Build a Cigar Box Distortion Unit With This Easy Hack

Last year, C. B. Gitty introduced the Psycho Knob internal distortion, an easy-to-install circuit that added fuzz effects inside your guitar. 

Now Shane Speal shows you how to hack the kit to become a standalone unit that can be used on all your electric guitars!

Hear the Demo

What you'll need

(Click each picture to purchase the item)

Hack the Kit

1. Wire Jacks to the Circuit Board

Instead of installing the Psycho Knob inside a guitar cavity, simply wire a 1/4" jack to the IN lead and another 1/4" jack to the OUT lead (see above).

2. Install the Circuit Board in a Cigar Box

Find the smallest cigar box you have.

Drill holes for the jacks and the Psycho Knob.

Then, mount the components inside the box.

The photo above shows the optional battery compartment (details below).

3. Identify the Input & Output Jacks

In order not to mix up the signal chain, mark the IN jack as "GUITAR" and the OUT jack as "AMP."

4. Optional (and seriously awesome) steps: 

Install an external battery compartment as shown in the example

Do these steps before installing any of the parts into the cigar box.

1. Drill holes for the Psycho Knob and guitar jacks, and route out an area of the cigar box for the external battery compartment. We suggest the bottom of the box since the 9v battery will add some weight and act as a weighted base.  
2. Mount the unwired battery compartment to the box.  
3. Cut off the battery terminal connector on the Psycho Knob Kit and solder the +/- wires to the compartment.

Install a skull faceplate behind the volume control

The C. B. Gitty Skull Sound Hole Covers are an excellent addition to the cigar box distortion unit. 

To use one on your box:

1. Center the skull nose hole over the hole you drill for the knob selector switch. 
2. Fasten the skull in place with wood glue or another appropriate adhesive. 
3. Install a knob such as the chickenhead knob used in this project. 

Conclusion

In this post, you learned how to install a C. B. Gitty Psycho Knob into a stand-alone unit.

This way, instead of installing a Psycho Knob directly into on cigar box guitar, you can have a distortion box to use for all of your CBGs and other electrified instruments.

All you need for this project is

• a Psycho Knob Distortion Board
• two 1/4-inch guitar jacks
• a small cigar box
• an external-mount battery tray
• a skull sound hole cover
• a chickenhead knob

Want Another Way to Add Distortion to Your Sound?

After countless gigs and constant abuse (including throwing the guitar across stage at the end of gigs), Shane Speal brought this CBG back to life with parts including the Psycho Knob Distortion board.

Read the post below for another way to add distortion to your CBG sound.

Dead Cigar Box Guitar Given "Frankenstein" Life with C. B. Gitty Parts, Psycho Knob