‘Bespoke’ Pedals

As fetish objects go, guitar pedals are relatively inexpensive. I tend to buy used gear. I thought that making my own pedals would lower costs even further but not really. Unless buying in bulk, high quality capacitors and resistors really add up, no to mention the labor to design the enclosure and assemble. Still, it’s great fun and not bank-breaking, which are reasonable measures of any hobby. And you can save a lot of money over buying rare effect units or those with a long waiting list, like the King of Tone from Analogman.

I started by making a few kits from Aion Effects. They offer a wide range of kits that are clones of classic circuits that have been meticulously traced. The kits are really well thought out, and the directions are clear and confidence building. Some circuits can have as many as 30 resistors, 20 capacitors, 4 IC chips, plus diodes, transistors, LEDs, potentiometers; having a clear roadmap at the onset really simplifies the process. Plus the kits come with a clearly printed PCB and an enclosure that’s already painted, bored, and ready for assembly.

Aion also offers stand-alone PCBs for an even greater range of effects. These PCBs all have downloadable build documents that include a part list, enclosure drill template, and project notes. What’s more, Aion has also complied a Google Docs spreadsheet of parts for each pedal. The part lists are keyed to Mouser Electronic’s parts inventory, that way it’s easy to upload or copy & paste the spreadsheet (with a little modification) directly into a shopping cart with thier BoM Tool (Bill of Materials).

I’ve never encountered an inventory system as impressive as Mouser. If a part isn’t available, you can search for replacements and apply similar filters to the results directly from the shopping cart. This is great for electronic illiterates like me, since the component selection process can be overwhelming. They even will email you when a component you’ve ordered in the past reaches end of life status.

I copy & paste the Google Docs part list from Aion into Excel, add a quantity column, then convert to a table with headers. I sort the table by the Mouser Part # column so it’s easy to count multiple parts, then add up the count and put that in the quantity column, then sort the table by the Quantity column. Finally I paste the Mouser Part # and Quantity info into the ‘Copy & Paste’ BoM dialogue box at the Mouser website.

Note: the Google Docs part lists from Aion have two tabs, one for Mouser parts and the second one for parts you’ll have to find elsewhere- typically potentiometers, stomp switches, etc. I like Stomp Box Parts for switches, enclosures, pots, and knobs.

Aion, Mouser, and SBP all ship within a few days of ordering. While waiting for the parts to arrive, I’ll design the box graphics, drill out the enclosure, apply the decal, then topcoat with lacquer.

For the enclosure design, I crop the box template from the build doc PDF into Photoshop and make a layer, duplicate it, then delete the background color info to crate an clear alpha channel. I usually delete all excess info from the PDF template first, just leaving the drill template and the enclosure frame. After that it’s a simple matter to add layers for the control labels and get an idea of the space available for logo/graphics. It can be tricky getting something that is still legible when small, and I’m on the cusp with this one but I couldn’t resist. This projects are for personal use, the pedals are one-offs that I’ll never sell, so I didn’t bother licensing images. On this pedal I did convert the original photo to line art (there are many tutorials are available on YouTube so I won’t go into the details here). The screenshot above has some glitchy phantom fonts in the alpha channel from previous layouts, but they don’t show up in the print since there’s no actual information in the alpha channel.

For applying the artwork there are many options. Etching, print transfer, silk-screening, hand-painting, etc. I like Sunnyscopa waterslide decals, which are easy to apply, work well with inkjet, and the edges truly vanish with a good top coat of lacquer. I’ve tried putting the decal on first before boring the enclosure, but it can be done afterwards, just be sure to punch the template holes in the decal before applying if you decide put the decal on after boring. I think doing the decal afterwards makes a little more sense, there is no chance of hot aluminum shavings scarring the finish, or getting them wedged under the decal.

Assembling the parts is straightforward. I recommend downloading one of the kit build PDFs from Aion if you start with a PCB-only project, the Aion kit builds have a really good breakdown on the order of installation, along with other tips to make things easier. (The PCB project docs are great too, more streamlined, but they do provide background on part substitutions and DIP and other internal settings.)

My soldering skills are meager at best, but even so assembly is more than manageable. Just time-consuming. A standing desk or a bench that lets you work in the upper torso range is helpful, and fume extraction is a must. Some useful tools other than basic soldering equipment: some sort of Optivisor or high magnifying readers, and a ‘helping hands’ part holder. I like to use an aluminum billet to rest the PCB on when soldering many parts at once, it helps to keep the heat from transferring to the components.

As mentioned, QC from the suppliers mentioned has been very good. No issues with any of the 5 pedals I’ve assembled so far (2 kits and 3 PCB projects). I haven’t tried ordering components from Tayda yet, but I’ve read that their QC can be touch and go.

The hardest part of the assembly is dealing with all the packaging and handling small parts themselves, making sure the values go in the correct place and nothing gets thrown away. I like to test each resistor before installing it on the board- this is not really needed with high quality parts, but I’m borderline dyslexic and this step it helps me to verify that each part matches the silkscreen on the PCB and the PDF as well.

Here are a few more-