With this Ring Modulator, I thee wed

[Zontar13 at aol.com]

I just built a Paia ring modulator. It seems to work, Im getting sounds that
I recognize as being Devo like. The things im confused about are that 
1.This thing Howls constantly (as though it had liver damage or something
else really painful). Ive adusted the internal trimpot to minimize this, but
its pretty loud. Ive never played with a Ring modulator before this. Is this
something it should be doing. The kit came with a heavy gauge Insulated wire
that wasn't (at least to my understanding) explained, I did not use it. Could
this be the problem?
Also the signal gain is massive when the effect is on, like a super pre-amp.

2. A friend of mine would like me to make one of these for him (assuming I
can stop the howling -the terrible terrible howling- ) but would like me to
replace the in/out switch with a pot that would control just how in or out
this thing is.
How would I wire that?

3. Im making modifications to a toy called A Mega Mouth Warp'r (per the
instructions posted on Analogue Heaven by Josh Brandt) It has tiny little
pots built right onto the board. I would like to replace these with full size
pots, but I do not have a clue as to determine what value pots I should
replace them with. It is a cool toy, and makes a metronome sound like a Wasp.

4. I would like to get a digest version of this list, cause my mailbox gets
mighty full. I checked the web page as I was told, but im kind of an idiot,
and was able to find no information about digesting the list.

I hope you are all well,
Johnny13