It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 6:13 am




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 27 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3
 So I found this in a thrift store....a Patch of Shades 
Author Message
Master Contributor
Master Contributor

Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2023 4:45 am
Posts: 1183
Post Re: So I found this in a thrift store....a Patch of Shades
Thanks to the Spacious Werker (is it DB?) for posting Radio Shack's comprehensive "Sensor Projects". About mid way down the right hand scroller there's the "simple pressure sensor", similar to my old "Shades" pressure pad but I didn't need the printed circuit board.

I made two production runs of 50 Shades each, one in 1981 and the other in 1989 and I was a scrounger during that time, also for Stick parts and supplies - ancient hardware stores, materials supplies, electronics, fabrics, art and hobby shops.

I rather proudly called myself "the Robinson Crusoe of suburbia", ironic because the San Fernando Valley wasn't exactly an island.

I started in the late '70s by simply drawing a solid square with a dark pencil, creating an area sensitive pressure pad from the pencil's partially conductive graphene on white paper. I placed it upside-down on a pair of aluminum plates wired to a variable resister (my wah-wah pedal). At first I placed it inside my shoe and wiggled my toe to control the variable vowel sounds. I always liked the minimalist approach. Something like this is also shown mid way down the Radio Shack compilation under "strain sensors" depicting a pencil with graphite.

So then came the Shades product with foot pressure operated wah plus effects loop that crossfaded from the low frequency "whoo" end into the full frequency Stick melody audio output (foot pressure off). Layering upward from the lacquered base of the Shades box, I had scrounged these parts:

- Scotch double-stick cellophane tape.
- a pair of aluminum plates wired to the circuit.
- a frame of narrow Velcro "loop" strips.
- a top square of flexible Formica with Scotch 1/8" double-stick foam tape on the underside.
- then the coup, a square of 2" recording tape stuck to the foam tape with its non-recording oxide surface facing down onto the aluminum plates (pure instinct).
- also a complimentary frame of Velcro "hook" strips inside the Formica lid to hold it together.
- as the final touch, I "tapered" the action by cutting a modified triangle to remove some of the recording tape from the center leading edge.

I still use it on my pedalboard and enjoy the sensation of shifting my weight to puff up my lead melody and fixate it on various vowel peaks. The crossfade out of the low end allows me to have it all, electric and acoustic, so to speak.


Sun Jul 24, 2016 12:31 pm
Profile
Multiple Donor
Multiple Donor

Joined: Wed May 25, 2016 1:38 pm
Posts: 422
Post Re: So I found this in a thrift store....a Patch of Shades
ah those little mims notebooks from ratshack back in the day -- really best part of ratshack

anyway - as much as I'd love to play with a patch of shades. I wouldn't put it to any real use

What about letting emmett know first? It'd be cool to see it go back home, at least for documentation and a go through even if it eventually winds up elsewhere


Mon Aug 01, 2016 12:57 pm
Profile
Site Donor
Site Donor
User avatar

Joined: Wed Dec 26, 2007 3:49 am
Posts: 1663
Post Re: So I found this in a thrift store....a Patch of Shades
Emmett, I think we discussed that ten years ago when you came in Allaire, but... What about doing a crowfunding campaign to build a new limited run of PoS? I'm quite sure some people could have an interest in such a project...

"good things always come in threes" ;)

_________________
http://soundcloud.com/ghostlike_ether


Mon Aug 01, 2016 1:02 pm
Profile My Photo Gallery
Site Donor
Site Donor
User avatar

Joined: Sat Mar 02, 2013 4:34 pm
Posts: 781
Location: Fargo, ND, USA
Post Re: So I found this in a thrift store....a Patch of Shades
grozoeil wrote:
Emmett, I think we discussed that ten years ago when you came in Allaire, but... What about doing a crowfunding campaign to build a new limited run of PoS? I'm quite sure some people could have an interest in such a project...

"good things always come in threes" ;)



From what Emmett said in his FHF (and someone correct me if I'm wrong), there are parts that are no longer made/available that were used in the PoS. It would require re-engineering to produce new units. Maybe I need to make an offer to clean out Emmett's shed in exchange for the original schematic buried within. :D

_________________
Green Ash 10-string
Stickup+StepABout = <3
Serial Number 6290


Mon Aug 01, 2016 1:50 pm
Profile My Photo Gallery
Site Donor
Site Donor
User avatar

Joined: Wed Dec 26, 2007 3:49 am
Posts: 1663
Post Re: So I found this in a thrift store....a Patch of Shades
OK. So is there any electronic guru here who would like to work with Emmett in a re-design of this unit? :D ;)

_________________
http://soundcloud.com/ghostlike_ether


Mon Aug 01, 2016 2:15 pm
Profile My Photo Gallery

Joined: Thu Jun 23, 2016 7:43 am
Posts: 5
Post Re: So I found this in a thrift store....a Patch of Shades
Well, it took a while but I can now say that the Patch of Shades works. I have given it a bit of an overhaul - changed the transformer, replaced a couple of very ancient tantalum caps with audio-grade electrolytics, and given it some new, brighter, LEDs. I don't know how good the pressure pad is other than to say it works - I'm not a guitarist. But it wahs and the send-returns work fine. The circuit is sound. A couple of the jacks are crackly and might need replacing or they might just need a really good clean - I still have to do that.

It is, according to the stamp on the inside of the case, Patch of Shades number 3!


Tue Mar 07, 2017 10:07 am
Profile
Elite Contributor
Elite Contributor

Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2010 12:42 pm
Posts: 2530
Location: Jersey
Post Re: So I found this in a thrift store....a Patch of Shades
You own a piece of history

_________________
Peace, Marty
"The present day composer refuses to die" -Edgard Varese


Wed Mar 08, 2017 11:35 pm
Profile My Photo Gallery
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 27 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 32 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  

board3 Portal - based on phpBB3 Portal Powered by phpBB © phpBB Group. Designed by Vjacheslav Trushkin for Free Forums/DivisionCore.
Heavily modified by Stickist.com. Stickist.com is an authorized Chapman Stick® site. The Chapman Stick® and NS/Stick™ and their marks are federally registered trademarks exclusively licensed to Stick Enterprises, Inc., and are used on Stickist.com and NSstickist.com with SEI's permission.
Click here for more information.