My first pedal build

freakboy1610

I recently finished making a Shin-Ei Companion Fuzz FY2 kit from Pedalparts and, whilst the thread is hardly original, I was keen to share it with you. Thanks to the demands of the wife and kids it took me nearly three months to complete when I could grab the odd spare hour here and there. It started out like this and I have to admit that I had the bits spread out on the table several times before I finally got started. 

Once I persuaded myself to take the plunge I suddenly realised that the resistors weren't labelled resulting in me spending several hours on the internet finding out how to identify them. It's actually harder than it sounds figuring out the colour codes. Is that brown or gold? Which way round is it? Having got my components in order I decided to make sure by buying a cheap multimeter on Ebay.

Soldering was hit and miss at first. I had some practice a while ago but I was a bit nervous and heavy handed to start with. Cheap solder (also from Ebay) kept going blobby when my iron was hot. Later on I got some 0.7mm Stannol multicore 60/40 22swg which was much better.

Having populated my PCB I set about putting all of the bits into the box. Some of the components were a little tall and I found that the only way this was going to fit was face down on top of the pots (ultimately face up I guess). 

I found the offboard wiring the most nerve-racking and needed much advice and support via text from @handsomerik. He also kindly provided me with the sockets for the transistors which probably saved them from being fried during the soldering process. I had some heat shrink tubing to cover the wiring on the pots but forgot to do the first leg on both!

I got one of Poodles mini PCBs for the switch and this was really helpful as switch wiring looks really fiddly and I've discovered during the course of this build that I probably need reading glasses. The joys of middle age!  Anyway, wiring complete, I gently eased it all into the box but try as I might I couldn't make it look tidy in there. I had needed some slack on the switch as this had the LED soldered to it and went in last.

Grabbed a 9v battery from my tuner, shoved in a lead and to my surprise the LED came on!  Ran upstairs and grabbed my THR10 and the J Mascis Jazz and holy crap it works!!!

At this point I was so pleased/relieved that I hardly noticed that I hadn't decorated the box. Should have done this before putting the guts in but I really wasn't expecting it to work. I had a few attempts at the artwork which ended up in the bin but eventually found a great font on the internet which I really liked and went with that.

Printed onto clear adhesive paper and carefully applied to the box (having even more carefully removed the guts which were now permanently attached to the box by the power supply which had the nut on the inside of the pedal). I then had to put the guts into a sandwich bag whilst I gave the box 3 coats of lacquer. Not sure if that's enough but it was getting dark and cold in the garage! And here it is!

I had some old telecaster style knobs tucked away. No position indicators but it's not the sort of pedal that requires subtle adjustment. It sounds just awesome. Full on Mary Chain style nasty fuzz.

    

ThePrettyDamned

Really great work, much tidier than my first attempt at a box!

TamDB

That looks cool, Enjoy. I`ve done a few pedals myself, (and no-one was more surprised than me when they worked )

handsomerik

Proud of you my protégée. It looks way better as neater than my first pedal did too. Sweet work freakboy. Now you're ready for an analogue delay ;-)

thermionic

Neat work for a first build! Like the graphics as well.

ecc83

Salutory lesson for ANYONE handling leads batteries etc and ESPECIALLY  those embarking on electronics builds..

FCS buy a digital multimeter! They can be had as cheap as a tenner but spend 20-30 quid if you can. 

After 50 years in electronics and the ability to read the colour code better than a clock, they CHANGED the fekker didn't they! The four band system confuses the H out of this old fart and in any case the eyes ain't what they was, everything is littler and so I tend to check as I go with a meter.

How the F you can "debug" without a meter beats me!

Dave.

frankus

Amazing looking pedal --- I echo the multimeter - it saves a massive amount of time - I've got a load of resistors in seperate drawers but I still check them with a multimeter before soldering them in place.

ChrisMusic

Excellent looking pedal, very well done, for a first build especially.

stickyfiddle

Looks great for a first build. Very nice.

Budwiser

congrats freakboy1066.. yeah working them resistors out can be a pain..as they can be differences between valves the old 3 bands are quick to work out...such as brown(1) black(0) red(2)..=1k plus gold 5% it's always the 3rd band is the multiplier...the best ones are the blue film resistors that offer 1% but these are four band types...

check out fet boosters of even signal transistor boosters circuits..why spend £80 pounds on one when it can be built for say £15..

happy trails folks. 

Budwiser

ecc83 said:

Salutory lesson for ANYONE handling leads batteries etc and ESPECIALLY  those embarking on electronics builds..

FCS buy a digital multimeter! They can be had as cheap as a tenner but spend 20-30 quid if you can. 

After 50 years in electronics and the ability to read the colour code better than a clock, they CHANGED the fekker didn't they! The four band system confuses the H out of this old fart and in any case the eyes ain't what they was, everything is littler and so I tend to check as I go with a meter.

How the F you can "debug" without a meter beats me!

Dave.

I get your point there, Electronics these days it's not the same anymore...if a item breaks off to the bin with it..but I prefer to use the old gray cells to solve most things.. from the days of video/tv/ tape deck repairs...the trusty old scope/gennie still comes in handy..lol