True bypass toggle switching in/out for stompboxes?

[Mr. Twang]

I'm a pedal steel player going back to stompboxes vs multi-FX rack units. I'd like a small strip of true-bypass toggle switches that I can clip to my steel's leg (or somehow have nearby) to simply bring fx in and out of my signal chain. With all fx out, my clean, pure sound must pass through unmolested.

First, is there already a commercial solution like this I can buy? I hope to avoid MIDI, so Voodoo Labs is, for now at least, out.

If not, who could i contact to have this built?

One more sub-question: ideally I want to have a rack sitting beside me with a couple of 1U rack items (tuner, preamp), and then behind those a drawer of stompboxes that pulls UP and locks into position, for easy knob tweaking. The little strip of toggle switches would connect to this custom vertical drawer. Anyone already making something like this? Who could custom craft this for me?

Thanks. PLEASE ANSWER, I so often get no responses on forums like this, it's odd.

[Mark Hammer]

I've seen Robert Randolph use a pedal-board essentially mounted vertically at chest height. He just reaches over with his right hand and punches them. Of course none of them appear to use mechanical stompswitches, but are of the soft touch Boss type (many are Boss pedals).

One of the things that most folks are unaware of is that you can remote-switch pedals that use solid-state switching. The momentary switches inside are simply SPST on-off that momentarily connect to ground. This means you can pop a small hole wherever it is convenient, install a mini (1/8") phone jack, running wires to the pads where the onboard switch goes, and connect a remote momentary switch that provides a bigger and more convenient target via a cable with a mini phone-plug on the end. So you could conceivably have a little box with a row of push-buttons (feel free to cannibalize a computer keyboard for the keys with the "right" letters), mounted on your steel in a convenient location, and tap keys for pedal enabling. Of course you would probably want to have the pedals vertically mounted in a manner that lets you see the status LEDs to know what's on and what isn't.

Now all of this presumes that your entire pedalboard uses soft-touch momentary electronic switches. If they don't, then something else is required. I will also note that you have stipulated "true-bypass". There are pros and cons of true-bypass, and I'm not married to it even though it makes some things easier. If you want to use such a system for pedals, you certainly can make yourself (or have someone make) a loop selector box that mounts on the steel and uses toggles. I would recommend using a paddle-handle toggle for that purpose, sorta like this one: DPDT MINI-TOGGLE, LONG HANDLE, PLAIN BUSHING | AllElectronics.com That will permit easy visual monitoring of status and easy manipulation with the side of your picking hand, something I assume you'll want for fluidity. (Traditional electric players get to keep playing while they switch pedals, while steel players have to take a quick "recess" to do it.) Note that such a loop-selector box does not require you to use 1/4" plugs and jacks. If you can bear with the nonstandardness of it, you could make yourself some 1/8" to 1/4" cables that would allow you to switch the pedals but permit a smallish and convenient unit steel-side. The switchbox would have the toggles and 1/8" jacks, and the cables would go to the pedals.

Now, does anybody make such a thing, currently? I have no idea. I imagine if anyone is making it, you would probably find them in Nashville....like this one: Welcome To Bobbe Seymour's Steel Guitar Nashville

Addendum: Note that if you were to want status indication of loop/pedal selection right in front of you, while the pedals are elsewhere out of view, you would need a 3PDT (or better) toggle. While they are available, they are not as regularly available as DPDT.