Rehousing Danelectro Corned Beef

[Hemmel]

Hey guys,

I've searched here for anything similar and I'll start my story the same way someone else did : My brother gave me his broken Danelectro Corned Beef Reverb suggesting I might strip it for parts. The parts inside are so small and I'm not really used to de-soldering yet, I ended up breaking the input and DC jacks. So I stopped there, thinking I might want to keep the PCBs intact and just rehousing the effect, and perhaps putting a true-bypass with a 3pdt.
I don't understand the first board with the chips I've never seen before (16-pins) and a few caps, but I'm guessing it's pupose is for the momentary-press switch.
I also noticed on the 2nd board the PT2399 and TL072, chips I already own in my parts bucket and the board looks a bit like the "Casper's Echo Bender v2" schematic I found on the web.

Is there anywhere I can start, perhaps totally removing the first board (which doesn't seem to be needed anymore once I put the 3pdt switch) ? I understand the trimpots, and how I can replace them with 100K log pots. Also I understand the input/output jacks, I can just solder wires to new jacks. Same for the DC jack and battery clip.
Basically : has anyone rehoused a Corned Beef before and is there a "how-to" guide somewhere ?

Thanks
Marc

P.S. : Sorry about grammar and/or cohesion, English isn't my first language and I don't get to practice often enough...

[Hemmel]

Ok well, I think I'm going to start taking pictures for a "step-by-step rehousing". I'll post them here.
That way if I get stuck I could ask for help and you'll know where I'm at.

[aron]

Marc, see if anyone has rehoused another danelectro. Someone must have done this before. I have never had one break on me despite them being plastic.

Aron

[Hemmel]

Hey Aron,
I did check (also checked elsewhere on the net) and I've found rehousing "how-to"s for other Danelectro pedals.
Perhaps I'll just post the pics on my blog and link it here if anyone wants to see.

[SmoothAction]

Here's how you DONT do it... Unless you have a gig in 10 minutes 

[artifus]

wash your mouth out this instant, that's beautiful, man!

[HOTTUBES]

Ha !!!   LOL ! 

That's awesome ....

[Hemmel]

Hey guys,

Reviving the thread because I did my first trace of a PCB. It's one inside the Danelectro Corned Beef.



Yes, I did forget to manually write down the diode and the 7-pin connector 

What do you guys think ? Is this a valid trace ? Is it easy to follow ? I wasn't sure how to trace the pins that weren't connected to anything .... went for Xs.

If anyone has a Corned Beef and wants to verify my schematic, I'd be grateful !!!

Now the big question is, if this is valid : how do I change the momentary switch (SW1) for a true-bypass ?

[CheapChip]

Hey guys!
I'm newbie here, but I'm working on the same project: Rehousing of a friend's Dano Corned Beef, trying to swap its buffer with a true bypass.
So I'm really glad to find such a topic! 

Hemmel,
Looking at your trace, I think it's right: same circuit I have in my friend's Dano CB.

I've googled some words and found this:
http://ausfahrt.blogspot.fr/2011/03/danelectro-chicken-salad-true-bypass.html

What do you think of it since we have a 7th wire (violet) on our connector? 
I thought it could be a start...

[CheapChip]

I wrote something wrong... I forgot another wire: the brown one. 
I'm looking for differences with this Chicken Salad mod.

What a good start! 

[Hemmel]

Hey CC,

I haven't played with the Corned Beef for a while, but I'm getting back to it.
I'm not trying to swap the buffer. I actually just shorted SW1.

My plan is to use the 3PDT switch to turn on/off the power inside the circuit. I'm anxious to see if there's going to be a POP when switching the power on/off.

I took a couple of pictures to try to do a "how-to". I'll probably be getting back to this tonight or over the weekend. I'll keep you posted !

Thanks for double-checking my circuit trace, I appreciate it !

[Hemmel]

I'm kinda frustrated.
I've rehoused the pedal (well, almost, I haven't drill the enclosure yet). When I tested it, the pots didn't do anything. There is a small POP when I hit the switch. The new DEL (I replaced the old red one by a yellow one, I think it will look brighter on the purple enclosure) lights up when I hit the switch, but the effect doesn't really work.
It's the same sound, albeit a bit louder.

I spent a lot of time on this and I'm a bit at a loss.

What could be going on ?

[CheapChip]

Hi Hemmel,

I'm working on the CB rehousing in a 1590B enclosure. After a big reflexion, I think I've found 2 ways to do it:
1. The simpler is to replace the plastic switch on the PCB with a momentary switch since the effect only need a "pulse" to work.
2. A little bit more tricky but you can have a true bypass.
I must say that all of this second solution was inspired by a Beavis Audio Research project.
The trick is building a true bypass of the whole circuit including the buffer. You just have to add a little momentary switch to turn the effect on (if you don't want this, you just have to unplug the pedal, then plug it in again until the red LED lights). Then you just have to put fx in and out from the jacks of CB PCB to your 3PDT classic switch as the CB was a usual circuit.

I don't know if I'm totally clear in my explanations...
What do you think of it?

[CheapChip]

Hey Hemmel!

Corned Beef is in a new box! And it works all good!
I had the same problem you seem to have, as if there was only dry signal, pots not responding. And this problem is solved:
I guess you swapped original pots with external ones, leaving 4 big holes on the effect PCB.
These 4 holes have to be wired together and connected to ground. If not, a big part of the FX circuit is not grounded and stays opened, so only a buffered signal is heard.

Hope it helps!