Where are you at in your pedal building journey?

I was never a very prolific builder but things have slowed down even more in the last couple years. I think I’m averaging one build every 12-18 months. I have been spending most of my time playing guitar (even going to lessons!) and composing.

With that and work getting busier and busier in the last 2 years, I haven’t dedicated much attention to building. I still buy PCBs from time to time with the assumption that I’ll get to them “at some point”, but the iron remains cold most days.

I’m probably going through a midlife crisis, but I would love to abandon my current career (as software engineer) and make a hard turn into music. How, you ask? I wish I knew! I’ll let you know if I find out.
 
giovanni said:
I was never a very prolific builder but things have slowed down even more in the last couple years. I think I’m averaging one build every 12-18 months. I have been spending most of my time playing guitar (even going to lessons!) and composing.

With that and work getting busier and busier in the last 2 years, I haven’t dedicated much attention to building. I still buy PCBs from time to time with the assumption that I’ll get to them “at some point”, but the iron remains cold most days.

I’m probably going through a midlife crisis, but I would love to abandon my current career (as software engineer) and make a hard turn into music. How, you ask? I wish I knew! I’ll let you know if I find out.
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What's the difference between a musician and a large pizza pie?....

The pizza pie can feed a family of four!
 
Guardians of the analog said:
For the past 8 or 9 years since I got back into repairing/building gear, I have been ever expanding my knowledge, components and gear collection. I've built partscasters, amps and countless pedals of all types. Modded lots of stuff and saved some cool gear. But more than ever I feel like the sun is setting on my iron and my days are coming to an end of melting solder.

So it got me thinking, where are you guys in your building journey? Just getting started? Reaching the plateau? Are you at the end like me? What's got you there? Here are my reasons: I feel like I'm out of things to build, rising costs, and since I found my ideal rig I realized that most of the things I liked or wanted are not in my wheelhouse. I think burnout is also a large factor and playing is more therapeutic than building right now. I'm also extremely OCD and it has made the past year or so of building feel more like a chore.

I noticed that I see lots of boards and components in the mailbox thread but a real slowdown of build reports. It got me wondering if people are building less, sharing less, or both. Maybe some interesting new modulation and delay pedals or some clean build reports would help me get motivated again.
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I haven't bought anything in a few months (DIY or otherwise for any of my hobbies) and I like the way it feels. None of you are allowed to stop spending or this whole thing falls apart ... so consume, irresponsibly, and to the detriment of your relationships.

I still have projects to finish up just like I have books to read, games to play, etc. and having a few hobbies has felt better than having one and definitely better than when I was trying to make my hobby pay for itself, become a business, or was just too consuming of my time.
 
I built maybe a dozen in 2011, really liked the process, stopped because of grad school and started again in 2022.

I go through obsessive phases. I'm pretty happy with my pedal boards right now, so that's definitely hurting my motivation to get at my backlog. I had been trying point to point last summer and it went badly. I had breadboarded to confirm my circuit, drew my layout and totally blew it when I put everything together. I spent a few hours troubleshooting but my careful planning had turned into a ratsnest of wiring, so that killed motivation. Never really got it back. Moved on to building guitars but that stalled out when it got really cold. Then I recorded drums for some music I was putting together. Now I have to learn to do and record vocals? I'd rather ride bikes (but now I'm hurt?!). Maybe I'll start building pedals again.
 
I think I've finally hit the bottom of the DK valley and am climbing out. I know what types of circuits I want to keep building, which ones I don't think I'll ever revisit without adequate compensation, and which ones if someone asked me to build for them will instead get the po po called and restraining orders issued. I've learned a lot but there's more to learn every day. The most important thing I've learned is that this makes me happy. That is not a joke. It's not even one of my bad jokes.
 
jessenator said:
I think I've finally hit the bottom of the DK valley and am climbing out. I know what types of circuits I want to keep building, which ones I don't think I'll ever revisit without adequate compensation, and which ones if someone asked me to build for them will instead get the po po called and restraining orders issued. I've learned a lot but there's more to learn every day. The most important thing I've learned is that this makes me happy. That is not a joke. It's not even one of my bad jokes.
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I tend to think along those same lines. Except the restraining order bit. Instead, I'd just apply a rather price for the more complicated stuff.

The complicated stuff . . . .
x4 very modified EHX Small Clone circuits, x2 FV-1 PPCB Pythagoras platform Shimmer Verbs, AC/DC converter, custom DC/DC dual rail converter, and x2 custom low impedance line drivers.
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The easier stuff . . . .

GBSF_2-Knob_Black_Done.jpg GBSF_2-Knob_Black_Gutshot.jpg FFFB_02_Grp_02_Done.jpg FFFB_02_Front_Group_Shot.png
 
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jessenator said:
I think I've finally hit the bottom of the DK valley and am climbing out. I know what types of circuits I want to keep building, which ones I don't think I'll ever revisit without adequate compensation, and which ones if someone asked me to build for them will instead get the po po called and restraining orders issued. I've learned a lot but there's more to learn every day. The most important thing I've learned is that this makes me happy. That is not a joke. It's not even one of my bad jokes.
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So what circuits do it for you, and which ones don't? A big realization for me was letting go of what I wanted to like or what I thought I did and accepting I liked what I started with and came full circle.
 
