1977 Thomas Organ Co. Cry Baby Wah
The Cry Baby Wah was first introduced in 1967 and manufactured at the Thomas factory in Sepulveda CA. Later that year production was moved to EME (Eko) in Italy. Production would eventually move back to the USA in the mid 1970’s and then later on in the early 1980’s the whole thing was bought out by Dunlop who continues to make them today. Aside from aesthetics, the Crybaby was a virtual clone of the Vox V846 Wah-Wah - originally named the Clyde McCoy Wah-Wah. Wah pedals were intended to be effects that were used exclusively by Brass and Woodwind players - to mimic the already used mechanical wah effect that trumpeters like Clyde McCoy (the original sponsor/namesake of the pedal) were famous for. As Vox recognized that the true sales potential for the Vox wah was for guitar, they dropped their association with Clyde McCoy and renamed the pedal the V846 Vox Wah-Wah. Thomas provided the V846 Vox Wah to their authorized Vox dealers while offering the virtually identical Cry Baby to all other music shops. The original pedals were popularized by guitarists such as Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and David Gilmour.
This pedal came in the shop in entirely original condition but was in bad mechanical shape - which is normal for the age of this wah. The customer wanted this restored to its best shape and to mod the pedal to have true bypass ON/OFF switching to avoid the tone-suck that came with these pedals from the factory. It was also very noisy which turned out to be a bad pot that the foot treadle controls.
A new vintage replica Dunlop brand DPDT wah foot-switch was installed and wired in True-Bypass. The 100KA wah pot was replaced with a Alpha brand unit, and the rack and pinion setup was cleaned and then greased for smooth operation. All associated wiring to the wah pot was redone. A new felt pad was installed on the treadle opposite the foot-switch, and new rubber standoffs were glued in place on the ends of the treadle. The switch, standoffs, and felt pad were all height adjusted to provide the perfect amount of resistance/ease for switching ON and OFF. A new foam strip was glued in place for the battery to not wiggle around and come loose in the chassis - as the original had disintegrated. A new set of Dunlop brand rubber feet were installed with new high quality screws as there were missing feet when it came in.
A new vintage spec correct Carbon-Zinc battery was installed to provide the right resistance to the circuit and give good vintage tone. Yes, there actually is an audible difference between modern Alkaline or Lithium-Ion batteries and the old style Carbon-Zinc batteries for the tone of certain simple analog circuits like Fuzz or Wah effects. This is because there is a difference in Ohmic Resistance that each battery provides to the power circuit which changes the bias on the transistors and therefore the sound. It now sounds great and operates smoothly with no obtrusive noise.
