Build Your Own Stompboxes

Is it easy? For most of us, no. Is it cheaper than buying one in local music shop? No, not really. Will it be as good as one made by professionals at least? Most of the times no. Then why do it, you might ask. Well, the most simple answer is that it's incredibly fun; designing the effect, gathering materials, assembling the parts, then finally seeing it actually work. Of course, some pedals are discontinued, and the only way to get one is to spend hundreds of dollars on it on Ebay, so in these cases, you might consider creating one yourself. In this post we'll look at the most basic things you'll need if you decide to build your own effect pedal.

Most of the pedals only need a few tools to be built - you'll need a Solder Station, Solder, a Multimeter, Desolder Braid, Cutters, Pliers, and Wire Strippers. Many homes already have these stuff, but if not, you can order a whole kit at http://www.buildyourownclone.com/tools.html. You should also get a good drill if you want to create custom casings (and it can come handy any time).

First of all, you'll need to take care of the schematics, but you can find these premade at quite a lot of sites, I'll include the links at the end of the post. Then comes the fun part, assembling the circuit, which you'll have to test before moving on to the next part. The most painful (or fun, for some) part is fitting the whole thing into the casing, this can be tricky. You should try to be as careful as you can, the best is to plan the installment beforehand. Throughout the whole process, it is essential to test the pedal every once in a while, so you recognize a faulty wiring for example before you've put it in the casing.

Ordering the parts is much easier nowadays than it was a few years ago, you can order most of these stuff from Ebay or specific DIY effects sites. The reason why this will actually cost you a bit more than buying the complete thing in a store is that it is much cheaper to buy these parts in big numbers, than buying only one or two. Also, because of this, pedal manufacturers can afford top quality parts, while it may not be possible for an average tinkerer. The links below will take you to these shops.

Links:
http://www.diyguitarist.com/
http://www.diystompboxes.com/wpress/
http://www.buildyourownclone.com/
http://www.tonepad.com/projects.asp?projectType=fx
http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/