Make and/or modify your own guitar effects

Other, better sites on building your own effects

You should come away from this web page thinking to yourself, "I could do better..."  Good!  That's what I'm hoping for.  You can learn from my mistakes and my modest knowlege.

First project: modfied Fuzzface clone

Schematic
Mods include: variable input cap (ala NVN/Joe Gagan), tantalum output cap, hiss-cut cap, 5k "drive" pot (ala Mike Fuller's '69 "contour" control), 2k "fuzz" pot with variable fuzz capacitor, germanium diode Q1 bias (ala Plate to Plate's Britface), popless switch wiring, sexy paint job!

Technique: Printed circuit board [component side] [solder side], hand drawn onto copper clad with a Sharpie™ pen, then etched, then solder components and hookup wire, etc.

Enclosure: Hammond 1590C 3.5" x 4.5" x 2", spraypainted black enamel, then cured in a warm oven, then hand-labelled

Second project: Rangemaster clone

Schematic

Technique: Radio Shack™ perfboard [front] [back] and some point-to-point sections (the pulldown resistors and treble cap are mounted at the DPDT switch)

That wire loop covered with grey tape to the left of the transistor on the board is where I was gonna have a "Bias" control, but I replaced it with a fixed resistor instead.  Used silicone to anchor the wires to the board and provide solid strain relief.  The board never needs to be moved when changing the battery, because I mounted it to the enclosure by means of a board-mounted output jack instead of to the lid, like in my Fuzzface.  Still not a top-down design as far as keeping the wires short and keeping the input and output wires far away from each other inside the box.  And I stupidly drilled the jack holes in the enclosure without checking to see if the board had enough clearance between them.  So I have to put my board in cockeyed  to make it fit, plus I chopped a little off the corner of it too.

Enclosure: Hammond 1590C 3.5" x 4.5" x 2", labelled with slide-off decal over a sanded top, then clearcoated and cured in a warm oven (<150 degrees Farenheit to avoid damaging the decal).  Finish it off with some nice rubber footies...


Mods

Adding a High-Cut Control

You can add control to cut the hiss or brightness from any pedal, homemade or commercial.  Start with a 100k pot and a selection of small capacitors; see which cap you like best.  3.3nf is good for just taking the brilliance but not the basic tone
Example: Voodoo Lab Analog Chorus (which has a slight volume boost and a slightly brightened tone along with a bit of hiss if fed into a high-gain amp)
Where I soldered the wires
Where I mounted the pot and cap (note: there is plenty of room on the face of this pedal to mount pots; probably a better choice than this tight side arrangement!)