Danelectro Tuna Melt Tremolo re-housing guide 2

[theblueark]

This is the unofficial continuation to this thread:
http://www.thegearpage.net/board/sho...d.php?t=152311

I decided to post on a new thread in case thelectric comes back and wants to continue his guide on his own thread.

We left off with all the excess parts removed, waiting for the rewiring:


Here's the schem with the parts we wanted removed circled in red:


Here is the schem with what we are trying to achieve with the rewiring:

Cut off an extra leg from a resistor, or get any piece of thin wire. Bend it like so:

Put the ends through pin 3 and 4 of the chip you removed and solder them in:

I like to check for continuity after every solder, you can do so at these points:

Using the same technique, solder another jumper where c101 used to be:

Check for continuity again:

We need one more jumper, which we don't see in the schematic. The 2 legs which hold one of the mini pots actually provide a connection for a ground. Removing that pot removed that connection. So solder a jumper here, at the bottom left of the circuit board in the picture (parden the blurry pic):

[theblueark]

Now we can solder in the input and output jacks for testing. Of if you're feeling lucky you could put the circuit boards right into the enclosure before soldering. I never feel lucky:



Where you removed the toggle switch, solder some wires and a new toggle switch:


Where you removed the mini pots, solder some wires and the new pots (100k linear pots for both):

If you're having trouble soldering to the old pot points, there are 2 ways I'd go about it. 1: Fold the wire onto the location, the same way the old pot legs were folded on, before soldering. 2: Drill a small hole nearby to help hold the wires in place. These ones are toughies, good luck.

Now we need some temporary power to do testing. Solder the battery snap to the D/C jack locations labled negative and positive. Black wire to negative, Red wire to positive:

All ready to test. Plug your guitar into the input jack and an amp into the output. You should be able to hear the trem effect. I had a lot of problems initially which required debugging, due to some broken connections and such, if you have any problems you might want to post them on this thread, prefably with a clear picture of both sides of your boards so I can see if there are any visible faults. Also, if you find that your pot control is working backwards, just switch the connection of the 1st and 3rd lug.

If there are no problems, we are ready for the enclosure. I happened to have an unused enclosure, too small for this project, but that's not going to stop me:

Drill the enclosure in your favourite layout, and put in the LED, 3pdt and d/c jack. Desolder the 1/2" jacks and put them into the enclosure as well. Then wire them as so, all ready for the transplant of the rest of the tuna melt. I use a green LED with a 1kohm resistor. Wire in the tuna melt circuit in next, and secure the circuit boards to the enclosure with your favourite methods:

My guts are in a big speghetti mess so I'm not going to show them, but here's the outside top view:

And one from the side. I duct taped another identical enclosure to use as the base, so there's lots of space for the circuit boards. If you follow theelectric's guide, with the bigger enclosure, you probably won't have to resort to this.
My pot lugs are a little too high for most knobs, I usually saw them off:

And finally:

Onto my board it goes. Just nice for the back row, I can step comfortably on the switch without having to raise it with a riser.

[hungrymusician]

though i dont have a tunamelt for rehousing,but u are my hero :AOK

[whoismarykelly]

The tutorial looks great but I cant believe you went through all that work and then rehoused it in an enclosure you have to duct tape closed. Isn't a big part of the reason for rehousing to get it into a nice sturdy enclosure? That one looks 3 inches tall!

[theblueark]

Heh 3 reasons:
1. I was originally doing this as something for fun, so I grabbed whichever empty box I had lying around.
2. The pedals I put on the back row of my board are always duct taped to another enclosure underneath. I use that to raise the pedals instead of building a riser as I've found it to less heavy overall.
3. My board is already tight for 2d space, so I'd rather increase the pedals in height than in width or length.

[rockindillo]

Brilliant job, TheBlueArk!
How similar would this be to rehousing a Rocky Roads Leslie sim, please? For instance, would the pot values and switch types be the same?

Failing that, would you consider doing a project for us on the RR? Once you do the easy gain reduction mod, it's a truly excellent-sounding pedal and well worth putting onto a more proffessional footing.

[theblueark]

I haven't opened up a Rocky Roads Leslie sim, and I don't have a schematic, so I can't say for certain. I doubt there would be many similarities in the circuitry.

I'd love to do a rehouse for you, but i'm all the way in Singapore. Considering the shipping charges, you might want to source for someone nearer to your area. I'll post on diystompboxes.com and see if I can find anyone reliable and willing.:AOK

[rockindillo]

Originally Posted by theblueark

I haven't opened up a Rocky Roads Leslie sim, and I don't have a schematic, so I can't say for certain. I doubt there would be many similarities in the circuitry.

I'd love to do a rehouse for you, but i'm all the way in Singapore. Considering the shipping charges, you might want to source for someone nearer to your area. I'll post on diystompboxes.com and see if I can find anyone reliable and willing.:AOK

Cheers, mate! That's very kind of you. In the meantime, if anyone else here can help, please send me a PM.

[trancedental]

I'd like to rehouse my Danelectro Chicken Salad Vibrato, does anyone know the details for doing that pedal?

There must be a few differences between the two pedals at least?

[grygrx]

Awsome fun, it's nice to be inspired to tear things up and make them your own!

[tonetweaker]

Thanks, theblueark!

[mueller]

Could someone post a better picture like this, or show me a simple diagram of the switch wiring and where these all go ?

[dk123123dk]

http://www.beavisaudio.com/techpages...ring/index.htm

hope this helps

dk

[thedug]

I did this mod and it sounds great, except when the pedal is bypassed. I heard a clicking sound that is the speed of the tremelo.

It is lounder when nothing is plugged into the input.

thoughts?

[DanRoy]

I would not recommend attempting this project. I have modified several pedals with success, and rehoused a more normal (standard sized) pedal, but the miniature parts and the odd/weak connections make this a hard mod to pull off. I have given up on mine, so I guess I just ruined a pedal. just be aware that this is not easy work, or quick. I also am not sure that the original author and the secondary one were on quite the same page, but apparently you can make it work. I just had a bad time with it, maybe I could have worked a little more carefully? I think I'm just going to build the Tonepad Tremulus Lune, that's a more straightforward project, probably similar cost, and more controls/sounds