Members Raskolnikovs axe Posted August 29, 2012 Members Share Posted August 29, 2012 So lately I've been wanting to build a Zvex SHO into my main guitar - a Fender FSR Western Telecaster. I always want that pedal on and the circuit is dead simple. I opened the control cavity up and there's just no room...I'd need to carve a lot of space out. This led me to thinking about using the larger, 4-knob style telecaster pick guard...which led me to thinking about trying P90s. One thing lead to another and I went for it. Here's the SHO board I built to go in the guitar Here's the body with the new pick guard traced. I started taking wood out of the control cavity with a drill press to get the general shape. Didn't have a good bit to do the pickups with so I started going with a hammer and chisel. It sucked. Talked my way into gaining access to the machine shop at school and got to use this awesome milling machine with digital coordinate readout to finish the wood work. Should've done this from the start. Finished cuts on front of body. A friend cut my old bridge down so I wouldn't have to buy a new one. Also, the smaller size bridges you can buy use different mounting screws so this was easier. Made a spot for the battery box for the SHO: Shielding like mad: Wiring. The SHO is wrapped in black electrical tape to prevent shorting. To be continued.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members renula Posted August 29, 2012 Members Share Posted August 29, 2012 Sweet... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FlyGuy10 Posted August 29, 2012 Members Share Posted August 29, 2012 This is incredible. Can't wait to see it finished. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Raskolnikovs axe Posted August 29, 2012 Author Members Share Posted August 29, 2012 done with the wiring, i think. haven't strung it up, but i plugged it into my amp and tapped the pickups to see if i had signal. they work with the SHO off but when I engage it, I get nothing. This is confusing because I confirmed the SHO board's functionality with my o-scope before installation. Done for the night - troubleshooting tomorrow! Here's what it looks like though: I did the SHO switching and output jack power cutoff off the top of my head though and at that point I'd had four of these: Not surprised it's not 100% yet... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members frankthomson Posted August 29, 2012 Members Share Posted August 29, 2012 oh my. did u quit ur day job? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Raskolnikovs axe Posted August 29, 2012 Author Members Share Posted August 29, 2012 What day job? I'm a college student! ....actually, I do work, I'm a TA and RA as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members frankthomson Posted August 29, 2012 Members Share Posted August 29, 2012 lol that aint work. now get offa my lawn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Raskolnikovs axe Posted August 29, 2012 Author Members Share Posted August 29, 2012 I used to have a "real" job as a waiter but I took a pay cut of about 80% to TA digital logic and RA in a nano-optics lab. So in terms of pay...yeah I guess it ain't work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members H.R. Shove and Stuff Posted August 29, 2012 Members Share Posted August 29, 2012 Ya know you could have reworked the SHO layout and avoided this whole thing. Still cool. Good work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Zappa74 Posted August 29, 2012 Members Share Posted August 29, 2012 sweet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Raskolnikovs axe Posted August 29, 2012 Author Members Share Posted August 29, 2012 Ya know you could have reworked the SHO layout and avoided this whole thing. Still cool. Good work! How so? I'm aware that I could have made the board itself smaller or arranged it differently, but believe me, it wasn't fitting in the original cavity. Also, I needed to add at least 1 knob to control the SHO boost level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BrentMpls Posted August 29, 2012 Members Share Posted August 29, 2012 Excellent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members H.R. Shove and Stuff Posted August 29, 2012 Members Share Posted August 29, 2012 How so? I'm aware that I could have made the board itself smaller or arranged it differently, but believe me, it wasn't fitting in the original cavity. Also, I needed to add at least 1 knob to control the SHO boost level. I would have used a concentric pot for SHO volume and normal volume and done the whole thing PTP in the cavity around the existing pots since it's only a few components, half of which go to ground so you could have used the back of a pot to keep most of the components secure. Use 3 of those button batteries to power it as the SHO circuit lasts a life time on 9v. That could have all definitely fit in there. But that's just me, I'd rather do something easier and reversible than go through the trouble of hacking a body. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Raskolnikovs axe Posted August 29, 2012 Author Members Share Posted August 29, 2012 I would have used a concentric pot for SHO volume and normal volume and done the whole thing PTP in the cavity around the existing pots since it's only a few components, half of which go to ground so you could have used the back of a pot to keep most of the components secure. Use 3 of those button batteries to power it as the SHO circuit lasts a life time on 9v. That could have all definitely fit in there. But that's just me, I'd rather do something easier and reversible than go through the trouble of hacking a body. I did think about that, but you need a 5k pot for the SHO volume. Not something You'd find concentric with 500k for the normal volume. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cisco Posted August 29, 2012 Members Share Posted August 29, 2012 That's badass. Nice work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Raskolnikovs axe Posted August 29, 2012 Author Members Share Posted August 29, 2012 Found the problem. At some point during assembly I must have touched the transistor with my iron, because it was toasted. After installing a new transistor, everything works great. I'm super happy. I'll try and post some tone samples maybe this weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BrentMpls Posted August 29, 2012 Members Share Posted August 29, 2012 Please do post samples with it on/off. Also that semi-see thru paint is nifty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Raskolnikovs axe Posted August 29, 2012 Author Members Share Posted August 29, 2012 I will make sure to do that. I'm having a lot of fun exploring tones because I also just rebuilt my board - all of the pedals on here are new-to-me except the tuner, BYOC rat, and bitcrusher: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RadioSilence Posted August 29, 2012 Members Share Posted August 29, 2012 That's pretty cool. Well done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Raskolnikovs axe Posted August 29, 2012 Author Members Share Posted August 29, 2012 Here's some examples of each pickup with and without the boost. I have the boost set at the sweet-spot where it doesn't really bump the volume but does add some clarity and presence, although I do crank up the boost to max at the end of each clip, where it distorts a bit on its own as well as overdriving the input of whatever is next in chain. With light OD (Full-drive 2, overdrive at about 10 o'clock):[video=youtube;3q39jicW5pE] Clean examples:[video=youtube;67lcvGz4ufQ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RoboPimp Posted August 30, 2012 Members Share Posted August 30, 2012 thats also an outdated SHO layout, try a zeener diode from gate to ground or between gate and source for better transistor protection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Trick Fall Posted August 30, 2012 Members Share Posted August 30, 2012 That's pretty badass I applaud you sir. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Zappa74 Posted August 30, 2012 Members Share Posted August 30, 2012 Those P90s sounded real good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Raskolnikovs axe Posted August 30, 2012 Author Members Share Posted August 30, 2012 Those P90s sounded real good. Thanks! I think so too. Very happy with the results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members d4rk0 Posted August 30, 2012 Members Share Posted August 30, 2012 Word. Tele with P90s = win Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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