Converting Goodrich Lightbeam VP to Pot VP?

Butch Pytko · From: Orlando, Florida, USA

I have the old Goodrich lightbeam pedal that I'd like to change over to a pot pedal. Just wondering if anyone out there has done it & if you would be willing to share drawings or good pictures of what you did. I'm very good at making just about anything out of the various aluminum stock available such as cutting, shaping, bending, & drilling to what is needed--in this case, the needed parts to make it a pot pedal. Any ideas I can get would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Dave Grafe · From: Hudson River Valley NY

Sell the one you have to someone who wants it, Butch, spend the money on a pedal designed to work with a pot, the mechanics are not at all compatible and the light pedals are still considered desirable by some...

Gary Cosden · From: Florida, USA

I bought a Goodrich light pedal back in the 1970s. The kind with 2 light bulbs and a photo resistor held in place by a metal clip. Over the years it would stop working because the plate with the photo restive element would slip and needed to be put back in the clipped position. Other than that it was a very good pedal and I probably did 1,000 plus gigs with it. Never even had to replace one of the light bulbs. A year or so ago it bit the dust altogether. I found absolutely no parts availability. Even Jim Palanscar couldn’t help so I had a dead pedal with no use and no resale value.
I did convert mine to a pot pedal and it works fine. In fact I like the tone better than my Hilton but since it only has 1 “out” I use the Hilton and keep the pot pedal as a backup.
I use one of Tom Bradshaw’s Dunlop pots and I also bought a Goodrich drive wheel that he had bought years ago and never used. (He is a great guy to do business with)
I just gutted the pedal and fabbed parts using pictures of a Goodrich pedal I found on Greg Cutshaws site. (The section on re stringing a Goodrich pedal) I literally just eyeballed everything and it worked for me the first try. It’s not rocket science and it sounds to me like you would have the skills to pull it off fairly easily.
I had to enlarge the opening in the bottom of the pedal a lot since the light pedal has a small opening just for the bulbs and resistive element.
If I had it to do over I would probably go ahead and cut the side of the pedal out to allow for a 2nd out like the current Goodrich pot pedals have. If you are going to do this and you want to use the 2nd out for a tuner out do a search for this as ( I believe it was Randy Beavers who first suggested this) you can add a resistor to this out to get a “no tone suck output” for your tuner.
One problem that I ran into was that the rubber stops inside the pedal (similar if not identical to the rubber feet they used for this pedal – perhaps one size smaller if I remember correctly) just disintegrated when I disassembled the pedal and I had to build up a stack of those metal washers that have rubber on one side. I just approximated the thickness of the original rubber stoppers. These are what Goodrich currently uses as “feet” on their pedals if I am not mistaken. They are easily found at hardware stores and nowhere near as hard to come by as those rubber feet.
I am assuming that you have the same type of pedal that I had and also that you are certain that you don’t simply need to reposition the resistive element.
I have a lot going on this week but I can probably get you some pics next week if you like.

Butch Pytko · From: Orlando, Florida, USA

Dave--you've got me re-thinking about the lightbeam pedal. For some reason I thought no one would be interested in it, since the newer generation infra-red pedals replaced it. Maybe I should sell it, as it is in very good condition--I think I bought it new in the early 80's.

Gary--my pedal has the 3 jacks. I'll have to hook-up the pedal to see if it works--it worked years ago when it was last used. Still has the original bulb & it does light-up. Thanks for telling me about Greg Cutshaws site--just looked at his pictures of the Goodrich 120 & those pictures are very sufficient for me to go by. Looks like all I'd have to do is make 2 brackets. And, yes, I'll have to figure-out something about a drive wheel, too. We have a military surplus parts store here that has millions of parts that are in all conceivable shapes & sizes, I may find something there. Or, I could check with Tom Bradshaw--I've dealt with him before. But, maybe it would be better to sell it & just get the 120 pedal. I'll have to think it over.
Thanks for the replies.

Gary Cosden · From: Florida, USA

I think you could buy the part from Goodrich.

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