Bookshelf Fuzz
Role: CAD Designer, Engineer
Type: Personal Project
Curious about functional design thinking and influenced by the geometric and horizontal elements of mid-century aesthetic (associated with case-study architecture), I designed a desk piece/object that functions as an analog guitar effect pedal. The circuit is based on the schematic for the Fuzz Face, which was made famous in the 1970s by Jimi Hendrix.
This Project Involved:
- Circuit building / soldering
- CAD Modelling
- 3D Printing
Problem: It is difficult to experiment with guitar pedal schematics in commercial guitar pedals because their components are often soldered onto PCBs. For guitar pedal or circuitry enthusiasts, there is no solution to the need to quickly design and iterate through pedal schematics and hear what they sound like, before transferring the circuit onto a more permanent board.
Solution: An electrical object that blends into your desk or bookshelf, for easy and casual usage. If you have an idea for a new schematic you want to try out, just slide off the wooden cover to access the breadboard and circuit, and insert your new components.
Slide On, Plug In, Play
I tried to make the assembly as simple and modular as possible, allowing the user to access the effect pedal's components so that they could configure and adjust it as they wish. Each of the case's parts slide on and off of each-other, so no glue or adhesive is used.
With input and output jacks assembled into the object, users can plug in their instrument and quickly test out new schematics.
The Wooden Cover
The wooden slide-on cover sought to achieve a natural and minimal finish.
The Insides
Currently I have the schematic of the fuzz face circuit which uses NPN silicon transistors, instead of the geranium PNP transistors that were originally used. The components include:
one C1: 2.2 uF - 2.2 Microfarad Capacitor * polarized (aluminum) rated 16V or more
one C2: 20 uF - 20 Microfarad Capacitor * polarized (aluminum) * using 22uf here
one C3: 0.01 uF - .01 Microfarad Capacitor * non polarized (ceramic)
one R1: 33KΩ - 33K ohm resistor
one R2: 470Ω - 470 ohm resistor
one R3: 8.2KΩ - 8.2K ohm resistor
one R4: 100KΩ - 100K ohm resistor
one Rvol: 500KΩ (Audio tap) - 500K ohm audio tap potentiometer
one Rfuzz: 1KΩ (Linear tap) - 1K ohm linear tap potentiometer
two Q1, Q2: AC128 - AC128 Transistor
two In/Out Jack - Stereo for battery supply
one Battery clip
The two video clips are examples of how this pedal sounds on an acoustic bass guitar and a Korg Monotron pocket synth.
Fabrication & Prototyping
