MB-DL-1 Analog Delay

MB-CP-1 Compressor/Limiter

The MODboard Concept

MB-CH-1 Chorus

MB-AM-1 Analog Amplier Modeler

from simple two knob guitars to four knob Les Pauls.

MODboards represent a tremendous new sonic opportunity

for guitarists.

Weve done a lot of installations to date, and careful planning and patience will result in a perfect, noise-free install.

Weve always thought onboard effects were cool. In the

70s and 80s a few manufacturers tried the concept, with
thin sounding effects with no real control. Newer models went with brittle and lifeless digital effects chips.
MODboards take the great vintage analog footpedal tones,
shrink them down, and install them on a miniaturized circuit
board with modular connections.

Since MODboards use classic analog components they are

very rugged, and not susceptible to the same voltage and
static damage typically incurred by digital chips. That said,
it is still critical to take the utmost care when handling, assembling and using the MODboards.

MODboards accommodate almost all control congurations,

Please carefully review the next several pages before unpacking your MODboard, and email us with any questions.

Measuring your Control Cavity

Before attempting any installation make sure you have the right components, and
that they will FIT your guitar. We nd the minimum installation depth to be 1 1/2
(38mm), which is usually not a problem in any guitar. On Strats we like to replace
the thicker 35mm CRL or Oak switch with the slightly shallower 28mm Alpha Switch,
and on thinner guitars youll want to go with mini pots. Youll nd the deepest component is the Push/pull switch, which at a Minimum depth of 27.5mm, added to the
10mm depth of the board makes it a very snug t! A typical Strat is 40mm deep. A
typical Les Paul is 45mm deep.
10mm

Youll want to measure your cavity thoroughly including depth, and then decide on controls that will t depth-wise, as
well as a good battery location. (A 9 volt battery is 26mm x 17mm x 48mm)

27mm

PPOT

32mm

27mm

14mm

14mm

9.5mm

Full Sized
Pot

SPOT

CPOT

Alpha PCB
Switch

CRL Switch

As you can see from the minimum depths of the components listed above, in most circumstances a MODboard WILL t
underneath the Alpha switch (Combined min height of 37mm) but will not t underneath the CRL Switch. (Combined min
height of 42mm)
Guitars are different- weve seen some USA Strats with very deep cavities, and some Asian ones with VERY shallow ones.
Placement of the bulky 9 Volt battery can be an issue, especially on hardtail strats. For tricky installations you might want
to think about routing the proper cavity for a instant access battery box we sell. Almost all four knob Les Paul style guitars
have plenty of room enough to wrap both MODboard and battery in foam and still have plenty of room to maneuver.

Understanding MODboards
J1- Parameter 1- Top control on concentric pot, or a separate pot
J2- Parameter 2- Bottom control of concentric pot, or a separate pot
VR2- Parameter 3- Pre Set by user, not controllable by external pot
J3- ON/OFF for Buffered Mode
J4- ON/OFF for True Bypass Mode
VR1- External location for J2- May be handwired.
Input Ground- Connects to guitar ground, back of pot case
Input Hot- Guitar +, connects to middle terminal of Volume Pot
True Bypass- Output for true bypass mode, connect Output jack
White
Buffered Bypass- Output for Buffered mode, connect output jack
White
Output Ground- connect to output jack silver
Switching Jack Red- Connect to output jack red wire
Battery Black- ground for battery
Battery Red- + for Battery

Preparing the MODboard

Correct installation requires the correct

tools. We recommend a high quality 30-40
watt soldering station, high quality wire
strippers, pliers and cutters, and only use
correct 60/40 solder when working on
MODboards

Good quality soldering starts with a well

tinned tip.
Make sure your have a meticulously
clean soldering tip, with a shiny coating of
solder. We like a small chisel tip like the
Xytronic tip shown here.

Remove the bare MODboard from the

package. At this time DO NOT connect any
of the plug-in components. First well see
how much soldering we can do away from
the guitar.

Before soldering any connections youll

need to pre-tin the solder tabs. Youll
want each tab to receive a nice shiny blob
of solder- as we show here.

If you can mount the battery in the cavity, youll want to install the battery leads
now- Trim the leads so you dont have too
much extra wire, and solder the black and
red as shown.

In many cases youll solder a lead for the

+ now. This will hook up directly to the
center tab of your volume pot or to your
guitar switch, depending on your conguration. (See page 6)

Installing MODboards in a Strat

The rst thing you must do with a Strat is decide which control setup you want, and where to put the battery. If you choose Stock
Strat Setup #1 you can t the battery in the
cavity as shown in the photo below on the left. This is the easiest arrangement to allow for
the battery in the cavity. Stock Setup #2 maintains the vintage look with NO extra holes in the pickguard, by using the push/pull pot for
volume. In order to make it t however, you must move the volume control to the bottom position.
The
vintage location. Both of these setups require installing the battery elsewhere. A nice easy method on trem guitars is to install it in the
Trem
tery box, we like the location below the trem on the guitars rear as shown. Remember- You can do almost ANY installation you wantthese are just guidelines.

