Why is pedalmaking so addicting?

[triskadecaepyon]

This is getting a bit out of hand.... I looked at this years budget, and in one month I've spent 1000+ on making pedals.  A bit overboard?  

Why exactly IS pedalmaking so addictive?  200+ dollars at Fry's, 100+ at Radio shack, 500+ at smallbear....  The list goes on.  Anyone have an explanation?

[ninoman123]

Geeze what do you buy?

[triskadecaepyon]

Stuff I sell to guitarists around my area.   I.e. DIY tubescreamers, fuzz pedals, and some compressors.  I buy a lot of parts when I don't have time to order from smallbear.

[Hal]

I think its the solder fumes.

you can save some money by buying from mouser...

[nelson]

I spent about 300 dollars given the $-£ exchange rate on parts. still waiting for small bear.....been a week now. I think it is so addictive because being music types naturally we love the idea of creating something ourselves.

[Peter Snowberg]

...I think it is so addictive because being music types naturally we love the idea of creating something ourselves.

I think you hit the nail on the head Nelson.

[squidsquad]

For me....it's love of learning...& a little pride. And when I spend $100 - $200 on a pedal...and then don't like or use it..I feel REAL bad.  When I build one...I rarely spend over $20.  If I don't like it...I can change it...or build something else.  And the *journey* is as much fun as the *destination*.
Well.....MOST of the time...hahaha!

[mojotron]

For me, it's the ability to find a project that should be close to what you need - sound wise - then interatively tweek that circuit until you get exactly what you want..... Instead of buying something you hope will just be close to what you want.

[barret77]

hmmm let's just say that it if you were addicted to faberge eggs or tube amps you would spend way more money...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=13794&item=6167000368&rd=1

[MartyMart]

The feeling of reading/drawing a schem, making a layout yourself and then building a great sounding box to YOUR specs is hard to beat !@!
I do have about 5 non-working builds, but thats not a lot of parts to waste
and infact if they really WONT work, you can re-use all the parts anyway!

Addicted ?
I'm afraid so 'yer honour ..... !!

Marty.  :shock:  

[NaBo]

For me it's the perfect union of interests.  I love guitar, I love solving problems, I love math, I love building stuff, I love soldering, I love interpreting diagrams and drawings, I love helping people and answering questions when I can, I love kicking back and just drawing crap in paint sometimes, and I now love electronics because of it all!  It's so much more satisfying than building stuff outta wood or the likes, because when you're finished, the fruits of your labour can be seen and demonstrated and utilized and such...  You have essentially harnessed invisible (well, mostly invisible) forces in the world around you to carry out your will.  And humans weren't doing shit anything like it a couple hundred years ago.  How cool is that?!?!?!

Oh that fateful day that I stumbled across some cheap diy fuzz schematic and thought to myself: "Hey.  I can do this!"...  Sure I've sunk a few hundred bucks into creating a vast array of awesomeness that I will enjoy for years since then... but on the other hand, I'M CREATING A VAST ARRAY OF AWESOMENESS THAT I WILL ENJOY FOR YEARS!!!  Not to mention starting to develop the practical skills (finally, at 20!) that I will no doubt be applying a few years down the road to provide for me and my girlfriend and our future Weimaraner puppy.  

[jmusser]

It's really hard to explain, but it's really cool to solder a bunch of "little Chiclettes" (as my wife calls them), and actually have weird noises come out. It's sort of a Frankenstein thing..."Give My Creature Lifeeeee!!" To me, it's even cooler to build something that only has a description that you've never heard a sound sample of. Sometimes it's a dud, but sometimes it ends up being something more intense than you ever dreamed of, and the description didn't do it justice. This has been the case with the Digital Octaver Fuzz, Jordon Boss Tone, Octup Blender and Simple Octave Up. Absolutely HUGE circuits!

[Torchy]

It isnt addictive.
I could stop any time I want to.
Its not like I HAVE to.
Its personal choice, and I choose to do it.
I actually like the smoke and heat.

Oh well, just one more then ... ...

[jmusser]

Yea Torchy I know what you mean, I can quit anytime I want to. It doesn't own me. I can...what's that?......oh you are, are you!..... Well I have to go now. Jennifer (my soldering iron) mentioned something about loosing her tinning, so I....Hey!....I told you I'd be right there!!!!!!

[Karmasound]

I don't think mouser is the best place to buy parts.


Even their bulk prices aren't all that great unless you're  buying in the 1000's.

[Joe Kramer]

It's really hard to explain, but it's really cool to solder a bunch of "little Chiclettes" (as my wife calls them)!

My wife calls them Chiclettes too!

[RDV]

Novelty.

RDV

[vanhansen]

I got in to it because I like building things and making them work.  I've built a few computers and a few guitars but nothing at the component level like this.  If anything, I've learned tons on how my signal chain works and how things affect your signal.  The bonus for me is this is music related and I love playing my guitars.  My tone has improved a lot since I started doing this.  Amazing how a few mods here and there can affect that so much.

[Mark Hammer]

Why?

Because you buy more inventory than you REALLY need to make one thing, only to discover that you have ALMOST enough to build another thing (so close yet so far).

So...you put in an order, and because you get a better price if you buy 5 or more (or whatever the inflection point in price is), you end up buying more than you need to build that next, but not quite enough to build the thing after that........

Honestly, the same way that slot machines would lose customers in a hurry if they never showed you the fruit rolling by and only showed you if you won or lost, our collective "addiction" would disappear almost as quickly if the people we buy from offered the same price (with shipping proportionately reduced) no matter how many components you bought.

[Paul Marossy]

For me, it's kind of an extension of some of my other previous main hobbies - mainly building plastic scale models. I like to make a working something from a pile of parts and then give it a certain look. Building stompboxes allows me to use my creative side, my technical side and my "graphic artist" side.  For me, I guess it's more of a means of expression than a real deep need to build something. Of course, it goes without saying that I also like the sounds that I get from my DIY circuits.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that Mark Hammer's reply has some truth in it for me. I have looked at a circuit more than once and thought to myself "Hey, I have all those parts". Next thing you know, I'm staying up late building something.