PEDALS
Pete Cornish History

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After a period in industry working on, amongst other things, relay design and cigarette making machinery Pete secured a position at 'Sound City' in London's West End as the Service Manager to the group of shops (Sound, Music and Drum City respectively) that were part of the Dallas-Arbiter Group of companies and this was where he started to redefine the use of electronics in music.
I discovered to my horror the very low standards of the musical products sold at that time. I was able to improve customer's amps to a higher standard because of my training; making things more secure by tying components down and replacing some of the wiring. I often found that the internal wiring was of poor quality and would break during transit. The inspection, tightening and paint sealing of every screw in an amp became essential although some products did have very high standards of production; for instance the original Hiwatt amps were wired by ladies 'borrowed' from the military spec place next door where they had made in-flight computers and stuff like that. Pete's customers during the 'Sound City' years were then or were destined to become some of the most internationally famous groups whose influence is still felt the world over. They included: Yes, Queen, Pink Floyd, Average White Band, Bay City Rollers, Caravan, Squeeze, Roxy Music, Genesis, Led Zeppelin, Rod Stewart, Moody Blues, Sweet, Elton John, The Kinks, Status Quo, Family, Wishbone Ash, Thin Lizzy, Leo Sayer, Fleetwood Mac, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Procul Harem, King Crimson, Black Sabbath, etc. etc.I enjoyed repairing and modifying the amps used by the touring musicians based in London and learnt a lot about how to improve reliability, but I found it more exciting to design and build new 'gadgets' that were requested by both the musicians and their technicians. I made all the accessories sold in the shops but the start of the next phase of my life was when Peter Banks of 'Yes' asked me to build him a guitar effect 'Pedal board'. This was to have a Duo Fuzz, a Cry Baby, a Trem Face and a Fender Tone / Volume pedal built in and permanently wired to eliminate the possibility of faulty jack plugs causing intermittent signal. As I knew how to design low noise DC power supplies I built in the various supply voltages required, to eliminate the need for batteries, stabilized them against mains voltage variation and measured the inherent loss caused by loading the passive guitar with all those pedals. I then designed and built in the various pre-amps and isolators to ensure that there was no loss of tone or volume when the pedals were switched off - a common problem even with today's reissues.
"When 'Sound City' eventually closed the ensuing panic amongst London's musical fraternity ensured Pete's fairly smooth transition from employee to self-employed status. He opened a shop, fondly remembered by those who dropped in for tea, in London's Covent Garden (38, Long Acre - Studio 1F) and the orders for his custom Pedal board and maintenance work continued to flood in.

The first pedalboard was made for Robert Fripp in September 1973, although Pete mentions a 'practice run' for Pete Banks, then with Flash. Fripp's board was part of a set for King Crimson (fellow Cornished Crimsoners being John Wetton and David Cross) and comprised of a Guild Foxy Lady, Guilds version of the Big Muff Fuzz, a Cry Baby wah-wah, a Farfisa wooden-bodied volume pedal ('The best volume pedal I've ever come across." Says Pete, "very expressive"), plus an echo send and return, and a bypass switch for the echo and effects (but not the volume). It was all powered by one big battery in a compartment underneath. Later on, in February 1974, Cornish made Fripp a spare board, with a De Armond volume replacing the Farfisa, but the Farfisa-equipped board was the start of a line of Pete Cornish pedalboards that he's still making today.
Probably the best-known of these boards is the one Pete built for David Gilmour, which Andy Summers (another Cornish customer) generously described as "about 50 yards long" in Music UK #1. Pete fills in more accurate detail at my request, and describes how the original 1976 Gilmour board gradually grew to nine Pink Floyd pedalboards on-stage for 'The Wall' (along with two spares).

The experience we have gained working with rock musicians from the beginning of effects through the digital rack era is now being applied to today's new, exciting and highly talented bands. The renewed popularity of 'Stomp Boxes' has seen the resurgence of interest in our effects Pedal boards and amp routing units and we have recently supplied equipment to Julian Cope, My Bloody Valentine, Reef, Stereophonic, Don, Subcircus, Kula Shaker, Catatonia, Ash and the Mike Scott Band.

Part of the clients list between 1972 and 2005:
Bryan May
Rober Fripp
Phil Manzanera
Mike Rutherford
David Gilmour
Roger Waters
Alan Holdsworth
Eric Clapton
Paul McCartney
Andy Summers
Tony Iommi
Gary Moore
Mark Knopfler
Bryan Adams
Lou Reed
Sting
Jimmy Page
Pete Townsend
Steve harris, Dave Murray, Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden)
Glenn Tipton, K.K.Downing (Judas Priest)
Chrissie Hynde, James Honeyman-Scot, Malcolm Foster (the Pretenders)