Keen Wah - LFO plus stuck wah = weirdness

[culturejam]

This is actually my first complete regular pedal build since October (2012). Breakin' the dry spell!!  :lol:

Okay, so this was sort of an oddball idea I had some time ago, and I figured it was time to box it up. I'm not ready to release a schematic yet, as I still have some tweaking to do, but it's getting close. Anyway, it's a basic Crybaby-type wah circuit with "Q" adjustable on a trimmer and a toggle for one of the tone caps. I added to that an LFO that modulates the Wah pot value (in parallel). The resulting effect is part tremolo, part wah filter, part phaser (in some settings). I have another idea that might actually work better, so I'll be trying that next, but as is it sounds pretty neat. There is also a toggle to pull the LFO out so the pedal can function as a simple "stuck" wah.

Like I said, it needs some value tweaking, but I'm happy with the way it turned.

I had a BLAST doing the enclosure. I finally tried out alcohol inks, and they are just fantastic to work with. Getting cool patterns is brainless, and you really can't do anything wrong. The only tricky part is protecting the cool patterns from wear. So I did two thin coats of Mod Podge (brushed on) and then two light coats of acrylic sealer. Turned out stellar I think. I did the knobs too, and the flat metal parts of all the hardware as well. This stuff is addictive. I've already inked several other things around the house as well.  :lol:

Then I did some stamping around the wah pot hole.

[jimilee]

Looking forward to hearing it

[spaceboss]

Really cool CJ. The golden washer completes it.

[jubal81]

That. Is. Too. Cool. Looks like it got wizzed on by a victorian robot with a bladder infection - you know, in a good way.

I'm googling that paint as soon as I type this.

Neat idea, too. I'd love to hear a sample at some point if you can swing it.

[jubal81]

I have a Jaguar that's been apart and waiting for paint ... That stuff looks too cool.

[culturejam]

I'm googling that paint as soon as I type this.

If you're in the US, you can get alcohol inks at many craft stores, such as Michael's or Hobby Lobby or a local shop. The main brand you'll find is Adirondack. Here's a direct link:
http://rangerink.com/?product=tim-holtz%C2%AE-adirondack%C2%AE-alcohol-inks

They do some cool technique videos as well.


I'll post a sound clip as soon as I get a few last circuit tweaks completed.

[jimilee]

That. Is. Too. Cool. Looks like it got wizzed on by a victorian robot with a bladder infection - you know, in a good way.

I'm googling that paint as soon as I type this.

Neat idea, too. I'd love to hear a sample at some point if you can swing it.

There tutorial vids on YouTube

[culturejam]

I have a Jaguar that's been apart and waiting for paint ... That stuff looks too cool.

Well, alcohol inks only do their magic on non-porous surfaces. So if you first laid down some kind of paint that was really sealed well, I think it would work.

Alcohol inks work great on glass, plastic, metal, and bonded (slick) paper.

[jimilee]

All the ones I have seen in the forums were powder coated. Probably helps a lot.

[jubal81]

I didn't take the original poly off, so that seems like it'd be perfect for this stuff.

Whoa. I'd love to have a guitar done with this:

[culturejam]

All the ones I have seen in the forums were powder coated. Probably helps a lot.

I did mine on bare metal. I did a quick wipe down with some acetone to clean off the finger oils and such, but that is the only prep I did.

But yeah, a nice slick/shiny powder coat would be a great base for alcohol inks.

[gingataff]

I was thinking of building something that does this, stuck wah with lfo. you beat me to it!8)

looks great!

Sent from my SC-02B using Tapatalk 2

[juansolo]

That's very cool all round.

Us too! Only a couple of days ago Cleggy and I were chatting about doing a pedal that does the sort of thing that Tim Sult does manually with his wah and thinking about strapping an LFO to a wah circuit. Beat us all to it 

[monkeyssj1]

Your build looks fantastic. well done man

[midwayfair]

Awesome finish. I was wondering happened to your inductor LFO wah idea.