Oct 13, 202510:00
Alchemy PickupsAncoats GuitarsCave PedalsDevil and Daughters GuitarsEmpty Head EffectsExpoFredric EffectsGood Fuzzy SoundsHello Sailor EffectsLT Custom GuitarsNRG EffectsOGEE PickupsPatrick James EggleRitual DevicesWoking Boutique Guitar Show+-
So a quick second Woking Show in the same year - for reasons I will endeavour to explain. A bittersweet moment for me as I have really loved the Fiery Bird venue - it’s a great setting for these kinds of events - and so close to the town centre - just 5 minutes or…
Oct 13, 202510:00
Alchemy PickupsAncoats GuitarsCave PedalsDevil and Daughters GuitarsEmpty Head EffectsExpoFredric EffectsGood Fuzzy SoundsHello Sailor EffectsLT Custom GuitarsNRG EffectsOGEE PickupsPatrick James EggleRitual DevicesWoking Boutique Guitar Show+-
So a quick second Woking Show in the same year - for reasons I will endeavour to explain. A bittersweet moment for me as I have really loved the Fiery Bird venue - it’s a great setting for these kinds of events - and so close to the town centre - just 5 minutes or so form the main Woking Train Station. The reason Jason brought the 2nd show forward is that the council has taken back the licence for the building - with a view to redeveloping the premises - so presumably demolition beckons - which is so depressing. Probably all for the sake of some soulless selfish and greedy property developer who has no concept of community
Proper handy cultural and community centres are few and far between these days - in fact very much an endangered species - where well-meaning individuals and groups can use the space for shows, exhibitions and other proper social civic purposes. The Fiery Bird was perfect for the Woking Boutique Guitar Show - and as far as we are aware currently - there is no equivalent venue remaining. Which means that the Woking Show is endangered also. Prices / Costs are almost certainly going to go up for the next venue - whatever and wherever that may be. Currently there don’t seem to be any viable solutions for replacements. Jason can find alternative venues - but they won’t be so convenient , and they will likely be a whole lot more costly.
So it was as well to savour the surroundings for the 2nd and last time! The second show was double the size of the first - both in terms of floorspace and number of exhibitors - while there were a number of no-shows - including the much vaunted Andy Ferris. I belive half a dozen of the listed exhibitors were no-shows. And my now good friend Lewis Trower put in a solid to help organise replacements for the live presentations, showcases and masterclasses.
The show was so busy that main show runner Jason was to be found almost everywhere apart from on his own stand! I circled around several times to grab a photo, and for the couple of times I caught him on his stand - he was engaged in deep discussions with a number of people - so most unusually I was unable to capture a photo of Jason for the show! I feel the show was complex enough to deserve one of those floorplan maps. Without a map you inevitably overlook some nook or cranny!
In fact I probably spent too much time in the Pedal and Acoustic Guitars Room - and with the musical chairs going on with the various stands - and principals often out exploring other stands - it made for an interesting chase for the day. I didn’t even manage to get around half the stands this time around - while the conversations I had with most - were deeper and more detailed than for previous shows, There are so many interesting innovations happening all the time - that it can be tricky to keep abreast of everything.
This Overview / Highlights is roughly in the order of those encounters, with Nic of Empty Head Effects being the cover star for the occasion - at his first UK Show!
More details on everything below! Oh and this time around I was able to find the Pret A Manger for lunch!
I came away with 3 new pedals, 2 reconditioned ones, and a gorgeous wooden box from my good friend Ollie from OGEE! Fun fact is that Ollie works just up the road from Neil @ NRG - and is currently Laser-Etching the NRG facia plates for Neil.
Laser etching came up quite a lot during the day - as Nic @ Empty Head Effects, Wub @ Ritual Effects, and Ollie @ Ogee all regularly use lasers. Where Neil from NRG has typically outsourced those tasks. He is adamant that Ollie delivers the best quality Laser Etching and thus relies on his expertise currently!
Empty Head Effects - Nic
The first segment is normally reserved for the showrunner - while as I was unable to pin Jason down for the entirety of the show - Nic lucks out a second time here - and gets the first slot too!
