Also added 12db gain to ring mod, may need to adjust this. I think its good right now, have to leave headroom for amps natural gain. Less is more, I want this to still be able to stack a distortion or high gain amp after this.



Spincad Ring Mod TRIANGLE/HyperSawtooth Blend.spcd

C Many changes to tone stacks. Put a mid cut on clean and only volume filtered the high end hump. Lowered Ring Mod LPF and added a 1 band EQ to bring up low end purring. Happy with this one.
B LPF 1621.8Hz from 2564.4Hz more clarity, Both HPF lowered to 40Hz from 70/134Hz . 6db Boost at end.
A LPF 2564.4Hz 44000Hz

My LFOS are too wild?! Have to tame the LFOs a bit? Checking out some of the popular analog ring mod pedals like ringworm and Randy’s Revenge. Trying to be different but at same time usable. Fairfield one is just amazing. Not sure if their square is that hard. Scale Offset down to .25. Can still get pretty wild but unlike my other patches. This one is a little more subtle but ultimately more usable. Crossover blend for the Triangle and Round Sawtooth power shape. Tried square but was way too noisy and got annoying pretty quickly even with LPF lowered, had an annoying click. Not sure I implemented it right though, but rounded sawtooth sounds different. The Slow Clean blend tremolo controlled and synced to POT 0, tamed this a bit too. Should be better for cleans also since the volume kind pumps like a sidechain compression. This replaces the first ring mod patch I did, just had to salvage that one. Just too many bad sounds in original. This one sounds much cleaner. Safer ring mod but can get wild. The blend adds a different taste.

POT 0 Ring Mod Frequency/Volume Tremolo Speed
POT 1 Ring Mod LPF
POT2 TRIANGLE/Rounded Sawtooth Blend, full left triangle/ full right hard sine/ middle blended

Recorded new test demo for spincad. Slightly raised to about -4db gain. In case someone has active pickups. More dynamic playing up and down neck. Also Spincad seems to still have the control panel bug, that’s why I’ve screenshotted the panels. Not sure what causes it, seems to randomly. Edit- cause is on some blocks. LPF and HPF blocks uneditable if you save it with control panel open. Also happens when you set the LPF HPF to the minimum and then close control panel and try to reopen. But not all blocks error like that. I’ll see if I can go through the blocks and provide info to Larry.

EDIT- After running audio to Ableton. The cube drive exaggerated the mid hump, had to remove. Also changed the low and high pass of the clean, allowing more in. Should compensate for the mid hump from ring mod. Could also try a mid scoop. Pot 1 really helpful in cutting highs.

So I think the Rounded Sawtooth LFO from Power block gives it that unique sound. One side of LFO is rounded and the other sharp. So it ramps asymmetrically. Has a Purring Cat quality. Same LFO also filters the clean blend but after the power block. This brings some clarity the to almost overdrive like Round Sawtooth. Balancing out much better and probably better for stacking drive pedals. Always better to stacks pedals with some clean blend to keep note definition. Trying to make this sounds usable. Ring Mod can get pretty hairy. Creating this digitally so much easier than doing it analog. Analog kind of limited to one or two LFOs. So maybe I need to push the digital LFOs and take advantage of the flexibility.

Edit- So the wave is called Hypersawtooth
http://blog.synthesizerwriter.com/2020/10/when-is-single-cycle-waveform-not.html
Interesting read, I could also add an envelope I think. that lowers the waveform but keeps shape. Might be another way … Read the rest

Spincad use with Voxengo Spectrum Analyzer in Ableton – Routing Spincad output with Reamp box

Spincad is really helpful with a Spectrum Analyzer. Great for viewing filter changes. Exporting audio from Spincad is really easy and helpful but exporting doesn’t allow hearing the knobs tweaks. When exporting spincad mutes audio.

Voxengo is an awesome audio plugin for this reason.
https://plugins.landr.com/en/product/voxengo-span/

Couple things you need though.
Reamp Box – I made mine homemade for under 40 bucks, but they run about $100+. Really easy, just solder a few components https://youtu.be/xR3LqemYXOU
Audio Interface with at least 4 outputs and only need 1 input I use Motu M4.
Any Audio DAW program should work, I use Ableton
Spincad app https://github.com/HolyCityAudio/SpinCAD-Designer/releases

Connect reamp box to the secondary output, typically 3 and 4- I just use 3 with a TRS to mic cable
Connect reamp box to input of DAW, I use input 2
Open Spincad set audio to go to soundcard
Window Sound settings, set to secondary output of DAW, mine were 3-4
Run DAW make sure secondary outputs are activated
Assign the input from reamp box to audio track , may have to tweak input levels.
Enable monitoring on track and you should be able to run spectrum analyzer in realtime!

