
Build a guitarist’s
tone toy — in a can!
PROJECTS Toy Inventor’s Notebook
Written and photographed by Bob Knetzger
A Can Full of Tone
90 makezine.com
Vintage Gibson electric guitars had a special
circuit for modifying the sound of the pickups:
the Vari Tone (Figure
A
). You could set the knob
to get six different guitar sounds, from a funky
nasal tone to a full-bodied sound. Here’s an
effects box version of that famous circuit for your
own guitar that you can build — housed in a hot
sauce can.
Why did I use an empty El Pato salsa can? It’s
just the right size, the metal shields the circuit
from radio frequency interference, and it’s a nod
to guitar ...