Nic is actually very much a Woking boy - born and bred - where he married a German Girl and has been living in Mainz now for around 20 years. In fact for so long - that he has absorbed the tiniest bit of a German accent - which only appears on a few choice words and phrases. I myself have not managed to lose all of my Icelandic accent - while I’ve been living in the UK for the past 45 years!
In any case Nic has managed to carve out a very unique niche for himself - where I see him as the even more experimental counter to Fairfield Circuitry. There does seem to be a similar mindset there - while the aesthetic is quite different!
Nic overloads the powder on his powder coating - which kind of dredged effect gives his pedals such unique textured surfaces - somewhat akin to igneous rock - if igneous rock was white! He also famously Laser Etches the legends and labels into the pedals, and deploys some of the slickest designs for his 3D-printed pedal knobs. Every device has a different knob colour and design seemingly. Nic is therefore highly creative across all channels - including the engineering side, and the pedals’ look and feel - for some truly iconic devices. Empty Head Effects is a masterclass in product design!
I’m delighted to have come away from the show with Nic’s latest pedal - the King Alex II - which he has teased already across social media - and is due to launch officially on the 28th of this month - so a full-fat deep dive feature coming up for that noise-maker pedal.
Nic has so many fantastic pedals on his roster - that I really struggled to place them in an order of attack hierarchy for the longest time! The other 4 pedals that I’ve featured on the site are amazing - the Big Talker Dual Tremolo, Falling Man Gravity Delay, External / Internal Dual Modulator, and The Lover 2-Transisor Overdrive.
I like the Big Talker’s knobs the most - while my next target will likely be the highly interactive Falling Man Delay - with its downward Sheperd Effect!
Fun fact - that one obviously staid and fusty German Dealer rejected Nic’s pedals for being too weird! While that is surely their main attraction - and something genuinely different and unique! Nic is an unusual voice for this screne - with some very unique ideas for pedal design - all his pedals are strikingly distinct - which is a great asset to have!
I have officially started down the path of Empty Head Effects, and I look forward to tackling all those superb pedals I have mentioned here. There are so many deft details to be found on each one - including the fact that all the LED’s are painted / covered to temper their glow!
Hello Sailor Effects - Joe
It’s alway a delight to catch up with the most consistently cheerful builder around. And Joe is out of control these days - in the best possible way - so many projects on the go. He’s done so many DIY posts and Reconstructions and Modifications - it’s a wonder he finds time to put out so much content in a given week.
And most every episode he publishes focuses on another pedal - he’s done Randy Rhoads specials, Oasis, The Eagles, Old Captain Drive (OCD), Mostortion - and of course more of this most popular pedals - The RangeMaster, and the Kossoff-inspired Free-Range.
In fact both of these feature in the above selection - where Joe has made me a wonderful sounding primo component Dual RangeMaster - just in time for my Birthday!. That Dual RangeMaster combines a Newmarket Germanium NKT CV7001 (Milspec. NKT 275 equivalent), alongside a Silicon TI 2N4060. With Simple controls for maximum impact!.
While the one he’s holding in the above picture - is supposedly his best ever FreeRange (RangeMaster + Kossoff Drive) that he’s made to date - which has some super rare parts onboard.
My FreeRange is currently in for service - so hopefully he can make that one sound as good! It’s mostly in for more output volume - while I’m not expecting to get that back this side of Christmas - most likely early next year!
It’s always fascinating to see where Joe will go next - he’s evidently a still-roving seafarer who leaps from one discovery to the next. I aways find it fascinationg to see where he’e headed - and which pedal design he will favour next! He’s done so many specials episodes - indulging building an over-sized primo component replica of the Funny Little Boxes’ Dual Opamp Caught by the Fuzz!
Presumably Glyn has been banned from Woking town centre - as this is the second time Joe was flying solo! And they’re normally inseparable!
Ritual Devices - Wub
It’s great to see my friend Wub back on the circuit again - as he’s been a little absent this year. Mostly just because of being overworked - where it’s always great to catch up.
I have 3 of Wub’s flagship pedals - the EVOL Fuzz / Distortion, Fay Phase Filter Modulation, and Grimalkin Fuzz - with just the Rainmaker Vibrato / Tremolo Modulator still to go. All those are next-level amazing!