Also find out my Motu M4 has a loopback function also. But not all audio interface have one. So if not adding extra external fx then, loopback function works really well, just select enable and select loopback on input. The issue though is that the loopback causes echo from not being able to mute the loopback monitor. So reamping is best solution unless your interface can seperate or mute the loopback monitor while recording

Spincad Designer RingMod Harmonic Tremolo Pitch Square .spcd

This one is pretty nuts. The Clean is set to a about a 5th interval Vibrato but with a hard square from the slicer block that feeds into the same Ring Mod Pot that controls and syncs. It’s slightly atonal with the a 5th. I may play around more with the Pitch Coefficient. 8192 is about 5th interval divided by 7 is about 1170.28 per half step note.


m3rd should be about 3510.85
3rd should be about 4681.14
5th 8192
Octave 14043
Not sure how accurate these are, actually test it, my theory fails. I’d have to measure it to be precise.

Spincad Designer Ring Mod Delay .spcd (Never Go FUll Retard)

Created Ring Mod Delay I’ll probably use. Based off bass-fv1-p2-delay.spcd https://github.com/mstratman/fv1-programs/blob/338a554f8b33120c010173084c6854ea61fac0cd/static/files/firesledge/bass-fv1-p2-delay.spcd

Used a crazy ramp LFO with Power block- Ring Mod effects the delay feedback loop only. Ring Mod needs a clean. Never go full retard.

Larry’s ringmod already has a low pass filter in the block. The Hi range goes up past 1000Hz. I do agree with Larry anything higher is going full retard. “Never Go Full Retard Ringmod” sounds pretty long as a pedal name. Maybe Something more robotic like an R2D2 Ring mod. HAHA.
https://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=107751.0

Spincad Designer Ring Mod Harmonic Tremolo Pitch Patch .spcd

This Ring Mod has a squarish wave lfo using power block on level 5. Clean path goes to pitch shift controlled by same lfo and pots for Ringmod, so they sync together. Really hypnotic sound. Syncing Ring Mod Frequency to LFO of Clean pitch shift. Very responsive to playing. Could probably add a delay or reverb for pot2.

SpinCad Designer Ring Mod patch- LFO ramp/power mod .spcd

Created a Ring Mod patch from spincad block. Frequency tweaked with Ramp LFO and Power. Smoothing also works good. A lot of tweakability frequency on Ring Mod can further be tweaked. I’m working on a good base sound and applying a reverb, delay and tremolo versions. This one uses no delay ram yet, definitely can further tweaked. Looking at 2 Ring Mod presets to make, One Harsher and Smoother LFO.
Seems ring mod sounds amazing when blended with clean. Best place IMO for a ring mod is before distortion or amp.

1 Ring Mod Hi Range Triangle Hyper Sawtooth blend
1 Ring Mod Low Range Hyper Sawtooth, add another blend?
1 Ring Mod Hyper Sawtooth feedback Clean Delay
1 Ring Mod Hyper Sawtooth Tremolo Clean Square preset
1 Ring Mod Vibrato Clean Hyper Sawtooth preset
1 Ring Mod Shimmer Reverb TBD
1 Ring Mod pitch preset Mix octave??? TBD
1 Ring Mod Ds-1 like Digital Distortion TBD- mid cut
Dood I wasn’t even tryin to extensively try to use the Hyper Sawtooth. Just sounded like my favorite. Didn’t even know what it was called. Possible name “Hyper Sawtooth Ring Mod” Meh Doesn’t really have a ring to it.

FV-1 Pedal Conversions Spincad Designer to PedalPCB Dev board

Fv-1 Sounds pretty fun to use. I don’t have know any assembly programming but can start designing in SpinCad. And then convert to HEX in SpincadASM and then to from HEX to .BIN using FV1Dev Bundle. I made a batch file so I can convert quickly to .BIN. Dev board has 3 presets the Arachnid Board has 8 totals effects. Some limitations though. Delay take up memory. Reverse Delay or Reverb doesn’t have enought memory to do longer lengths unless one drops bitrate. Not really meant to that. But I can make a cool ring mod pedal. With a ton of options not really available. Like messing with the LFO of RingMod. Or adding some delays, reverbs, other modulation options. Which I’ve been playing around with a bit. The Pedalpcb already a blend knob and output, input buffers. Larry just upgraded latest version. Has a patreon site with lots of good information.
https://www.patreon.com/holycityaudio
https://github.com/HolyCityAudio/SpinCAD-Designer/releases


Ring Modulation- Current sounds decent- trying to adjust frequency pot to be more square. Smooth sounds the best so far, sound like the pitch bend when adjusting delay time. Tried more square using LFO and Slicer and Power work well. Power can add a more squarish sound. The LPF is really useful for cutting out highs. The Frequency Range of Ring Mod can be adjusted. Has major impact on sound. Pedalpcb boards already have a blend and volume control. I have option of adding 3 more. One for Ring Mod Frequency, Tone controlling LPF and the last will be different, reverb level, delay time or feedback. Also knobs can control multiple values, can use scale/offset, much like on alexander pedals.

