Made an interesting discovery with my Fuzz pedal last night.

[Prages]

A few years ago telecaster911 was gracious enough to print up PCBs for a fuzz pedal build and a few of us here bought the kit and built the pedals.

The pedal worked fined, but it was a little too over-the-top for my tastes, even with the gain turned way down.

Last night I restrung my Reverend Flatrock (what a PITA restringing that Bigsby was...don't ever tell me a Floyd is a pain to restring and then tout the virtues of the Bigsby).

Anyway, I hadn't played the Rev for a while because it had some fret sprout and needed a good set up. Took care of all of that and got it playing great again. Then I decided to hook up the homemade fuzz pedal.

Big over-the-top fuzz tones were cranking out of my amp.

Then I used the bass roll-off knob on the guitar. The fuzz cleaned up rather nicely. Just using the bass rolloff on the guitar, I can now dial in anything from a mild fuzz to the melt your face off fuzz that I thought was this pedal's one trick.

The Rev made this pedal infinitely more useable.

 

[jelloman]

Does the Flatrock have P90s or humbuckers?

 

[Denverdave]

I think it has the Revtrons.....same as mine.

 

[Chad]

That bass contour is pretty useful. I like it more than a regular tone knob. And difficulty stringing a Bigsby? I don't get that. I put a Bigsby on a Gretsch I had a long time ago and didn't find it any harder than stringing any other guitar.

 

[jelloman]

I think it has the Revtrons.....same as mine.

Hmm...for me, fuzz works great with single coils but gets to mushy with 'buckers...

 

[Tig]

I replace strings on a Bigsby just like any other guitar, one at a time. It keeps me from getting lost!

 

[Help!I'maRock!]

@mattburnside changed my life w/r/t restringing a Bigsby.

Kink the ball end so it stays on the pin. Use a capo to keep the string tight while you thread it to the tuner.

I do the same thing with my Ric (though I also add painters tape at the tailpiece) and my frustration is no more.

 

[Prages]

My problem was the ball end popping off of the little studs. I'll try the capo thing next time. I could have restrung all of my Floyd equipped guitars (5 or 6) in the time it took me to do this one Bigsby.

And they are Revtron pickups.

 

[Chad]

My problem was the ball end popping off of the little studs. I'll try the capo thing next time. I could have restrung all of my Floyd equipped guitars (5 or 6) in the time it took me to do this one Bigsby.

And they are Revtron pickups.

I have heard that before, but it never happened to me. I don't know if I just got lucky every time I restrung or I was doing something "wrong" while changing the strings that made it not happen.

 

[Prages]

And I've got a loose volume pot on the DeArmond, and the twisting pot pulled a wire loose. I was using a shoe string under the knobs to pull the knobs, and actually pulled the shaft out of the pot.

So it's a good time to upgrade all the pots to CTS.

 

[telecaster911]

Cool. :thu; fuzz, it had it in spades.

 

[Modern Saint]

I about to finish mine along with a few other projects. I have just been busy working on other things along with playing out a lot more. Sadly the toughest things on building your own pedals are always the graphics. While some don't care, I do. Also managed to shrink it down to a standard sized box. Can't wait to finish mine!

 

[Prages]

Sadly the toughest things on building your own pedals are always the graphics.

I bought a pre-painted white enclosure for mine, and just used clear labels and a laser printer to make labels.

It isn't fancy, but it works for me.

 

[Modern Saint]

I bought a pre-painted white enclosure for mine, and just used clear labels and a laser printer to make labels.

It isn't fancy, but it works for me.

That is the standard, I am just having fun trying upgrade my game - that's all.

 

[Gary Blanchard]

That is the standard, I am just having fun trying upgrade my game - that's all.

You know what, Stan. If you want me to wear 37 pieces of flair, like your pretty boy over there, Brian, why don’t you just make the minimum 37 pieces of flair?

 

[Modern Saint]

You know what, Stan. If you want me to wear 37 pieces of flair, like your pretty boy over there, Brian, why don’t you just make the minimum 37 pieces of flair?

I am surprised that you aren't singing "wanna be a gangsta" with a banjo

 

[Prages]

You know what, Stan. If you want me to wear 37 pieces of flair, like your pretty boy over there, Brian, why don’t you just make the minimum 37 pieces of flair?

I'm quite impressed.

 

[Modern Saint]

I'm quite impressed.