While this time around Wub had another new pedal for me - which I’ve bene sworn to secrecy on - but which releases relatively soon - on October 29th if I properly recall! It’s something of a departure to what he’s done before - while I think many will find it super handy - it’s been designed for quick and easy application!
At the same time - he’s refined his etching process - which now gives him much crisper and higher contrasting etching - as can be witnessed on the new Grimalkin Editions - which look amazing - those etchings look super sharp. I’ve suggested painting on a clear coat to smooth off some of those sharp edges - and give the pedal a deeper aspect - Wub needs to experiment on that to see how those might turn out.
He should be able to turn our this intricate designs more swiftly and easily now - while every different etch involves some degree of re-tooling.
I’m very glad to see things are still going well for my friend here - and more of you definitely need to get your hands on these exceedingly fine pedals!
NRG Effects - Neil
Firstly - thanks to Phil @ PetalPatch for the photo - which I’m borrowing as my base here - Phil took a better picture of his collaboration colleague Neil - where the two of them have put on a series of Pedal-Build Sessions - where participants get supported by Neil - who takes them through the build process of a unique 2-Knob Distortion that he designed for this project.
Phil was there on the day to support his friend - and snapped this superb picture of his buddy! There’s so much going on with NRG Effects - that it’s a struggle to know where to start.
So I will start by saying that I picked up my Fuzzer and Purrer pedals - which Neil had given his secret sauce Satin Polished Finish - which he development a few weeks after I had already received my somewhat rawer aluminium enclosures. The buffing process brings on a lovely sheen to those pedals - which wholly matches the inset discs on the knobs - which have been made from a more polished strata. Both my Fuzzer and Purrer pedals are now positively gleaming - and look even better than they did originally - this treatment is a fantastic upgrade as far as I’m concerned - and I will soon be sharing all the pictures that Neil took of that process. Where he had to disassemble the pedals before applying the buffed and polished final finish! You can look forward to that - should be up sometime this week.
Also on the stand was the brand new Super Deluxe Fuzzer - with several extra controls and in that cool octagonal enclosure that Neil sometimes uses. Said pedal was going for £349 at the show - which will likely be a little more when it goes up online. Had I the funds at the time I would have surely sprung for it - but as things are - I’m already way overcommitted for October with 26/7 pedals landing this month - the majority are in already - and I will then still have outstanding commitments with Spaceman Effects, Teaching Machines, and ThorpyFX - albeit 2 of those are very early November releases - with payment due this month. I dearly would have loved to have picked up that Octagonal Fuzzer - Neil has not planned to make any more as of this moment!
Finally we had the new 1590B3 Enclosure Prototype - which we’ll see new versions of the Gnawer and Fuzzer in - with a new central 6-way Rotary Control with further Capacitor / EQ / Input Gain and Diode Options!
We should see new editions in that very slightly wider size (77 vs 61mm) where the enclosure’s height is also a smidge taller - but by just 4mm! - a great format for sure. I’m already committed to the new Gnawer - and will probably grab the newer Fuzzer too. And Neil tells me that the new Mauler will probably be rolled out sometime next year also - in that same ‘B3’ enclosure!
For sure exciting times ahead!
OGEE Pickups - Ollie
I was delighted to bump into Ollie at the show - as for some reason he wasn’t on the original poster and I didn’t think he’d be exhibiting this year.
Ollie showed me his latest project - a Super Thin Humbucker - for which he’s still deciding on a product name. It’s only around half as thick as a typical Humbucker variant. I made several suggestions - including ‘Sliver’, ‘Shard’ or ‘Slate’ even - will be interesting to find out what Ollie settles on in the end. Should be good for luthiers though - as they don’t have to rout / carve their cavities quite so deep now!
The other main reason and mission for me to be at the OGEE stand was to pick up one of those superb boxes that Ollie makes as the main boxes for his pickups. I’ve suggested that some pedal builders should consider asking Ollie to make some of those as pedal boxes - while they need to be relatively high value as each box will probably run to £10-£15 - which won’t work for all pedal brands.
