mkstewartesq
Well-known member
I’ve never owned a fuzz. I never wanted a fuzz. I don’t like the sound of fuzzes.
But then I heard the demo for the Mayonnaise over in the project wish list forum and, like a lot of people, I was kind of blown away by it. And so here we are.
The build was very straightforward. It was actually kind of a relief to not have to deal with integrated circuits for a change. Just resistors, capacitors, diodes and some transistors. And a buttload of knobs and switches.
It sounds terrific. Of course, it’s gonna be very much an education for me because I’ve never owned a fuzz (see above). But there are so many flavors to play around with on this thing that it is incredibly versatile. With the three toggle switches in the off position, it sounds like what I think of as a traditional fuzz but as you flip each one on, the sound gets a little more… I don’t know, “modern“? And because the three toggles are independent of each other, you really have a world of variety by flipping them on or off in any combination. Ditto for the sustain control, which, in my “non-fuzz“ mind, I think of as equivalent to a gain control as far as being able to go from a relatively clean sound to an over-the-top fuzz.
This thing needs to be played LOUD. When I was first testing the pedal, I had my amp up a little louder than I was expecting and it sounded absolutely glorious. I had a ton of fun playing my first fuzz right then. Later, after I boxed it and wanted to make sure it was still working properly, it was too late to really have the amp up at a decent volume. The pedal still sounded as it should but I felt a little deflated playing it at such a low volume. Again, the louder the better.
The enclosure was a bit different for me – I decided to go very minimalistic because I wanted a monochrome aluminum scheme. For the enclosure, I progressively sanded it from bare aluminum, from 220 grit up to 3000 grit and then some metal polishing cloths. It’s not truly a mirror finish but it’s pretty darn close. I opted not to clearcoat so, it scratches easily. Seriously – if you glance at this thing from across the room, it will develop a scratch. If you make a snide comment about it when you think it is out of earshot, it will scratch.
As far as the phrase on the pedal - it’s, of course, a reference to Woody Guthrie, who taped the sign “this machine kills fascist” to his acoustic guitar in 1943. it seemed to fit the spirit of a fuzz pedal.
Thanks,
Mike
But then I heard the demo for the Mayonnaise over in the project wish list forum and, like a lot of people, I was kind of blown away by it. And so here we are.
The build was very straightforward. It was actually kind of a relief to not have to deal with integrated circuits for a change. Just resistors, capacitors, diodes and some transistors. And a buttload of knobs and switches.
It sounds terrific. Of course, it’s gonna be very much an education for me because I’ve never owned a fuzz (see above). But there are so many flavors to play around with on this thing that it is incredibly versatile. With the three toggle switches in the off position, it sounds like what I think of as a traditional fuzz but as you flip each one on, the sound gets a little more… I don’t know, “modern“? And because the three toggles are independent of each other, you really have a world of variety by flipping them on or off in any combination. Ditto for the sustain control, which, in my “non-fuzz“ mind, I think of as equivalent to a gain control as far as being able to go from a relatively clean sound to an over-the-top fuzz.
This thing needs to be played LOUD. When I was first testing the pedal, I had my amp up a little louder than I was expecting and it sounded absolutely glorious. I had a ton of fun playing my first fuzz right then. Later, after I boxed it and wanted to make sure it was still working properly, it was too late to really have the amp up at a decent volume. The pedal still sounded as it should but I felt a little deflated playing it at such a low volume. Again, the louder the better.
The enclosure was a bit different for me – I decided to go very minimalistic because I wanted a monochrome aluminum scheme. For the enclosure, I progressively sanded it from bare aluminum, from 220 grit up to 3000 grit and then some metal polishing cloths. It’s not truly a mirror finish but it’s pretty darn close. I opted not to clearcoat so, it scratches easily. Seriously – if you glance at this thing from across the room, it will develop a scratch. If you make a snide comment about it when you think it is out of earshot, it will scratch.
As far as the phrase on the pedal - it’s, of course, a reference to Woody Guthrie, who taped the sign “this machine kills fascist” to his acoustic guitar in 1943. it seemed to fit the spirit of a fuzz pedal.
Thanks,
Mike
I've done polished boxes before. The no-film is more delicate. You did a smart thing keeping the graphics away from the nuts, that's the most common point for scrape-age. Mine seem to have stayed shinny over the years. 