Spincad Designer to PedalPCB Dev board
1. SpinCad Designer create patches to import into Spincad ASM
2. Assemble patch in Spncad ASM create a project, load patches saves as HEX
3. Convert HEX file to Binary using FV1Dev Bundles srec_cat.exe, convert with cmd commands
4. Run ASProgrammer, open converted .BIN write to EEPROM

z:
cd Z:\Downloads\6 FV1\appz\FV1Dev-Windows\AsProgrammer
pause
srec_cat.exe ExampleProject.hex -Intel -o ExampleProject.bin -binary
pause

https://wiki.pedalpcb.com/wiki/Using_the_FV1Dev_on_Microsoft_Windows

For Sale 1st Dancer pedal finished- FX Loop Switcher +Bypass pedal

Dancer Effects Loop Switcher with Bypass switch
This pedal can connect multiple effects loops and can toggle between the two with one footswitch press. There is also a bypass switch that allows you to go directly to the amp. This is great if you have a ton of pedals and what to play live or have creative control. It’s a really useful pedal. Something I didn’t even know I needed. 

This makes life easier, and great live tool, to quickly tap dance between two fx loops.

  • Switchcraft jacks, insulated 
  • 3pdt/4pdt footswitches
  • Master Bypass Switch- goes straight to amp- can also add effects here that will affect both loops
  • Toggle A/B switch- quickly toggle between two effect chains. For example, First Loop- Dirty channel -Distortion and Modulation Second Loop- Delay/Reverb/Compressor. Toggle between the two without having to tap dance.
  • Engraved, Hand Painted, Gloss Lacquer
  • Does take a 9v battery- or 9v adaptor- it is passive though, power only if you want LEDs.
  • Can also switch multiple amps- connect only the sends to the amp, leave returns empty.

A couple tools like this are out there but some have issues.
Major issue in these pedals is the channels bleeding into each other, notable when using hi gain pedals and then toggling to a cleaner loop.  I used a 4PDT switch to fix the bleeding issues. Loop Master, American Loopers, EX loopers suffer from this issue. JHS makes a pedal also but, you need a remote switch and there is no master bypass. Boss LS-2 works well too but doesn’t have a master bypass switch. Which I find super useful. 

Let me know if you have any questions. 14 day return policy. Free Shipping!

Thanks!

Shoegazer renamed to Dancer, Rhino 3d Model, In production

Renamed the pedal to Dancer. First pedal with new pcb worked. I made some change to general gadgets schematic. Might have been an error with A/B toggle leds. Switched the ground leds so that Loop A led corresponds to correct loop. Also swapped the LED behavior for bypass switch. The light now turns on when in bypass mode.

Plastic shoulder washers on 1/4 inch jacks were successful in removing ground loop. Kept the input jack to shield the chassis. Yet maybe a way to isolate the the power ground also? But I definitely hear a change in noise levels. The no bleed 4pdt works great also. No more bleeding of loops, which made hi gain pedals bleed to other channel. Really annoying. These issues plague the other A/B toggle loopers out their, including Loop Master and American Loopers and EX loop pedal on Amazon. Only I heard without this issue is the Boss LS-2, but that doesn’t have a master bypass switch. These all use 3pdt and the bleeding is apparent with big muff, hm-2, ds-1.

Rhinoceros 3d has support for single line fonts. The MecSoft_Font-1 font worked perfectly. This makes life easier and the engraving follows a path and is pocketed. In illustrator I would have to rasterize text and create the vectors manually, very time consuming. Minor issue with double line in “Y” character, easily fixed in Rhino. Not perfect but very helpful in getting the best engraving text results.

Also gonna work on a relay version for clickless toggles. Not entirely noticeable or annoying the click sound. Just want to see if it is possible. Also will redesign pcp to incorporate the 3pdt and 4pdt switches, would save me ton of time on wiring and removes many points of failure. Also may try stereo pcb jacks




Shoegazer 1.4 PCB cutout, PCB double sided jig made in Rhino3d/Rhinocam

3rd PCB test was a success, holes match to the double-sided back and no traces bridged. Had to create a Double sided Jig in Rhino3d/Rhinocam. The facing toolpath let you edit the start point of toolpaths. Which worked great with a 1″ surfacing bit. It has a finnicky way of letting entry cut come from the side. Kind of randomly picks it. Had to create two toolpaths. The facing toolpath let me cut the southeast section with the entry cut coming in from the side so that it wouldn’t plunge in. The second toolpath pocketed the other top left half, plunged successfully since the first toolpath cleared the way. Came out super smooth.

Also zeroed the XY datum manually using grbl commands in the Carbide Motion MDI. This lets me set the XY datum exactly every time. Something that may move over time depending on belt stretch. Also used bitsetter to set the z, seems like I get reliable repeatable results using it instead of doing it manually and dealing with user error when setting Z with a piece of paper.

Fast Jog to Southeast corner first then input these commands separately
g91 g0 y239.5
g91 g0 x-247

GRBL 1.1 commands
G91 (incremental positioning) G0 (fast travel) x-100 (move x100 units)- negative value goes in other direction

So I know run a production test on double-sided pcb and then wire it up and test it. Also drill holes for enclosure. I bought a laser for my drill press. Which reminds me I have to realign the drill press belts to get more RPM.


