A removable external kill switch that gives any electric instrument a momentary signal-cut effect without permanently modifying the guitar.
The idea started in TALENT, an entrepreneurship club at IMSA where student teams developed products around real problems and pitched them to mock investors.
I brought up one of my own frustrations: I wanted the choppy sound of a guitar kill switch, like the effects used by Buckethead and Tom Morello, but I did not want to permanently modify every guitar I owned.
We developed the Mute Jammer as an external device that sits between the guitar and amplifier. It attaches temporarily to the instrument using suction cups.
Pressing the button interrupts the guitar signal, creating the same momentary mute effect as an integrated kill switch while allowing the device to move between instruments.
We built a rough first prototype for our initial pitch competition and won. After that, we refined the design into a more polished prototype and advanced to a higher-level competition.
We ultimately placed third and earned prize money. For me, the project was one of my earliest experiences combining CAD, physical hardware, electronics, and product presentation in one build.
The Mute Jammer was small compared with many of my later projects, but it was one of the first times I followed an idea from a problem, through CAD and physical prototyping, all the way to pitching a finished product concept. It helped shape the way I approach design projects now: start with a specific frustration, build something tangible, then iterate.
