Best Way to Acquire Parts/Components When Starting Out

[samsquanch]

Hey Everyone!

New guy here. I've been obsessed with guitar pedals for a while and decided to get into the building side of things. So, I successfully built a digital reverb kit and it furthermore sparked my interest in the hobby. I thought I would continue to build kits to dip my toes in for practice. The only caveat is that I will not be collecting components and materials to use in future builds (since kits only come with the parts needed for the build) and doesn't teach me much about the circuit or WHY things are placed where they are. I have little to no electrical engineering expertise and would like to learn more on that as well.

What would be the best method for acquiring a collection of components and parts? Are there a core list of essential parts that are used across most pedal builds? I know the obvious (jacks, switches, wires, cases, etc.), but not so much about transistors, caps, pots, etc.. Where is the best place to order parts in the US? Sadly, my Radio Shack is closed and there aren't any electronics shops near me, and ordering everything I see just doesn't seem feasible at the moment.

Any help for a newbie would be greatly appreciated! I'm very excited about this hobby and just want to build, build, build 

[willienillie]

Tayda

[samsquanch]

Tayda

Thanks bud

[vigilante397]

Welcome to the forum

Tayda is definitely an excellent place for cheap, general use stuff, and I get most of my passives (resistors & caps) and op-amps there. If you need parts where quality matters more (BBD's, PT2399, etc) or harder to find parts, I would recommend Small Bear Electronics. The owner is an active member of this forum and he carries high-quality stuff and has been providing excellent service for years now.

[stallik]

Firstly, welcome 
Secondly, tayda
Thirdly, little assortment boxes of caps, resistors etc are available for peanuts on eBay. Always useful

[Kipper4]

Welcome.
It can depend on where in the world you are on how hard some things are to get or be worthwhile.
Second Tayda too.
As Bunny says resistor and cap assortment kits are available on eBay.
In fact that's what I did. Looked at loads of small distortions worked out a rough range of resistance common to stompers, same with caps.
1k-1M a few lower values will come in handy too depending on the type of thing you have your eye on. Usually 1/4 watt
Ceramic caps 1nf-100nf is a good starting point.
Wasn't there a thread on this very thing?
Might be worth a forum search mate.

Good luck welcome to a new breed of build list. I've forgotten more than I remember.

[samsquanch]

Welcome to the forum

Tayda is definitely an excellent place for cheap, general use stuff, and I get most of my passives (resistors & caps) and op-amps there. If you need parts where quality matters more (BBD's, PT2399, etc) or harder to find parts, I would recommend Small Bear Electronics. The owner is an active member of this forum and he carries high-quality stuff and has been providing excellent service for years now.

Just placed an order on Tayda for some general use stuff like you mentioned - so great recommendation there! I'll keep the other in mind as well. Thank you so much!

[samsquanch]

Firstly, welcome 
Secondly, tayda
Thirdly, little assortment boxes of caps, resistors etc are available for peanuts on eBay. Always useful

Thanks! I'll keep my eye on eBay.

[samsquanch]

Welcome.
It can depend on where in the world you are on how hard some things are to get or be worthwhile.
Second Tayda too.
As Bunny says resistor and cap assortment kits are available on eBay.
In fact that's what I did. Looked at loads of small distortions worked out a rough range of resistance common to stompers, same with caps.
1k-1M a few lower values will come in handy too depending on the type of thing you have your eye on. Usually 1/4 watt
Ceramic caps 1nf-100nf is a good starting point.
Wasn't there a thread on this very thing?
Might be worth a forum search mate.

Good luck welcome to a new breed of build list. I've forgotten more than I remember.

Thanks!!

[stallik]

We should have told you before but tayda often run discount codes. There's a topic on this forum dedicated to it.

[newjackruby]

Buy what you need for each pedal as you go, but don't buy 2 resistors, buy 20.  The more you build, the bigger your parts library will get, to the point where there will come a day that you decide to build something and you'll realize you already have all the parts you need.

[MaxPower]

That's how I got started . Every time I ordered parts to build something, I bought multiples of the cheap stuff.

Pots, Jack's,  switches though. That's where they get you. And enclosures, unless you're a cheapskate like me.

