Is it time for ...

AustrianJohn

Sorry, @m_c but I have no interest in building pedals. Three of the four I've built haven't worked (due to my ham-fistedness), and even if I was confident of a successful build, I'd have no idea about how to personalize a pedal. If there is interest in a pedal challenge, why not two challenges - one guitar and one pedal?

Legionreturns

I've got absolutely zero chance of building a pedal. A pedal BOARD maybe... 

AustrianJohn

Legionreturns said:

I've got absolutely zero chance of building a pedal. A pedal BOARD maybe... 

 What about a cheese board...

TTony

Some would build a pedal, some a pedal board, some would attack an acoustic, some might want to build a kit or mod something basic.

Which was the thinking behind making it as wide and inclusive as possible, within some sort of theme, and some sort of constraint (to make it a "challenge").

"What I really wanted for Christmas".  Make it, mod it, whatever.  Pedals, Guitars, Amps, whatever.

We set some sort of budget and a timescale (the "challenge" bit), and lets go.

I'm pretty sure we could get Jooky to feature it over a series of weeks in his 4:52am e-mag too.

Danny1969

I fancy doing a pedal as I would probably seriously bugger up a guitar

Rabs

Yeah id be up for doing something weird and wacky.. Its not too far off my normal builds :P  

I also have a couple of old acoustics lying about which I actually intended to do up in some way but never got around to it...

How about a double neck challenge..  Always wanted to do one of those.

Nomad

I'd have thought the idea of a challenge is to build/mod something particular - to have a theme. If the only thing making it a challenge is the timescale, then I'd feel that it was more like a job.

For me, a big part of the fun in a challenge is seeing how others approach the same basic idea.

stickyfiddle

FWIW I'd rather build pedals than guitars (or even an amp kit, maybe?), so I'd be very happy with a DIY-whatever-you-want type of challenge, effectively being "make something interesting". 

AustrianJohn

I'm with @Nomad on this. If it's "build something interesting" - well, that's what we do on Making & Modding. I thought the challenge would add another element. I like the idea of building a guitar for under £100 - either buy a wreck and do it up, or start from a cheap kit.

LuttiS

 Nomad said:

I'd have thought the idea of a challenge is to build/mod something particular - to have a theme. If the only thing making it a challenge is the timescale, then I'd feel that it was more like a job.

For me, a big part of the fun in a challenge is seeing how others approach the same basic idea.

Yep - this! The interesting bit is the linked theme between stuff! 

I like the idea of get a wreck/cheap kit/ pedal bits / board whatevers and do all within a low-ish budget, with a certain design theme/criteria?

Underwater Elven Apocalypse with Bells?

TTony

Nomad said:

I'd have thought the idea of a challenge is to build/mod something particular - to have a theme.

Yes, but ...

(Don't you hate that phrase?)

As the initial replies have shown, some people would like to build a kit, some would like to mod somethng existing, some would prefer a pedal challenge rather than a guitar challenge, and should the guitar be electric or acoustic ...

Trying to get a "something" that interests everyone is a challenge in itself. 

We have done those before (eg build for £100, mod a HB, etc) and they've been good, but I was aiming for something more inclusive this time, where the focus isn't so much on the thing that's being built or modded. 

The focus becomes the theme rather than the thing - ie "what I really wanted for Christmas" - which fits with the timing and which might also get people building/modding something that they want and will actually use in future.

The challenge aspect comes only from the timescale - do it within Q1 (or whatever we set the timescale to be), so that people actually get a project finished.  I've multiple half-finished projects that would get done if I had some sort of imposed end-date!

AustrianJohn

TTony said:

The focus becomes the theme rather than the thing - ie "what I really wanted for Christmas"

OK, so all I have to do is work out how to build a 1956 Strat and a Ferrari 488 Spider for under £100.

TTony

AustrianJohn said:

OK, so all I have to do is work out how to build a 1956 Strat and a Ferrari 488 Spider for under £100.

If you take on either of those as the challenge, it'll be one of the more popular threads



Though don't put unnecessary constraints on yourself - we're only talking about a time-limit at the moment, not a cost-limit.

So, what colour will the Strat be?

AustrianJohn

TTony said:

So, what colour will the Strat be?

