Cocked Wah ? Zappa style mods

You could probably do it all with push pulls
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Like so ?
 
the big problem with all this is the amount of time it would take to put together .....

it would involve some hours of research ... just fitting the PCB in the cavity and mounting it some how would take some doing .... and dealing with SMD components isn't a ton of fun unless you're a robot ...

I would keep things as simple as possible ..... if I were to do it to my Les Paul .... I wouldn't drill shit ...

I'd just keep one pot for Vol and one for Tone ..... and free up the two spots for the effect .... and just pick which two controls are the most important to me and keep the others as trim pots inside the guitar

put the on / off on a push pull .... on one of the two pots ... ...

but still..... would take more time than you'd want to pay me for ..... now if I thought I could sell a few it might be a whole different story ....

but I think 99 % of the people out there would just use pedals on the floor ..... even though I totally get wanting a super cool custom ( as far as electronics ) Les Paul
 
Fuck yea. Do you have any the q zones you made in stock ? How much would you charge for one ?

My thought is to put a trim pot onto the q knob in the guitar - leave it at a sweet spot but changeable if need be. Next wire up the existing bridge volume knob to be a master volume for both pickups

Then drill into my perfectly good les paul twice - for an on/off switch & add a knob for the mid sweep (see my shitty diagram)

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Lol this absolutely makes the most sense. Modding the guitar with a built in wah is not practical at all. I am interested in enjoying my life & playing a cool modded les paul like Zappa, not doing things that "make sense" or are "cost effective"
Right on, just seems rather redundant when you can just get a wah to do the same thing essentially.


Plus unless it's on an Epiphone or Haley Benton be prepared to take a huge resale loss.
 
Don’t see why you can’t have a little box taped to your guitar strap.
Stuff like this was cool back then because it was sort of like a novelty that now has become a cliche nostalgia for some but I mean whats the point of devaluing a nice guitar for a mod that is pretty niche and as said a pedal can do.


Not to talk down on Zappa but maybe it made sense back then and now not so much.
 
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Stuff like this was cool back then because it was sort of like a novelty that now has become a cliche nostalgia for some some but I mean whats the point of devaluing a nice guitar for a mod that is pretty niche and as said a pedal can do.


Not to talk down on Zappa but maybe it made sense back then and now not so much.
it simply comes down to .... his guitar ... his money .... I think it's a cool idea ..... just to me .... not worth the effort it would take
 
Not to talk down on Zappa but maybe it made sense back then and now not so much.
Frank was always famous for the filthiest of guitar tones.
But at some point, he stopped playing rhythm parts. Probably 1976, and certainly by Sheik Yerbouti. His soloing though was off the charts after ‘78 - he was incredible.
He was constantly experimenting just before that, with the Rex Bogue Strat, and his SG. The Les Paul sneaked in under the radar as a heavily modified instrument. But featured a lot on the “Shut Up” albums.
He was one of the greatest ever sounding touring guitarists between ‘79 and ‘81. After that, he seemed to not really have the same heart in it.
 
You could probably do it all with push pulls
That was my same thought. There are plenty of enough spots on that LP already to not need to drill anything. If you had each of the pots as splittable or stacked concentric, that should give you all you need.
 
the big problem with all this is the amount of time it would take to put together .....

Damn. I think you are right that 99% of guitar players don't have a use for putting a tiny cocked wah inside their guitar when there's already a million pedals that do it ... I'd be willing to pay a few hundred bucks for the custom electronics + R&D legwork but if you think it would cost more than that I get it.

Right on, just seems rather redundant when you can just get a wah to do the same thing essentially.


Plus unless it's on an Epiphone or Haley Benton be prepared to take a huge resale loss.

Definitely redundant, the point is the ability to adjust the amount of boost & the mid frequency on the fly - can't adjust boost with a traditional wah & can't easily change the frequency with a pedal on the floor.

You're right about resale value but I'm not a collector. This is my only les paul & it would kick ass to customize it with some trippy Zappa electronics
Frank was always famous for the filthiest of guitar tones.

Zappa is incredibly inspiring. The technical skill, the relentless, uncompromising & prolific creativity, fuckin sick biting tone. He's the man.
 
Damn. I think you are right that 99% of guitar players don't have a use for putting a tiny cocked wah inside their guitar when there's already a million pedals that do it ... I'd be willing to pay a few hundred bucks for the custom electronics + R&D legwork but if you think it would cost more than that I get it.



Definitely redundant, the point is the ability to adjust the amount of boost & the mid frequency on the fly - can't adjust boost with a traditional wah & can't easily change the frequency with a pedal on the floor.

You're right about resale value but I'm not a collector. This is my only les paul & it would kick ass to customize it with some trippy Zappa electronics


Zappa is incredibly inspiring. The technical skill, the relentless, uncompromising & prolific creativity, fuckin sick biting tone. He's the man.
If its your only Les Paul it's totally up to you and respect man.

If that is what you want YOLO and cheers *_*
 
Damn. I think you are right that 99% of guitar players don't have a use for putting a tiny cocked wah inside their guitar when there's already a million pedals that do it ... I'd be willing to pay a few hundred bucks for the custom electronics + R&D legwork but if you think it would cost more than that I get it.



Definitely redundant, the point is the ability to adjust the amount of boost & the mid frequency on the fly - can't adjust boost with a traditional wah & can't easily change the frequency with a pedal on the floor.

You're right about resale value but I'm not a collector. This is my only les paul & it would kick ass to customize it with some trippy Zappa electronics


Zappa is incredibly inspiring. The technical skill, the relentless, uncompromising & prolific creativity, fuckin sick biting tone. He's the man.
It's not the first time I've thought about doing something like this .... I was going to create my own Gibson style PCB .... with the option to go 50's wiring or " Modern " .... and pads to use my favorite Emerson Paper in Oil caps ..... I was going to include a Tube Screamer or something outrageous like a HM-2 ...
 
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