CONTEST QUARANTINE FUZZ CONTEST (Omicron variant edition)

CONTEST
fig

fig

Village Idiot
Good News Everyone! @SYLV9ST9R is holding a contest!


With the pandemic still going on worldly, and to give a little back to this community and this hobby that kept me sane during that time, I decided to give a little back.

This board has great lineage. @Chuck D. Bones originally send it to @peccary, who already had it and sent it to me as a surprise with other stuff. It was a nice surprise, but as I already have 4 fuzz builds lined up, the idea of this contest popped up in my mind.

So get your entry in this thread by telling us what other hobby would you have entertained if it were not for pedal building (well, apart from amp building or guitar building). You have until December 9 at 9PM EST to enter.

The winner will be picked at random and announced on Dec. 10 and will get a full kit to build the Quarantine Fuzz, including an UV-printed enclosure! I even removed the paint around the holes inside the enclosure and filed the end of one of those stupid 15R1 long-legged pot, so the only thing you have to provide is hook-up wire. (BYOW!)

Also, in addition to the fine gentleman previously mentioned, I would like to thanks the great @fig for helping setting the contest up. Good luck and stay safe!

No, I did NOT write that last line...but I did read it several times. 😁
 
I'm always happy to play fig's contests. Thanks for entertaining us with them.

This is a good question.

Some of my friends are into photography--like guitars it requires obsessing over gear (new cameras, lenses, tripods, etc.). I got an entry-level DSLR a while back so I could hang with them on nature hikes and feel like I was participating. I was happy with my camera, but if I wasn't preferring to spend my hobby allotment on guitar gear, could see myself getting sucked in.

I also like to draw and paint, which is ironic because I don't really like to decorate my pedal builds (although I've been warming to the idea and doing it more often).
 
Same as Jeff - I enjoy road and mountain biking. I got some great riding in in the early part of the pandemic. The roads and trails were quiet!

The combination of my daughter being born and being hit by a car has stopped me rather than the pandemic 😂 so does this answer count?

That design looks good @SYLV9ST9R
This is another example of why I love this place. Another forum member sent me stuff in the post the other day that floored me. Thank you for your generosity @fig and @SYLV9ST9R
 
Not entering the contest, but wanted to share anyway. I have quite a few hobbies that I can mention here— I really find myself to be a lover of the arts in all forms. I’ll state a few of them here that I’ve neglected for a while for one reason or another. Why am I listing them here?… well, why not?

• I unfortunately haven’t done it in quite a while, but I’m somewhat of an avid composer, and quite enjoy writing for unusual ensemble arrangements. Hoping that I can eventually actually hear some of my compositions be performed in real life instead of crappy midi playback. I still write original music frequently (I have dozens of full-albums worth of material just waiting until I can properly record the definitive versions of them for release, but I haven’t done any *composing* since this past January or so.

• I also love woodworking— it’s too cold to do any now, but from like April until October each year I try to do as much woodworking as I can. I got a lathe last year, and it’s been a lot of fun being able to do woodturning again (I did it in middle school and high school, but when I graduated I didn’t have access to a lathe until I got my own), though I’ve just done some pens and other small stuff to redevelop my skills. This isn’t really one I’ve neglected, it’s just one that I don’t have the ability to do as frequently as I’d like— due to a small workspace in a crowded garage, I have to do most of it in the driveway (table saw, compound miter saw, lathe, oscillating spindle sander, planer, etc are all on purpose-built carts that get rolled outside so there’s sufficient workspace) so rain (and there’s no shortage of rainy days in New York lately) and temperature are limiting factors.

• creative writing: yikes— looking through my stuff, it seems like I haven’t written much of anything since mid 2018. I blame it on writers block lol. I mainly write poetry/lyrics and long-form free prose, but I’ve enjoyed writing creative nonfiction as well. I’d really love to get back into creative writing, in part because it’s really cathartic— I used to do it just about every single night, and it was frankly a really great way to process my late-night ruminations in a productive way.

•Art: all throughout my childhood I was an art kid— from the time I was in preschool I was known as like the “class artist” and it was my main defining characteristic in school even well after my main passion was music. In middle school and early high school I was known mainly for my artistic ability, and pretty much nobody except my music friends even knew I was a musician because I wasn’t really vocal about my interests, and I wasn’t in the school band until high school jazz band in 11th grade. I really developed good skill and a distinctive artistic identity over the years, and I was in advanced art classes, art clubs, and the art honor society, but my internet waned considerably between the time I was in 5th grade and 11th grade. I took my last 2D art class in the first semester of 11th grade, and somehow that wound up being the very last time I drew or painted anything for years— the last things I drew were ironically a set of sketchbook assignments in pen of my Diddley Bow, my Mandolin, and some Pedals. Around two years ago I tried revisiting drawing and painting, and let me tell you— they’re not lying when they say if you don’t use it you’ll lose it. I had completely lost my technique, my eye for design, and my artistic style, and I was friggin heartbroken. It was like I lost the biggest piece of my childhood identity. I started drawing again, and while my former ability and old style are definitely lost forever, I’ve come to redevelop a new style to my artwork that works with my current diminished skill level. In the past two years I’ve also taught myself a good amount about graphic design, and I really quite enjoy it. I’m actually currently trying to enroll at my old university as an art major so I can finish my degree (I couldn’t be a music major because I don’t play a ‘classical instrument’ and the music department is quite small at the school since it’s a STEM school first and foremost (hence why I initially pursued electrical engineering there).


