mkstewartesq
Well-known member
I’ll be the first to admit that this is kind of a “bitching” thread but I’m posting both to give people a heads-up as well as, on the off chance, that maybe people who have dealt with this same product have some useful advice. I was going to include this information in my ultimate build report but since the shell is causing more problems then it’s solving, who knows when that build will be complete?
I purchased the generic wah shell from Tayda. Although it doesn’t have any trademark on it or instructions, I suspect it’s the same one that sold by Daier and likely is what a lot of US places that sell these shells sell (say It fast, and add “by the seashore”.)
I knew not to expect perfection but:
Sorry for the rant, but I hope it helps someone else who is thinking about going this route for a wah build.
Mike
I purchased the generic wah shell from Tayda. Although it doesn’t have any trademark on it or instructions, I suspect it’s the same one that sold by Daier and likely is what a lot of US places that sell these shells sell (say It fast, and add “by the seashore”.)
I knew not to expect perfection but:
- Most of the parts are junk. The self tapping screws are neither the right size nor self tapping. You’ll have to buy your own off Amazon or somewhere.
- The rack tensioner, in addition to being very thin plastic, does not actually reach fully up to the rack to hold it secure against the wah pot. The only way I can get the wah pot to keep constant contact with the rack is to force the pot as close as I can toward the back of the pedal in its little binding area and tighten the nut to hold it in place and hope I don’t strip the threads on the pot. Still, it loosens over time and you have to constantly readjust it once you start feeling the gears of the pot slipping on the rack.
- The rack itself is not in the same place as on most wah shells. On my other wahs, the distance from the inner edge of the block that the pot mounts on to the center of the rack is 17 mm. On this, it’s 12 mm. Which means that the rack is 5 mm too far to the right, so, whether using my Dunlop Hot Potz or my new Area 51 pot, only half (at most) of the rack is making contact with the gear of the pot. (Picture attached, apologies in advance for all of the lithium grease, which I added to hopefully try to minimize the squealing sound (more on that below). So I think this actually exacerbates the pot wanting to move since there’s this weird pressure from the rack focused on one edge of the pinion gear on the pot.
- The teeth of the rack are spaced differently than the teeth of the gears on either of my pots, so you get an ugly ratcheting sound and feel when you manipulate the pedal. (I looked into buying a real Dunlop rack to replace it but I don’t think it’s going to work because the Dunlop rack is held on by a pin, whereas this generic rack is fastened in place with a screw and a bolt, meaning that I think the hole is far too large to accommodate the Dunlop pin to keep it in place.) Interestingly, the kit did come with a wah pot gear to place on a pot, and I’m assuming that it is better suited to fit the oddly sized gears on the rack they supplied – but I don’t know of any easy way to get the existing gear off of the pot without damaging the pot.
- The squeaking. Dear God, the squeaking. I think the fact that the teeth of the gears don’t match the teeth of the rack, plus the rack only contacting a very small part of the gear on the pot, makes this thing have a horrible squeaking sound every time you move the treadle. Think an angry pigeon that just doesn’t want you to play music involving a wah pedal.
Sorry for the rant, but I hope it helps someone else who is thinking about going this route for a wah build.
Mike
