...my beloved Skreddy Swirl is unwell. Started off intermittent (about 50/50 working / not working) a week or so ago (although passed the bypass signal ok), and now not working most of the time it's switched on. LED sometimes lights, sometimes doesn't. Pretty sure it's the switch but I'm not great at this sort of thing. A bit of switch cleaner had it behaving for about a minute!
Usually a borked pedal is a great excuse to try something else but I love this thing.
Anyone here fancy doing a fix for me? - I'll obviously pay going rate and I'm happy to post.
It's built the old-fashioned way with switch, jacks, and power socket off-board (see pic) so hopefully should be straightforward.
Cheers
http://i1137.photobucket.com/albums/n505/dindude/IMG_1557_zpsbzmzqru3.jpghttp://i1137.photobucket.com/albums/n505/dindude/IMG_1559_zpsra0imbn2.jpg
Comments
I used to build them into my pedals when i started, But now i tend to use other methods of switching so I can use click-less Carling type pedals or 2 pole switches (don't seem so prone to break).
The reason they use the PCB is because *initial* assembly - when the PCB holes are empty - is marginally quicker and easier. But it's a pain in the backside to change the switch without damaging the PCB - usually the best way is to carefully destroy the switch leaving just the pins, which can then be desoldered one at a time. So if you're going to have to faff about that much, it's better just to ditch the PCB.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I'll never buy another Fulltone, or any other pedal with a 3PDT. I know that sounds odd given that most pedals now seem to use them, but I'm just sick of changing them - and I dislike the mechanical feel of them anyway. Boss/Ibanez/DOD etc with soft switching only from now on...
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Before
After
No shakeproof washers on the jacks.
Bypass switching wired in the least reliable way possible.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
What the standard scheme does is to run the bypass signal through both switch poles in series - via that little link wire at the lower left. This is twice as unreliable as using only one because a fault in either one will break the signal path. It would be more reliable to use only one pole, ie to connect the wire at a diagonal between the middle terminal on one side and the lower one on the other. But… it would be even more - drastically more - reliable to connect *both* diagonals, with two wires in a 'x'. Then the two switch poles are in parallel and it would take a fault in both *at the same time* to break the signal path. You can see that this is very unlikely by comparison.
Mathematically, it's the square of the probability - so if for example the probability of failure of either switch pole is 1 in 1000, the standard bypass scheme has a failure probability of 1 in 500, but the parallel-wiring scheme has a failure probability of 1 in 1,000,000. This should show why the standard scheme is so stupid.
The 'tagboard method' is better (but still only 1 in 1000 in that example) and also has the advantage of grounding the circuit input in bypass, so it can stop self-oscillation which can be a problem with some fuzzes.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein