CryBaby mechanism: a simple question

[zener]

I haven't had a wah pedal under my foot. I'm still ignorant about its construction.

Is the stompswitch under the pedal for bypass. When you step on the pedal this will turn on the wah. But doesn't the pedal move up and down as you play? Does it hit the switch again and again, bypass and wah again ?

Please bear with my ignorance. I'm asking because I'm going to build one.

Thanks.

[Fret Wire]

Yes, the switch is under the front of the pedal. But it doesnt engage until the pedal is all the way down. Then you rock the pedal up and down to get the desired wah effect.

[jimbob]

You can adjust the height of the switch as well..

[Ansil]

also if you want moemntary action like the morleys ie step on and wah step off and it goes off you can change the switch and put it in the actual foot part itself

[FatMike]

Turning my Cry Baby's switch on/off was actually a bit tricky, as the switch was quite hard to "push", until I replaced the SPDT with an 3PDT switch for true bypass. Turning it on when sitting on a chair was quite hard to achieve and turning it on/off accidently was nearly impossible...
However, I guess that the standart GCB-95 Cry Baby is definitely not the best wah wah pedal to buy.
First off all the bypass is realy bad (tone sucking). Also the wah effect is not that great, there's not that much "wah". Of course you could mod it (by changing some capaciators), but I would check out other pedals before choosing this one. Maybe the enclosure is actually the best thing about this pedal...

[Mark Hammer]

In many instances, there is a rubber pad attached to the underside of the foot-treadle which provides a certain degree of resistance.  This is part of what allows you to use the entire span foot-movement permitted by the foot-treadle without accidentally actuating the stompswitch.  When you WANT to actuate it, though, you just press a little harder, the rubber pad gives a little, and that extra "give" is just enough to make the difference and permit mechanical actuating of the switch.  The height of the stompswitch is adjusted, factoring in the pad.

In some cases, I imagine the pad has gotten lost or simply lost its "give" and gotten hard over the years.  You can adjust the switch height to compensate for this somewhat, but the best case scenario is to have a"rubbery" pad in place.  The pad does not need to be on or near the switch itself.  All it needs to do is permit that extra 1% of foot-treadle rotation when you press harder.