2011 Pedal Board

This post is on the latest version of my pedal board. I've designed this board for a killer guitar tone using mostly true-bypass pedals and a couple of old buffered pedals.

The first thing the guitar signal goes into is a Korg Pitchblack tuner. This is a no frills, true bypass tuner. It has much better tracking and accuracy when compared to something like a boss TU-2 and costs around half the price. Also due to being true-bypass it wont suck your tone like most tuners.

The next pedal the signal goes into is a Maxon OD-9. This pedal is based on the original Maxon Tube Screamer circuit and in my opinion  is the best version of the tube screamer, ever.  The Tube Screamer which was originally produced by Maxon was later sold to ibanez who have basically taken all the fame since then. There are many versions of the Tube Screamer and many mods out there to solve various issues with pedals e.g. a drop on bass or lack of true-bypass or added noise to the rig. This version has solved all of these problems and does not need any of the various mods supplied on the internet. This pedal can produce all manor of overdrive but in my rig is set to provide an extra crunch and boost to my already dirty amp. This  results in a gorgeous and responsive lead tone perfect for blues solos and a Jimi Hendrix esque sound.  

The next pedal in the chain is a Proco Turbo Rat. This is very similar to the rat 2 but is designed to give a more tube like feel. I  use this pedal  for searing distortion and a psychedelic style Jonny Greenwood lead/solo sound. This pedal is also true-bypass and along with the maxon i can get almost any overdirve/distortion  i need.

Next my guitar signal goes into a Keeley true-bypass looper. This either sends my signal straight on to the last pedal in the chain or sends it through an alternative buffered bypass loop. I use this to take my non true-bypass pedals out of the loop when not using them and it also enables me to switch my delay and flanger on with one click if i wish.








When Buffered loop selected:

After the Keeley is my Boss BF-2. This is a good analogue flanger made in 1982 in Japan. Although it lacks the features of more modern Flanger it is known for having a more natural a smoother sound. I use this pedal occasionally just to add a bit of a chorus style shimmer to my sound.

The second and last pedal in my buffered loop is a blue label Boss DD-2.tMade in 1984 his is the first digital delay made by Boss and is quite rare. This pedal is fairly basic with the three standard 50,200 and 800 ms delay time and a hold mode. This blue label example houses the original long chip known for a more natural and almost analogue delay sound. When these "long" chips ran out the DD-2 was renamed as the DD-3. I use this pedal for a bit of slapback or a stadium sort of sound for lead and solos.





This signal then goes back into the Keeley looper then into the last pedal; so the looper includes or excludes the flanger and delay then sends the signal to the next and final pedal.

The last pedal in my true-bypass loop is a Creation Audio Labs MK 4.23 Boost. This boost pedal does not alter the eq of your sound in any way. It just has 0-24 db of clean transparent signal boost. This pedal can be used as a volume booster or it can be used to drive a valve amp slightly harder. I use this pedal as a signal buffer at the end of my chain simply to keep my guitar signal nice and strong and to get a sweet natural crunch out of my amp. This really does make a world of difference.

Everything is powered by a Dunlop DC brick and there is also a footswitch to turn the reverb and tremolo on my amp on and off.

Fender Strat Mod

In this guitar build I will be completely rewiring and reconfiguring a  Fender E-series Japanese Stratocaster.

According to its serial number (E666636)  it was made in the Fujigen factory in 1986.

This guitar started life with a S-S-S configuration and had/has a dodgy floyd rose modelled, S1 surface mounted tremolo and locking nut. It was previously modified to incorporate a humbucker in the bridge position as well as having the other two pickups replaced with ceramic ones. A tone pot was also removed and the guitar rewired to have a master tone and volume. The previous owner believes this was done in 1988 (before i was born)!

I have had this guitar for over 3 years now and it is a good all rounder but does not do any one job particularly well, i.e the bridge humbucker is ok but very low output and not as good as the one in my sheraton, the neck single coil is far too bassy and the middle pickup is completely unused. And as for the S1 bridge, this results in very unstable tuning and unpredictable action (depending on temperature). 

 I will be replacing the pickups, pots, caps, switch, re-building the bridge,as well as completely changing the aesthetics of the guitar and maybe adding a momentary kill switch.

The guitar in mind will basically be electronically the same as a '52 Hot Rod Telecaster, although it will be Strat shaped. Im hoping the finished result will look something like a Tele-Strat cross. 

The wiring diagram I used can be found here: http://support.fender.com/diagrams/telecaster/0118600A/SD0118600APg2.pdf

The first thing I did was to rip all the electronics out of the guitar. In my eagerness I forgot to take a picture of the full guitar before the mods.

The pickups and pots that were removed, minus the pickguard. 

I was initially going to totally remove the locking mechanism above the nut. I tried this and without a string tree, the e and b string kept jumping out of the nut when bent. Instead of drilling the headstock for a string tree I just removed the locks and pads from the rail and kept it there as a string guide.

The pickups I will be putting into the guitar are a gibson mini humbucker in the neck and the original strat single coil that was in the bridge position before i got it (the guy supplied the original single coils he took out of the guitar). The mini humbucker has more power than the original neck pickup but its low focused output retains single note definition and increases middle and higher frequency responce unlike most neck humbuckers. Im putting the original '86 single coil back in the bridge as I already have a humbucking guitar and miss the punchy twang of other strats I have played.

For the minihumbucker the body had to be routed. This was fairly easy and i did it with a drill and a chisel, after this i completely shielded the pickup and control cavities with aluminium tape.  

I also removed the fine tuners from the bridge and put 2 extra springs in the back to pull it against the body locking it down.

Next I removed the output jack, wired a new one in and shielded the cavity also.

N.B. Make sure there is some metal tape overlapping onto the face of the guitar to ensure electrical continuity, between the shielding in the body and the shielding on the pickguard, and the shielding in the output jack cavity and the metal jack socket. All shielding should be connected to earth by some means.

Next I soldered the two pickups to a 500k matched set of audio taper CTS potentiometers. I also used a .022 micro fahrrad orange drop cap to keep the pickups nice and bright.

  

A midpoint shot of my workstation.

Next I mounted the pickups and pots into a custom cut pickguard bought from Warmoth.com

At this stage I also wired up the switch. I used a 3 way 7 lug heavy duty switch. This switch had to be wired differently from the one in my Tele wiring diagram and details on how to do this were supplied along with the switch by Axesrus.co.uk. 

To avoid the sound being too bright in the bridge positon, a 270k resistor was placed between volume pot and the lug on the switch associated with the single coil. This lowers the value of the pot in the bridge possition but not in the neck possition, as the mini humbucker needs 500k pots to sound its best.  

I decided to go for a Tele deluxe style look with the control nobs but feared they may be too big so i used gibson witch hats. 

Starting to get a picture of what this will look like now?! 

Next the pickguard electronics had to be wired to the output jack and bridge earth wire.

After a re-build and tightening of the tuning machines, a set up and a re-string, the result was this:

About a month after this I decided to add a momentary kill switch as I couldn't resist another mod.

This is a simple push to make switch bought from Maplin. One lug on the switch was wired to the live terminal on the output jack and the other lug to the earth terminal. This cuts the signal by dumping it to ground when the button is pushed down.

One last shot!

The result is a guitar which is beautiful to play and hear. Through a decent tube amp like my Vox ac15 the guitar can produce smooth David Gilmour esque leads to biting country twang. I'm also very pleased with the unique look of this guitar. I will be adding more posts on gear mods in the near future, most likely pedals as I have a cry baby that wants true bypass modding. 

Keep your eyes peeled!