DIY Pedal Hobbyists - any people make them for fun?

[reynardine]

Hello all,

It's a bit of a cheeky idea, but I didn't know if anybody might be kind enough to think about helping! I love the idea of DIY pedals, but I am honestly hopeless at anything technical so I thought maybe there might be some kind enthusiasts out there who might be interested in building me some pedals if I were to buy you the kits from Diy Pedal Kits or Musicding or whoever? Maybe you know better whose kits are the best? I know it sounds outrageously cheeky and against the idea of DIY, but I do paintings and stuff for people if they buy me the tubes of paint just because I enjoy it, so I wondered if that was the same with this hobby.

Please don't shoot me if this is against the values of this forum.

I'm looking for these pedals :

Lpb-1 boost or MXR Micro Amp type thing.
Treble Booster (Brian May Style, Rangemaster or maybe a Screaming Bird [seen this on musicding])
Big Muff in as small a case as possible (I have a Behringer big muff that I have dismantled and measured up for a possible rehouse, might start a different thread on this, but if this worked I wouldn't need one)
Maybe a delay (If they aren't too hard)
ABY Switcher

These don't need to be elaborately painted or anything, as long as they are put together nicely I don't mind for looks. All costs for parts etc (and postage) would be covered by me, if anybody fancies any if these as a project please let me know!!

I live in Birmingham England, so if you're local that would be great but if not postage isn't much for stuff if you're in the UK, all paid by me.

Sorry if this seems cheeky but I reckon some people would fancy the challenge!

Thanks all, let me know =]

[Skruffyhound]

I think you might have recompense people for their time, everyone has a million other projects to be getting on with. If you offered some time/parts money you might get a few bites. Or indeed some artwork for pedals as a swap. What you are asking for is about 3-4 days work for nothing. Worth a shot, but I can't see you getting lucky.

Good luck

[reynardine]

Hey Skruffy

Thank you for your reply, Yeah I suppose this is more of a "feeler" as they say. I just didn't know if people were like some of us artists who don't like charging for their work, just to not lose from making it and to bring enjoyment.

I would be more than happy to offer bespoke paintings in return!

As regards the parts required, I would of course pay for all parts!

Thank you

[Jhouse]

Well, I just put together an LPH-1 and a Brian May Treble booster for my board.

If you bought the kits, I wouldn't care to do the booster, treble booster, or ABY box. Those are all fairly easy builds.

[reynardine]

Thanks for your post JHouse, that sounds brilliant, whereabouts are you?
Where do you recommend getting the kits from?
I can sort the painting of the enclosures I think, no worries there (so I can tell them apart!)

Thank you so much

[Jhouse]

I live in Illinois.

I've only ever used a GGG kit so i'm not too well versed with them. Most of the pedals that I make I just order all of the parts from Smallbear, etch the board myself, and put that bad boy together. Wherever you find a pedal kit from should be fine.

[Skruffyhound]

I was actually referring to "extra parts" as a form of incentive. People around here will work for parts
Let whoever is helping out source parts and kits, or you'll double your postage. Good luck

[reynardine]

Thanks JHouse. I am very grateful I would say it might be pretty expensive to ship things around though from the US to the UK - is this forum pretty much all US based though?

I am still interested, just unsure about transatlantic postage!

Ideally I would love to make these myself but firstly the site I like the type of effects from doesn't sell drilled enclosures (Musicding) and secondly, I have never used a soldering iron, and I am honestly always embarrasingly bad at anything practical or technical, so I reckon I'd buy a soldering iron and it would be a waste!

Thanks also Skruffy, I will use your advice as best I can. You're both very kind to offer your help

[Hides-His-Eyes]

is this forum pretty much all US based though?

Nope; skruffy and I are from this drizzly island, as are quite a few other users.

The Other Forum is much more international, though.

[Jhouse]

Haha. Yeah, I'm sure the postage would be outrageous.

THIS/ is a really good kit. General Guitar Gadgets is pretty good about stuff in my opinion.

When I first starting building effects, I was really new to a soldering iron. I mean I had used to to repair guitar cables and wire jacks, you know, little tid bits like that, but I never did anything big. I think you can do it if you gave it a chance. Sure, you'll make mistakes right off the back, but it's a lot of fun and you will eventually get it down.

[Valoosj]

The Other Forum is much more international, though.

This forum is quite international as well. We've got people from all over Europe here, some from the South-Americas, ...

[Skruffyhound]

skruffy and I are from this drizzly island

Technically correct!

I've had a Danish postal address for the last 14 years though 

[jable1066]

I'm in the UK too - sent you an email. If you truly like doing art for people who buy paints etc then I'm sure we can come to an arrangement.

[markeebee]

Not to be a pooper, but......

