noob to building pedals. HELP!

[the_big_ragu]

hey everyone!
totally new to building pedals and altho i understand the symbols of what each part does and comprehend its function, i don't understand why, if it is a circuit, it's zig zags all over the bottom of the solder side of the board when it's seems more logical to just go in a square or in rows or something.
can someone explain this and or link me to a page to explain it and or recommend a book that might help with beginner questions like this?
thank you sooo much, this is a huge stumbling block for me and keeping me from building (which i desperately want to do)

~ Ragu

[dr.benway]

I'm a noob too, but have managed to build a few pedals that actually work and hold together. I'd say just start building --- start with an easy circuit (fuzz face for ex.)--- look at the vero board/stripboard layouts and compare to the point to point boards ... the veros might be better suited for you.

For the theory and practical knowledge the wiki faq is pretty helpful and r.g. keen's site has a part under electronics : http://www.geofex.com/


hope this helps

[glops]

Read the FAQ here, try the Beavis Audio Research tutorials, do the beginner boost here on this site, read everything you can.  It's all research and practice.  Slowly you will start to understand some things and then you get hooked here.  If you can read a schematic and learn how to solder you can make something work...

[newfish]

At a guess, you're talking about why the copper traces go in such an odd pattern, as opoosed to an easy to follow box / loop whatever.

Layouts are an important part of building.  Not only can you save space (resulting in a neater, easy to fit-in-the-box) build, but in some circumstances you get a cleaner sounding (less interference) circuit from having a well thought-out layout.

More so for HT / Tube stuff, but good practice is always good practice.

+1 on building something.  Gus's NPN Boost is a very good place to start, followed by a Fuzz Face / Op-Amp overdrive.
They're all a good place to start, and the results from what may seem 'simple' circuits can be very encouraging.

Best of luck.

[GibsonGM]

...and all that 'gobbledeegook' wiring, making you jump all over the place - after a while you start to learn more about how good grounding works, and the need to isolate parts of a circuit from each other. 

Doing it on your own, you just eventually learn how to get neat. But sometimes you really DO need to run separate grounds etc. Like all of us, just keep on building, improving, learning (reading posts on here and asking questions!!), and before long you'll have some great builds!

[philbinator1]

Brian Wampler has 3 great books on building/modding effect...the main one i would recommend to you
is, "How to build effect pedals...a step by step guide".  You can buy them as e-books really cheap if you sign
up to his website (around 15 US dollars) as opposed to $30 or more if you don't sign up.  I'm in the process
of working though the effect building book now, great easy to understand language.  Hope it doesn't seem like
i'm affiliated with him (i'm not) but his books really are good.

oh yeah it's at www.guitartone.net .