Question About a Really Old Wah

[Ofek Deitch]

hey everybody

Today at my school I found this weird wah, which looks really old, and is has ten coats of dust on it.
I have no idea what it is and how much it is worth or not worth.

There is a mono wire coming out of it, so perhaps it is not a wah but a dist/clean footswith, or a sort of volume pedal
There only this cable coming out of it - no input an no output jack.

Here are a few photos of it, but it is probably an Israeli product, because the name of the company is written on the front of it:






I hope you know what this is, cuz I really want to open it and turn it to a really cool wah. But if it is worth something then opening it probably will lower its value.

Thanks !
Ofek

[digi2t]

You won't really have a choice to peek inside. Like you said, could be a wah.... or a volume pedal.... or a sewing machine speed control.

Unless the only tool you own is a sledgehammer, just lifting the cover for a look isn't going to affect the value (if any). You can trust me on that one, more than one hen's tooth has revealed herself to me  . Just don't be ham-fisted about it.

Are there are Hebrew fluent folks here? Can someone decipher the label?

[Dom D]

I did what I could with Google translate and whatever is in big letters and quotations marks came up as "Flutes".

So... no clue. 

[Dom D]

A slight change to the first (or last?) symbol made it "Recorder"

[oldschoolanalog]

Open it up and post some gut shots!

[Govmnt_Lacky]

.... or a sewing machine speed control.

My bet. No in/out jacks OR power input. 

[Dom D]

I'm betting on a sewing machine foot pedal also. Looks pretty much exactly like one. More pictures would help.

[Dom D]

The only confusing thing is what seems to be a G-clef on the logo.

[wavley]

The only confusing thing is what seems to be a G-clef on the logo.

On my computer the clef looks more like a chicken.

So here are my bets...

Sewing machine pedal
Organ volume pedal
Dictation machine pedal

My money is on dictation machine.

[Ofek Deitch]

And the disappointment was great !

Well it is indeed a boring swing machine foot pedal...
There is nothing but a 50k pot inside the old peace of black plastic...

And now the question is of course - What will I put in it? a Wah? a Dist/Clean Pedal? Volume? Phaser? Chorus?

Here's a guts photo

[digi2t]

Don't feel bad buddy. Even if it was a wah, it probably would have been a real crappy one.

Hope that makes you feel better.

[Ronan]

If that housing is bakelite rather than plastic, then build a wah into it. That curved gear and fine-toothed pinion are too good to waste. It would make a really cool wah.

[Mark Hammer]

With a 50k pot and only one set of wires coming out on a single cable, there's only one thing it could have been: a volume foot pedal for a keyboard, most likely a home organ.

The unit could be used as an expression pedal (they will usually want a 10k-50k pot), but quite honestly, it doesn't look especially "expressive".  I could see using it to gradually increase the volume level on a keyboard, bujt I couldn't see working that sucker back and forth in any sort of real-time way.  Maybe its the pictures, but it just doesn't look made for working back and forth quickly.  Doesn't mean its useless, just somewhat constrained in its uses.

Here's one potential application.  The Rebote 2.5 is a decent sounding delay based on the PT2399, and it uses a 50k pot to set delay time.  You could very easily build the delay into that pedal, and use the foot treadle to set delay time, and do some pitch bending (where the delay time is suddenly changed).

[Ofek Deitch]

Well I think I'll swirl paint it  and then put a ColourSound Inductorles wah in it.
Have any one made this wah before? How does it sound like?

I can put also a boomerang wah in it, but ordering a yellow fasel is a bit pricey to me. (I live in Israel so every thing cost like twice as much because of the shipping)

[deadastronaut]

stick a morley classic wah in it...

http://www.morleypedals.com/downloads.html

i was looking at sewing machine pedals, some of those are just as pricey as wahs..


i messed around with the inductorless, it broke up too much for my taste.

[Ofek Deitch]

I decided to build the inductorles wah (Because I don't have an inductor in hand...), and I really like the sound of it.
It sounds even better than my heavily moded Crybaby GCB-95, that till yesterday I thought sounded great, but now it sounds really thin, and some how the inductorles wah sound really warm and FAT.

But now I come to a new problem. This was probably not a sewing machine pedal, but a keyboard's volume pedal. The problem is that there is no switch on the thing - I need your ideas of how to install one.

Right now, the circuit is built in my prototype board, and is operated by the pot in the wah I found. So if I wand to turn the effect off/on I gotta use the Bypass switch on my protoboard.
Here's how it looks:




Another problem:
Right now the wah is working on a 9V battery. When I connected the protoboard to a 9V Supply I use for all the other effects I have it started screaming ! 
How can I solve this? cuz I really don't like using batterys. They allways run out because I forget to disconect to input cable.

Thanks!
OFEK DEITCH

[col]

If it is bakelite don't drill it or stamp too hard as it will contain asbestos which won't do you any good!

[Ofek Deitch]

What's bakelite? How can I know if it's bakelite or not?