Ollie said I could have one at the end of the day if he’d not sold all his pickups for the show. So my luck was definitely in for that one - and I have the most amazing trinket / small parts box! I already had several ideas for how I would use my box - but have still to land on the final solution. I’m very chuffed to have one in any case. Those boxes are so beautifyully made - you look at the box with all its attention to detail - and immediately wonder just how much attention to detail has gone into each of those pickups!
I raised the same points with Jack and Clara over at Alchemy Pickups - nothing that both those brands - needed better brand markers on the pickups - to dinstinciguish them - they really need an ident - some sort of small sprite or spirit animal - that they can easily accommodate within the designs of the pickup - and which immediately sparks some degree of brand awareness and recall!
Good Fuzzy Sounds - Simon
It’s been over a year since I first met Simon at the inaugural Alternative Guitar Show - which first took place in March of last year - somehow it seems longer away - but I guess it’s just a sign of how much has happened over those months.
Simon specialises in somewhat unusual variants of classic circuits - which often come in unusual looking enclosures - and aren’t always the most pedalboard friendly!
While that all changes with his new more pedalboard-friendly E15 Fuzz - based on a very rare TB MKI variant - which surely inevitably has some mods onboard. I love a decent MKI - and for this variant the ‘Fuzz’ control is actually the Bias - similar to some of Markus Reeves’ pedals.
Much like for the NRG Octagonal Fuzzer - I would have loved to have picked up the E15 at the show. While as mentioned - I already have a few very lofty outstanding prior commitments. And so the E15 will need to wait.
I belive there will be around half a dozen of these - and I’ve asked Simon to reserve one for me! Which I will hope to pick up next month.
You should know that I’m something of a fuzz fanatic by now - and I love testing the mettle of fuzz builders - as their pedal executions reveal so much about their own core personalities. You can normally pick up patterns of signature styles - and figure out whether said builder is on a similar path / journey to you. It’s all about finding your lane - as I keep saying!
Cave Pedals - Angus and Ruth
I had quite the deep conversation with Angus in particular here - where we worked our way though most of the roster - and touched on imminent and forthcoming pedals too - including the new Treadle-based SloppyJoe 4-Stage Phaser,and the GyroWah Inductorless Wah - with separate dial that allows you to instantly ramp up to a preset Coked-Wah point.
Interestinggly the somewhat accidental QuackHead is the current bestseller. That started off initially as an attempt at a minimal controls Auto-Wah - but took an interesting diversion. It’s certainly adjacent to the original intended purpose - but delivers its own textures and tones - which have found favour with near everyone who has tried one of those out. Surely that remains as the key target for most.
Angus tends so favour minimal, and ideally no knobs - or simple one-knob designs. He’s currently working on an instant slapback delay - which does one thing exceptionally well - and you don’t need to dial anything in - simply just stomp when you need it.
This sort of ‘Flavour Cube’ approach is mostly Angus’s philosophy - a sort of no nonsense, straight up approach - which is actually pretty fresh.
You get little or no knobs on those devices - while they are already-engineered to perfection - for instant impact!
Fredric Effects - Tim
Always good to catch up with Tim - who historically is the builder I’ve encountered the most on my various rounds - all these years!
The bad news for me - was that he was still focused on his ‘Demon Fuzz’ campaign - which I think I had experienced 3 times already by then! I was hoping he would be focusing on a different pedal by know - while the Demon campaign still seems to be working for him - and he normally shifts a lot at the various shows. While Woking 2 seemed to be on the slow side for me in terms of sales. I’m aware there were some pedals sold at the show - bur barely a handful in total.
Tim normally does very well at these shows - his £99 Demon Fuzz + Tee offer normally flies off the shelves as such - but I’m not sure how well Tim did this time around - while he always manages to sell a few normally.
He has plenty of pedals in stock at the moment - which is just as well - as he’s cut ties with his enclosure supplier - over quality assurance issues - that always seems to be the case! I’ve lost count of the number of builders who have complained to me about the poor quality control of those enclosure manufacturers - and that seems to be the case home and abroad to some degree - while there are sill some super reliable metal-workers and finishers around. It’s still tricky to get the right quality at the right pice!