Got the idea of the jig from the following video, I tried different Carbide 3d square but the issue was making it completely square for the flip, which you don’t have to worry about on a Nomad. When you remove the wasteboard to add the threaded inserts, when you try to line it back on to the machine, it comes out crooked, the slightest off angle fucks up the flip. My 2nd test was not even a half degree off but the flip was fucked. The key is mounting the wasteboard with the inserts and then cutting out the square while it’s in place so that there is no wobble.

Shoegazer PCB Standard V 1.2

Finish the dual sided PCB design. Wouldn’t fit single sided. Ordered some FR1 PCB 4×6″ from Carbide3d. Not really many choices for FR1. But FR1 supposed to be easier on the endmill. Going to use pcb engraver cutter. Ill create outer cut toolpaths. The relay version probably going to be busy and only have room on the back to do it. Should be fun but those won’t get shipped for awhile.

Reflowed the PCB with larger area and doubled eyelet size from 1/32 to 1/16″ holes. Switched over to the 1/32″ endmill, the engraver bit is just hard to maintain exact specifications for such a small pcb board. The tapered bit hard to control depth and keep accurate traces. Kept shrinking and takes awhile to cut. I’ll run some test double sided cuts tomorrow. Not sure how straight my y axis wasteboard holes are, going to the metal angle on there and flip it on x axis. I feel it’s off by a hair. We’ll see. I think it’ll cut fine. Also ordered some UV solder mask to prevent oxidation and added 1/8″ plastic pcb mount holders. Probably could’ve just used double sided stickies but maybe the plastic is more durable?

Clickless Design Looper pedal research

So parts come in today for looper pedals I’ll sell. But not really happy. The bleeding is fixed with the 4PDT but there is noticeable click noise. Not a big deal if switching between hi gain fx loops but noticeable with cleaner loops.

1st Solution is try the Demont soft click switches https://lovemyswitches.com/super-premium-3pdt-latched-foot-switch-soft-click/. But they don’t make a 4pdt version, price is high and there still will probably a little bit of noise.

2nd Solution add filtering with resistors and caps
Only issue is that it will possibly change the tone and not completely kill the pop. When analyzing the pops with spectrum analyzer. The 3pdt analysis popped across the whole spectrum, the 4pdt popped more towards highs and low mids. The filtering wouldn’t completely tame it and most likely fuck up the tone. The RC filters are just never really pinpoint precise, or I’m just not an expert at it, failing to tone shape the DS-1 how I wanted, which was keep it stock with the JHS mods, but ultimately defaulting because there where probably so many filters. But definitely something I can but try but leaning on the last solution.

3rd solution is to use a relay device
https://www.amplifiedparts.com/tech-articles/relay-true-bypass-switching-1
https://www.amplifiedparts.com/tech-articles/relay-true-bypass-switching-2

This will allow me to not use the mechanical switching for the audio, which is causing the issue I think. If can I use the relay for the switching , which carries the audio, I can use the mechanical switch for just turning on the relay and maybe the leds. Audio is completely removed from the mechanical switch causing the popping sound. I can also keep the mechanical switches I have and just purchase the relays.

4th solution Use the best relay module by Lehle
https://www.amplifiedparts.com/products/relay-module-lehle-relay-true-bypass-switching-unit May be overkill for what I’m trying to accomplish, and 2 of these is pretty pricey.

Of course this is all theoretical. Will this open another can of worms? Here is an example of a clickless design. Unfortunately they discontinued the clickless version for some reason?! Think he uses a flip flop to engage relay. Not sure.

Other things I’ll change, is design a pcb that will clean up all the excessive wiring.
I can cut this easily on my cnc. Have a few copper blank pcb boards I can try. Also can’t forget to increase resistance to lower the blinding light leds. Also wondering if I can maybe cut out shapes for the LED lights. Instead of just a circle I can cutout the letter “A or B” and place LED underneath. Maybe protect the cutout with acrylic? or epoxy?

Relay not worth it?
https://www.vertexeffects.com/blog/vertex_true_bypass_mechanical_relay
Article states that it is not worth it. Kind of have to agree. I’d have to purchase 3 relays per box and it will probably prone to more failure. This box is going to be stomped on like crazy. My other a/b broke within a month. The one I made is going strong but I did have to retighten some jacks. On the fence on this but I’ll buy 3 of them and test them on my homemade one. The cost would only be about ten dollars in parts and redesigned the pcb board. Think I can buy 10 on alieexpress to test. The premium ones look nice. https://mas-effects.com/relay-bypass/ Nice one but cost 18 bucks.

