Guitar Effects Pedals
Having built two electric guitars it naturally followed to then build my own boutique style guitar pedals. Having experimented with hobbyist electronics as a teenager I could now find an adult outlet for my hobby.
I was particularly interested in re-creating some famous vintage guitar pedals that are no longer in production. These pedals include the Dallas Rangemaster (treble boost) made famous by Eric Clapton, Electro Harmonix Big Muff Pi (fuzz) and the Sola Sound Mk II Tone Bender (fuzz) as used by Mick Ronson on David Bowie's "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust" album.
These pedals, which are typically from around the late 60's, often use germanium PNP transistors which were common place in that era. Since germanium has been supersceded by silicon, such exotic components are now hard to come by. With some diligent research they can be sourced from vendors on the internet as new old stock (NOS).
I perfected a process of home brewing my own PCB boards having observed and attempted the usual method from online tutorials. Most PCB home brewers use a clothing iron to melt and adhere a laserwriter print out (using acetate) to the copper side of a PCB board. This acetate is removed leaving the toner pattern behind as the masking agent. The board is then etched in ferric chloride. The clothing iron method often results in a smeared print on the copper which is undesirable. My method involved heating the copper board to a high temperature with a heat gun and adhering the laserwriter print on to it. This method avoids having to apply undue pressure. I also printed onto paper instead of acetate as this allows me to soak the paper off in warm water leaving the black toner on the copper surface. The result is a perfect image of the circuit every time.
To finish the pedals I had the casings spray painted by a local panelbeater who happened to have an interest in guitars. This meant the pedals had a durable, automotive grade finish to them – important because of the ensuing abuse they will receive from literally being under my feet.