The good news is that we finally have a Demo for the new variant of Demon Fuzz - so I can finally get my article up there - but that means I’m fully up-do-date for Fredric - and I would have preferred to have my next target waiting in the wings. Again other financial commitments - prevented me from negotiating further Fredric Effects acquisitions - I still have a long wishlist of Fredric Effects to land. While I’m active across more than 400 brands - and need to share the love as such. The liquidity of such love can run out very quckly. Some months I’m already fully committed for the month - just a few days in - and there’s only so much money in the pot, and the emergency pot, and the emergency emergency pot!! Which is already all gone for this month - and then some!
This takes a lot of plate-spinning to keep tabs on everything - and like over-complicated juggling - we occasionally have a ball or two fall to the floor.
I’m determined to get the next slew of Fredric Effects in - while that’s increasingly looking like next year now!
Tim is supposed to be re-housing a few more of hose pedals - including the Nouveau Super Unpleasant Companion - which is destined to go into a similar enclosure to Tim’s Standard Fuzz Machine.
Development of the new variant of DuoFuzz has already stalled somewhat - as it’s proving to be tricky to accommodate that circuit within the newer wedge enclosure. Tim has discussed putting that also in the Standard Fuzz Machine style enclosure - but I’m not sure a final decision has been made yet.
In any case new pedal builds are somewhat curtailed as Tim seeks out a new supplier for those core enclosures!
Alchemy Pickups - Jack and Clara
I recall meeting Jack and Clara at the inaugural Woking show - which I think was their first show overall - and they seemed a little nervous at times. While for the 2nd Woking Show - they’re fully relaxed and very much at ease!
It was Lewis (Trower) that spilled the beans on the fact that Jack was working on his own range of pedals. Funnily enough Lewis’s latest guitar - as we shall see - was built for Jack - who was due to pick it up at the end of the show!
In fact the Germanium Booster (own circuit) from that pair of pedal prototypes was already pretty much ready - at least in circuit / prototype format. Jack was happy with how that Harmonic Booster was sounding - where he still needed to decide on the final styling cues for the enclosure - while he was close to a final solution on that too!
The second of the pair - a Discrete Harmonic Overdrive was still not quite yet sounding how Jack wanted it to - and probably had a few more weeks / months of R&D remaining - albeit the core circuit had been ready for a while - I guess it’s a matter of getting the controls and tone-stack optimised. I certainly understand the need to make a great first impression - while I think Lewis has tried it and found it good enough to launch - where Jack still feels there are a couple of minor wrinkles to overcome.
Like with fine art paintings - there’s an optimal time to put down the brush - up until that time you’re adding subtle nuances that make the artwork better - but beyond a certain point the results start to get reversed. It’s occasionally similar with pedals too - where too much tinkering can sometimes do more harm than good!
You have to guage the right balance of things - and decide when all he key criteria have been met. Also the nature of certain circuits can make them difficult to mod and tweak - where you often get superior results by bypassing certain sections of the circuit. Some fuzzes sound much bigger and bolder with the Tone Stack Bypassed.
Besides pedal matters which occupied much of the discussion.- Jack and Clara also introduced me to their new sleek Single Coil Monolith Pickups - which looked incredibly slick in Off-White and Black Ediions. I found the shape very slightly reminiscent of some of the Lace Sensor pickups - but still quite distinct!
I am after all a Pedal Guy and not a Pickup expert - while I’ve done a few articles on generic types. But that is a pleasure that must wait for another day - as I have a number of pedals to get to before I start looking into how I could further jazz up my guitar!
Patrick James Eggle - Patrick
I’ve come across Patrick James Eggle at various shows - while this is the first time I’m covering him. He has a foot in both camps - making both solid plain guitars - and more PRS-style heavily figured designs.
Patrick is pictured here with his favouritee sort of Les Paul Jr looking guitar - which is still very attractive - while my two favourite guitars on the stand were the heavily figures ones - especially the subtle oceanic green Les Paul style one on the far left.
These are for sure beautifully made guitars - with wide appeal for both camps. I recall discussing those guitars with Tim from Fredric Effects - where he preferred the plain ones - and I leant more in to the figured ones. They typically range from circa £3,200 to £5,000. So most will have to save up for one of these - obviously of the finest quality.
