Easy Killswitch

This killswitch is easy to make and only costs $9.27!
It can be uses on any thing that uses a 1/4 phone jack.

What a kill switch does for those who do not know is when pressed it kills the sound. the button on the top is a momentary on switch that when pushed reroutes the signal to the ground thus shutting off the sound for as long as you hold down the button. By pressing the butting rapidly you can create some cool studdering effects.

I'm going to show you two ways to make the killswitch. One way is just a killswitch and the other has a added rocker switch. If you record guitar or and thing else you can flip the rocker switch over(killing the noise)so there is complete silence well you wait for you part to come up then you can flip it off to bring the sound back. This makes it so when you are waiting there is not the sound of you hitting the strings or any thing else.

If any thing does not make sence to you feel free to PM me with a question.

Credit for the idea to make a kill switch goes to Super Cameraman though I did modify it a bit

:-]

Please leave a comment and rate my Instructable I like to know what need to be improved/changed.

Step 1 Materals

Stuff You Need:
Drill with bits
Wire
Soldering iron
solder
2 1/4 audio jacks
a momentary switch(push to turn on)
some sort of box to hold it all

Stuff I Bought:
1/4" Stereo Panel-Mount Audio Jack (2-Pack) $3.99
SPST"soft-touch"momentary pushbutton switch $2.99
3x2x1" Project Enclosure $2.29
rocker switch(optionanal) $2.99
total #1 $9.97
total #2(with rocker) $12.96

Comments

[ecotech]

I made one last nite,Before I saw this....Its the same W/O the rocker, but I used Command picture hanging strips to mount it on my guitar. That way I can remove the strip and not have to scrub adhesive if my guitar if I ever want to remove it.

[colinmitchell]

good post! will 1/4" Mono Jacks work? Any difference? Also, does it matter if the Mono Jacks are open or closed circuit??

[Skinr]

What gauge wire should I use?

[pigeonpants]

Fantastical! My bf's a guitarist, and for his bday my plan is to connect two homemade loopers (outlined in this instructable), each with their own on/offs, to your kill switch to overall make a two channel looper. I'm pretty excited about it (and the fact that it automatically means he's gunna have to step it up for my bday! ;D) and I'll report back if it's successful! Whee! =D

[izatrini4eva]

 can i just twist instead of solder?..and any ideas on how 2 add 2 LEDs 2 the box..1 4 rocker and 1 4 button?????

[biggunner]

u cant add leds because there is no power to power them, unless u ran external power... but you could twist it, but its better to solder....

[Sybr3nSchaaf]

hey man, does the colour of the wire matter? are their differences in the wires? i'm a dummie, but i'm pretty good @ soldering, so the wires are the only thing i'm worried about! (btw i don't want comments like "you should let someone with knowledge do it for you!")

[hightekrednek2396]

color is personal preference and to keep track of what gets wired where

[darkria 45]

the color of the wire does not matter at all.some wires have lots of small strands, and other have one thick peice, itl be best to use the stranded

[Glockenator]

Wire color doesn't matter. It's all the same wire, it's just colored so you can easily keep track of which wire is which

[Glockenator]

is this an actual Gibson/Epiphone SG or is it a copy?

[Propane Flair]

looks like a '61 remake..

im getting a (gibson) SG standard for xmas and im buzzing already :DD

[oweng4000]

My Kill-switch buzzes allot. Does anyone have any idea why?

[oweng4000]

Fixed it wired it wrong!

[joeooo]

 same here! any ideas on what i did? i checked all the soldering it looks solid.. maybe i looked at the schematic wrong..

[oweng4000]

What happended to me was i wired one sides Sleeve(ground) to the other sides tip(the place that your guitar signal comes from). once reversed(sleeve to sleeve, tip to tip.)  the buzz goes away.

[flime1]

PLEASE SOMEONE HELP!!!! i made it and it works but there is a very annoying buzzing sound that happens when i plug it in. Is there a way to fix it

[Triworm]

 does the switch have to be normally open, or normaly closed? please answer.

[izatrini4eva]

 button is open

[xXMiNdFrEaKXx]

Can you PM me a better diagram, I bought the same jacks as you but I have no idea on how to do this.

[Glockenator]

if i did the switch wrong, would it potentially damge my guitar or amp?

[rubin69]

 ok so ive tried building it and im not sure how to wire it coz i bought an 1/4 audio jack and it has 3 loop things and one long thing so pls can you help

[rubin69]

 ok so ive tried building it and im not sure how to wire it coz i bought an 1/4 audio jack and it has 3 loop things and one long thing so pls can you help

[rubin69]

 ok so ive tried building it and im not sure how to wire it coz i bought an 1/4 audio jack and it has 3 loop things and one long thing so pls can you help

[rubin69]

 ok so ive tried building it and im not sure how to wire it coz i bought an 1/4 audio jack and it has 3 loop things and one long thing so pls can you help

[Glockenator]

heres the thing.how does this work when the souns not being passed through the wires in it?

[Bradlez92]

what is the "rocker" switch called in real life, so we're all clear :S?

[Glockenator]

its just rocker switch.no fancy name

[Bradlez92]

nevermind :P although, do you think a lighted momentary and rocker switch would work aswell? or would you need some sort of power source?

[Glockenator]

i think you would need something has a power supply,but there would be power from the amp so you never know

[Bradlez92]

I'm not as sure though... I mean, there HAS to be some sort of power source. Otherwise we wouldn't have to power other guitar pedals externally, no?

I'd  test it out myself, but I have neither the time or equipment, nor the wild abandon to throw around money to test on electrical trial and error junk in a "what-the-hell-am-i-doing" haze =D.

[Glockenator]

do you need a normally closed switch or a normaly open switch?

[guitardude12317]

is there any way you can make it (the killswitch) into a pedal?? i saw it plugged in on your pedalboard and i was just wondering...

[toogers]

just get a bigger button, and use as pedal.

[mchs60chip]

interesting i'll have to try this btw i have that exact same distortion pedal for my guitar

[couch style]

hiya, i like the guide, i went out one day and tried to attempt it myself, however when i plugged mine in, no or little noise came from the imput end, however both the momentary/ toggle switches are working well. What have i done wrong with connecting the two jacks so that sound would transfer properly? thank you.

[cdousley]

make sure its properly grounded

[CyberCrash]

If u got a 2 vol. knobs guitar,wouldn't it be easyer to u to just leave a know at the minimum and turn the key?

[blink182folife]

i'm looking at your schematic and i'm a little confused. if the buttons or in parallel, how are they supposed to kill the sound? i tried it out anyway and sound comes out but neither of the buttons kill the sound. even when i tried wiring them in series it didn't work. any suggestions?

[blink182folife]

never mind, it works perfectly! great guide!