i am making a wah switchless.

[birt]

but it still switches. basicly i make the wah itself a switch.

i installed a fuse holder on the wah housing, above it under the rocker is a clipped off pot metal shaft. so when you rock it all the way to the front and then push you make the shaft click in the fuse holder. that's the mechanical part.

now in the middle of the fuze holder will be a spring, wich is connected to the screw that holds the fuse holder from the inside. that screw is grounded. the fuse holder itself is connected to a relay. if you click the wah the pot shaft pushes the spring and makes the relay contact to ground so it changes position.

True bypass ^^

by the way, the other idea was a "flag" on the rocker that went in to the wah housing when the rocker clicks and goes between a led and LDR wich cuts off the power to the relay.

[Processaurus]

Interesting idea, so many people that use wah have trouble knowing if it got switched on and off right in the middle of shows with all kinds of distractions going on.  I'm thinking usability wise there may be an issue with your idea, which is accidentally turning it off when you're going for that full toe down wah treble position, with the switched ones you have to really push on it to activate the switch.  Maybe if you made its so the fuse holder wasn't grounded, and the spring was going to the relay, and contacted the rod and got grounded only when the rod was fully in place in the fuseholder, not when you accidentally bump the rod and fuseholder together.  Or put a microswitch in there instead of the spring.

If you want it to turn off in the toe down position without pressure, you could just use one of the carling momentary stompswitches, they are easy enough to push down I think a wah rocker could hold it closed.

Or, how about a piezo or pressure sensing resistor under the rubber mat going to a comparator driving the relay, so that the wah was only on when there was a weight on the rocker.  Or do that on the bottom half by having one of the rubber feet smush on the pressure sensing resistor or piezo.  Or an optical sensor on top of the pedal that gets covered by your foot.  or a thin tact switch or two under the rubber. 

Or use a logic AND combination of your switch and one of the foot sensing ideas, so the wah is only off when your foots off it, and the toe is down.

[SuperGeo]

maybe a very sensitive small momentary switch on the rocker that needs very little weight to me activated (maybe a momentary tactile switch?) and a bypass circuit for it. then just put your foot on the rocker (consequently stepping on the switches) and it bypasses.

[birt]

Interesting idea, so many people that use wah have trouble knowing if it got switched on and off right in the middle of shows with all kinds of distractions going on.  I'm thinking usability wise there may be an issue with your idea, which is accidentally turning it off when you're going for that full toe down wah treble position, with the switched ones you have to really push on it to activate the switch.  Maybe if you made its so the fuse holder wasn't grounded, and the spring was going to the relay, and contacted the rod and got grounded only when the rod was fully in place in the fuseholder, not when you accidentally bump the rod and fuseholder together.  Or put a microswitch in there instead of the spring.

If you want it to turn off in the toe down position without pressure, you could just use one of the carling momentary stompswitches, they are easy enough to push down I think a wah rocker could hold it closed.

Or, how about a piezo or pressure sensing resistor under the rubber mat going to a comparator driving the relay, so that the wah was only on when there was a weight on the rocker.  Or do that on the bottom half by having one of the rubber feet smush on the pressure sensing resistor or piezo.  Or an optical sensor on top of the pedal that gets covered by your foot.  or a thin tact switch or two under the rubber. 

Or use a logic AND combination of your switch and one of the foot sensing ideas, so the wah is only off when your foots off it, and the toe is down.

thats the point really. you HAVE to push a little harder so the pot shaft clicks in the fuse holder. and only when it is fully clicked in the holder it touwhes the spring making connection between the fuse holder and the spring. it's working quite well but i'm still looking for a good spring (the one i use now doesn't fit very well) and i just glued the pot shaft to the bottom of the rocker. i don't think it will last long with just some glue.

edit: http://sic.fotopic.net/p28598529.html
here ya go.

[Processaurus]

Aaah... a picture = 1000 wordz

Looks good, if the glue ever gives out you could always fashion a couple little metal brackets to hold the shaft to the roof of the rocker.

[birt]

and it works very well

now i'll have to make a wah


oh the shell is from an old very bad sounding russian fuzz wah. it's plastic but on the inside it's coated with conductive paint so i figured i could use it