After feeling inspired to make inventive pedal enclosures, our columnist met a blacksmith who lent him unique guidance in the process.
I’ll never forget this comment on my Instagram video of me making a sand-casting aluminum enclosure on one of my pedals: “Dude are you serious? Holding melted aluminum more than 1000 degrees Fahrenheit and only wear short pants and flip flop? if it blown you die.” Well, at Sehat Effectors, we make our own enclosures, but there’s another builder who makes sand-casting enclosures, G.S. Wyllie, who inspires me. The first time I saw Wyllie’s Moonrock Fuzz pedal online, I said to myself, “I have to make pedals as cool as that.” For years, I’d always thought about interesting and distinctive enclosure designs to create on my own, but always ended up with the question, “How?” One day, out of the blue, the universe answered me, guiding me to the right person. I was introduced to Mr. Yanto, a skilled traditional blacksmith in my hometown of Yogyakarta.
Mr. Yanto and I had been friends for a few years after having met at a flea market where I was, and still am, a customer of his. (Now, he’s one of my suppliers for my Telepunk Fuzz pedal enclosure.) At his shop, he makes and sells aluminum signs for coffee shops and restaurants. At one point, he told me he was making them at his workshop. Instantly, I thought to myself, “Eureka!” I showed him a picture of my Fuzz Face pedal and asked, “Can you make something like this?” He replied, “Kecil!” (“Kecil” means “small” in Indonesian but is often used to say something is easy to do, like the expression “piece of cake” in American English.)
The next day, I visited Mr. Yanto’s workshop, and I was completely astonished and speechless. The building had red brick walls and a bamboo roof. There were several giant furnaces, which made the room extremely hot. I couldn’t believe how someone could live there—it felt like a funhouse tour in Hell. That said … I think being a blacksmith is one of the coolest jobs in our solar system, and throughout the history of human civilization.
“I think being a blacksmith is one of the coolest jobs in our solar system, and throughout the history of human civilization.”
I asked Mr. Yanto to show me the process of making an object using the sand-casting method. Unfortunately, I discovered that I had barely approached the beginning of the process, and that creating my dream enclosure was not as easy as pouring molten metal into a sand hole. To create a custom shape, a base pattern or master form is needed—which is then placed in a wooden frame filled with sand—to achieve the desired pattern. After compacting the sand, holes are made for the molten aluminum that will be cast. But, at that time, I only had imaginary designs in my head. In the end, my first visit to Mr. Yanto’s workshop was nothing more than a tourist experience.
However, I didn’t want the designs in my head to remain imaginary forever. So, on my next visit, I prepared various objects that had the potential to be modified into stompbox enclosures. I collected these items from flea markets: They ranged from various sewing machine pedals to video game consoles to podium microphones to aquarium water pumps. Fortunately, Mr. Yanto was willing to assist me in modifying these objects to be repurposed as stompbox enclosures, and even taught me how to add ornaments as part of the enclosure artwork. Yet most of the modified objects turned out to be unreliable for use in this context. Maybe my enthusiasm was too overwhelming, but ultimately, all this effort was not just about wanting to look cool. I simply wanted to condense my own thoughts and pour them into various creations in the real world.
Moreover, as a pedal builder who’s fortunate enough to live in the era of globalization and free markets, I wanted to involve people close to me who are local workers. I wanted to invite them to cross the Indian and Pacific Oceans, to every corner of this planet, with our own work and sweat. Well, to conclude this article, one of our customers said: “I don’t play guitar. I’m a music producer, but I bought this because I respect you risking your life to make this pedal, and the story behind it—it’s a piece of art.” And that’s why I want to keep converting my thoughts into real things in this real world.
Jazz virtuoso Lionel Loueke joins us in contemplating who we’d put at the helm while making the album of a lifetime. Plus, musical obsessions!
Q: If you could make an album with any producer, alive or dead, who would it be?
Lionel Loueke — Guest Picker
Photo by Elan Mehler
A: Quincy Jones. He’s done so much. He’s someone I’d love to work with just to get a different experience. I love his work but the main one for me is Michael Jackson’s Thriller. I know him personally: I went to Morocco with him when he was presenting the Global Gumbo All Stars, and I also worked with him in the studio when I was playing with Herbie Hancock on his new project. Quincy wasn’t producing, Terrace Martin was the producer, but it was so good to be in the studio with all those great musicians.
Photo by Sam Santos
What I really like about Quincy is how he detects talent. Producing is one thing, but he finds the right musicians who have something unique or different to say. I mean, Ray Charles … he’s produced so many greats in all genres.
Lionel Loueke's Current Obsession:
Right now, my obsession is all about the drums. I feel like I present myself as being a frustrated drummer, because I play a lot of percussion on the guitar and I started as a percussion player, so it’s always been part of what I do. I’m not looking to be a drummer, I just feel really connected to any percussion instrument, and I feel drums will help me go even deeper in my musical multitasking.
I think it was Miles Davis who said that every musician should try to play drums. And I truly believe that because with the drums you have four parts of your body to synchronize: legs, arms, feet, hands. When it comes to rhythmically thinking, drums are something every musician should try.
I just talked to my friend, drummer Ferenc Nemeth, who has been playing in my band for 20 years, about buying a drum kit because I don’t have one. Right now, I have drumsticks and I’m beating on everything [laughing].
Matt Dunn — Reader of the Month
A: I would probably pick Brian Eno/Daniel Lanois specifically because of their work on The Unforgettable Fire album with U2. While I’m mostly into punk/garage rock, I was always so blown away by early U2 records and their approach to songwriting. I would do anything to write my own versions of “Bad” or “A Sort of Homecoming” with their guidance and production.
U̲2 - The Unforgettable Fire CD2 Deluxe (Full Album)
Matt Dunn's Current Obsession:
Bad Religion. Despite being a punk fan my whole life, I was always more into English and East Coast bands. I recently tried to expand my world to include those SoCal punk bands and I cannot find anyone better than them. “Streets of America,” “American Jesus,” and “We’re Only Gonna Die” are on repeat.
Ted Drozdowski — Senior Editor
A: It’s a toss between T Bone Burnett and Daniel Lanois.
I love the low sound T Bone perfected with his own The True False Identity and Alison Krauss/Robert Plant’s Raising Sand. But I’m crazy about how Lanois brings the ambient playbook to roots music, producing great albums for Dylan, Emmylou Harris, the Nevilles, and more.
Ted Drozdowski's Current Obsession:
I’m in the early stages of working on a feature-length film incorporating songs, storytelling, psychedelic lighting, original artwork, and aerial dance. How could I not be obsessed about it?
Nick Millevoi — Associate Editor
A: The Flaming Lips and Dave Fridmann. I can’t begin to predict how my music and their vision would really come together, and that’s what I love about the idea of working with those guys. Every Lips album and side project is completely immersive and multidimensional. It would be a dream to tap into their whole technicolor vibe and see how they’d handle sounds, arrangements, and writing firsthand.
Flaming Lips - See the Leaves
Nick Millevoi's Current Obsession:
Eighties drum machines. I’m deep in the throes of an obsession: I recently bought an Alesis HR-16 and the sounds are so sick—and so ’80s! —but it has opened up a potential gear wormhole.