Maestro Fuzz (builder help needed)

[FuzzMike]

Hey there....

I'm needing some help with my Maestro Fuzz FZ1-A. I am not getting any sound at all and the battery is getting EXTREMELY hot, really, really hot.

I'm attaching a pic to see if someone could help me spot the problem. I know it's hard without testing it but I just want to know if the wiring is correct.

I know there's a resistor that was changed and maybe one or two small caps (not sure). Also replaced the attached cable with an input jack. The red cable was replaced with the black cable, that goes to the battery + (I need to remove the red piece of cable). The white one goes to the negative.

I can send hi res pics if needed. Any help is much appreciated.


http://i808.photobucket.com/albums/zz5/mihkelis/P1010715.jpg

http://i808.photobucket.com/albums/zz5/mihkelis/P1010717.jpg

[Smitty Pedals]

The FZ-1A is a positive ground circuit. Looks like you have the battery wires reversed. The black from the positive battery terminal should go to ground and the white from the negative battery terminal to the circuit board.

[FuzzMike]

Thanks for your help, I switched the cables. The previous owner replaced the cable (to gtr) with a Switchcraft jack. I just noticed that if the jack is attached to the enclosure the battery gets ridiculously hot. If I plug the guitar with the jack hanging lose it works perfectly. Is it making any ground contact? What kind of jack should I use?

Thanks!

[Smitty Pedals]

Your welcome. I have actually built quite a few clones of the FZ-1A pedal from scratch so I have quite a bit of experience with it.
If the battery is getting hot somehow positive and negative are reversed or touching somewhere in the pedal. Where did you connect the white wire from the battery? From photos I have been able to find on the interenet it looks like it should go to the battery On/Off switch on the volume pot.

[FuzzMike]

The white cable (from negative side of the battery) goes to a lug in the center of the "vol" pot (not the usual three lugs). That pot has two lugs in the center.

Thanks!

[Smitty Pedals]

And the wire from the other lug is going to the circuit board?

[FuzzMike]

Yes, it's like an uninsulated copper wire.

[Smitty Pedals]

Where is the black wire connected?

[FuzzMike]

The black wire goes from the positive side of the battery to the screw on the circuit board (left side). There are also two resistors there.

[Smitty Pedals]

That sounds right. Something is shorting to ground somewhere. Has the pedal ever worked right for you or was it like this when you got it?
Which cables did you switch? Can you show me new photos since you switched the cables so I can see what has changed?

[FuzzMike]

http://i808.photobucket.com/albums/zz5/mihkelis/de0c1dac.jpg

The green/blue cable goes from the switch's lug to the ring of the input jack, the white on the right to the tip. The pedal was working properly until the guy removed the attached cable and put the Switchcraft input jack.

UPDATE: I decided to replace the cables from the battery to the circuit board and to the input jack and now it's working properly. Don't really know if that was the problem but it's working...lol. Thanks for your help, really appreciate it!

[Smitty Pedals]

I'm glad you got it figured out.
So as you described it the wires were reversed at the input jack. Tip should go to the blue wire to the switch, which is effect input, and the ring to the white wire which is ground.