Share something you wish you would have known

[Gnarcade]

I'm a noob... and I love it. 

Its not always easy being inexperienced, but this board has proven uniquely welcoming and helpful to those of us who are in the beginning stages of learning. This is particularly great given how much experience many of you are bringing to the table. If you experienced folk are willing, I thought it might be cool to create a thread dedicated to the following question:

"What is one thing that you wish you would have known when you were getting started building pedals?"

Thanks for anything you all are willing to share!

[jkokura]

That it's better to spend the money and get the right tool the first time, rather than botch the job and then end up wasting time and money using inferior tools.

Jacob

[zombie_rock123]

I wish I woulda understood sooner that I learn more if it doesn't work first time and I've got to debug it; to not to be a little bitch and quit too soon. A circuit firing up first time is great but if I hadn't have screwed up as much as I have and needed to learn, I'd know precisely dick at this point.

[EBK]

That a drilling template made by someone else may not be the optimal way of placing components. 

When I was somewhat new, I built a tube screamer clone that had a mod requiring an extra toggle switch.  The instructions I was following said that it would be impossible to install the toggle switch on the face of the enclosure with the other controls because there was not enough room.  I blindly accepted that and mounted the toggle on the side of the enclosure.  After gaining more experience, I realized that it would have been, in fact, simple to adjust the drilling template to accommodate the toggle without overcrowding anything.  The pedal sounded good, but it is nonetheless on my to-be-rebuilt heap to reposition the controls.

[gordo]

Sometimes it's the silly little tricks like using Blu-tac to hold parts in place that can make a ton of difference.

[davent]

There are no stupid questions.
dave

[culturejam]

That it's better to spend the money and get the right tool the first time, rather than botch the job and then end up wasting time and money using inferior tools.

Amen.

"Buy right and cry once."

[jimilee]

When you get frustrated, put it down for a day instead of eventually melting it down.


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[EBK]

Step drill bit

[oip]

the hard part about actually building pedals is the enclosures and offboard wiring.

bonus: laser printed clear waterslide decal with clear coat is the easiest way to get crisp looking enclosures.

[matmosphere]

Step drill bit

This ^

I always read good things but resisted for ever.

Harbor Frieght has one for five bucks that has held up to my past ~20 builds.

[culturejam]

I always read good things but resisted for ever.

Harbor Frieght has one for five bucks that has held up to my past ~20 builds.

The HF ones (and also those you get at auto parts places) aren't bad. But the Irwin Unibit (not cheap) lasted me more than 100 pedals, and then I just filed the edges a bit and got another 20-ish pedals before it wore out. I bought another one and still have it.

[somnif]

The HF ones (and also those you get at auto parts places) aren't bad. But the Irwin Unibit (not cheap) lasted me more than 100 pedals, and then I just filed the edges a bit and got another 20-ish pedals before it wore out. I bought another one and still have it.

To badly quote Adam Savage of Mythbusters fame: When starting out, buy cheap tools. If you use it often enough for it to wear out, go and buy the best quality one you can afford, because that is something you will actually get use out of.

(Obviously don't buy something so cheap that its dangerous, but don't go and buy a Snap-On Drill Press when you aren't sure if you're going to make more than 1 or 2 pedals.)

[davent]

Cheap tools can function really poorly turning an easy task into something arduous and frustrating discouraging someone new to an activity from carrying.

dave

[mjg]

- Pedal 9v connectors are centre negative, unlike most other appliances.  (I had to resolder the connectors on my first 5 or so pedals once I found that out)

- cheap transistors on eBay that are 100x the price elsewhere are probably fake. 

- plastic enclosures not so good for stomping on.