Tick tick tick

[dano12]

I was testing out a new PCB design last night, after much design work and etching boards, I had the first one up and running. But there was this strange ticking noise.

What the heck? It is a dirt pedal, there is no LFO, there is no clock signal, nothing! But still it ticked. I suspected the AC adaptor or mains noise so I tried another adaptor. Tick tick tick. I dumped the adaptor and switched to a fresh 9 volt battery. Tick tick tick.

Argh! I sat there for 10 minutes stumped. My son Frank was playing on the computer and looked over amidst my swearing session. "What's up dad?" "Stinking damn ticking noise! I can't get rid of it." He came over and wanted a try. I handed him the guitar and he played the three chords he knew, no ticking. WTF? He handed the guitar back to me. Ticking. Ok, I think I'm getting somewhere here. I don't have a pacemaker. No artificial limbs or implants. But wait.....Eureka! I have a watch. The watch! That's what was making the ticking noise as I moved my right hand over the pickups.

Doh. Anyway, thought I'd share.

[rogerinIowa]

That's pretty wild....be the first on your block to own a high gain distortion box complete with built in swiss-movement metronome!
Great story, Dano.

[Mark Hammer]

Try sitting on the couch and playing your guitar while flipping channels with the TV remote.  Same deal.

[gez]

I used to have a digital watch that had a built in metronome.  When practicing polyrhythms etc, I'd lay the watch on the neck PU of my Jazzmaster to amplify the pulse.  Amazing what pickups pick up!

[~arph]

A mobile phone near the pickups ticks as well

[signalpaths]

Running computer hard drives anywhere in the vicinity of my guitar pickups does some crazy things too.  In fact I would like to mess around with this idea more because the sonic results are sometimes pleasing to me. Probably should use an old hard drive though, wouldn't want to lose all my schematics.

[slacker]

A mobile phone near the pickups ticks as well

Yeah and if you have enough gain you can play a tune by pressing the phones buttons 

[ambulancevoice]

hilarious!!
glad i wear my watch on my left hand
but i dont wear it anyway when im playing

[greigoroth]

This very thing happened to me once!

Strange thing, it only happened once. Got sick of the ticking noise, turned off. Plugged in the day after and I have never heard the ticking noise since. No watches, no pacemakers (that I know of), no TV, no change in set up... I don't get it!

Hope your tick disappeared Dano!

[Alien8]

We used to use long patch cords, go out into a different room, and yell into the pick-up area and you'd hear it from the amp...

TV Remotes make clicking noises too...  any vibration that can influence the magnetic field...

A good cheap e-bow is a plastic dildo

[dano12]

A good cheap e-bow is a plastic dildo

Yes, as are pager motors:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5375494962485631467

[Valoosj]

A good cheap e-bow is a plastic dildo

Yes, as are pager motors:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5375494962485631467

What the heck are you doing? Touching the string with it, or just bringing it in the pickup field?
It's so cool, and would fit in a song I'm working on! Do you have any more details on the box you're plugging it in?

[dano12]

What the heck are you doing? Touching the string with it, or just bringing it in the pickup field?
It's so cool, and would fit in a song I'm working on! Do you have any more details on the box you're plugging it in?

It works both ways: apply the spinning weight at the end to the strings, or hold the motor near the pickups for cheapo ebow type effects

The only thing in the box is a pot in series with 2 AA batteries and and on/off switch.

As crude an effect as you'd ever meet, but loads of fun.

[cab42]

I wear my watch on the right hand and it happens to me all the time.  I allways take my watch off when playing.

When I was (much) younger, my band practised in the basement of a church. When the organist practiced in the church above,  we had most beautiful baroque music coming out of our PA for some reason. That allways put our abilities in perspective.

Regards

Carsten

[Valoosj]

I just noticed it on your site. Deffinetly 'building' this one.
I think I can find an old mobile phone around here...