For me it’s all in the feel of the guitar’s neck - and Patrick’s necks feel amazing - where he prefers a more natural satin-like finish which is entirely to my preference.
LT Custom Guitars
Lewis has turned out to be a really good friend. He’s probably the best networked person in this business - he seems to know everybody. I first connected with him over Johnny Brelliot’s TODP pedal - where he’s the one who’s championed that pedal the most.
He works with everyone near enough - including Jack @ at Alchemy Pickups - where the guitar Lewis is holding was made for Jack - and he was due to pick it up later in the day.
Lewis has been preoccupied with a very young child - which has eaten into this production schedule - to the degree that his only new recent guitar was that Jack one - all the others on the stand were borrowed back from customers - including a very recently made bass.
I love most everything Lewis makes - he has a way with attractive shaped scratch guards and perfectly angled cutaways - and of course perfectly ergonomic headstocks - where I particularly like his 3+3 variants.
Pricing is typically around the £2,500-£3,500 mark, These are very attractive guitars for sure - and you have the added bonus of a Visual Guitar Builder - which allows you to specify your own particular guitar makeup. Where LT Cusom also gives you the option of payment plan.
There’s a lot of attention to detail here - and those details are delivered at a very fair price!
Ancoats Guitars - Dave
Some really attractive guitars here - of the more solid aesthetic that many prefer - so no PRS-like figured finishes - but rather more traditional solid hues - but with highly striking ergonomics and geometrics. This is quite a cool aesthetic - which is a good mix of traditional and modern. I like near enough everything about these - including the headstocks - which I’m normally very fussy about.
These are all just a few steps away from traditional designs - but still very much their own shape here. There is for sure much to like here - including the price - which ranges from £1,000 to £1,600 typically - these are very good value!
I usually lean more into oceanic figured designs - in various hues of blue. While there’s something really elegant about these Ancoats designs - which are very pleasing on the eye.
By this time in the proceedings - I realised I had not covered as many stands as I should have - and I alas didn’t have too much time for talking here - surely will make time next time around. I think I’ve comes across Ancoats at a few of the shows - but haven’t had the time to stop by and have a proper chat yet!
Devil and Daughters Guitars - Topby
So - Devil and Sons has become Devil and Daughters - owing to a change to the line of succession - I guess male heirs did not show interest in the brand’s continuation.
In any case neither the Devil (Daniel) nor his daughters were in attendance - possibly held up in Georgia!
So friend Tony was the stand-in for the day - which also allowed him to sell some of his one-string bass ‘Devil Sticks’ - which were mostly priced at around the £100 mark. Those were very hand-made - with the one pickup made with a sewing machine bobbin - wound on an actual sewing machine - so Toby had no ‘windings’ counter - but had to gauge the results by eye and timing! I would have preferred some fret markers on these - but I guess they were correctly priced for their condition!
There were a variety of objects on the stand - including numerous 3D-printed Skull Pick Holders in various hues - where the pick slots made up a ‘mohican’ design for those skulls - which looked especially cool with contrasting picks in position - those mostly came in just one shape - with a one-off cyborg variant also on display - I think those were each around £20.
Though this brand is mostly about movie and sci-fi inspired guitars seemingly. Where the Protoncaster MKIII was inspired by Ghosbusters - while it also looked a bit ‘Star Wars Sith’ to me for whatever reason. Those are typically around the £1,500 mark - but there was one at the show going of just £1,100 - ish I think,
The second guitar looked sort of like a textured spaceship - with its part grey Airfix style design. Obviously those would appeal to a very specific crowd - where they need a strong personality to carry off those designs. Would work well for some kind of industrial punk group for sure - while not really in the domain of classic rock - perhaps rather more Space Rock!
These were for sure some striking designs - where the part Airfix ‘Genesis’ model was somewhat dearer at around the £2,500 mark. These certainly caught the eye - but may not necessarily be for most guitar players - as they certainly require the right sort of attitude to match the nature of those designs. I love that these guitars exist alongside the more staid and traditional types that heavily featured at the show. This is some really detail-obsessed lutiery - while I personally would worry about knocking parts of that design off - by misadventure of course.
In any case Toby was a lot of fun - and did some suitable attitudinal poses for ne - as were needed to carry off those guitars!