If I did the 1956 thing I'd go for the two tone sunburst, as I haven't done a sunburst finish yet. But I'm still dithering.

Legionreturns

I think my technical know-how limits me to arty stuff, or woodwork. That puts me in the realm of either a wood based project like a guitar stand or board, or decorating a guitar. 

Although I've been contemplating doing some guitar related art projects lately, portraits of people playing etc. If anyone has a good image that they want reproduced larger scale in pastel or oil, you knew what to do...

GoldenEraGuitars

Those HB kits sound cool, I'm up for that.

Nomad

@TTony, I appreciate where you're going with increasing inclusiveness, and I'm in agreement with that aim. However, making it so open that anything goes kind of dilutes the basic idea of a challenge - something that focusses on a specific build-a-thing or mod-a-thing activity. Ultimately, if there is only one challenge, we can't please all of the people all of the time. Maybe if it wasn't seen as 'the challenge', singular, things could work better. So far as I can see, there's nothing wrong with having more than one challenge running at the same time, unless calling it "The Fretboard Challenge [year]" or whatever is somehow inviolable.

For what it's worth, I'm a member of a photography forum and hang out in the film photography section. There are usually a few for-fun challenges running at the same time, and people take up the ones they're interested in. They aren't called "[forum name] Challenge" or whatever, but just refer to what they are, like a Box Brownie Challenge. They tend to have a time limit (fairly long), but it occurs to me that maybe even that might not be needed.

If anything, time limits could lead to less projects being finished. My impression has been that more people say they're up for it than show a completed project at the end. Some might never have gotten started, and one wonders how many got half way through and ended up shelving it because the deadline came and went.

I'd imagine an open-ended challenge would still get the bulk of activity in the early stages - a group of people will take it up when it first appears, followed by occasional others as time goes on. One that hasn't been done for a while could garner new interest and a new group (maybe with some repeat participants) could get into it at the same time (which is part of the fun).

You mention that some challenges have already been done, but they've only been done by those that did them. Everyone that didn't have the time or means while they were running, or who joined the forum afterwards, hasn't done them. Imagine Making & Modding is a computer game, and that the challenges are missions. You go into the mission selection screen, pick one you fancy, and get told that five people did it two years ago and that it's now expired. Not terribly encouraging for those that are late to the party for whatever reason.

If challenges were seen as more of an on-going thing, then they would have the potential to build into a resource consisting of project ideas, related build threads, and a showcase of completed examples. (Like a more focussed version of what we already have for people's ad-hoc builds, with the addition of a preamble thread that introduces the challenge.)

I guess some of this is down to what purpose the challenges are intended to serve. For me, the build a slide instrument one was a way to try a first guitar build that wasn't too complex - it was a good introduction to building and probably helped me to scope out how much would be involved in building a conventional solid body guitar. The challenge aspect is good, but it appeals to me less than the idea of a suggested project that I'll undertake if it interests me. Deadlines don't appeal to me with hobby stuff (I get enough of them at work). The challenge is in completing the project, and the value is probably in learning how to do it more than in having the thing at the end of it (I hardly ever touch my lap steel, but it has significance for me as an artefact because it's the first musical instrument I ever made).

Perhaps the following could be considered...

Make the idea of a challenge a bit less formal.
Okay to run more than one challenge at the same time.
Okay to repeat a challenge to allow fresh and repeat participation.
At least some challenges can be on-going and build into a source of project ideas and inspiration.

I'm thinking more of a melting pot, and less of 'the challenge' as a single thing that happens roughly once a year.

TTony

Thanks for the thoughts @Nomad. ; I'll reflect.

paulnb57

Wisdom for @Nomad ;

Bridgehouse

I wonder if the challenge could be "take something dull and standard and make it a bit special"

Examples:

- New artwork on a pedal (airbrush, decoupage, collage, pen whatever)
- Tweak a pedal to make a new one
- Take a dull £80 kit and do a super whacky paint job/unusual pickup config/make it into a double neck
- Recover an amp in something odd - like wallpaper or something
- Take an eBay special, make it playable and trick it out with some oddball parts
- Make a fretted something fretless
- Make a guitar/bass out of something really odd - maybe a body out of an old kitchen cupboard, or a piece of Perspex or whatever