Little help with my first PCB :)

[bancika]

Hi,
I should start my first PCB project (tubescreamer, with tonepad's layout). Just one question: should board be protected after etching is done, something like lacquer or so. Like on PC cards, I guess they are lacquered.
Thanks

[WildMountain]

I'm not sure what happens if you don't (probably not much), but to be sure, I always spray my PCB's with some kind of PCB protection spray (not sure what it's called in English). This protects the traces from corrosion and acts as some kind of flux to make soldering easier.
I would like to know as well if it could hurt your pedals in the long run if one didn't use such laquer or spray. Is corrosion a big problem?

[alteredsounds]

I've got many pedals from the '60's and not one bit of corrosion.  Only corrosion problem I had was on my early '70's Parapedal where a leaking battery ate away a track on the board.