I'm about 5-6 years in, starting not knowing anything at all, and hadn't really ever soldered anything. I was building a lot the first couple of years, much of that during COVID. Then I slacked off and started playing the pedals I had built, then I have kept up a steady pace of about 10 per year. Also sometimes life gets in the way and there is no time for building.

Mostly I do it because it's enjoyable (most of the time;) ) and because I get to try out a bunch more pedals than I can afford to buy.

I'm really a "paint by numbers" builder but over the years I have learned a fair bit on this board via troubleshooting threads and general lurking. I am occasionally able to answer new builder questions even! I started simple but have had many successful more complicated builds that in the beginning I wouldn't even dream of attempting.
 
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Guardians of the analog said:
So what circuits do it for you, and which ones don't?
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At this moment, I've been digging back into some of the less-talked-about drives and drivestortion circuits, regardless of the 'mother' circuit. A big part is not going as HAM as I did when I got back into this; I have to try it, wear it out even, let it alone, and if it's still good down the line then it stays. Lots of spaghetti not sticking to the wall, but a few noodles here and there have turned out to be fun. If I like it, and my three or four trusted eared friends like them, I'll make more.

Overall, it's about fun. Modulation circuits are not fun ☠️ to each their own.
 
I get more satisfaction out of repairing pedals and amps than i do building anything anymore. I still havent built an amp yet but have a hard time justifying the cost for it as well.

I do currently have a bassman 50 with a low output I need to figure out, its not a severely low output but it’s not right. Should be fun to hunt down.
 
I started building last year. Almost exactly a year ago, starting with a Mas Effects fuzz and then two Aion kits. Then I found PPCB and it snowballed to 150-200 pedals (probably 2/3 not yet in enclosures but tested on an Auditorium).

I've transitioned mostly to doing my own KiCAD layouts and occasionally other pedals, but I'm going much slower, maybe a build or two a month. The tariff situation bumped orders above my "why not?" threshold. And maybe more than others, I went from zero pedal knowledge at the start of last year, to having a big catalog of sounds I can play with. Another big blocker for me is that getting enclosure artwork to my satisfaction takes much longer than populating a board, and even takes longer than doing a typical PCB layout. So I'm stacking up builds that are kinda a pain to play since they're just circuitboards sitting in a box... but I have something in mind to solve that for my next PCB order!

All that I suppose sounds like a bummer but I'm playing more guitar than ever, which is the whole point of all this for me.
 
Guardians of the analog said:
When I started slowing down last year, it was to figure out my rig because I wasn't totally happy with it. In the process I fell in love with playing and recording again. I realized I preferred hanging out here versus at my bench.View attachment 96416
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Ditto. Just about a month or two ago I finally narrowed it down to the 31 (!) of my builds that I liked the best, hooked them up to three RJM Mini Effects Gizmo Xs and an RJM MIDI Controller and tucked them all away in a purpose-built stand to clear up some floor space, and then run them to my 1968 Fender DR and Blues Jr, split (naturally) with a PedalPCB Passive ABY. (That Mission expression pedal shell used to hold a Tearjerker but now it holds my version of your McCoy wah).

Other than a Tommy v3 that I need to get around to finishing, not much else on my horizon because I’m pretty happy with my set up and I’m not even rushing that build because i already have three or four other transparent overdrives on my board.

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Over the past couple years I've been building circuits so I can learn what's out there. Play the field and see what I like. I was surprised how much I liked the Boss Flanger after turning down the resonance.

Recently I built a Resinite OD, which is the sound I've always been hearing in my head. Now that I've achieved that, I'm less excited about overdrive pedals, but I am interested in other circuits like that one.

I've been selling pedals on the side, mostly stuff I made but I've learned is not for me. I've learned a lot about production and quality control, and I'd like to do batches in some quantity. I'd also like to have custom PCB's made to make it easier to do non standard layouts.

I'd like to get into circuit design but the learning curve is insane. I'm not interested in taking general EE courses but I do like to know the theory behind things. I can probably trial and error my way into a good sounding original circuit but it's not the same.

One thing I like is custom builds. I like working with people who ask for weird stuff. I'm trying to build up my "weird" catalogue so I can offer inspiration to potential customers.

I'm definitely excited to move on from the "learning about different circuits/sounds" phase and more into the "smoothening production issues and fasttracking builds" phase.
 
This thread was really me coming to terms with the fact that building pedals is pretty much over for me. I have built and explored all the hobby has to offer for me and that's ok. Is that to say I'll never build something again? No, not at all. I think I was hoping I would find something that would make me feel different about it, but in the end I was really seeking validation on my feelings, and this thread did not disappoint 🤣
 
Hey it’s ok. Do whatever brings you the most joy in the time you have.

I mostly build some pedals when I need them but don’t really feel the urge to modify or customize much. So they are mostly just kits for me. Got a few on the way but they are just fillers until I find a nice piece of wood to build a guitar out of (my main diy occupation) or feel the urge to build another amp.
 
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