Reamp box from youtube video schematics uploaded + Waves eMo Generator, part list digikey

#PRODUCT DETAILSQUANTITYAVAILABILITYUNIT PRICEEXTENDED PRICE
1‎MT4111-ND‎‎MET-31‎TRANSFORMER 600CT:600CT 3.0MADC1Immediate12.04000$12.04
2‎PDB181-K415K-503B-ND‎‎PDB181-K415K-503B‎POT 50K OHM 1/5W CARBON LINEAR1Immediate1.47000$1.47
3‎PDB241-E420P-103B0-ND‎‎PDB241-E420P-103B0‎POT 10K OHM 1/2W CARBON LINEAR1Immediate2.85000$2.85
4‎2057-SW-T3-2B-A-A3-S1-ND‎‎SW-T3-2B-A-A3-S1‎SUBMINIATURE TOGGLE SWITCH, SOLD1Immediate0.99000$0.99
5‎3185-CP3001-ND‎‎CP3001‎AUDIO CONN ACF (FEMALE)1Immediate2.72000$2.72
6‎HM487-ND‎‎1590BOR‎BOX ALUM ORANGE 4.41″L X 2.38″W1Immediate11.24000$11.24

Schematic here: https://mailchi.mp/b6b8b47a2bb0/hobo_re-amp

DIY reamp project completed. Parts ordered from digikey. Went smoothly, worked perfectly using Waves Waves eMo Generator. The low and bass restored as well as volume boosted. Now I can more accurately test the eq curves of pedals or use the VST effects into a my guitar amp. Really handy box.


Success! First Pedal Build A/B Loop Switcher, bypass work. NO BLEEDING!

125 B outlined in Red, should give me more space for battery

Success! First pedal done. Not really an effect, a utility pedal. But I click on this pedal the post, saves me from tap dancing when switching between loops. My other A/B dirty, bypass switcher leaked audio liked a motherfucka. It wasn’t like a low hum you get used to either. They wired without an 4PDT switch, can’t have an led and ground the other loops using a 3PDT. Actually I don’t think there are any available that do this without that noise issue. I contacted Loop Master pedals, but he uses 3PDT also, which will leak. Maybe the Boss LS-2, but that doesn’t have an additional bypass switch, which I find very useful. Going to mass produce these.

Noob Errors – Growing pains
Couple noob errors on my part I had a fun time troubleshooting. Firstly I forget the Return ground back into 4PDT switch. This error prevented the the A/B leds to work.

Other issue is the 4PDT switch wiring. I melted the lug so the solder slipped into switch causing contact through a whole column of lugs, effectively grounding it out. Thank god I knew how to troubleshoot using my multimeter to troubleshoot the switch. I was able to rectify the issue by extracting all the solder with wick and then rewiring. Thank God that worked, those switches are pricey.

Forget to add nut border around switches when illustrating it.

Forgot to measure 9v battery clip, battery will not fit lol, but I’ll keep this one.

Solutions
Doublecheck connection before soldering, check if 2 wires go to same lug, instead of backtracking and reflowing solder that caused the issue. Clean solder point so to cut back on excessive heating time.

Use 125b enclosure, this should be able to fit the battery, it has extra width, height and depth.

Other issues, LEDS are super bright, test lowering the brightness or order others, maybe add more resistance? Buy more different colored LEDS, I have multi color ones, will if that works, 1 less hole to drill.

I’ll keep this one since I don’t use a battery but I think it is helpful for touring musicians, gives them more flexibility when things go bad.

Clicking noise is semi loud, not sure if I can fix this, It’s a mechanical switch issue, same sound when not powered. The soft 3pdt isn’t too bad but they don’t make soft 4pdt switches, maybe search more for one.






Shoegazer A/B Clean Dirty + Master Bypass Horizontal Version

Assembled and drilled holes. Had to use reamer for the switches and dc jack, need to purchase right size bit and maybe something stronger that can handle metal better. Will do electronic wiring tomorrow.
Think I like the name Shoe gazer better. Gonna print the cutout guides and get this thing wired. I’ll do the artwork later on CNC if it works well, hopefully the hi gain pedals won’t leak into the other channels.

Vertical was a bit too small, users would click on both switches even with an offset. Not sure about the fonts, need something that’ll engrave easy.

Boss DS1- Circuit Bending – JHS Synth Mod + momentary switch done

My Boss DS1 JHS Synth Momentary switch is super useful. Playe for an hour straight, can manually tap in tremolo beats or use the synth to accent parts and quickly go back to default DS1 sounds. Just connected the lugs to S1, didn’t need an additional dpdt switch. Momentary is normally off so S1 can function as normal, and to activate momentary switch, just turn S1 to off position. I tried so many different tone and gain mods. Seems like the original filters work best. I only kept one that a may change the mid High Pass a hair, definitely noticeable only when a/bing pedal. Mid hump isn’t as drastic but I change back.

Not finished yet though, going to add the Casper Electronics DS-1 Gate/Feedback/Oscillation Mod. Ordered some transistors, hopefully it’ll sound badass, may add a pot somewhere, Kind of packed already in there, but Iv’e seen crazier. I’ll post all the circuit bends once last mod installed. I have another DS-1 probably keep this butchered one up and sell a cleaner one.
https://mrfuriousrecords.com/audio/the-mr-furious-audio-interpretation-of-the-casper-electronics-ds-1-gate-feedback-oscillation-mod/

NGD Univox Hi Flier Phase III serial#009900 – Pickups analyzed

Finally scored a vintage Univox Phase III. The nut wasn’t filed down properly though, the toggle switch was replaced also. Analyzed the pickups, compared them to my test 3 clones on my Cobain Mustang and the other Phase III sunbursts I analyzed. The loaded resonant peak is lower down to 2.83kHz. Same as my test 2 clone but on 52mm spacing. I think sound better than the other Univox Phase III’s I tested at 2.99kHz. The lower bass range is definitely better. So the range making will be between 2.83 and 2.99kHz. But I love how the lower peak 2.83 pickups sound. Not as piercing as the others.



