Bunker Project Log

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bD4_nSK2Mc]

I’ve been really slacking on this, and pretty much every other project in the log, so I figured I better do something.

I pulled the guitar open again to fix the mistakes I mentioned in the last installment, and Pottse helped take some footage of the guitar in action. You’ll notice a few things:

1) The pedal is really loud.
2) I’m not very good at playing with it.
3) I use the Star Power switch at the head of the guitar by pressing it against my cheek at 0:54 and 1:23.
4) I still haven’t figured out the whammy, but I’ve got a bunch of ideas.

Mrs. G and I tried to watch Renaissance?tonight, but we only got 20 minutes in before Version 2.0 (the gigantic 4 month-old boy super-smiley blob-thingy)?decided it was screamy time. Wifey took one for the team, and I decided to get back to the guitar.

I’ve been trying to come up with a good Whammy mechanism, and what I’m settling on (but still haven’t quite figured out how to do) is some kind of motion sensing thingy.?Since this is the goal, my first priority?is to disable the motion-activated Star Power switch. Since?Star Power is also activated by one of the buttons on the guitar face, I can retain the functionality by?moving that switch somewhere easily activated by the fret hand.

After putting the rodents to bed, Mrs. G, Pottse, the Berserker and I all sat down to watch Hot Fuzz, in HD no less, on the 360’s HD add-on. I could whine about how M$ had?screwed?me for months with?the crappy Dynamic Range Control?bug (fix here)?and how I really want Blu-Ray to fail because it is associated with the PS3, and how I bought 300 on Blu-Ray anyway, because it was cheaper, but I won’t.

I had my first real roadblock today. Pottse was reading a Musician’s Friend? catalog, and I was reminded of the pedal that came with my crappy Midi keyboard. (Of course, I could have used that if it weren’t buried with all the rest of the crap in the storeroom… do you see a trend here?)

?Anyway, I dug through the catalog and found the keyboard?sustain pedals. I’m not the most music equipment savvy guy, but I am pretty sure they are just a switch with a 1/4″ plug. This serves?my purpose well, and they are anywhere from $13-20 for the cheap ones. Right within my threshold of pain.

So I made it to Radio Shack and bought some jacks and plugs and switches. The jacks and plugs are standard 1/8″ deallies. Exactly like yer newfangled Walkman has. Here’s how they came out:

I was more concerned with the switch, and basically took a gamble. I bought a Submini Lever Switch, a Roller Lever Switch, and a pack of 4 Momentary?Pushbutton Switches.

For the first prototype, I slapped together some trim I had laying around, cardboard from the day’s Tanga shipment, and the Roller Lever Switch. I made a rough cavity in the trim for the switch to sit in, then taped it all together. Ghetto fabulous.

I’ve always felt guilty that Stub lost his hand whilst cutting trim for the DDR Room. I thought I would start atoning by making it possible for him to play Guitar Hero.

Unfortunately, the Bunker Workshop is full to the brim with crap, I almost broke my neck just getting in there.

This is the current state of my workbench. If my dad could see this, he would drive out and kick my ass. Usually the week before he comes out will be spent cleaning stuff like this up.