[#014] i am pleased to say that there's 7 days left until my baby daughter's due date. i'm excited for her arrival. she's going to be awesome!! i can't wait!!

i still need to post final pictures of the baby room for everyone to see (check out my older blogs to see the conversion process from awesome man cave to baby's room).

- - -

i finally ordered a BOSS Loop Station RC-3, a guitar pedal that i've been eyeing for a few years now. BOSS has several variations of the Loop Station, this one being the cheapest version in a single-pedal form. however it includes a jack for an external optional footswitch, but seeing as the RC-3 is quite expensive, i didn't want to spend another $60 for such.

an hour of research and $12 later at RadioShack, i built my own. it was REALLY easy. i didn't even use solder.all the contacts conveniently have holes so i stripped enough wire on each end, twisted, and made tight loops on all eight contact points. two wires from each switch going to certain spots on the 1/4 stereo jack. i don't know how to read schematics but i was able to get it right on my first try. it's passive, so it doesn't even need batteries like the BOSS FS-6 does.

my RC-3 comes in today so i'm excited to mess around with it. i know the footswitch works because i was able to test it out on another device.

the RC-3 pedal itself will start a loop (or record) when pressed. without an external footswitch, you'd have to double-tap to get it to stop. with the footswitch attached, the left (red) switch will stop the loop when tapped or clear the audio in the selected bank when held down. in a certain mode it will also serve as a tap tempo to get the RC-3's onboard LED to blink at the pace you want it to. the right (black) switch selects the next bank from 01-99 when tapped or goes in reverse from 99-01 when held down.

here's a photo of it:

P.S. - i'm going to custom order a Double Dragon logo on a clear (not white) vinyl sticker to put on the casing.

- - -

i had enough parts to make a second pedal. this one only took me about 10 minutes. it's a little flimsier but i like how it easily opens and it's a giant frickin' gum tin, man!