Cranky old whiner about the good ol days of diy pedals

[tolstokes]

My youngest is studying at SFSU! We spent a week getting them settled and wandering around. It's a different place for sure!

I've been curious about learning carpentry. We'll need to know how to build shelter in whatever billionaire's land we'll be squatting on now that we're getting priced out of owning much of anything.

 

[mckillacuddy]

I've been wanting to vent my nostalgia for a while so here goes:
I remember when the only pots Tayda had were split shaft and they only carried one type of knob that would fit them. Back then I also ordered from somewhere called Futurelec and bought parts in person from Radio Shack and Fry's Electronics. Some of the stuff I bought back then is still in my parts bin. I miss Fry's a lot, that was where I bought my Hakko soldering iron.

I hear what you're barking, dog. My local indie used to carry most anything a hifi/pro audio tech might need--Japanese transistors, Peavey stuff, most of the Hammond basics--in stock. Shame to see it dwindle little by little over the years. Went in to grab a roll of Kester the other day, nothing but a couple bins of white label crap. Blast!

 

[Stickman393]

My youngest is studying at SFSU! We spent a week getting them settled and wandering around. It's a different place for sure!

I've been curious about learning carpentry. We'll need to know how to build shelter in whatever billionaire's land we'll be squatting on now that we're getting priced out of owning much of anything.

Not a bad idea. Particularly if one prefers to keep their enemies close. HVAC is my game. Good for knowing which bits to sabotage to take down data centers, if one is so inclined to do so.

Not that I would ever do such a thing. YOU HEAR ME, FEDS! ITS JUST A FUCKING JOKE!

Stickwife went to SJSU. Good school. Plenty of weirdos, which are my preferred brand of human.

 

[jcpst]

It's like...folks that drive down the road with their windows wide open, blasting overpowered stereo systems so that everybody else has to listen to their music too. It's inconsiderate. It's rude. It's fucking annoying, but that's the only aspect of that individual that we get to see. Shoot, dude might be the sole caretaker for his elderly grandmother whom he loves and has a wonderful relationship with.

You summed up my mid 20s. Pissing off the squares, taking care of my demented grandmother.

I still have radioshack components.

Weird is the way. I have a project manager I butt heads with sometimes, and the conversation I had with my wife is “I think this dude might be neurotypical”.

Anyway, welcome. This hobby is possibly the best excuse for putting off practicing guitar.

 

[Feral Feline]

...
Who the fuck is able to make a living eating ice cream, you might ask? I dunno. The words "only fans" come to mind.

But, I'm a proponent of dealing with the world as it is, rather than what we wish it was. And sometimes, you just gotta accept that you're gonna have to pay for the ice cream that you eat, and the eating will have to be its own reward.

I knew of someone whose job was "ice-cream taster", a quality-control type of guy.

Sadly, he couldn't eat anything else that wasn't bland — habanero-salsa, no; garlic-shrimp with garlic fries, no; chilli-con-carne, no; salt&vinegar chips, no; etc... The only time he could eat anything interesting was the first 3–4 days of his two-week vacation time... then he had to rest his taste-buds for the rest of the vacation for that first day back at work.

Reminds me of that episode of Cheers where Norm gets his dream-job of working in a brewery as a beer-taster. Seemed like a good idea...



Nutter story... in my youth I was to meet a friend at Swanson's Ice-Cream Parlour. On the menu was something called "The Earthquake", I liked the sound of that and placed my order; the server asked "what flavours?" — "Surprise me," I said.

Oh I was surprised alright. Turns out The Earthquake is a party favourite — 36 scoops of ice-cream, and I was given one of every flavour in the shop.

I dug in. Midway through, my friend still hadn't arrived to help in the glacial endeavour. The only crap-tastic scoop was of coffee-grounds disguised as ice-cream which I finally pushed aside, the rest was delicious.

My friend never showed, I vaguely recall it taking about an hour to finish it all on my oddy-knocky, I paid for the ice-cream I ate (expensive on a kid's allowance), before I could cycle home, alone.

Ahh such sweet memories you've brought back Stickman...



Stay frosty.

 

[tolstokes]

You summed up my mid 20s. Pissing off the squares, taking care of my demented grandmother.

I still have radioshack components.

Weird is the way. I have a project manager I butt heads with sometimes, and the conversation I had with my wife is “I think this dude might be neurotypical”.

Anyway, welcome. This hobby is possibly the best excuse for putting off practicing guitar.

Aw crap. You're right. I always say that I should have been practicing rather than searching for the secret tone no one else had.

 

[tolstokes]

I used to think the Bronx Cheer was going to be my secret weapon. Seems so silly to me now. I used ceramic paint pens on these. I would bake them in a toaster oven to cure the ceramic paint. Not sure how well any of it held up over the years.

 

[tolstokes]

I miss PedalPartsPlus's variety of painted enclosures.

 

[Aleph Null]

Now...imagine eating a big bowl of ice cream for a living. Relying on that for your income. Perhaps in a semi-professional setting.

 

[SpringReverbFan1234]

Here's a pic of my leftover old RadioShack stuff. Their LED bezels and 9V clips were better quality than any other ones I've ever had. I really liked the transformers too.

 

[jimilee]

Now, do you have to invert the spoon?

 

[Aleph Null]

Now, do you have to invert the spoon?

You do if you're a professional, apparently.

 

[Dumpster D]

I am old enough to remember Rat shack....

I built an electrovibe, it works.

Just glad I'm not old enough to have build one of the older (pre-modern standard) Univibe layouts on "another" earlier DIY electronic builders forum I was browsing to research the circuit before attempting to build a Univibe clone. You had to build your own Charge pump from perf board.

A couple of people were having some trouble with that one guys PCB apparently. That was a bit....uh....What's the word? How do I put this? For all the flavours of Ice cream, there's always one that has a few nuts.

...Does anyone here know who I am specifically talking about? There was a bit of an unusual ongoing public flame war between two of those members apparently.

The good old days, sure. Banana flavoured popsicles were 10 cents.

 

[tolstokes]

My Dad used to call Radio Shack "Radio Trash"....

 

[bluedmc777]

My first build was a mini booster and then a GGG Tycophabre Octavia. Then BYOC Ramshead muff and onto some Madbean. I remember when, is it the 1590b the mxr sized enclosure, was the standard and on board pots was a big no no hehe! I tossed my stash of parts years back too. Jeez what a stupid thing to do.

 

[bluedmc777]

@Dumpster D I used to live a Radio Shack. I would just stop to buy anything cause it was all so cheap.

 

[Stickman393]

Ya know.

My absurdist diatribes work so much better when they're completely disconnected from reality.

Sigh.

 

[Aleph Null]

Ya know.

My absurdist diatribes work so much better when they're completely disconnected from reality.

Sigh.

Do better next time!

 

[tolstokes]

I never should've sold my drill press. Also, these step bits from Amazon or Harbor Freight are utter trash.

 

[Aleph Null]

I never should've sold my drill press. Also, these step bits from Amazon or Harbor Freight are utter trash.

My personal rule of thumb is to never buy anything from Harbor Freight that has a motor or a cutting edge. Their tarps are great, though!