>How on earth did that happen? Tell me it was insured.
NO, this wasn't even shipped anywhere. This was my OWN pedal that I have had for over 20 years and around 500 gigs..I had PLANNED on spending some time that evening comparing 2 original tubescreamers, a new reissue tubescreamer, the UE-400 rackmount overdrive and a few early Maxon pedals. Not 30 seconds after this pic was taken, comparing the various shades of green, the power went out and I stopped what I was doing and slowly left the room. I delicately made my way out of the pitch black and just as I got to the door my pants leg snagged on something (later learned to be metal yardstick) and then I heard a clunk. urg...something fell or fell over, but it wasn't a big crash, wasn't a guitar and honestly it didn't sound all that dramatic, so I wasn't too concerned. I am very careful with equipment and generally don't even leave stuff out much less in harms way. The test bench is only 30 inches high and all I heard was a dull thud, like a shoe falling off a chair. I unplugged my power strip at the door and waited for the power to come back on. About an hour later or so things started to flash, blip and light up and I went around and plugged things back in. When I went into the jam room I saw one of the pedals had fallen onto the floor. Yikes it was green and face down and was bummed hoping the waist high fall didn't chip a knob or bend or worse yet break a pot. I picked it up and was astonished at what I saw. It was my trusty old tubescreamer, and the entire front of the pedal literally had crumbled on impact. The pots, led and board poured out right there in my hand. I was speechless and had to look at the logo to make sure I was not imagining things or that it wasn't one of the Maxons. NO CHANCE, there were my familiar knobs still attached to the dangling pots and mess of wires and fragments of green chipped metal. As I stood there staring at the pedal I had owned from the mid 80's I recalled using this thing on gigs as far back as 1985. It had NEVER - EVER failed me despite being carried around unprotected with other pedals and cords in a milk crate for a dozen years. Now a days it lived mostly in an Anvil briefcase and is very well taken care of. But the one waist high fall had sunken in the entire front platform. It seems to have done exactly one half flip and landed squarely on all three knobs collapsing the entire face. I was disgusted and picked up all the pieces put them in a baggie. I shut everything off and left.
Three days later....
=============REPAIR=============
Three days had passed before I could even look at the mess inside the baggie. I was still mad about it. So, I extracted the guts and assessed the damage. The electronics still worked perfectly and even the LED was fine, One pot (LEVEL) was a slightly scratchy, but it was that way before. So now it was time to either replace the case with a new reissue or see if it could be fixed. The quality of the metal housings that these pedals are in just blow, It is the same flimsy "pot" metal that Matchbox cars and RV window cranks are made from. I gathered the parts and pieced it back together. I had to actually break off MORE pieces to begin the repair. Luckily, no pieces were bent everything was a clean snap. So I started to fit the pieces back together. It looked do-able. So, I got the worlds nastiest 2 part clear epoxy and made splints and jigs for the smaller pieces starting with the inner pieces first. I let every piece dry overnight and did one piece a day. It came out flat! -and when I got to the "end cap" I clamped it together and let it sit a day as well. There are slight gaps here and there but it seemed to work so far. I laid thick beads on the inside and later small gaps or ridges were filled in on the outside. The front of the shell is actually stronger than the rest now. To test the repair I tried to break it. I PULLED on it and stood on the face with one foot. After all it IS a pedal that is made to step on! That stuff is unbelievably strong as I found out by trying to dremel away the bead inside to make the pots lay flat again. I burnt up 3 freaking dremel sanding tips and scorched a metal routing tip removing hardened drips inside the pot holes!
I was sure to screw the rear cover one and make sure everything lined up well on the last clamping. I also made two side to side clamps and put those on. I removed them a few minutes before this pic was taken. I lined everything with wax paper so as not to glue the clamps to the housing or the rear cover on with no electronics inside.
Before the outer and inner epoxy. Still shows the gaps. I then lined the entire inside and outer knob platform with a coat of epoxy and stuck in the tiny pieces and chips, then smoothed over with wax paper and my thumb. The outer surface leveled up pretty flat. The inside coat is THICK! Note that the LED is still original.
After drying a day, I lightly wet sanded the knob platform to smooth out the surface but not remove any green. I had to re-tap the holes for the pots as they had epoxy on the edges and it would not flake or chip. (this stuff is unreal strong) Now came the moment of truth. I had to TRY and break it. I flipped it upside down and pulled like I was pulling it apart. Then stepped on it. I actually stood with one foot on the knob area with my full weight. IT HELD! ..and actually the epoxy-ed area was now STRONGER than the side that never cracked! In closely watching for any flex the button area had very slight side to side flex while the epoxy half did not budge at all. So what the heck, I coated the interior with a coat just for good measure.
GGGGGGGRRRRRRRR
It's ALIVE!!! Sounds just the same as before but now looks a little more gruesome from the surgery. I'm happy I was able to bring it back to life, but it still makes me pissed every time I see the scars. It has taught me to not be too sentimental with any piece of gear other than maybe a guitar.
