Vintage Colorsound wah thingy repair?

[fernieite]

Hi guys,

My old Colorsound wah broke the other day. Well, a small part inside of it did. It's a brittle black rubber (?) Thing that moves around when the top treadle plate moves up and down.

Has anyone repaired or replaced one of these before? I tried to glue it back together with some super glue gel, but it didn't hold.

Thanks.

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[HorseyBoy]

^ Right, so that little part is actually hard plastic and kind of ingenious, connecting the potentiometer to the treadle. It's very different to the teethed rack and gear setup of a Vox/Dunlop wah, but it does the same thing.

All my Colorsound variants have them, but oddly, they're all different colours: the one in my Colorsound wah is blue, the one in my Musonic wah is white, and the one in my Vox-branded one is black and - like yours - broken. The top of the plastic has completely come away, but - weirdly enough - it still works just fine.

Years ago I was able to get a replacement part from Ant at Macari's, who I think had a small stash of them squirrelled away. At one point Stu Castledine was making Colorsound wahs for Macari's (he may still do so), so he's probably got some lying around as well.

I always wondered whether a 3D printer would be able to produce an accurate copy of one of these. The only tricky bit would be on the other side of the loop, where there's a little grub screw that tightens over the shaft of the pot.

[fernieite]

^ Right, so that little part is actually hard plastic and kind of ingenious, connecting the potentiometer to the treadle. It's very different to the teethed rack and gear setup of a Vox/Dunlop wah, but it does the same thing.

All my Colorsound variants have them, but oddly, they're all different colours: the one in my Colorsound wah is blue, the one in my Musonic wah is white, and the one in my Vox-branded one is black and - like yours - broken. The top of the plastic has completely come away, but - weirdly enough - it still works just fine.

Years ago I was able to get a replacement part from Ant at Macari's, who I think had a small stash of them squirrelled away. At one point Stu Castledine was making Colorsound wahs for Macari's (he may still do so), so he's probably got some lying around as well.

I always wondered whether a 3D printer would be able to produce an accurate copy of one of these. The only tricky bit would be on the other side of the loop, where there's a little grub screw that tightens over the shaft of the pot.

Thanks man.

Yeah, I was wondering about the 3D print option, as well....

I'll reach out to Stu and Ant and see if they can help.

[joegagan]

hi Sean.
I don't stock that part, but I'd be happy to repair yours, no charge if you pay the postage.
(in case no replacement can be located)

[Dr Tony Balls]

I always wondered whether a 3D printer would be able to produce an accurate copy of one of these.

This. On the offsetguitars forum a couple of people have gotten into this game. It seems that its really just model building and you dont need to have printer because there are online services that can do it with superior printers to most home models, and can even do metal printing. There's a site called shapeways.com that does this and even has a marketplace where you can buy print-to-order parts from someone else's uploaded file. So if one were to model this part, Joe or whoever could order them as needed to repair wahs.

As an example....need to put mini-humbuckers in your jazzmaster? Need it to be YELLOW? Boom: https://www.shapeways.com/product/8FBU3 ... arketplace

Need a string retainer for a Fender XII build? https://www.shapeways.com/product/VWYXZ ... arketplace

You cant print screw threads, I believe, but a tapping them shouldn't be that difficult.

[HorseyBoy]

This. On the offsetguitars forum a couple of people have gotten into this game. It seems that its really just model building and you dont need to have printer because there are online services that can do it with superior printers to most home models, and can even do metal printing. There's a site called shapeways.com that does this and even has a marketplace where you can buy print-to-order parts from someone else's uploaded file. So if one were to model this part, Joe or whoever could order them as needed to repair wahs.

Thanks for that info, Tony. That's awesome. Not to derail this thread, but there are so many cool old odd guitars and pedals with cool old odd parts where this could be a lifesaver.

[fernieite]

hi Sean.
I don't stock that part, but I'd be happy to repair yours, no charge if you pay the postage.
(in case no replacement can be located)

Thanks Joe! I appreciate the offer.

[fernieite]

I always wondered whether a 3D printer would be able to produce an accurate copy of one of these.

This. On the offsetguitars forum a couple of people have gotten into this game. It seems that its really just model building and you dont need to have printer because there are online services that can do it with superior printers to most home models, and can even do metal printing. There's a site called shapeways.com that does this and even has a marketplace where you can buy print-to-order parts from someone else's uploaded file. So if one were to model this part, Joe or whoever could order them as needed to repair wahs.

As an example....need to put mini-humbuckers in your jazzmaster? Need it to be YELLOW? Boom: https://www.shapeways.com/product/8FBU3 ... arketplace

Need a string retainer for a Fender XII build? https://www.shapeways.com/product/VWYXZ ... arketplace

You cant print screw threads, I believe, but a tapping them shouldn't be that difficult.

Great info! Thanks Tony.

[HorseyBoy]

For comparison, here's a pic of the "broken" part on my Vox-branded Colorsound wah. As I said, it still works fine, probably because it never gets near to the end of the gear, even when the heel of the treadle is bumping against the enclosure. You'd think it would effect the sweep of the wah, but this thing has the widest sweep of any wah I own.

[fernieite]

Thanks, everyone!

Yeah, mine works fine with the break in the cam/ actuator, too. Cool design!

Anyway, I applied some JB Weld Plastic Weld to the part, and it held!