a well stocked workbench

[charbot]

I've only been building pedals for a few months now.  I usually order from mouser/jameco etc, but I always need like one part that I didnt include in my last shipment.  Lucky for me, there is a radio supply place witin biking distance, but I think that theyre getting sick of me comming in 5 times a week  and only buying 1 xxpf cap  and a two pack of resistors ( and it gets expensive)  Im beginning to notice that certain component values appear more frequently than others.        Keen's Law gives some good suggestions for common transistors.  I thought it would be helpful if some fx vets could suggest some common components, IC's, or any other parts to include with the next order that are handy to have around. 

I will start with an obvious one   ...

9 v battery snaps

[Aharon]

Look,my best advice would be to start a project and buy the parts you need but buy more of each,lets say 5/10pcs of each and keep that as stock then do the same when you buy for your nex project.Before you now u have a well stocked spare parts bin otherwise you are going to spend a fortune on things that you will never use/need.
Aharon

[fixr1984]

What i did for my last Jameco order was to make a list of everything i built and that i planned on making.
I then compared the parts list to see what parts were common. Thats what i based my order on.

[psiico]

As a newb myself I know what you are talking about.  I've been going to a local place that has thousands of tiny drawers full of stuff, it's a veritable treasure trove.  I've been doing what was mentioned above, if I need two 2n3904's I buy 6 or 7.  Actually for something that common I bought a couple of dozen, but every cap I buy I get at least 4 of them.  Most of the transistors I bought I got at least 6 of, same for opamps, 6 or 8 of every type I bought.  I also make a point to grab a bunch of resistors everytime I'm there even if I don't specifically need any at the time, they're so cheap it doesn't cost much.

The best part of having so much junk is when I'm breadboarding I can try different transistors or opamps and see if they work and how they affect things.  I'm a big believer in trial and error as a way to learn, at least in a case like this where I don't have the electronic theory as a basis to work from.  And if I screw something up and fry a component somehow I have spares.  Also if I stumble across a schematic that looks interesting I don't need to go out to make it, I have all the parts already.  I work evenings and do most of my stuff after midnight, I can't just rush out to the store if I need something, I usually have to wait for the weekend to go during the day since I sleep all day weekdays.

What I've bought so far:

Transistors:
2N3904/3906
2N2222
2N5457/5458
MPSA10/12/14/18
I have others but can't think of them off the top of my head.

ICs:
TL071/72/81/82
TL074
4558
LM386
I also have some stereo amplifiers but forget what they are.

Tons of caps and resistors, probably 2 dozen red LED's of various sizes and a few more of other colors, some LDR's, toggle switches, slide switches, stomp switches, 4 or 5 of each value of pot, trimpots,  sockets, DC jacks and anything else I think I might need someday.  Then there is the pile of stuff I took from old stuff, I stripped an old stereo, an old TV, a couple of taperecorders, a 20 year old motion detector, a computer power supply, a cordless telephone and an old pair of computer speakers for parts.  Got tons of caps, resistors, LED's, transistors and IC's (although I have no idea what most of them are or if I can even use them), pots, switches, unidentified diodes (fine for clipping circuits) and trimpots from those not to mention enough multicolored wire to last a lifetime. 

[RaceDriver205]

Yeah, forgetting one part is a pain. My initial method was to buy five times the number of parts that was needed. That way you automatically end up of lots of common parts and few of the less common. But now I have every single resistor and capacitor of every type, so I never have to buy them.

[Dave_B]

There's some good info on the wiki regarding bench stocking. 

Regarding caps, a couple of months ago I spent $30 at DigiKey for a about 300 various Panasonic 16v electrolytics and polys.  They all fit in a single $2.00 Hobby Lobby organizer.  That's worked out real well for me.  For the few values I don't have, I can "make" them by combining values.  It's not a long term solution, but it'll get you through the breadboarding stage.

[petemoore]

  I like the various resistor values multi packs, then buy 10k's, 100k's 1meg's and so on because the multi pack'll run out of 'em...say if you're doing a phaser you might run out of 10k's because it needs to much of them.
  Hard to say exactly what you'll want, need, want more of...I like the 386 opamps for certain Octave or a little Amp, also for an easy/nice voltage divider.
  I figure R's are Cheep, compared to caps.
  I used to make extensive lists of parts, but having most values available would be cool, then 'spare 1uf's, .1uf's, .047uf's...I tend to go through these.
  If you're not doing separate power supply filtering for each box you can cut out some of the larger electrolytics, I follow the schematic value suggested or just throw a 100uf or so across a Fuzzbox's power rails if it's not shown.. another good part to have a bunch of with your battery clips are 1n4001 [1n4xxx] type diodes for reverse polarity protection.
  Jacks and switches...EZ add on these.
  I just use GE or Si or 1n4007 type diodes for clipping, yours may vary.
  Then there's the Ge transistors...if you want a FF, maybe a Rangemaster or TB,  you may do well to start with a handful of Ge Q's.
  I like the Jfets...j201's are a good Q, MPF102 shows lower gain, NTE458's..higher gain but...'harder sounding I think.
  For Si FF, 2n2369's are nice to have some of, you can change sound and gain of circuit by swapping the transistors and In/Out even the 22uf cap for different types/values.
  Trimpots...for FF I'd say 10k - 20k...but for Jfets 100k's come in really handy...then again you can set them with a regular 100k, measure the 100k, pick/build a very close value fixed resistor to replace the 100k 'biasing pot'.
  Sockets...I'd say get lots of these...
  Nice Wire from Small Bear is EZ to work with.