Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving! At the moment, I’m particularly thankful that, despite being a jaded old musician, I can still encounter instruments that, um, take my breath away. And if you can view all the Mutant Beauty Pageant contestants without spewing your beverage all over your computer, you’re made of stern stuff indeed. […] 
The end is nigh! But maybe not as nigh as originally planned… Thanksgiving Day (that’s Nov. 24th to you non-U.S. residents) was the original deadline, but I’m going to extend it through the holiday weekend, till midnight, PST, on the 27th) for one simple reason: We want to HEAR some of these mutants! C’mon — […] 
Who has time, for, like, REAL decoration? Helpless with paint, brushes, spray cans, decals and varnish? Take the lazy way out and use stickers. My favorites: the mouth, nose, and eye images in in World Wide Fred’s Inanimate pack. Sure, the images will rub off eventually, but that’s the glory of stickers! Just […] 
Well, um, the entires in our Mutant Beauty Contest are certainly . . . something. Click the MORE button to open the slideshow. New beauties added daily! Post your images to comments via a photo-sharing site, or email them to me. I’ll add each new mutant to the slideshow so the entire Internet can laugh […] Here’s a demo for our third DIY project: a combination clean boost and buffer. The project files are here. For other tips, tricks, and resources, as well as all the info on our first two projects, visit the Tonefiend DIY Club page. This is a super-useful guitar tool. You’ll learn about how to add […] 
It’s time for another contest! I hereby announce the first Tonefiend Mutant Beauty Pageant. I know many deadbeats with too much time on their hands musicians, and most of them have a thing for weird gear. I’m talking real freak-show stuff, the items that make anyone who walks into your music room shriek, “What the […] 
As promised, here are the project files for DIY Club Project #2: the bitchin’ Bulk Fuzz. This nasty little fuzz bomb is fun to build and fun to play. Audition it here. The project uses the same techniques introduced in Project #1, so if you survived that one, this should be smooth sailing. It’s also […] 
I swear, it’s practically worth learning DIY electronics just to build this one insanely simple, insanely great fuzz circuit. What I’m going to call the Bulk Fuzz is a variant on a popular DIY project known as the Bazz Fuss. A really smart guy from Finland named Christian H. figured out how to generate the […] 
This is my kind of pickup change: the easy kind! I got my hands on the new Seymour Duncan Everything Axe pickguard, which comes with three pre-installed Strat-format humbuckers (JB Jr., Duckbucker, and Little ’59). I’ve always avoided humbuckerized Strats because they remind of really bad ’80s bands. But I love the JB and ’59, […] 
Warning: It’s fin-ished! Here is the fourth and final part of the Tonefiend DIY Club’s first stompbox project: The Bad-Ass Distortion is a variation on the popular Electra circuit, beloved by many boutique builders. Once you box up the mess project, you too will be a boutique geek. Here’s a sketchy little demo. […] |
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