Build Your Own Clone

Ok, so maybe the title got your attention or maybe it didn't.  Anyway, this post is about a website I found that sells kits for one to build a clone of a popular guitar effect.  Well, since I like to play around with electronic stuff I really wanted to give this a try, so I bought a clone of a popular distortion pedal.  The company said this was their easiest pedal to assemble but the real reason I got it was the fact that it was the cheapest!

I had a lot of fun putting it together over the course of a couple of days and it turned out to work pretty nicely.  It's also something that I will most likely use in my pedal chain, maybe not what it was designed for, but what would work best for me, a boost pedal.  Below are some pictures of the progress.  I hope to be able to get some audio/video clips soon so you can hear the magic!

Here's the kit all together straight out of the box

Work station.  Notice the necessities, Dr.Pepper and the MacBook

Circuit board assembled.

Insides assembled

Outside view.

Guts fully assembled.

Final.  One of the changes I made that you won't normally see in guitar effects is the green LED.  I had a few extra from an old project and figured I give it a little bit of a different color.  It works nicely. 

If you would like to get your own clone, go to www.buildyourownclone.com. They have tons of great guitar effects to build for any guitar enthusiast.

The Tales of a Taylor

so about 10 years ago i was given one of the most awesome gifts a kid in 11th grade could get.  my grandmother bought me an acoustic guitar.  now wasn't just any acoustic guitar.  she sent me to the music store with an uncle and just told me to find a guitar i like.  at the time i had no idea what to look for in a guitar, i just wanted it to sound and feel good.  well i guess i'm naturally drawn to expensive equipment because after we got back, i realized that it was a $2400 guitar!


in case you're wondering, or care to know these things, i got a Taylor 714CE.  it has a cedar top which gives it an amazingly deep tone compared to other taylor guitars.


well my grandma bought me this guitar because i had been leading our youth group worship band for about 2 or 3 months borrowing our youth minister's acoustic.  i had a decent electric at the time but it wasn't suitable to use leading by myself, so she bought me one.  so needless to say, this guitar has a good bit of value to me, both monetarily and sentimental.


I tell you all of that to tell you this...


a couple of weeks ago, due to a careless mistake, i put a nice big CRACK on the side of my Taylor.  when I saw it happen, I literally almost cried.  Now i've put some dings and scratches in it over the years, but I've never cracked a guitar before.


after calling the Taylor factory I realized that it would cost way too much to send up to them to repair so I called around and brought it to a local guy at the New Orleans Guitar Center.  after we looked at it together he told me that the damage was mostly cosmetic.  he suggested that I mark the ends of the crack and watch it.  if the crack grows then to do something but he didn't think it would.


those of you that know my wife well will laugh good at this, but she jokingly told me to put a band-aid on the crack until it got fixed.  if it were any other guitar than my taylor i would consider it but this is my 'serious' guitar.  no stickers on the case, and definitely no band-aids on the crack.


but my wife's sense of humor reminds me that my guitar is just a tool for the work God has called me to do.  no matter how much money the thing is worth, reduced down, it's made of wood, metal, and glue, nothing more.


so now, i'm playing with an injured Taylor but that doesn't really matter.  all the cracks and dings add character not only to the guitar, but to its owner who is continually being reminded that the material things we have in this world hold no eternal value.  whatever we have, we don't really own.  we are just managers of what God has given us.


"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6:19-21