[amptramp]

Try the company Dave Cantelon started in Toronto:

https://justradios.com/

He has high-quality polyester, polypropylene, polystyrene, silver mica and ceramic capacitors (I am looking at a tub of his film caps right now) and he is known throughout the antique radio restoration crowd.  (I am a member of the London Vintage Radio Club in London ON Canada, as is Dave.)  He carries things that may not be available elsewhere and is well-regarded among tube amplifier restorers and audiophile restorers.  He has X1, X2 and Y2 safety capacitors for use across 117 VAC power lines and electrolytic capacitors up to 500 volts.  He also has resistors and he has resistor and capacitor kits that could get you well on the way to an inventory.

[davent]

Try the company Dave Cantelon started in Toronto:

https://justradios.com/

He has high-quality polyester, polypropylene, polystyrene, silver mica and ceramic capacitors (I am looking at a tub of his film caps right now) and he is known throughout the antique radio restoration crowd.  (I am a member of the London Vintage Radio Club in London ON Canada, as is Dave.)  He carries things that may not be available elsewhere and is well-regarded among tube amplifier restorers and audiophile restorers.  He has X1, X2 and Y2 safety capacitors for use across 117 VAC power lines and electrolytic capacitors up to 500 volts.  He also has resistors and he has resistor and capacitor kits that could get you well on the way to an inventory.

Good dealings with Justradios as well for my high voltage tube needs, still require a minimum order?

Mouser, Digikey for loads of passives, jacks, enclosures, Small Bear for pedal unique bits and knobs.

Not at all impressed by Tayda, stopped ordering from them.
dave

[Kipper4]

Don't forget Aron's store

https://www.diystompboxes.com/zencart/

[tubegeek]

Not at all impressed by Tayda, stopped ordering from them.
dave

What kinds of problems have you had? I've been doing OK with them so far, curious what you ran into that didn't go so well. Maybe I've just gotten lucky? My only knock is the slowish shipping, but that's really only because these days I'm spoiled with some of the fast free shipping sellers on various platforms.

[davent]

Not at all impressed by Tayda, stopped ordering from them.
dave

What kinds of problems have you had? I've been doing OK with them so far, curious what you ran into that didn't go so well. Maybe I've just gotten lucky? My only knock is the slowish shipping, but that's really only because these days I'm spoiled with some of the fast free shipping sellers on various platforms.

Hello,

It's been quite a few years since i ordered from them so maybe things are different now but when i did...

Jacks, plugs & any of the Davies style knobs weren't worthy of putting into use.

Multi week shipping to get to me in Canada, Digikey can get it here in 16 hours with free shipping.

Flimsy leads on all the passives, not very useful for breadboarding, veroboard was far inferior to what i was buying elsewhere.

Like trying to do grocery shopping at the dollar store.

dave

[MaxPower]

I do my grocery shopping at the dollar store! Maybe that explains it. Yes the leads are a bit flimsy but they work.

Living near Texas and Colorado, Tayda and Mouser are my first choices for parts.  Colorado seems to be one of Tayda's US bases of operations because my packages always originate from there. I receive my orders within a week from Tayda and Mouser.

[toybuilder]

It might not be the cheapest way to get started, but I like the passive parts assortments that Small Bear offers. I think it's great the way the parts come pre-organized. The parts are of decent quality and I'm willing to pay a little extra for the convenience. Small Bear service is also top notch.

Here are a few examples:
http://smallbear-electronics.mybigcommerce.com/resistor-kit-1-metal-film-1-1-4-watt-47-ohms-1k/

http://smallbear-electronics.mybigcommerce.com/assortments-6/

[Sooner Boomer]

For electronics parts, there is

Digi-Key   https://www.digikey.com/

Mouser Electronics   https://www.mouser.com/

BG Micro   bgmicro.com

All Electronics   https://www.allelectronics.com/

Electronic Goldmine   https://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/

Circuit Specialist   https://www.circuitspecialists.com/electronic-parts-and-general-supplies

Jameco Electronics   https://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StoreCatalogDisplay?storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&langId=-1

Hardware

W. W. Grainger   https://www.grainger.com/

McMaster-Carr   https://www.mcmaster.com/