Pedal builds (aka Birthday Kit-AS)

stickyfiddle

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

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

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

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

stickyfiddle

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

Nicely done, Mike.

stickyfiddle

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

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

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

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.

ROOG

stickyfiddle showed us:

Neat idea the battery on a lead thing. Have a wisdom

stickyfiddle

After getting extremely confused by the "Fäctory" knobs, I decided to get me a label maker. Much easier than transfers & waterslides, and leans further on the industrialish look (I don't want to say "Cornish", but maybe a bit Cornish looking )

I like!

 

ddlooping

Cool stuff, Mike.

juansolo

I re-did the adhesive decal tutorial if you fancy giving them a go: http://juansolo.demon.co.uk/stompage/finishing.html

stickyfiddle

Now that actually looks straightforward enough to give it a try...

Cheers!

dindude

Looking good Sticky.

If you want competition stripes, rather than spraying, I've used these sticky vinyl pin-stripes before on a few volume boxes I've made and they work a treat. Can get them in single or double (pre-spaced) stripes.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Car-GO-FASTER-STRIPES-PIN-STRIPING-3mm-x-10m-BLUE-/270414910011?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item3ef5fc123b

ROOG

juansolo said:

I re-did the adhesive decal tutorial if you fancy giving them a go: http://juansolo.demon.co.uk/stompage/finishing.html

Hi @juansolo, thanks for the link, I've not used Envirotex, a quick search on youtube helped too.

I'm interested to know, how thick does the coating end up?

juansolo

As thick as you make it But generally around 0.5-1.5mm thick. There or thereabouts.

juansolo

stickyfiddle said:

Now that actually looks straightforward enough to give it a try...

Cheers!

It takes practice to be fair. But it's worth the effort. I've not found a better way of doing these sorts of decals in the DIY domain. It's so damned tough. Then again it should be, it's original purpose was for coating bar tops!

Maxi

"Could do with a washer under the pots to lower the knobs a smidge," What I tend to do is mount my pots to a thin strip alloy plate / sheet cut to shape and drill the holes for the location pins to sit in , that way the pots are the right height and locked and no location holes evident on the diecast box . Nuts washers go outside as usual .