Bugera T5 Infinium Bright Cap Mod 220pf on Volume and Gain center lugs

I’ve had this head for awhile but sound too muddy with humbuckers even when treble dimed. This mod should tame the lows a bit. Adding 220pf in serial to gain and volume knobs. Also using Tungsol preamp and Mullard EL84 power tube and Jensen 8″ in custom made cab.

Removed 5 or 6 screws from pcb and knob nuts and back panel to disassemble. Always use a discharging resistor on caps and ground to chasis so I don’t get shocked.

What I learned from using this head is that attenuator kills off highs when used at 1 watt or .1 watt. Using on 5 watts is the brightest. I actually went back to using the mullard preamp tube instead of the tungsol. Mullard has a little more gain and more bass but on runs good on the full 5 watts. I don’t think I need further tweaks, its sounds really good now on 5 watt full power with neck and bridge pickups. I also ordered a Tung Sol el84 power tube, supposedly the best for Vox tones, which I love.

Edit Tung Sol EL84 just came, Chimey like a mothafucka, Different Vibe than Mullard in there. Definitely sounds more like a Vox pairs nicely with the high gain Mullard preamp. Money well spent.

Todo, add a dpdt switch for both Gain and Volume cap mods. Seems a tad bright on 5W mode but good on 1W mode attenuation setting.

Eastwood Univox Phase IV Pickup Analysis- Not close to Vintage specs at all

Analyzed some Eastwood Clone Phase IV bridge pickups that I just replaced with my first Univox Clone test. Eastwood pickups were okay, been playing them for about 2 months now, just didn’t have the feel of the vintage pickups. Not bad, just not univox tone. My analysis confirmed it. The resonant peak is lower at 2.7kHz loaded vs the 2.99-3.13kHz range of the Vintage pickups I tested. Not sure what’s inside it yet, but I’ll get to it eventually. Measured specs. DC 8.4kHz, Inductance 5.07H, Measured Capacitance 124pF.

The installed first test Univox clones are a beast. I definitely have that feel. The HM2 sounds a lot more brighter. My waxpotting is a success, I’m able to drive the HM-2 a bit louder. Which reminds me. I’ll inspect some HM2 EQ analysis and design a pickup that would go great with it. I think HM2Cult on youtube does great analysis of that pedals and a ton of clones. Can see if I can cater a pickup’s resonant peak to match the eq.



Wax on, Wax off, potted pickups- Waxing does darken pickup, but when loaded, still similar

Using the Cobain Univox clone pickup with an Unearthly Ghast, HM-2 clone, pedal, squealed like a pig, even on the tamest settings. Well the setup was different I usually gain stack from an overdrive pedal into a big muff into a clean channel. The best results for the HM-2 type pedals is the reverse. Run the HM-2 into a highly distorted channel on the tube amp. This produces the massive chainsaw sound. Can’t obtain this sound chain stacking the classic way. I definitely need to wax the pickups. So removed the pickup from Cobain #1 to wax it up and ran some analysis tests afterwards. Wax potting was pretty simple, just takes awhile to melt with a crock pot. The temperature was around 160°F and I used a full pound of beeswax. I also bought some more paraffin wax from Walfart, way cheaper than Amazon.

I compared the analysis to what I had before. Loaded was similar but no load resonant peak was drastically different. Also DC resistance went down a hair. Hopefully when I install, it will be have less squealing.

loaded resonant peak similar to unwaxed but no loaded was drastically darker.
Loaded resonant peak similar to unwaxed but no loaded was drastically darker.



Project Dirty/Tiner Dancer A/B Clean Dirty pedal with master bypass

Think this is the first pedal I’m gonna make. I have a dirty A/B loop switcher, but bypass channel bleeds high gain pedals. Hopefully the 4pdt will fix it, not too sure.

Looks like the 4pdt will ground the tip of sends when switched off, hopefully that will kill the bleed from hi gain hm-2 or muff pedals


Props to generalguitargadgets for sharing this information
http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/

Setup Neck pocket for Pink Cobain Mustang

Neck thickness top of fret 1.078
Height of bridge .437
Height of fingerboard at neck join .437
https://www.tundraman.com/Guitars/NeckAngle/index.php

I’m gonna wait for bridge to come in next week before I model neck pocket. Not sure if .437″ inches is accurate or if it can be lower. Changed bottom bevel to 1/8, top to about .275″ because of neck plate.

The following video by Two Cherries Instements. He offsets the pocket by .020″ inches on final pass. I’ll run tests on scrap first. and try different offsets.

