On board effects

[Fretworn]

Frank Zappa had effects built into his SG. Matt Bellamy has ZVex Fuzz Factorys built into some of his guitars. It’s definitely been done before. And I’m pretty sure Guitar Fetish sells effects especially designed to fit into guitars.

[Simon Barden]

It's probably worth buying and making any unit you might want to try and fit into a guitar as a pedal first, just to see if you like it and its not too noisy etc. Just because it exists doesn't mean that it's going to be a great sounding effect unit. There are thousands of compressor effects boxes out there.

Note that both of those units are designed for a +12v DC supply, so a 9v battery won't do. You could probably change some of the components to allow for for 9v operation, but you'd need to feel confident about doing so or get some help from the electronics wizards around the forum. You'd also need to modify the power switching circuit so that the 0V line from the battery was switched using a TRS jack socket.

On the compressor, I'd be temped to bring VR3 out (threshold control) as a separate front-mounted pot.

On both units, the effect's electronics would also be permanently in circuit, so your guitar would have a buffered output with the effect switched off. There is nothing wrong with that provided the buffer is audibly neutral, but some circuits do knock-off some treble ('tone suck'), so again, a good reason for making a standard kit first. A clean buffer with a low impedance output will make the guitar almost immune from the effects of long guitar cables.

If you didn't like the sound when in bypass, then you have the option of fitting a true bypass switch which will cut out the circuit altogether. To do this you really need a triple pole double throw switch; something like this: https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/produ...B&gclsrc=aw.ds

Guitars with built-in effects have popped up from time to time since the mid-1960s. Here's an article covering 5 of them: https://www.musicradar.com/news/guit...effects-616185

[JohnH]

I've been thinking about onboard effects for my WL, though I mostly just want fuzz. I looked at some of the guitarfetish ones but I think I'll probably try to make my own based on a couple of the fuzz pedals I built.

[Andy40]

Hi Oli, I actually built this compressor from Jaycar. It was a good learning project.
Drawbacks:-
1.the PCB is massive and wont fit in an enclosure easily; and
2. It needs 12v to run the circuit, not 9v

actually all of the Short Circuit Guitar pedal clones need 12v to run.