Pedal builds (aka Birthday Kit-AS)

stickyfiddle · September 2013

Twas me birthday on Friday, and we were back home so I got some guitar-flavoured kit my way. Between pressies and stuff I ordered myself I now have a Les Luis kit, a Schaller tremolo kit, as well as the remaining bits I needed to turn the assorted Rat, Fuzz Factory and Big Muff parts I already had into proper actual pedals. All from pedalparts.co.uk. Full reports once I get them built

stickyfiddle · September 2013

I also went to Scotland and bought some craft-type gins, which was nice

not_the_dj · September 2013

Nice one. I love my Les Luis, just fantastic with a Tele.

stickyfiddle · September 2013

not_the_dj said:

Nice one. I love my Les Luis, just fantastic with a Tele.

I'm hoping I will too. No guilt cloning that one either

I've never owned anything remotely tweed-flavoured but would thoroughly love a Cornell Romany so hopefully this'll get me some of the way there.

The Muff and Rat are intended to become mod projects rather than just straight builds, but I'll get them built and working first before I start poking around with changing them.

guitargeek62 · September 2013

Nice going! I keep meaning to pick up one of the Fuzz Face BC108/Axis kits from there, maybe a Ross Comp too. Looking forward to seeing how they turn out

Also, where's the Les Lius from then? I love the demos I've heard but didn't realise it wasn't an original design!?!

rpr · September 2013

stickyfiddle · September 2013

guitargeek62 said:

Nice going! I keep meaning to pick up one of the Fuzz Face BC108/Axis kits from there, maybe a Ross Comp too. Looking forward to seeing how they turn out

Also, where's the Les Lius from then? I love the demos I've heard but didn't realise it wasn't an original design!?!

I cant remember but I'm sure I read it was an copied circuit. Unless i'm wrong of course!

stickyfiddle · September 2013

I don't normally make much effort with aesthetics on home-builds, but I thought I'd give it go with these, so I've been spraying.

Got some Krylon from the local "Ace Hardware" which sprays really well; very easy to get even, and dries super quick. I've done 3 so far. Next up will be the Rat, which will be a bit more special if I get it right- wanted to build some confidence on plain colours before going for anything as clever as 2 colours!

Onto the pics.

ROOG · September 2013

Good start, looking forward to your completed 'gut-shots'.

Go on put a design on it.

not_the_dj · September 2013

stickyfiddle said:

guitargeek62 said:

Nice going! I keep meaning to pick up one of the Fuzz Face BC108/Axis kits from there, maybe a Ross Comp too. Looking forward to seeing how they turn out

Also, where's the Les Lius from then? I love the demos I've heard but didn't realise it wasn't an original design!?!

I cant remember but I'm sure I read it was an copied circuit. Unless i'm wrong of course!

A modded Elecrtra distortion circuit apparently. Never heard of that apart from in anti Lovepedal threads....all I know is it's a great sounding pedal.

stickyfiddle · September 2013

ROOG said:

Good start, looking forward to your completed 'gut-shots'.
Go on put a design on it.

Only trouble with a design is I have no idea if/where I can get the appropriate transfer paper here in Abu Dhabi, so that might have to wait!

stickyfiddle · September 2013

Rat...

(yes, that's too many holes... :-B )

ROOG · September 2013

stickyfiddle said:

ROOG said:

Good start, looking forward to your completed 'gut-shots'.
Go on put a design on it.

Only trouble with a design is I have no idea if/where I can get the appropriate transfer paper here in Abu Dhabi, so that might have to wait!

Bet the paint dries real quick!

guitargeek62 · September 2013

Looking good. 8)

stickyfiddle · September 2013

Got one done!

I had a bash on the Les Lius kit this afternoon.

Board part-populated:

Test fit of components:

Initial wiring. This one had loads of off-board stuff for its size so was pretty fiddly to get it tidy.

Everything finished. And it worked first time

Not my neatest but pretty decent for the amount of wiring in there. Need to find a way to make LED wiring look better.

Could do with a washer under the pots to lower the knobs a smidge, but I'm happy. Sounds pretty good too, which is always a bonus

Incidentally, this little widget is brilliant for anyone building pedals, or just with loads of pedals and not wanting to put them all on a board with a PSU. Just a battery snap wired to a Boss jack

Rocker · September 2013

Nice work mate. Clever using the toggle switch to secure the PCB. Very clever to use a battery snap wired to a Boss jack.

stickyfiddle · September 2013

Rocker said:

Nice work mate. Clever using the toggle switch to secure the PCB. Very clever to use a battery snap wired to a Boss jack.

Cheers. The switch-mounting for the PCB is very neat and the pots fit perfectly under it. A lot of the pedalparts kits come with board-mounted pots, which is brilliant IMO. Secures the board without using the jacks, which neatly avoids putting major stress on the joints.

dindude · September 2013

Yeah, I made up a battery snap / boss barrel thing like yours some time ago and agree, it's cracking just for trying out a pedal in an instant without needing to find power or having to get out the screwdriver.

Nice work on the pedal btw Including the finish), I tried a kit once and it wasnt very successful. Depends how you measure success of course, my measure was simply does it work? No.

stickyfiddle · September 2013

I'm really pleased with the spraying. I've only ever had the guts to do Hammerite before, knowing it wouldn't be perfect, but this was actually far easier. Just a couple of quick coats, then light sand with 600 grit and a couple more coats on top. Brilliant!