Cobain Pink Homemade mustang .26″ bevel body. Rhino3d

Traced outline in Rhino. Used line tool and “Change Degree” command to keep my points down so that it would bevel cleanly. Used “Match” command to join lines. Used “Gcon” and Curve analysis to check for G2 continuity. Bevel can go up to about .3″ before distorting. Will move the control cavity and control plate. I don’t like how it sticks out past the bevel.

Update, cutout the humbucker cavity and control plate cavity. Tomorrow should model the neck cavity and use the zero tilt calculator. Then Generate toolpaths. Will be adding the metal posts or dowels for double sided cutting.

Cobain Homemade Pink Mustang illustrator outline, challenges- updated 2D

Begin work on Cobain Pink Homemade Mustang. Some challenges presented. Fitting the Squier neck into pocket. Adjusting 25.5″ scale neck into 24″ scale Mustang body. CNC 3d work. Going to see how well I can bevel the body. Should be a good test. The fender have very thick bevels. Cutting with larger ballmill. It’s already thickness planed from Dewalt planer. Just need to cut out bevels, outline and control and humbucker cavities. Also need to make a black univox style pickup. Although he probably didn’t use a Univox pickup unless he got one from a Univox ripper guitar, but there is no history of it. Most likely pulled from another guitar and used the humbucker ring but not sure because the baseplate from the Univox has 3 mounting screws, instead of 2. Since I’ll probably never know. I think i’ll use the first humbucker test make I made with black bobbins. It’s a hair darker. Or rewind another one. Since I didn’t dip that one in lacquer. Most likely the latter.

Update – Added Fret2find frets, lined up 25.5″ scale neck. Purchased Schaller Hard tail bridge. Assembled pickup I’m going to use. Probably going to aim closer for 2.99kHz for a 52mm sized bobbin. Notice control plate location. Kurt put this one right up to the edge of the bevel. May add more wiggle room for humbucker, in case neck doesn’t line up right. Also I won’t CNC the holes, I’ll align manually.

Will probably start 3d modeling body soon. Also need to figure how i’ll ground the bridge. May Need to purchase or find, a long drill bit.

Kurt Cobain Mustang #1 Demo 2 062622

This demo was properly recorded with the stereo condenser mics on Zoom H4N Pro. Also busted out the Fender 1978 Champ Silverface.
Recording Details
Loop 1– Clean – Adobe Studio Reverb
Loop 2– Boss DS-1, Palmetto 1990 Fuzz Drive (Russian Muff Clone)
Loop 3– Fool Audio Research Optical Compressor, Frank The Anvil FX FET Amp, Octagon MultiFX Pedalpcb (Pitch Delay), Nobel ODR mini, Adobe Studio Reverb
EX Guitar Effects Loop Switcher- to switch between 2 loops and clean channel

Video– Panasonic LX10
Audio– Zoom H4N Pro into Adobe Premiere Pro 2020

DS1 Circuit Bending- JHS Synth Mod, Tremolo Mod, Wampler Synth Fuzz, Swell and Octave, descriptions

https://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=106243.0
Added more mods from Wampler’s books. Just interested in the crazy effects. Definitely can add a momentary switch to Wampler’s octave synth since it’s only one. Also there is a tremolo mod I can try but the video’s online had a lot of popping noise.

Looks like S1 is the same as Wampler’s Synth Octave hack (C4 jumped to C9, transistor booster to right before clipping diodes). The S1 goes to R16 (tone level) which might be related to the tremolo hack in Wampler’s book, that can connect to S3, that connects to C10, which is the end of the OP-Amp Gain Stage.

post

For Sale Cobain Mustang #1 on reverb, updated

For sale on my reverb page
https://reverb.com/item/56758680-kurt-cobain-custom-1-mustang-thomas-baptist-church-vinyl-soundgarden-decal-univox-custom-pickup

Kurt Cobain Custom #1 Mustang from a 2016 Sonic Blue Classic Vibe

  • Refinished body slightly reliced Faded Mocha color with Matte finish,  Sanded down headstock
  • Pickguard CNC cut from Thomas Baptist Church record “Where are the Dead?”.
  • Shielded control plate CNC cut from rare 4 layer pickguard, beveled top edge by hand, left bottom edge straight.
  • I hand wound a clone Univox early Phase III pickup with 2.93kHz loaded resonant frequency. Unwaxed, lacquer dipped. From analysis of 6 Vintage Univox pickups. More details below.
  • CTS 500k volume pot, 500k Bourns tone pot, switchcraft jack,  2 way toggle, kill switch in up position.
  • Vintage Univox Volume and Tone Knobs
  • Vintage Fender Japanese Tuners pulled from a 90’s guitar.
  • Mustang bridge posts locked down with plastic tubing, improves tuning stability. Can be easily removed.
  • Durable Soundgarden sticker made I outlined in Illustrator and made by Stickermule.
  • Uploaded a video demoing the guitar it has the tremolo arm and updated roller bridge.

