Have you ever heard of a stomp box? Today I’m building an electric one, and you will now be a stomp box expert. Read on to learn more.
A traditional stomp box is a type of percussion instrument used to accompany musicians while they perform. Its used by tapping the foot against it, and it helps provide a beat similar to a bass drum. I have seen many variations on this instrument. Some are made from license plate topped boxes where the license plate rattles creating the sound, while others are smaller and have a pickup enclosed so it can be connected to a PA System. Thats what I’m making.
I started off with a piece of Elm Tree that had fallen in my yard. Its nice and dry as I’ve had it on hand for a couple years. I sliced off a chunk on the bandsaw, then resawed a thin slice from the bottom. This would make the bottom cover. After flattening the freshly sawn surfaces, I stuck them back together with double sided tape. Then I cut a flat spot on the back. This would be where I’d attach the controls. While they were still stuck together, I drilled and countersunk some screw holes to hold the cover in place. Now I could remove the tape and mark out where the controls would live, and using a straight cutting bit in my router, I routed out a cavity to house the controls. With the cavity routed freehand, it did require a little cleanup with a chisel before drilling holes for the volume controls and output jack. From there, I sanded things smooth and applied a coat of Danish Oil. Time to wire it up.
The wiring was very simple. I have 1 Volume, 1 Tone control, 2 piezo pickups, and 1 output jack. I followed a diagram for wiring an electric guitar with 2 pickups and just eliminated the switch. I wired the pickups in series, so the signal would be boosted. This would give me a hotter signal going to the PA. The finishing touch was adding some Elm knobs and this thing is ready to try out.
I went to our band practice space to test it out because we have a much better sound system there. I connected my stompbox. For best results, I’ve found that if you turn up the bass and cut the treble on the PA channel, you get the best sound. I’m impressed with how well this sounds. You’ll have to check out the video to see for yourself. Check it out in the link below.
Thanks for stomping by. (I see what you did there)
— Afilliate LInks to Products Used —
Glue Gun – https://amzn.to/2F2dFBX
Glue Sticks – https://amzn.to/2IxG5ox
Brad Point Drill Bits – https://amzn.to/2WGips4
Wood Screw Assortment – https://amzn.to/2Wyz4sE