If using Stock Strat Setup #1 you may

place the 9 Volt battery under the Tone
knob as shown.

The wire on the left tab of your volume

control is the output from the 5-way
switch. The middle wire is the output from
the volume control- Stock #1 and Mod
wiring uses this center wire straight to the
Input tab on the MODboard.

Using two springs on the bass side, one

on the treble side- a 9 Volt battery ts
perfectly. Tremolo action is relatively
unaffected.

Here we are going to replace the deep

wafer switch with the Shallower Alpha PCB
switch. This gives you quite a bit more
room for the MODboard install. Were
going to cut out the volume pot and tone
pots and clean up the wiring rst.

Our favorite location for installing the

BCK-PL Battery box.

Here weve wired up the 5-way to the

pickups, soldered out common grounds to
a new 250K audio pot, and soldered the
output of the 5-way to the left tab of the
volume pot. With the two tone controls
removed its a pretty tidy setup right now!

Since were going to use the passive tone

as the on/off switch- well solder the tone
cap from the left most tab of the volume
pot to ground. The middle tab will go to
the volume pot.

Now we can nish the installation. The

output jack installs to the jackplate, then
we solder the ground, white lead and red
lead to Ring. We need to solder a wire
from the input ground to the case of the
volume pot.

The concentric pot goes in the middle

hole- there is no wiring to do for it. The
push/pull need to be connected to the
volume pot via a single wire.

Using the supplied cellular foam, make

a wrap for the board. If space is tight
you can use thin cardboard to create a
shield for the board, or lightly wrap it in
electrical tape. It is very important that
the bottom of the MODboard is covered to
prevent shorting.

Heres what it looks like assembled.

Volume, Concentric pot, Tone. Rememberyou DO NOT need any extra ground wires
to the CPOT or SPOT.

The nished product! Passive volume and

tone are still there, so with the switch off
there is no change in tone. The concentric pot gives you ngertip control of the
MODboard, and we have made exactly
ZERO mods to this guitar.

Dual Humbucker Install

There are two basic methods for

mounting the MODboard in a four knob,
twin Humbucker guitar.
The Stock setup on the left uses the
four original knobs, a pair of SPOT single
potentiometers, and the outputs of the
pickup go directly to the Toggle switch.
Twin passive volume and tone controls
are replaced with a Master tone and a
Master volume.
The Mod setup at right retains the
twin passive volumes, installs single passive tone, and uses the CPOT concentric
pot stack.

Were going to install the Stock install,

so rst we need to remove all of the pots
and output jack- Well need to keep track
of which lead is for the Bridge pickup and
which for the neck pickup

With all of the pots removed we only

have the two shielded cables from the
pickups and the three wires that lead to
our toggle switch. The goal here is to connect the pickups directly to each pole of
the switch, so the single return wire is the
Hot wire for guitar output.

We need to look at our toggle switch

and check to see which side is neck and
which side is bridge. Most guitars are color
coded, but even if youre wrong you can
rotate the switch 180 degrees to be correct.

After you connect the pickups to the

toggle switch, TEST everything before you
go any further. Once you know that both
the wire coming back from the toggle
switch is getting the output of both pickups, youre OK.

Now we will put together our Master Volume and Master Tone control. Here weve
chosen to make the Master Volume the
push pull pot.

Heres the volume and tone installed- Notice how the cap connects from the middle
terminal of volume to middle terminal of
ground. Also notice weve grounded our
pickups and string ground to the back of
the pot.

Once the volume and tones are installed

its time to wire up the MODboard. You can
install the output jack rst, then the battery leads, then the input from the volume
pot. Remember to connect INPUT ground
to the back of the volume pot.

Using the supplied cellular foam, wrap

both board and battery. Theres plenty of
room in most LP style guitars, but make
sure no wires are shorting out, and ensure
that none of the connections have the opportunity to touch a potentiometer.

Once installed everything looks stock! By

pulling up on the volume pot we can engage the MODboard, and this control STILL
operates as the standard passive volume
control.

Telecaster Install Mods

You can leave the exterior of a stock Tele

untouched by using a VERY SHARP chisel and
carefully creating a recess on both sides of the
cavity. We dont use a hammer, rather shave a
little bit of wood at a time.

Once the recess is created there should be

plenty of room. We put the battery under the
Concentric pot (Located in the tone control location) and put the MODboard under the 3-way.
Theres plenty of room for a push-pull volume
this way.

Viewed from the top,

this is what the positioning looks like.

Typical Installation Schematics

Strat Mod Installation

Strat Stock Installation

Push-Pull

LP Mod Installation

LP Stock Installation