By the time you've paid for parts and postage and a decent bottle of Merlot as a thank you, you might end up saving a tenner or something. But would that be worth all the shag and hassle of dealing with the postage etc?

True, you'll maybe end up with something more sexy than a shop-bought job, but what if the pedal doesn't work properly? You'd have to pay someone to come down South and give me a shoeing, and that'll be expensive because I'm a ninja.

I can see where you're coming from, and it's a really nice idea, but the pessimist in me urges you to nip to the shops instead.

[petemoore]

  Built a bunch of them for fun, most of the names you mentioned, but then I learned some things about how they worked and can be modded and then the building got to be time consuming, mess-maintaining, irritating.
  Continuous soldering and cross-eyed circuit gazing isn't healthy, and I tend to 'set the dominoes...all the dominoes' in one super extended sitting or more [in cases where interuption or sleep deprivation intervene].
  Building effects is most empowering because it teaches the ability to know when/where/what is effecting other circuits and mechanical devices/other time constants/in other ways down the signal path line.
   Treble Booster (Brian May Style, Rangemaster or maybe a Screaming Bird ..here are good examples of what to DIY, or at least to fiddle with input cap values with, the RM input cap-HP filter is voiced for 0-bass and has a transistor that is easily swamped with too much bass, getting the right input cap/pickup/amp/settings with this one is critical to how it works/whether you like it. Also it's a finicky, expensive transistor circuit, DIY makes sense for this one if this one makes sense, tryin' out transistors/input caps, bias settings, voicing etc. allows variables which may include preferred performance.
  The BMTB, RM, and SBird all are voiced with strong LP filters, these type circuits tend to favor dark amps/settings. It's my belief they're made to make small tube amps scream without 'bass flubbing' from small tube output/speaker limitations.
  The Micro-Amp is more full-range voicing, I'll put ''Jfet boost'' in here since it didn't make the roster.
  The basic [or 'fancy featured'] delay should be bought unless there's any advantage or a particular aspect that bought delays don't offer [there are myriad delay pedals available, with plethora's of options/features.
  Big Muff is also offered in various renditions and smaller form than the original, whether this should need to be modded is questionable before some mods, or the actual '1' BMP function have been tried out...not sure if the modern circuits vary greatly from one to the next, what type pickups of course vary any circuit-function-character.
  Having built each of these pedals except delay, since they're all possibly involved in distortion / voicing and dependant on speaker/amp for the same, they're often seen in DIY threads...with content along the lines of: "Works out much better for me with the input cap switch".
  Having bought 27+ pedals in efforts to find the right ones, and then building 57 varieties of each pedal [long list, 90% of them recieved fairly extensive moddery], the components in the DIY and Bought pedals are so near to identical [IME] to consider the differences too small for relevant discussion or tiny enough that it's just a small 'difference'....most of the time.
  The Ge transistor is certainly exception to 'consistancy is good' rule, these vary all over the map in function/performance.
  Most all of the other components are 'super-tight' enough tolerance that it's just a matter of choosing the exact right circuit, not so much where/how or who gave cause for it to become perfectly functional, the BMP is kind of a long circuit and so it's more possible that a group of components tolerance would be 'toward the low or high side', the sound used to vary greatly from one to the next [there are also various circuit designs: opamp, transistor, Ge even], I'd guess they're a bit 'tighter' in consistancy these days...have no idea...I liked the idea that Muff's on the loose tolerance were making players have unique/original player requirements and producing different sounds all the time.
  Consistancy mentioned like it matters, so does inconsistancy...just like in playing guitar...if there was a 'perfect' way to play and every player consistantly played that way, it'd be 'Orwell musica" for all [boring].
  If it works it is good, there are few total bung-o lemon circuits, and the ones you've mentioned can be made in any form or fashion...when they work they work good, none better.
  It's mainly a choice of circuit thing.
  Kudos for choosing to not want to wield the soldering iron. It's a messy, time consuming and frustrating way to [at least attempt] to learn some of what circuits can-do, how they interact with 'what is down the line'.
  What's down the line matters a lot for what circuit to choose, amp/speaker in particular are particular about what boosts and causes them to exhibit distortion characteristics.
   
 
 
 

[MikeH]

Seriously man... it's not as hard as you think.  Get yourself a 10 dollar soldering iron. Read a little bit.  Take your time and pay some attention to details. Do these things and you could really build something yourself.  I was once where you were, I never thought I could ever build any of this stuff, but just dig in and ask a lot of questions and you can do it.   An ABY box is hideously simple to build, and that would be the perfect starting point.  And from there you could build other things that are more and more complex.  You can do it.  If I can do it, anyone can.


And btw, it's not "DIY" if someone else does it for you.   

[runmikeyrun]

I sent you a PM, check it.