Just finished my first pedal build, a passive mute switch in a 1590LB enclosure. My painting, soldering, and lead dress skills are terrible, but the “effect” works great. There is no hum or other noise and only the faintest popping when switching at very high gain levels. I built this so that I could mute my chain independently of my tuner.
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/s0s23f8i5ji92wa/Shushbox%20top.jpg?raw=1) (https://www.dropbox.com/s/dmax97055oc5cuy/Shushbox%20inside.jpg?raw=1) (https://www.dropbox.com/s/sis0nqs8ij274pz/Shushbox%20bottom.jpg?raw=1)
The biggest disappointment with this project was the purple finish. I used Rustoleum self-etch primer and spray paint. The purple coat turned out soft and easy to mar. My wife and I tried a couple of experiments on the bottom panel and only ended up making it worse, so I stripped the paint and just put a brushed-metal finish on the lid, which I actually really like.
Cool and useful box, welcome to the addiction! ;)
Paint can be a frustrating thing to wresyle with, you'll find your way by experimenting and check out all the other things that people use here for inspiration and different methods.
Thanks! We are going to try some experiments to figure out what kind of finishes work well for us. Worst case, I can just order them powder coated, but I would like to figure out a DIY approach that works for me. That way I have more flexibility to do stuff like the purple-and-silver mixed finish.
I wrecked some aluminum while I was learning to drill, which should make a good test surface for learning to paint. ;)
I'd say it's a success! It does the job it was built for and you've learnt a lot. It's a steep learning curve at the start and some things only improve with practice, but they can improve fast. I think it's probably the fact that we all keep learning new things that makes pedal building so addictive.