Connor's Moog Circuit Bending Challenge Entry

Bill of Materials

Less than $70 total

• 1 Kawasaki toy guitar 4.5v / cost: free for me (Found on sidewalk.
  I did see one of these toy guitars on eBay for $34.99)
• 2 B100k ohm potentiometers ~$1.95 each
• 3 SPST sub-mini toggle switches ~1$ each
• 1 Neutrik 1/4" input jack ~$3
• 2 Boss pedal knobs ~$1-2 each
• Assorted color copper electrical wire
• Soldering iron and electronic solder
• Screwdrivers
• Pocketknife
• Scissors
• Gator clips
• 3 AA batteries

How To Make This Bend

1. Get a toy guitar and all the materials listed above. Remove all the screws of the toy and carefully look for circuitry that you can bend and manipulate.

2. Take your gator clips and poke around on the circuit board(s) while triggering sounds by pressing some of the toy's buttons. Listen for anything weird or that sounds good.

3. When you find a bend or any new connection between two points on the circuit board that makes a cool, new sound, clip the gator clips to that point on the circuit board and experiment by placing a potentiometer between the two points. Try and find a pot that controls the effect of the bend. Try placing switches between the bend as well to be able to turn the bend on and off.

4. Repeat step 3 as many times as you can to find other bends. Consider how much space your new bends may take up on your instrument/toy. Once you've found all the bends and are happy, solder everything together. Drill holes for the pots and switches and wire everything up. Add a 1/4" jack and solder it to the speaker terminals so you can plug your instrument into a mixer or amplifier.

5. Here is a close up of the two 100K pots controlling the high pitch and low pitch bends on my circuit bent toy guitar.

6. Here is a close up on the three SPST switches that turn on and off the bends.

7. Here is a 1/4" input jack that is wired up to the two terminals on the speaker.

8. Underneath this circuit in the "neck" of the toy guitar there was a bend that changed the octave of the sounds.

9. Ta-da! Screw the pots and switches into the plastic case of the toy. Put the toy back together and find some knobs to put on the pot shafts. You now have a sweet circuit bent toy! Go play a gig, make a video, or record a song with it!

Last Year

Finalists

What Is Circuit Bending?