Look Mum No Computer - DIY Fuzz Box

SO YOU WANT A DISTORTION FOR YOUR GUITAR/SYNTH/DRUM MACHINE/BAG PIPES whatever. This is a good place to start.

NOW! you got your cereal. remember the times you got free prizes at the bottom, well now it can be some effects. all you need are these items, which i have put together here for you :-

http://lookmumnocomputer.bigcartel.com/product/distortion-box-parts

over on the look mum no computer store.

you can definitely source them yourself! it won’t be hard going in with this list into your local electronics store and coming out with those parts, they are extremely common electronic components :-

2x Jack Sockets
1x 100k Potentiometer
1x 100k Resistor
1x 100nf capacitor
1x 1n4148
1x 1uf electrolytic capacitor
1x 9V battery socket
Wire. enough to complete the project

and some electronic paint, i used Bare Conductive’s awesome paint for this. not only does it make the connections it does a really good job of sticking it all together.

however i would HIGHLY recommend if you know how to solder, doing it the soldered way! as the cardboard is bendy and it might be a little fragile. for info on the soldered version here is a video i did earlier in the year :-
https://www.facebook.com/GoHackMusic/videos/691826067587248/

and even a little how to online magazine! :-

http://issuu.com/zibra/docs/fuzz_for_a_fiver

which can be done with exactly the same parts.

SOME POINTERS TO LOOK OUT FOR!!!

when you’re glueing, don’t use much superglue! because the superglue has a tendency of covering all of the metal on the components legs, making them not conduct!!! so make sure there is a good bare connection with no superglue in the way.

if it doesn’t work first time! look at your painting, maybe paint again over it, i had a couple of failed attempts first and i found my problems were in the grounding painting, i didn’t put enough blobs on the grounds of the jacks.

ALSO!!! for some reason i guess because of the natural resistance in the paint (have a look on their site there is a certain amount! i think because of that within the grounding it picks up radio waves. which is pretty sweet. this is never going to be perfect, but its a pretty funky side effect.

overall i think its quite a powerful thing for such little components, i have a number of iterations of this circuit in and around my studio, whether it’s in a synth module. or inside an effects pedal enclosure.

maybe stretch yourself and add a switch, search up DPDT switch, and work out a way to turn it off and on, but also when that happens it also turns off and on the positive wire of the battery, so that doesn’t run dry!