Considering giving up on the DIY pedal hobby...

[stringsthings]

I have other hobbies - I like to build plastic models ... and of course I play guitar ...  With the baby and work, there are also other things I need to take care of first.

Maybe I'll take the next step and learn how to breadboard so I can take all the best bits of my favourite drives and see if I can finally get what I'm looking for.

Very cool.

[p_wats]

I can definitely sympathize and have taken many breaks myself. I have a local shop that always wants more of these little Bazz Fuss variants I make with our band logo on them, but don't find it very fun to build the same thing over and over.

I also hit the wall with regards to a backlog of half finished projects. If it helps, I actually started making lists and promising I wouldn't build anything new until I'd finished something old (this hasn't always worked out, but enough to keep me in check).

These days I've been pretty jazzed by the FV-1 projects, but am mostly trying to build only the things we need for whatever musical project we're working on.

[playpunk]

I'm not building near as much as I used to, but I still have my junk and build a pedal every few months.

I've thought about moving on from the hobby completely, but don't need to and like having the ability to bodge together some stuff.

[flanagan0718]

I have thought of throwing in the towel from time to time. Honestly, I didn't start building thinking it would be lucrative at all. It has been to some extent, it basically funds its self and allows me to buy vinyl without draining my bank account. I do enjoy building. I, like lots of others on here, am a father / husband / home owner and the past few months (almost year now) have been pretty consuming time wise. I don't find a whole lot of spare time to get in the shop, even when I try to schedule it. I've learned to take on less requests. But things will change at some point...i think!
-Mike-

[peAk]

Yeah, building pedals gets boring. I think for a while that dopomine that gets released every time your build fires up will keep you going for a while but eventually it's not enough.

You start off with a fuzz, maybe a phaser, eventually an analog delay, if you are really ambitious you do a synth.....

One day you stand around looking at all your pedals, finished and unfinished, all your inventory, and you say to yourself "WTF"

That said, all hobbies can get boring.

[drog_trog]

How ive always gone about my builds is by building 2 of a certain pedal then selling 1 of them which pays for the other. It gets expensive if you go for so called 'mojo' parts and pedals with lots of ic's. I got started in this hobby wanting to build those pedals not currently in production. So you may end up with 50 distortions, 100 overdrives, 20 delays or 30 chorus but it enables you to cherry pick from all these great circuits out there and have the ones that work for YOU. I too have my days where i think i will give up, if i were to choose to then i would still store all my gear as its taken a while to accumulate it and to decide  to sell all in a snap decision wouldn't be an option. 

[Muadzin]

I moved on to digital, Axe-FX. When I was still using an analog board I could justify to myself that out of the 4 to 6 pedals a month that I was building something might make it on my board. Now the Axe-FX covers all my needs, so nothing I build will get any use, so why build any pedals?

So now I build guitars instead. Cause the madness never ends, it just changes its face.

[playpunk]

I moved on to digital, Axe-FX. When I was still using an analog board I could justify to myself that out of the 4 to 6 pedals a month that I was building something might make it on my board. Now the Axe-FX covers all my needs, so nothing I build will get any use, so why build any pedals?

So now I build guitars instead. Cause the madness never ends, it just changes its face.

I'm moving on to DIY IEM's. If someone smarter than me here made little and boards with 3, 4 and 5 way crossovers for the knowles drivers the head fi crowd would love it

[TFZ]

Yeah, building pedals gets boring. I think for a while that dopomine that gets released every time your build fires up will keep you going for a while but eventually it's not enough.

You start off with a fuzz, maybe a phaser, eventually an analog delay, if you are really ambitious you do a synth.....

One day you stand around looking at all your pedals, finished and unfinished, all your inventory, and you say to yourself "WTF"

That said, all hobbies can get boring.

How much enjoyment you take out of an activity is up to you. The activity hasn't changed, you do. So you either make the conscious effort to continually find joy, or don't. Also, effects are just a small part of the big electronics world. If you're stuck with effects, look at other things. Guitar amps, studio equipment, digital stuff (microcontroller, Raspberry Pi, ...). Build an awesome steampunk nixie clock, Tesla coil, whatever. Learn about integrated circuits, start rolling your own tubes. I simply can't see how electronics would ever bore me. I love designing circuits, boards, soldering and building. The continuous learning keeps me engaged, the ideas and projects get more and more, not less.

[stringsthings]

How much enjoyment you take out of an activity is up to you.

I could not agree more.

[Muadzin]

I'm moving on to DIY IEM's. If someone smarter than me here made little and boards with 3, 4 and 5 way crossovers for the knowles drivers the head fi crowd would love it

Could you post some pictures of what you've built?

[playpunk]

I'm moving on to DIY IEM's. If someone smarter than me here made little and boards with 3, 4 and 5 way crossovers for the knowles drivers the head fi crowd would love it

Could you post some pictures of what you've built?

Not yet - I'm still waiting on some stuff from China. Soon though!

[pickdropper]

I moved on to digital, Axe-FX. When I was still using an analog board I could justify to myself that out of the 4 to 6 pedals a month that I was building something might make it on my board. Now the Axe-FX covers all my needs, so nothing I build will get any use, so why build any pedals?

So now I build guitars instead. Cause the madness never ends, it just changes its face.

I'm moving on to DIY IEM's. If someone smarter than me here made little and boards with 3, 4 and 5 way crossovers for the knowles drivers the head fi crowd would love it

That's very cool.  I'd like to see what you make.

IEM design is what I do for my day job, so it's fun to see the growth of the DIY community.

[madbean]

Cliff, you always have a home here and you are important to the mbp community. That said, I totally understand burnout, flagging interest and the need to step away sometimes. I say never give up on anything you care about. But, take the time you need for your own sense of balance.

And now, a quote from perhaps the best treatise on life I've read:

"Do you have the patience to wait until your mud settles and the water is clear?"
― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

[playpunk]

I moved on to digital, Axe-FX. When I was still using an analog board I could justify to myself that out of the 4 to 6 pedals a month that I was building something might make it on my board. Now the Axe-FX covers all my needs, so nothing I build will get any use, so why build any pedals?

So now I build guitars instead. Cause the madness never ends, it just changes its face.

I'm moving on to DIY IEM's. If someone smarter than me here made little and boards with 3, 4 and 5 way crossovers for the knowles drivers the head fi crowd would love it

That's very cool.  I'd like to see what you make.

IEM design is what I do for my day job, so it's fun to see the growth of the DIY community.

I am building a set with the pre-fab Knowles GK (triple driver). I bought Krystalcalloid from Lightning enterprises, along with Fotoplast UV Resin and Dreve UV Lacquer. MMCX connectors. I ended up getting good impressions from the Westone single use impression material.

I had a fun time taking my impressions the other day - the foam dam got mashed on one side of my ear canal and the impression went a little deep. I thought my brain was going to come out when I started pulling it out. Luckily it didn't quite get to my ear drum!

I might try to do an in depth write up when I'm done. There is an enormous 900+ thread on head-fi but it's really disorganized.