Wah button

Most people who own a Dunlop CryBaby Original wah would probably agree that all in its not only a great pedal for the money ($79) and that its a ton of fun to play around with. The only problem I have run into is that it requires a good amount of pressure to activate and deactivate something that proves difficult while doing fast switches during a song or while playing while seated.. Basically I figured an absolutely free way to fix this problem. This is my first instructable ever and I hope this helps you out!

Step 1: Stuff you will need

Obviously a cry baby pedal
Glue or duct tape or poster adhesive
A flashlight
Scissors
and a guitar pick

Comments

[bigredlevy]

This is alright for a temporary fix, but the pedal can be easily modified.
I modified my VOX wah, which has a very similar enclosure, buy removing material from the rubber stoppers. this gives a bit more travel = a bit more wah to play with.
The metal DPDT switch has a nut on both sides of the enclosure, to allow for height adjustment.
personally, i like the switch set low. if it's too high you can easily bump it when your really jumping on the pedal in the middle of a riff.

[nascarbean_97]

I agree with these guys.

But I'd rather just stomp on my wah to turn it off and on than make it easy to accidentally do it.

[thestoopididiot]

YOU COULDVE JUST TAKEN OFF THE RUBBER THINGS,EASIER SWITCHING AND WIDER SWEEPS.

[lullaby21]

You could have just screwed the switch up a little higher like everyone else and there would be no need of glueing around...

[jonnylove]

 um... you know that the switch height is adjustable via a nut on the inside of the pedal.. its a simple adjustment that will fix your problem permanently 

[lemonie]

Do I understand that the pedal is either badly-designed or badly-constructed? Your simple shimming trick compensates for what the manufacturer should have done better? L

[mabu4237]

Uhm.. well the pedal itself is fantastic and many famous guitarists including John Frusciante (Chili Peppers), Dave Navarro, Kirk Hammett (Metallica), and Joe Perry (Aerosmith) all use the Cry Baby original, just to name a few. So I guess the construction overall is for the most part very solid aside from the switch.. so I wouldnt go as far as to say that it's poorly constructed seeing as its the best selling pedal on amazon and amazon seems to be a pretty credible source. So in a nutshell no, I wouldn't say it's badly designed. M

[lemonie]

But it does work better with a modification. I suppose that I'd actually have to use it to appreciate it - thanks for the reply.

L

[Ibanezfoo]

Thats subjective. People with giant clodhopper feet would probably want their switch to be less easy to press. I myself prefer the foot-on-pedal type switching. Its all up to the user. The general unit is built like a tank and the circuit sounds good. No design flaws. You can change it to suit your needs by modding switches, changing inductors, moving the pot/linear gear link, etc...

[lemonie]

Thanks for using the phrase "clodhopper", there was a comic years ago that had a strip called "Claude Hopper" - I had never expected to run across that again.

My original query was along the lines of "how does a bit of shimming make this significantly better?" But I think you have answered that.

L

[psychodeathmonkey]

Does anyone know if i could add a pot somwhere in my wah pedal to control the pitch of it? ive been kind of curious about it and really dont feel like shelling out 200 dollars for a whammy and 25 bucks for another power strip/supply. If anyone knows id appreciate it.

[MrCakes14]

Do you want to control the pitch or the frequency range?

[psychodeathmonkey]

The pitch, have a potentiometer that controls the pitch but also be able to take it down to normal pitch also maybe an on off switch on there too.

[MrCakes14]

Hmm...I may not be sure what you're asking, but as far as I figure: a) that's what the pot in the wah already does when you move the expression pedal -or- b) it can't be done...the best you can do is put in a rotary switch to change the value of the capacitor that controls the center frequency of the bandpass. (I hope that made sense). If you want an expression pedal to control pitch, go for a Whammy™, because you can't mod a wah to do that. -Cheers

[gmoon]

Customizing a pedal is up to the individual--Hendrix used to remove one of the rubber feet on his wah, giving it just the right tilt (for him.) Raising the height of the bypass switch might make switching too sensitive for some (I assume it you didn't raise it so much that it reduces the wah range...) but if it works for you, cool.

[mabu4237]

ya i feel you... are there admins on instructables??

[gmoon]

Yes, but there's also a crew of volunteers that do stuff like featuring. Maybe they're the "Jr. Censorship Police", too.

[mabu4237]

again.. I was just trying to make a quick fix that anyone can conduct and if I had spent more time. I didn't intend on having this instructable be a permanent fix.. the idea just came to me that in spur of the moment situations you probably won't have a soldering iron at your disposal such as a gig, where you don't have internet access to look up detailed plans and instructions or quite frankly the time needed to build a more efficient and superb device from a more thorough instructable....

[gmoon]

Wow...that polite exchange we had has been "sanitized?" This community has really gone downhill...

[mabu4237]

well.. im pretty 99.99% of the wah owners arent really phased by .0001 mm and please if you can find a better way of switching the crybaby from on to off by all means tell me!

[crapflinger]

you could actually remove the on/off switch (i guess it's the bypass?) from the contraption where it's currently located...and relocate it off the pedal....like to the side or something...then you can hit it with your foot then go right over to the pedal...though i assume that they put it where it is so that you don't have to do too many things to get it to work

[gmoon]

Well...either it makes it easier (and more sensitive), or it doesn't... Like I said, if it works for you, cool. (There are projects here and and elsewhere that use momentary switches mounted on the treadle--remove your foot, and the effect cuts out. Replace your foot, and the effect is back. Some prefer this also because the effect can stop or start any where in the wah range, not just up at the treble end...)