Ok what is you favorite and least favorite part of building pedals?

[bhcarpenter]

My favorite part is probably gifting pedals to friends. It’s probably just narcissism, but I like being “the person who knows how to make guitar effects.” Close second is getting to try out tons of circuits that I would never buy off the shelf. I also agree with the folks who find populating boards and soldering therapeutic.

Least favorite part (by a long shot) is soldering the LEDs. I’ve kind of worked out a process I like for all the parts of a build except that.

 

[Barry]

Favorite part is populating th board, least is off board wiring

 

[Mentaltossflycoon]

The only part of the experience that I really dislike is disappointment. There is nothing worse than getting excited for a project, paying good money to build it, put in the work to build it and be underwhelmed by the end result. I had to change my evaluation process because the dopamine of a new build in the honeymoon phase is misleading. Sometimes they grow on you, most of the time they don't. I'd say about 25% of all builds meet or exceed expectations, the rest was me being fooled by hype or just looking to build something.

I'd rather it not work at all than be underwhelmed so I'm with you there. Favorite part is probably the jams. I practice/write/etc. much more often when I frequently have new and inspiring sounds to mess with. I also love the low pressure of building these compared to instruments. Toasting a pcb is far less heartbreaking than breaking through the finish of a guitar while polishing.

 

[Diynot]

My least favorite part is reading through this forum and discovering new boards to build. Case in point I just purchased a junk trunk and gas tank since I have seen them mentioned several times by the bastions of bass on this forum. What’s 1….or 2 more pedals on my floor….

But for real, I dislike doing artwork and offboard wiring

 

[Feral Feline]

Fave — planning/coming up with mods

Ugh — trying to get graphics from my brain onto the pedal

It's one of the most important things to me, having a pedal that looks as good as it sounds and yet...
I don't know how to use Photoslop or Illustraitor etc., can't draw ... my graphics-ideas are grandiose but my related skills are NOT.

 

[Laundryroom David]

I like fire
I dislike drilling

 

[Cybercow]

Like so many others, aside from running into issues that demand trouble, l dislike doing the off-board wiring on large combo builds. I find it tedious to measure, size, shape, strip and then solder more that a dozen internal wires. However, when building large combo builds, the opportunity often presents itself for even more mods, ordering and other nifty little things that can be done to facilitate a very flexible build. In our X100 rehouse builds, there are over 75 individual off-board wires that need to be connected. That's over 150 solder joints for the wiring alone. About 33 total feet of wire.



In an SS-02/G-01 combo build, there are 49 off-board wires to deal with. Mostly because the pots are wired to the PCBs so they can positioned in a more aesthetic arrangement for the user.



Some of the more fun builds are those more common circuits with LOTS of mods - like in this Klingon Muff, capable of emulating ten different versions of the BMP.



As for favorite parts of pedal building, I've several. I like working up the Photoshop mock-ups and generating the artwork and user interface layouts. I also enjoy the component level of assembly - taking pride in what soldering skills I possess.

By far my most favorite part is rocking before boxing, then boxing and rocking again. (That is, as long as there are no issues before or after boxing. )

 

[andare]

Populating the board : 1h
Drilling the enclosure: 1h
Mounting hardware and wiring everything up: 4h

You tell me

 

[szukalski]

I love watching the solder melt and take hold. One of many things enjoyable.

 

[andare]

I love watching the solder melt and take hold. One of many things enjoyable.

So I guess you avoid 63/37?

 

[szukalski]

So I guess you avoid 63/37?

I recently moved to lead solder and really enjoy it compared to lead-free. I should really get some exhaust system going on..

 

[cdwillis]

A few months ago I switched from 60/40 to 63/37 solder and it's so much nicer. I have one of those tall oscillating fans near my bench that I turn the oscillation off when I'm soldering so the fumes blow away from me.

 

[The Gator]

Wow!!!
Thank you to all of you for the responses!
I really do like populating the board.
I noticed a lot of people saying they do not like wiring. I would have to agree.
I have changed how I put wire on the boards and really just overall try to modularize my building to avoid frustration with wiring.
Granted, some you make your wiring like a work of art! I am definitely not that guy lol. Connectors and header pins help reduce frustration and wire connection breakage.

 

[Seasoned Novice]

Favorite part is when I get an order's worth of PCB's all kitted up and ready to populate.



Least favorite is stripping wire because it hurts my fingertips and for some reason calluses never seem to form like with playing guitar.

 

[iamjackslackof]

I love populating and soldering, it feels therapeutic and relaxing and almost a Zen- or flow-like state.

I hate off-board wiring, like everyone else, so I rarely do it. I also hate getting out all my parts and putting each cap, resistor, etc. onto my printed out part sheet. I've gotten pretty efficient at it and found some techniques to make it fast, but when you have as big a build list as I do, it's a ton of work lol.

 

[HamishR]

I don't mind off-board wiring. Having the anal neatness gene helps. I don't mind drilling boxes, especially now that I have a drill press and an easy way to get everything lined up. I don't even mind the graphics part. It's easy for me - I just leave the boxes blank.

As a few have mentioned my least favourite part of building pedals is being underwhelmed by the result.

 

[Harry Klippton]

I also hate getting out all my parts and putting each cap, resistor, etc. onto my printed out part sheet.

Whoa that sounds really tedious and I don't do that

 

[szukalski]

Whoa that sounds really tedious and I don't do that

I agree. The biggest changer for me was getting storage drawers/boxes. Now I just pick the parts in one big sweep, resistors, boom, soldered. Ceramic caps, boom, soldered! Etc.

You need to maintain an inventory and have storage for it, but it makes the build flow soooo much faster.

 

[steviejr92]

I love it all. If I had to choose its organizing all my parts right before a build.

 

[The Gator]

I love populating and soldering, it feels therapeutic and relaxing and almost a Zen- or flow-like state.

I hate off-board wiring, like everyone else, so I rarely do it. I also hate getting out all my parts and putting each cap, resistor, etc. onto my printed out part sheet.

Yeah i am starting to realize we all have diffetent techniques and habits.
I listen to a book on tape while populating boards. Or sometimes music.
So I bought inland resistor packs to start.
It is almost every size from 10 ohm to 1M ohm in 1% 1/4watt in little baggies of 10.
When I get ready to build a pedal, I highlight each resistor on the build sheet that is not a repeat size, then pull those baggies out of those sizes and stick them in a "build tray" . All the other parts go into different bins in the build tray except for capacitors. I have them in sorted bins according to type. They are on the bench so I just grab what I need as I build and keep mindful of inventory. It works fairly well.