Mindmap Of Testing/Evaluation Key Areas

(click to enlarge)

Update: Delays, Plans & Progress Report

Unfortunately, due to the slight delay in beginning the build portion of the project before Christmas and the time-consuming process of painting the guitar body I was unable to complete the build before returning to university in January. However, rather than bringing the whole kit and any tools back to Derby with me I am returning home for the weekend of 10/2/12 to (hopefully) finish off the rest of the build.

The remaining steps include:

• Finishing off paintwork on the sides and back of the guitar and touching up the rest of the paint work
• Fitting the guitar electronics
• Fitting the Kaoss Pad electronics
• Cutting a mounting plate to hold the touch pad in place

I believe that this should be completed since everything is ready to be assembled as soon as the paint work is fully complete.

In the meantime, I have begun the write-up and have been planning the testing and evaluation sections of the project that will follow.

Kaoss Pad Modification

Now that the painting is under way, I have also further modified the Kaoss pad wiring:

Four wires replacing the four connections to the touch pad

Soldering on the reverse side

Two additional cables soldered to the hold button

Hold button connections

All six connections wired to a DB9 Female Socket

Painting

Having drilled all of the necessary holes for the hold button (positioned between the four volume and tone pots to make use of the pre-existing control cavity) and for the additional output port, I have been able to begin painting the guitar body.

I have also test-fitted the neck to the body and drilled pilot holes to allow me to attach it after the painting is complete.

Woodwork

Today I have been making all necessary changes to the guitar body. I initially drilled holes in the corners of the marked space for the cavity and used a hack saw to cut along the edges.

However it quickly became clear that I did not have a saw that would reach far enough in to the body to use this technique all the way around the shape and this approach was very slow. Instead I carefully chiselled the shape out by shaving off layer by layer. This was much more effective, though did not give a very tidy finish on the fourth side, which will need to be smoothed off before putting any electronics in to the hole.

I also drilled holes down for the bridge and tail piece bushings, though I need to find a very slightly wider drill bit to widen these holes enough to fit.

Marking Up The Guitar Body

Before the guitar could be painted and assembled, the holes for the tail-piece and bridge bushings needed to be drilled and additional a cavity for the touch screen cut out of the body. In order to accurately measure the touch pad cavity, it must first be removed from the main body of the unit.

The four connections between the PCB and touch screen from the KP-1 Service

 Manual

I began by removing the back of the kaoss pad, followed by the two large PCB's, the third small board containing the headphone volume control, and finally the touch screen itself.These four connections are wired via a ribbon cable which must be disconnected from the PCB.

The connection can be seen at the top of the unit in this picture.

All PCB's and touch screen removed from the unit casing

The ribbon cable was connected to the PCB through a small plastic jacket which I opened to disconnect the touch panel. I then had to de-solder the four connections of the remaining half of the jacket from the the PCB

The removed panel and half of the plastic jacket

Remaining half of the plastic jacket

De-soldered connections on the PCB

The jacket was then put back together to give something to solder connections to later in the build.

Having removed the touch panel, I was able to position and draw around it on the guitar body and work out the best positions for the bridge and tail piece.

Final Design Summary

I now have a design which I believe will work most effectively for this project.

I decided on the Les Paul shape because it should have enough space at the tail of the guitar for the Kaoss Pad screen.

Guitar Body Layout Ideas

 As well as the touch screen from the Kaoss Pad, I have included a momentary switch to control the hold function of the unit from the body of the guitar as this function is useful for the use of the effect and should be cable of being wired via the same cable as the touch screen.

Kaoss Pad Modification Plan

The Kaoss Pad is definitely too big to mount on the performer or guitar, however this may be an area for further study in a future project. I also believe that the use of wireless will force me well outside the budget for this project. However, I do not think that the use of an additional cable will be too restrictive and will aim to make the connections between the Kaoss Pad unit and the screen on the guitar as aesthetically and ergonomically pleasing as possible.

Planned circuit for LEDs

As an entirely aesthetic feature, I have bought some RGB colour-changing LED bulbs which I would like to put behind the touch pad to make the modification look more professional and visually interesting for use in performance. I am unsure whether the LEDs could be powered by the same feed from the Kaoss Pad as the touch pad, though I will be investigating this. In the meantime I will assume that this will operate on a separate circuit powered by a 9v battery stored securely inside the body of the guitar.

Regarding the actual building of the guitar, I am currently about 2 weeks behind my planned schedule, however I will use the next few weeks to catch up and get back on track. If possible I hope to build a test version of the LED circuit before Christmas break. I will build the entire guitar during the christmas break and aim to be ready to test it in detail after teaching resumes.