[kyleb]

I've always really liked the playing style where people use an acoustic stomp box to add a bit of rhythm. Recently I saw a post here on playing with fingers and someone posted a video of Chris Smither and was instantly blown away.
So here's my version of a stomp board to play with.


Found an old board under the deck and sanded it down. Looks pretty good really.


Pickup from http://www.tedcrocker.com. I unsoldered the wires, twisted and sleeved them.


Pickup location routed out.


Fitting the pick up in place.

[kyleb]

Here's some more...


The pickup comes with double stick tape on one side. In my infinite wisdom I thought that for some reason that it would sound better without it. When I peeled it off I released that was the only thing holding the plate in place. Pulling it off ripped the leads out of the pickup. Luckily it was an easy fix of just soldering them back on.


Here you can see my uber-professional soldering skills. But it works.


Here's the pick up sealed into the board. I found this stuff called "Magnum Steel" at the hardware store. Some kind of putty that turns rock hard when dry. Can be sanded down as well. It worked pretty well.


These are the only picks I have so far. I got it almost finished this weekend. Finished filling the routed parts with the putty and got the output jack flush against the edge of the board so it looks pretty clean. I'll try to get some finished picks tonight. But it works pretty well, provides a nice thump that I can use with shoes or socks (I practice when everyone else is asleep so that was a must). Its a fun little project.

Kyle

[RL_Gretsch_09]

I've seen these made of Cigar Boxes & Piezo pickups, as well as plain piece of wood with Speakers mounted to collect the sound.

I made one with the Piezo and a cigarbox - couldn't get the Thump (granted I only used a 35watt solid state amp to test). I have a couple small speakers that I'm going to build my next one out of -- will let you guys know how that turns out.

[ikaros_swede]

Isn't that what Seasick Steve call "the Mississippi drum machine"?

[kyleb]

My first version had a couple of small 8ohm speakers mounted face down on some rug swatches and wired up to an output jack. It worked fairly well but didn't seem to be very loud and I soon found myself thinking on how I could boost it. I liked the idea the cigar box versions and actually bought a box to try out but it felt odd having one foot raised up like that. I liked the board that I had and the idea of keeping both feet naturally (for me) flat on the floor.

[DaddyDistortion]

Yep, a Mississippi drum machine for sure!
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[TV the Wired Turtle]

that is a cool home-made stomper.. ever since I saw a cat playing dobro and stompin at the same time I have been enamored with that. Especially since I use to do alot of
solo coffee shop gigs and would through my leather jacket on the floor in a pile with a tamborine sittin on top and stomp that.
Then I saw Linda kay with a shaker egg tied to a kick drum pedal wrapped in a rag thumpin on a plastic samsonite suitcase.

What you got there is way cooler an more afffordable than a porchboard.

what does it sound like plugged directly to a subwoofer?

I had a JBL folded 15" pwr'd subwoofer that would give up the brown note like Gods hammer. sure would be fun with that board! ...maybe

[Jukebox]

Here is Jupiter Creek's version from Austraila. http://cgi.ebay.com/Stomper-stomp-bo...QQcmdZViewItem

[kyleb]

Here's a few more pics


Top view


Mostly filled in


Jack part is still bare.


End view

I filled most of it in but I'm rethinking the jack plate. I'm thinking about cutting another piece of sheet metal and doing a bend so it covers the end and bottom of the jack. I might also cut out the wood that is used to hold the jack in place and just using the metal plate as that would be less likely to break off.

It's not quite as loud as I'd like overall, I have to boost the signal a bit. However it does sound good, I just need to come up with something that will allow for better vol control on the board.