building my first pedal

[nervousjack34]

Hi guys, I just joined the forum. So I wanted to say "hello everyone."

I ordered a GGG Fuzz Face 60s boutique Kit, and it should arrive in a couple of days.

So anyway, Im pretty excited, since this will be my first build, and have no experience in electronics. I wanted to learn how to solder resistors and capacitors, and get a general idea of how to mount the parts. Id like to be as ready as possible when the Fuzz face kit gets here. Therefore I got some DIY kits from radio shack to practice, really beginners stuff like lighting up 3 LEDs. Hopefully I wont have much trouble soldering the resistors, but looking at the diagram and some photos, I might have some trouble figuring out the polarity of the Capacitors. But we'll see. The wiring of the pots seem pretty complicated, so I'll probably ask for some help once I get started.

Do you have any suggestions before I begin, anything I should know about? Obviously many people must have built this, so I would appreciate if you have any tips for a beginner. Thank you.

[Mark Hammer]

One of the first major challenges for beginners is simply getting a decent solder joint without destroying anything (e.g., frying components, lifting traces)

Make efforts to keep both your boards and components free of tarnish, as much as you can, and things will go better for you.  Good idea to have some fine steel wool to give PCBs a decent buffing, if they don't come pre-tinned, and keep an X-acto knife on hand with one of the pointier type of blades so you can scrape a little of the tarnish off component leads.  It's not a HUGE problem, but you don't need to be chasing down cold solder joints.

[aleister]

 If you go to GGG's tech pages there is a ton of good info. That will even link you right here.
But most of all do not rush, take your time. Use a highlighter to mark what parts you put in. If you have problems upon completion just yell and someone will help.
Good Luck.

[nervousjack34]

thanks for suggestions. One thing Im having trouble with...occasionally, if the holes on the PCB are too close together, and if I used the more solder than I should, the solder joints of two parts touch each other. I have trouble fixing it with solder wick, I know it takes practice, but is there any easy way to fix such a mistake?

[Mark Hammer]

Well, it may be late for that now, but it sure helps to have: a) narrow gauge solder and b) a soldering tip that comes to some kind of slender point.

The other thing is to heat the component lead and apply the solder to the lead such that it drips down the lead to the pad.  That can often help to make joints more precise in tight spaces.  And that's partly why I recommend having a blade to scrape the leads a bit to help it along.

[twabelljr]

Here are a couple links to soldering tips and how to's:

http://www.geofex.com/article_folders/how_to_solder.htm

http://www.muzique.com/schem/solder.htm

[Electron Tornado]

Welcome to a great hobby!

Here's a link to some tutorials that might help:

http://tangentsoft.net/elec/movies/

If you need something to practice soldering on, see if you have any broken electronics around that you can take apart. You can practice with the components on the circuit board, etc without worrying about mistakes or damage.