Noise box in a guitar?

[pedaltastic]

This is a bit of a simple question, but I need some help! I have a guitar sitting about with a hole routed in the back ready for some built in effects or stuff like that. I've been waiting on a new neck for it and now its arrived I'm going to start considering more seriously what to put inside. I know this isn't strictly stompbox related, but seeing as I'm using my limited but useful knowledge on pedals (thanks to this site!) I was hoping someone could help. If I put in a noise box - such as the atari punk console, which I've built and thought was seriously cool - will it be alright to link it straight to the output on the guitar as well as the pickups, and link all the grounds up? Or will this interfere with the wiring of the pickups and make some mishmash of crappiness? Sorry for not being more technical,

Thanks in advance,

pedaltastic

PS: Any other suggestions as to what to put inside?

[Meanderthal]

 You could always build a pnp negative ground Fuzz face, and mess with it til it oscillates... Then your guitar's volume and tone knobs will control the pitch of the oscillation like a sick theremin. You should be able to go from oscillator to fuzz easily with a slight turn of the drive knob. Might be a bit more useful than an APC, even though those little buggers are a whole lotta fun. Just an idea...

[choklitlove]

i've made layouts to a few noisemakers: http://geocities.com/worthekik/diy.html

i would use a stereo jack and wire a noisemaker to the right lug and the pickups to the left.  wiring them to the same place wouldn't be a good idea.  have fun with it and be creative.  post when you're done!

[Meanderthal]

 Yeah, the APC can get REALLY loud, it's nothing like the tiny signal a pickup puts out. I think it's even capable of driving a speaker all by itself... never tried it with mine, but the origional Mims schematic shows that. I doubt you'd hear the guitar at all  with the APC running if you don't use some kind of active mixer and attenuate the APC signal. 8 Ohm +  around 10-15 thousand Ohm... not a good impedance match either.

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

I think I'd have one of those "very very simple mixers". Not much space needed.
Pad down the atari punk console right at the APC, or it is going to leak into the
guitar when you don't want it to.

[pedaltastic]

Thanks guys - ALL of your responses are very very useful indeed. Didn't think of the stereo jack idea choklitlove, simple but effective! I'll try that. The Crackle Box looks like one hell of a cool build... might have to etch that one while I'm at it... and just imagine it on a guitar!

Since the atari punk console won't be used at the same time as the guitar I shan't worry too much about matching the volumes - just need to ensure I have a volume control in there somewhere, and leave it set at where its best. Would be useful to have a pot anyway, just for some crazy volume swells.

Will update you all on progress when it gets going

pedaltastic

[tcobretti]

A while ago I posted a thread about a guitar I modded and put in a Dirty Sanchez, a Random Number Generator, and an Atari Punk Console.  I used 3 100k tripots on a piece of perf as a mixer inside the body of the guitar.  I used a DP3T to switch between clean guitar, fuzz guitar, and RNG guitar.  Then I believe I used a SPDT to turn off the guitar and turn on the APC.

The two big issues:

The APC will create a weird noise that bleeds into your other effects, if you don't have an other effects, it won't be an issue. 

The DP3T switch was almost $20, so either use individual switches to turn stuff on and off or be ready to drill extra holes.

Here's my thread:
http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=51845.0

[ashcat_lt]

if you can plug your guitar into the pedal and it sounds good as the first pedal in the chain, it'll be just fine installed directly into the guitar.  All you're really doing is eliminating the cable and two jacks

[Jaicen_solo]

My suggestion is to put in an effect that will benefit from actually being inside the guitar. For example, a Fuzz Face style circuit that likes to be first in line so it can properly load your pickups, or a booster like the Mosboost or rangemaster that will allow you to run longer cables without signal loss. These circuits also have the advantage of being small and consume very little current, so you won't be constantly changing batteries!
Actually, a rangemaster + FF combo would be pretty much perfect for use inside a guitar to give you a very versatile instrument with minimal effort.