Rehousing a Thorpy pedal

guitarmanessex89 · April 2023

In all seriousness - why not include some decals? It’s a great product and a small gripe/difference of opinion, but I get it. I rotate a lot of pedals, and the knobs are often aligned differently, making a uniform or generic approach unworkable - especially in the middle of a gig with dodgy lighting and sweat in my eyes.

I love the etching and it’s very classy, but a blind bloke on a gig might want their own bodge. Be cool if it was accommodated - and classier than markers etc.

Wazmeister · April 2023

FelineGuitars said:

Mad ideas that might help from a practical viewpoint

Buy a couple of different coloured knobs so you know what knob is the one you usually want to tweak

Lots of real estate above the switch button - put a sticker on there with knob orientation if it helps you - heck you could even mark favourite positions .
You could use a labelmaker if you have one or a sharpie on a label

This is what i often do, and i did with my Thorpys.

fretfinder · April 2023

Not particularly elegant but works for me.

mrkb · April 2023

fretfinder said:

Not particularly elegant but works for me.

That looks easy to do and works for me, thanks for the idea!

ennspek · April 2023

Unless you have a massive amount of pedals on your board I don't see why it's so difficult to remember which knobs are which on your pedals.
Maybe at first but over a short amount of time it sinks in.

mrkb · April 2023

Much improved- that’s for all the ideas!

Fez · April 2023

On military hardware legending is often engraved and filled with enamel paint white or black as appropriate needs about half a millimetre deep engraving though so not always possible on thin sheet material.

thomasw88 · May 2023

I had to print off a little guide for which knob did which on my peacekeeper. It helped alot but I do not understand why pedal makers make pedals that aren't easy to read in low light.

For gigging musicians being able to change settings quickly on stage is really important. This is especially the case for drive pedals, where you may want to use one pedal for different sounds.

In addition pedals with retina busting LED's ,stacked pots , and reversed input/output jacks are just plain irritating to use.

normula1 · May 2023

So many of my pedals have a blob of blu-tac over the leds to bring them to sub nuclear levels if brightness.

ElectricXII · May 2023

normula1 said:

So many of my pedals have a blob of blu-tac over the leds to bring them to sub nuclear levels if brightness.

I don't understand why some makers do this. My Hudson Broadcast Dual could cause temporary blindness when both the LEDs were on.

TimmyO · May 2023

normula1 said:

So many of my pedals have a blob of blu-tac over the leds to bring them to sub nuclear levels if brightness.

Painters masking tape works nicely - silly-bright leds glow through at a pleasingly normal level

Keefy · May 2023

TimmyO said:

normula1 said:

So many of my pedals have a blob of blu-tac over the leds to bring them to sub nuclear levels if brightness.

Painters masking tape works nicely - silly-bright leds glow through at a pleasingly normal level

I’ll try that on my Walrus Monument - if I play outdoors the LEDs can be seen from the International Space Station.

roberty · May 2023

ElectricXII said:

normula1 said:

So many of my pedals have a blob of blu-tac over the leds to bring them to sub nuclear levels if brightness.

I don't understand why some makers do this. My Hudson Broadcast Dual could cause temporary blindness when both the LEDs were on.

A blob of candle wax on the led diffuses the light nicely. Quite neat, and nice to look at in the dark

ElectricXII · May 2023

roberty said:

ElectricXII said:

normula1 said:

So many of my pedals have a blob of blu-tac over the leds to bring them to sub nuclear levels if brightness.

I don't understand why some makers do this. My Hudson Broadcast Dual could cause temporary blindness when both the LEDs were on.

A blob of candle wax on the led diffuses the light nicely. Quite neat, and nice to look at in the dark

Ooh top tip. Cheers!

dangriffiths · June 2023

In full circle on this (I know you are all waiting eagerly for this news) I have made the original pedal work under the board. Sorry again @ThorpyFX you were right. Making me consider a Warthog and a Fallout now...

ThorpyFX · June 2023

dangriffiths said:

In full circle on this (I know you are all waiting eagerly for this news) I have made the original pedal work under the board. Sorry again @ThorpyFX you were right. Making me consider a Warthog and a Fallout now...

No need to apologise, they look chunkier than they are… photographic perception and reality differ in this case

fretmeister · June 2023

ennspek said:

Unless you have a massive amount of pedals on your board I don't see why it's so difficult to remember which knobs are which on your pedals.
Maybe at first but over a short amount of time it sinks in.

Because in the heat of a gig labelling cuts down the risk of changing the wrong one. Especially if a tweak is needed between strums.

WezV · June 2023

guitargeek62 said:

ThorpyFX said:

mrkb said:

ThorpyFX said:

this is a depressing thread.

It shouldn't be taken that way. Ive got eight of your drive pedals, love the sounds, but struggle to see what each knob does - so am looking for a solution.

i might have to come up with an option..... at least for the short term. maybe a printable magnet?

Depending how deep the etching is, you/OP could use blackening solutions brushed over them, then buff off the surronding areas again. You'd have to do this with the pedal disassembled to reduce the risk of damaging anything else, and to get good access to the top plate, but it should be pretty straightforwards and be pretty permanent. I've just done the same at the weekend on a ring-making course on some stamped initials on the inside of the ring, it's a bloody easy process!

Black engravers wax would work pretty well too

dangriffiths · July 2023

As an update to this - I now have 3 Thorpy pedals that sound great. Met Adrian at the Brighton Guitar Show and had a lovely chat with him - such a nice guy. Design is important to me but my ears should always win.

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Rehousing a Thorpy pedal

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