New wood enclosure finished, fat gnat and colorsound inductorless wah

[John Lyons]

Here's a new one I just finished.
It's a modified Jack Orman "Fat Gnat" with an inductorless twin T wah filter
tacked on to get those half %^&*ed and resonant tones...



The wood is Pomello Sapele and Bubinga Pomello

There are some sound clips here:
www.mrdwab.com/john  (Look under pedals and 5532 distortion and the wah clips are below.)

[343 Salty Beans]

your enclosures are freaking amazing, man. I'm quite jealous of how amazing they look.

Imagine a whole board full of these and a natural-finished guitar.

*runs to change pants*

[Paul Marossy]

Very nice figuring on those exotic woods that you used! 

[John Lyons]

Funny thing is that the photo doesn't do the figure of the wood justice. I'll have to try another photo on a better lit day. Wait till you see the other box I have going. Super figured!
Thanks guys

John

[QSQCaito]

Damn it's freaking awesome!
I wouldnt dare to stomp it , it was just spend all day polishing it..


Congrats dude, they all look awesome, are they foiled in the inside with aluminum tap or somehign?


BYE

dac

[petemoore]

  That's a charmer !!
  Funny thing is that the photo doesn't do the figure of the wood justice., I'm sure that's true too, bubinga is a highly photogenic wood anyway though.
  I'm glad it turned out so right!
  How did you get the potpanel thickness down thin enough to catch pot shaft threads with the nuts?
 

[amz-fx]

Great looking pedal, John. Nice work!

regards, Jack

[markm]

Very Nice work!
Love the wood grain, very lavish looking, deluxe kinda look to it.
I'm picturing a ROG Ruby inside a nice wooden enclosure with grille-cloth over the speaker and all.......... 

[petemoore]

  Some super fine looking woodgrain !!!
  ...and wood is my favorite color...

[John Lyons]

Thanks folks! Lot's of elbow grease went into that finish (and woodworking. )
The thickness of the pots and jack areas is a pain! I take a 1 1/2 inch diameter Forstner bit and drill to the thickess I need to get the pot bushings to thread. So each pot and about 1/4 or more around it has a little recess to allow for threading the pot bushings. Where the jacks will go I drill the side panels from the inside the same way, but I usually do most of the way across so I don't get stuck with putting the jacks in certain spots. I decide later where exactly they will go. SOmetines I don't go thin enough and I recess the nut area for the pots and jacks from the outside a bit. The Knobs hide the recess but the jacks will show it. Usually looks fine either way.

These are foil shielded with Ducting Aluminum tape from the hardware store. That's a pain as well. Oh well...

[petemoore]

I take a 1 1/2 inch diameter Forstner bit and drill to the thickess I need to get the pot bushings to thread.
  Cool,,,that's the way I do it, I like having the thickness so the pieces have some 'grip' when assembling the box, which is too thick for the pot threads. Pretty easy to do with a Forstner, I think I used a 1'' or 1-1/4'' bit, then dug out between the recesses with a chisel...
  I just use a super skinny bit and drill through to mark the hole center on the top and bottom of box panel, then Forstner to desired thickness from inside [actually recessing from the outside looks cool, the knob sits in the recess ] checking often for depth so there's still enough grain left for support...just enough to get the threads to show when then nut is tightened...which equates to...enough so I don't strip the threads by trying to get the nut tight having but one or two threads.
 

[John Lyons]

Just to clarify for those who don't know. A forstner bit makes a  flat bottomed hole (if you drill part way into a piece of wood)
Yeah, recessed holes for the pots and jacks can be cool. Makes it a little tougher to get the Nuts on and tighjt but flush jacks and pot nuts are nice. If you use old stock pots the threads are longer but then it way harder to find the values you need and much more expensive...

John

[bancika]

you might wanna try conductive paint, available at www.stewmac.com makes shielding much easier in cases like this. By the way, I just finished my first wooden enclosure. It's made of one piece ash routed inside, with laser engraved graphic and labels on top and polyurethane clear coat. It will need one or two coats more and I'll post pics. I plan to make some other options cause I have much wood (my father makes guitars): ash, maple, mahagony, wenge, puple hart, rosewood, etc...It would be nice to share expiriences with you

[John Lyons]

Bancika
I used to make one piece routed enclosures but you need to have wood that is about 2" thick at least. It's a lot of work and it took too much time for me. Routing the single piece is pretty critical for the jacks... I make them now a couple different ways, 4 side panels and and 2 side panels when I have thick enough wood. I get most of my wood either from scavange or trees that fall on out property, firewood as well. The wood for this pedal above is a special order for a friend...
I'll take a look at that conductive paint. The tape is cheap so I may just stick (pun...) with that.

John

[bancika]

we're kinda used to routing. When making guitar you need to do a hell of a routing And almost all wood I have is 2" or thicker used for guitar bodies...I just use pieces that are not large enough to make good guitar body, but can be great for enclosure.
It looks cooler when it's one piece, except when combining few woods. Maybe I'll try that on my next try.
We don't have self adhesive foir around here, so I'll have to glue usual one. I had some of stewmac's foil which was great, even adhesive is conductive so you don't have to think about making contact between pieces of foil inside.
By the way, your enclosure(s) look fantastic!!!

[John Lyons]

Here's a more color accurate photo of the box with the woods figure showing better.
Different knobs as well. Just can't get away from those chunky Radio Shack knobs!

[343 Salty Beans]

Hey, ratshack IS useful for something...

like closing down a bunch of stores and letting DIYers rob them of all their components 

[MartyMart]

Gorgeous box John ..... again !!   

Still have not "filled" my wooden box from you , looks too nice to drill !!

MM.

[bancika]

did you ever consider making wooden knobs? It would be nice addition to wooden box.
I'll make some of maple that left over from some guitar necks and stain them if needed.

[John Lyons]

I like the contrast of the black knobs on the wood but I also would like to made some wooden knobs. I don't have a lathe though. Maybe I can make some on the drill press... Even if they are just half inch thick discs that would be fine. The hardest part is getting the set screws done. The brass insert and set screw is a stumbling point. Bancika, can you think of how to to make the set screw part work? Maybe using old knobs and breaking them apart and using the breass inserts...?

John