Kurt’s modifications 
Kurt purchased this guitar at Evergreen State College. He added the control plate and pickup from a Univox Hi Flier Phase III guitar. He added a vinyl pickguard made from a Thomas Baptist record and added a Subpop Soundgarden sticker. He sanded the headstock. Eventually he removed the vinyl pickguard and replaced with a real mustang pickguard and painted green, which can possibly be the one on the cover of Bleach album. Parts of this guitar are in the museum in Seattle. He plays this guitar on the Pine Street live tracks on the Deluxe Bleach album.

The Fluff
The Univox clone pickup has been reverse engineered by analyzing six 1970’s Univox pickups. This took a lot of research and experimenting with wind counts. This clone Univox pickup is based on an early Univox Phase III pickup which differs from the later Phase III and Phase IV humbuckers. It is darker than those pickups, the pole pieces and baseplate are different. The original was unwaxed but I did dip the humbucker coils in lacquer which doesn’t take as much high end compared to wax potting. Squealing is reduced. Single distortion pedals can handle it well, stacking distortions sound pretty good as long as the gain isn’t too high. Not a metal guitar but you can push it a bit.

Kurt placed the pickup very close to the bridge. Bottom half of the humbucker ring was removed and cavity routed with a slight angle with the bass strings closer to the bridge than the treble ones. This has very original sound. Much like a Low Wind Lollar PAF. Chords shine brightly but still has that low end PAF sound. Great for note definition. 

PLEASE NOTE
Setup uses Top/Heavy strings 52, 42,30,17,13,10. Nut has been filed down for this setup. If you want to use a thinner gauge setup. Let me know, I’ll can make a new nut. No extra charge. But I feel this setup plays and sounds the best. 

For more higher quality images and details of build, check out my shop website from
Info and policies” page of my shop. It has my webpage site there. 

Let me know if you have any questions. FREE SHIPPING! Firm on price.

Thanks!

Kurt Cobain Mustang #1 v3 Finished, photoshoot

WIll try to take more picture tomorrow morning. Also ordered a cobain neck plate, black this time. I will post on sale probably tomorrow around noonish. I’ll probably record video for this. The pickup sounds amazing. I definitely get that Univox sound.
Added shielding under control plate, don’t think I need it under pickguard since humbucker cover has it covered. The paint in cavity isn’t covered in grounding paint, unless I’m supposed to dig into the paint. Sounds pretty quiet, only hear squealing when stacking distortion pedals on super high gain. I can stack a DS-1 and Muff and at low to med gain settings. It think it sounds a hair quieter with the shielded control plate. Will test more.

Also if I do decide the ground the pickguard I will also remove the pickup and ground all the poles. Currently a few already have continuity.

Cobain Mustang near completion

Cobain Mustang #1 v3 almost done. Finished level sanding body. Sanded neck, stained neck, lacquer coated and then resanded. Added the plastic sleeves on bridge for tuning stability. Made the plastic shorter on the right side post and added foil so that it would easier. Control Plate bevel and countersinks done. Need to string her up and line up pickup, should have enough wiggle room and wire up electronics.

Had to chisel bottom of control cavity, forgot to take into account spacing needed for output jack. So far everything else lining up great. The CNC modification to steps in the XY plane are really accurate now. I ordered some tuner and have some vintage ones I put on but the High E E string tuner is bent weird, I’ll try to repair if I can. Should finish this thing tomorrow can’t wait to hear the Univox clone pickup I wired.

Project DS-1 JHS Synth Drive with momentary switch

I have a couple boss Ds-1 pedals. I want to modify them to an early JHS Synth Drive but have a momentary switch.

I ordered most of the parts my only issue would be wiring the momentary switch. It is a “Normally open Switch”. I can place it between S2 and R10 connector but it would open circuit. I would need another SPDT switch that engages the switch so that it works in both modes.

With extra switch disengaged it would work like a normal synth drive, turning any of the side switches engages an effect.

With the extra switch engaged. The effect would only turn on when the momentary switch is turned on.

And I would clean out all the ceramic caps with film caps. Looks like there is about 6 of them. I’ll document everything also.

Momentary switch would go on top of by foot pedal, inside battery compartment. I have a adaptor to 9v I can use if

Epiphone Dragon Sg Jr. Finished For Sale- SOLD!

Finished Dragon SG. New pickup sounds amazing in it. Talking to customer if he is satisfied to sell him. If not I could probably sell for more than I estimated to him.
The pickup sounded great, it was a hair noisier than wax potted but I think the lacquer dipping helped. I seem to like guitars with a loaded resonant frequency range of 2.5-3kHz. I think i’ll make the p90s 2.5 and humbuckers I make 2.9kHz and and single coils in jaguar range of 3.5kHz ish.

Not a perfect finish some minor blemishes by horns and swirls marks on back. Overall I’m satisfied but definitely room for improvement. Need to spend more time wetsanding, and the discoloration caused by a major run that I should have level sanded before adding another coat. Told customer this he still purchased and told the pickup is covered by lifetime warranty, repair or replacement.

Customer purchased. Will probably make more dragon guitars, I have another SG I can do this with and 3 strats, though I’d have to redesign the dragon a bit.