Caroline Guitar Company’s FCK PTN Raises $9,500 for Ukraine Relief Causes

March 5, 2022 · 3 sources

Caroline Guitar Company announced the FCK PTN, a limited edition fuzz pedal built to raise money for Ukraine relief, with the run bringing in $9,500 for the cause¹. The pedal is a version of the company's Hawaiian Pizza fuzz, refinished in the colors of the Ukrainian flag and carrying the subtitle "pizza shit"². Gearnews described it as the same circuit as the Hawaiian Pizza, "just with a special new case finish which shares the brand's thoughts on the current crisis in Ukraine"³.

The edition was limited to 50 pedals, with all of the proceeds from the sale split between José Andrés and World Central Kitchen's efforts on the Poland/Ukraine border and the International Committee of the Red Cross². The pedals were set to ship to buyers in March².

As a pedal, the FCK PTN carried over the Hawaiian Pizza's feature set²:

• A three-knob control layout: volume, voltage supply and overall gain²
• Voicing that covers a range of sounds, from gritty tube-like saturation to spluttery, gated fuzz²
• An internal pickup simulator, allowing it to be placed anywhere in the signal chain²

The voltage supply control is the Hawaiian Pizza family's take on the sag or bias trick used on many fuzz designs, letting a player starve the circuit for a dying-battery character, while the gain control moves between saturated and gated textures².

Caroline also credited collaborators who helped get the edition out quickly. Graphic designer Ben Walker created the enclosure artwork, and Disaster Area Designs and Alexander Pedals donated and expedited enclosure material and time so the pedals could be produced on a tight schedule².