The silver paint looks even better than the gold. That'll be the Muff so will get some black and red when I get my head around where I want it. Will probably build the fuzz factory next as that enclosure's ready to go!

I highly recommend pedalparts if you want another go at a kit. Their simple boosts are really simple- one board mounted pot and a handful of other parts makes for a very quick build with little to go wrong. He's even doing little daughter-boards for the switch to make that easier too.

Ianpdq · September 2013

stickyfiddle said:

ROOG said:

Good start, looking forward to your completed 'gut-shots'.
Go on put a design on it.

Only trouble with a design is I have no idea if/where I can get the appropriate transfer paper here in Abu Dhabi, so that might have to wait!

How about this http://www.craftycomputerpaper.co.uk/.-Inkjet-Water-Slide-Decal-Paper_151.htm

stickyfiddle · September 2013

Ianpdq said:

stickyfiddle said:

ROOG said:

Good start, looking forward to your completed 'gut-shots'.
Go on put a design on it.

Only trouble with a design is I have no idea if/where I can get the appropriate transfer paper here in Abu Dhabi, so that might have to wait!

How about this http://www.craftycomputerpaper.co.uk/.-Inkjet-Water-Slide-Decal-Paper_151.htm

Postage to Abu Dhabi is going to be huge though, not to mention we don't actually have a postal service...

I might be able to find some in an art shop in one of the malls. I sense a quest beginning!!

stickyfiddle · September 2013

Got another done. And again it worked first time. Either these kits are foolproof or I'm finally being careful enough..!

It's a Fuzz Factory!

And the gutshot:

Wiring is a bit tight. PP has a version with board-mounted pots but that doesn't fit a battery so not as useful in the long run. This was fiddly but I got it all pretty tidy in the end. Lots of heat-shrink to prevent shorts.

Max helped with this one. Maybe I should teach him to solder?

stickyfiddle · October 2013

Got the rest of the cases sprayed up. The enamel paint (silver & red ones) looks wonderful but is difficult to get even. I had a bit of a disaster trying to do silver competition stripes on the black one, so that got stripped and painted again. Probably going to stick with all-black for now... Still no luck with inket waterslide paper so will also have to leave them blank for now too. Next time I'm UK-bound I'll pick some up and see what I can do

stickyfiddle · October 2013

Big Muff Pi is done and sounds wicked. Built to Ram's Head specs and I've added a mid-boost switch to make it more usable in a mix. It sounds magnificent too; way better than the modern EHX models.

The finish isn't as shiny as when I sprayed it sadly- the silver is clearly very sensitive to finger oils and whatnot. I could clearcoat and/or bake it but a) I don't have any clearcoat and b) I actually like how it looks now. Should end up quite a warry-looking beast after it's been stood on a few times.

Haven't done a gutshot of this one yet- adding the switch meant it got pretty ugly...

Bron_Yr_Aur · October 2013

Those look fantastic! Great work! I'm off to check out that site now...

stickyfiddle · October 2013

Bron_Yr_Aur said:

Those look fantastic! Great work! I'm off to check out that site now...

Cheers! I heartily recommend these kits to anyone who's interested. Something like the Fuzz Face with board-mounted pots (and pre-drilled enclosure), or one of the one-knob boosters would be a good start if you haven't done much soldering in the past, as the board-mounting makes everything a smidge simpler.

All of mine have worked first time too, which is testament to clear instruction and good-quality pcbs (I've had a couple of wrong-resistors that I've had to desolder and remove. Entirely my own fault and easy to remedy thanks to double-sided through-hole plated boards). You can even get mini-boards to make switch wiring easier. Personally I quite enjoy wiring switches, so I don't bother!

ddlooping · October 2013

Nicely done, Mike.

stickyfiddle · October 2013

Gutshots... :-S

Complete with customary electrical tape on the back cover to stop shorts

Total rat's nest in there, but I'm not sure how I could've done much better with this board & layout. Just makes I annoyed!

juansolo · October 2013

stickyfiddle said:

guitargeek62 said:

Also, where's the Les Lius from then? I love the demos I've heard but didn't realise it wasn't an original design!?!

I cant remember but I'm sure I read it was an copied circuit. Unless i'm wrong of course!

It's an modified Electra Distortion. The switch that 'changes the amp models' just adds diodes to the clipping. The 'extra gain stage' is just lies, there's only one transistor in there

It is, as mentioned, a great sounding pedal. The marketing of it however smells of the most pungent bullshit known to man.

Get yourself on BYOC and Madbean's forums (they're not exclusive to their own kit). Both are noob friendly and great resources for pedal builders. As you get more advanced dip into DIY Stompboxes and FreeStompboxes.

They look great BTW. Get them posted up in the 'show off your completed builds' section of both sites along with a hello.

Personally I use transparent adhesive paper. I dislike waterslides immensely... There's some old tutorials on my site. I'm going to update them shortly as we do things a little differently now. I'll get around to it at some point.

stickyfiddle · October 2013

Cheers- kind comments mean a lot coming from an old hand!

I'm definitely getting more into it and more confidence working out switching mods and such.

Must try making some a bit more "from scratch" next I think. Mind you, still got Rat and trem kits to build too

juansolo · October 2013

I do warn you though, it's a bit addictive

When you start getting away from kits, make yourself something like this:

What that'll allow you to do is test circuits before you box them. In the pic it has spring clip terminals, I've since swapped it to connector block as the clips broke through use. It'll make your life massively easier.

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Pedal builds (aka Birthday Kit-AS)

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