Wah pedal building- how to turn the impossible into possible?

[Shed_FX]

Right here are the pictures, Ive tried to reduce down their size as there is quite a few.



This picture shows the foot plate. The black block is where the main pedal axle passes through. There are two of these attached to the plate but I removed one for clarity. These blocks have running fit holes through them so they run smoothly on the main axle. This provides a bit of friction so the pedal holds in position. The other features on the plate are points to attach the string to the tredle.



This is the main body of the pedal. The rough dimensions are 4'' x 2'' x 11'' which is based on the ernie ball volume pedal. The black bit at the front is the mounting plate for the jacks. There is also a bar across the back of the pedal. The cord passes under this and up to the rear of the tredle plate. This gives a clean 90degree angle for the cord to pass through.



This picture shows the mounting piece for the volume potentiometer. The pot here is just placed in the picture for illustration. On the shaft is a brass pulley which the chord passes around. The second (aluminium) pulley guides the cord from the footplate into the pulley mechanism. The cord passes around the brass pulley by 430degrees (1 and a quarter times) then attaches to the spring. A second length of cord then goes back from the spring under the main pedal axle then under the rear cord guide and up to the rear attachment point on the foot plate.



This shows the potentiometer in place within the pedal.



This is an image of the cord I am using. It is strong multi-cord nylon which feels like it is thinly wax coated. My girlfriend is into making jewelry and I bought this from a necklace supplier! Should work quite nicely and from what I have seen it looks similar to the stuff on some ernie ball pedals.

Hope that shows you a bit of what it entails building a volume pedal. All of these bits were made using:
A drill press, various sizes of drill
A flat file
3mm Tap set
A hammer
A vice

For a neat shematic of the basic set up go here: http://edrum.for.free.fr/images/xanpeds/XanPedal.gif

[Paul Marossy]

Walmart also sells that waxy coated string that works for those Ernie Ball volume pedals. It's in the craft section. That saved my bacon when the string in mine broke.

[smallbearelec]

I'd like to sell more expression pedal shells to Latin America. For reference, a carton of 10 weighs 34 pounds gross. Cost to ship that by surface mail is $75.00, transit time about 6 weeks.

Regards
SD