That’s more about hobbies than anyone needed to hear, but I hope any of you who may have considered giving up a hobby due to a dwindling passion will reconsider, lest you change your stance after the damage is done and you’re once again a novice; and conversely, I hope that some of you who may have lost your ability for an old passion after too many years of hiatus and now feel regret will not be discouraged to start again— even if the best is behind you, there’s still a wonderful opportunity to be a beginner once again, but now with the hindsight to appreciate the position of being a beginner who already knows the effort it takes to become experienced, and hopefully you can use that perspective to make something new of yourself instead of trying to rebuild a you that already had its place in time.
 
Last edited:
SYLV9ST9R said:
View attachment 19548
Here’s what the prize looks like (components not pictured!)
Click to expand...
That looks great. Makes me wish I didn't already have a quarantine fuzz which was actually my first ppcb build. I felt so clever putting it in a clear hammond box until I started looking around the forum and saw how clever everyone is. Once again, don't put my name in the hat but I'll participate.

Golf, disc or ball variety depending on cash flow. Mostly disc lately. I'd probably be doing a lot more of those were I not always puttering in the basement with my free time. If I weren't motivated by music I would likely still be a wood worker, furniture, maybe lathe work. I've dabbled in glass blowing, the old school venetian soft glass art style, not the bong torch kind.
 
I don't want to be considered for the contest but I do want to share my other hobbies.

It has been a while but I used to brew beer. Not full grain, but brew in a bag. My friend and I did it pretty regularly for about three years until he moved away. I haven't been motivated to get going again but I did keep all the equipment.

I used to be big in to cycling: I raced BMX till I got to college and then in grad school started road cycling. I was carless for about three years and in that time biked everywhere. I was in the best shape of my life! Then I got married and kept eating as if I were still playing rugby and cycling everywhere and, well... You know 😂

About five years ago I picked up blacksmithing and that was my primary hobby until pedal building. I started going to a forge at a heritage museum around here and was getting pretty in to it. I completed my level one certification and was able to help out at the smithy more and more. Two years ago on the 4th of July the forge burned down because of a nearby fireworks show.

Unsure of what would happen and not wanting to lose what we had, a few of us got together to form a non profit and reestablished our local smithing association which took ownership of the site and equipment from the museum. With the insurance we were able to hire an architect and contractor and just today had a board meeting at the site. The building is nearly complete and we'll be able to start setting it up in the new year so we can take on a new group of students and artists and establish ourselves again as a great place to learn blacksmithing. I'm pretty pumped about this. It's been a couple of years since I've hit hot metal and I'm looking forward to getting back to it. Just gotta make sure my shoulder is up to the task before I start swinging a hammer around again.
 
Last edited:
If I had to pick a hobby outside of guitar related stuff, I’d have to say guns and knives. I don’t go to the gun range nearly as much as I used to but, I still obsess over having sharp, quality blades. Whether it’s one of my pocket knives or the kitchen cutlery, I’m always honing and sharpening something. If it can’t shave hair… it isn’t sharp. I actually enjoy sharpening blades and there’s something about it that relaxes me.
 
peccary said:
I don't want to be considered for the contest but I do want to share my other hobbies.

It has been a while but I used to brew beer. Not full grain, but brew in a bag. My friend and I did it pretty regularly for about three years until he moved away. I haven't been motivated to get going again but I did keep all the equipment.

I used to be big in to cycling: I raced BMX till I got to college and then in grad school started road cycling. I was carless for about three years and in that time biked everywhere. I was in the best shape of my life! Then I got married and kept eating as if I were still playing rugby and cycling everywhere and, well... You know 😂

About five years ago I picked up blacksmithing and that was my primary hobby until pedal building. I started going to a forge at a heritage museum around here and was getting pretty in to it. I completed my level one certification and was able to help out at the smithy more and more. Two years ago on the 4th of July the forge burned down because of a nearby fireworks show.

Unsure of what would happen and not wanting to lose what we had, a few of us got together to form a non profit and reestablished our local smithing association which took ownership of the site and equipment from the museum. With the insurance we were able to hire an architect and contractor and just today had a board meeting at the site. The building is nearly complete and we'll be able to start setting it up in the new year so we can take on a new group of students and artists and establish ourselves again as a great place to learn blacksmithing. I'm pretty pumped about this. It's been a couple of years since I've hit hot metal and I'm looking forward to getting back to it. Just gotta make sure my shoulder is up to the task before I start swinging a hammer around again.
Click to expand...
That’s wildly awesome! Ever since I got to make an S hook at a colonial field trip in 2nd grade I’ve wanted to learn how to blacksmith! My dad and I tried making a small forge around 6 or 7 years ago, but it was a disastrous failure before we even got to fire it up, and we sorta just abandoned the idea and instead decided we’ll put together a proper starter setup somewhere along the road after we get other things sorted out. Care to share any pics of any of your blacksmithing projects?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top