Day one: Starting my first Build...

Plan: put the Electronics knowledge to use. And occupy my time...I wanted to do something both creative and technical, musical yet calculative. Solution: build and test guitar effect pedals!

After doing some research I decided to go for an 'easier' first build. Many resources recommend a simple silicon fuzz, so a quick search on my new favorite site - Tagboard Effects - and I decided on a clone of the Lovepedal Silicon Fuzzmaster.

I spent a few days falling down the rabbit hole of parts sites, before I remembered that the Ax-Man carries heaps of surplus stuff. And electronics. LOTS AND LOTS of electronics... A couple of afternoon trips and I have almost everything I need! I can get most of the board set up while I wait for the parts I had to order to arrive.

First, we prepare the work area. Bags of parts, stripboard, tools, and the pcb layout.

More tools, and Dew. Hydration and caffeine: vital to building.

First, we need to cut the stripboard down to size. Once cut, I file/scrape the copper traces from the edges so there won't be any shorts.

Some filing, sanding, a couple of expletives....and our boards are cut. I will be building the fuzz circuit on a larger board, and a smaller pieces will be cut down to smaller boards for the switch bypass and LED.

Next, we need to cut traces in the stripboard, per the schematic. I will be adding the links when I start to solder (and when I get the hookup wire I ordered...)

And that's it for the night! Next up, I plan to start wiring and soldering the main board...