Padawans!!

[Leevibe]

My friend Bret (aka "Echobret") asked me a while back if I'd be willing to put on a maker clinic at his coffee/donut shop teaching pedal building basics. I thought that sounded like fun, so I put together a simple LPB1 project and walked a few interested souls through the process of building it.

As it turned out, Jon (aka "stomptown") was able to show up and get involved too. I think I speak for both of us in saying it was a blast. Neither of us feel like we've arrived when it comes to electronics knowledge, but it was really satisfying to teach some beginners the basics according to what we know. It was kind of "everything I wish someone would have shown me when I was starting out" kind of a thing. It was a lot of prep work on my part in doing a simple PCB layout (should have had Jon handle that. He is an Eagle layout rockstar), putting parts kits together, drilling cases etc. But it was all worth it and I hope we're able to do something like this again.

We taught the basics of reading schematics and how they relate to the physical parts & PCBs, using layout diagrams, how to solder, how 3PDT switches work and why we wire them the way we do, parts sourcing advice, test rigs, etc. and then we kind of shared some of our methods for doing stuff. We also gave them a handout with a bunch of links. Of course MB was at the top of the list. I'm hoping we'll see these guys introducing themselves here soon.

The project was super dumbed down in an effort to guarantee success. It worked! Everyone's builds fired right up and you won't believe the gut shots are all from noobs.

I highly recommend doing something like this if you ever get the chance. It was really, really fun.



Here are our Padawan learners. Notice Jon's pedalboard in the background. It's like an art gallery    That's also his test rig sitting on the "bench"





Here are all three beginners' gut shots. I don't know why I didn't have the presence of mind to take any exterior shots. They are plain white with an LED, stomp, and knob. I'm super proud of these guys and super thankful for Jon's partnering with me in making this happen. And Thanks Bret for coming up with the idea, purchasing all the parts, and allowing us to use your rad coffee/donut/record/music gear shop as a venue.

[billstein]

How cool is this! Well done.

[playpunk]

Awesome! My salvaged first build looks so much worse than this it isn't funny. Also I would have killed to have someone show me how to do some stuff when I started


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[PigeonFX]

Very cool!

If you plan on doing any more of these, shoot me an email and I will donate a few pedal kits!

[jubal81]

That's outstanding. Good on you guys!

[pickdropper]

That's really great!

Obviously, you guys gave them some good pointers.  That's very neat work for start builds.

[cooder]

Very very neat! Whhat a blast I'm sure!

[Luke51411]

Wow that is so cool. What a great idea. I want to look into doing something like this locally now.

[billstein]

Must have been thrilling to see their reaction when they fired up.

[pryde]

Awesome stuff fellas.

I put on a 1-day pedal workshops also (have done 4 so far) teaching 3 newbies at a time. They get to build a either a boost, simple OD, or silicon fuzz and we cover pretty much the same stuff you guys did.

I also offer ongoing support to those who continue to build on their own after the workshop. Very satisfying. I tell you it knocks a solid year of the learning curve if not more for new folks.

[TGP39]

I am so proud to be a part of this community. This is way better than any build report I've ever seen. You guys are truly inspirational and after seeing those gut shots, I'm a little peeved I wasn't there learning as well.   Great stuff.

Steve.

[lincolnic]

Man, those guts are all better than most of my builds now. Nice work, all of you!

[Stomptown]

This was definitely an awesome experience and I give Lee mad props for all the work he put into it.  He put together an awesome noob power point that explains all the basics and more in great detail.  It was really cool to see these guys understand how a 3pdt works on day 1!  It only took me 2 years to bother to figure it out!  I'm really hoping he will make that presentation available in the beginners paradise forum (poke. Prod.). Likewise, Brett was a great host and very generously keeping our Tummies full of sandwiches, doughnuts and beer! 

Seriously though, if anyone else has the opportunity do do something like this I woukd definitely recommend it!

[GrindCustoms]

Congrats to both of you guys! I can imagine the work it was to put this together, looks like it was done very well by seeing the builts resulting of that clinic.

I bow in respect to you guys!   

Rej

[Guitarmageddon]

That's very neat work for start builds.

Absolutely! What a great thing to do.