This has been on my mind for a while now. I don't mean this to be dramatic or anything. I just figured I'd share my thoughts after doing this for about 7 to 8 years or so building effects for myself and occasionally for others.
I started this for two reasons. First was for fun. Because it's fun and rewarding to build something yourself. I also did it figuring I'd save some money and could possibly make some if I developed enough skill. This second reason quickly travelled itself to be impossible. You definitely don't save much money building for yourself, and if you factor in the cost of your time and the requirements for space, part inventory, etc. it quickly becomes clear it's not going to be worth it for the cash savings. And I could share stories about the sad state of trying to sell these things but I'm sure you've all heard them before and likely experience them first hand as well.
So, more recently, I've grown up a bit, got engaged, moved further in my career, got a few dogs (3), working to finish my dissertation, trying to keep up with health and fitness, etc. And I've found there's little "free" time left after all of the necessities. I'd like to spend that free time doing something I enjoy but I feel and I do enjoy building, but my time spent on building means a sacrifice of time playing guitar and learning to be a better musician. But the backlog of partial builds keeps calling me back... so I am giving serious thought to calling it quits... after I clear out a few large projects that are unobtainable pedals (PLL, some interesting fuzzes, etc.). I'm sure I'll miss it but with the low cost of gear and the huge range of stuff out there, I'm thinking I'll come out financially ahead and with more available time for other pursuits if I give it up.
Anyway, that's where I'm at. Thanks for letting me share madbeaners.
There's also a middle ground where you do the occasional project, but don't make it a major focus of your life. I am pretty sure that all of us that have been building for a while have hit at least one stage of burnout (and maybe more). A hobby that becomes stressful or feels like an obligation usually isn't worth doing. The point (for me at least) is to get away from stress when I'm soldering.
So, do what you have to do to make your life as happy as relaxing as possible. Whether that means walking away permanently or just stepping away until you get the itch to build again. If you decide to dig back in, we'll be here when you get back.
I guess to clarify ^ this is more what I'm considering. Giving up except for very specific cases where something isn't easily obtainable or available. And then, just purchase the parts for that one project, complete it in a relatively short amount of time and don't accumulate other projects or inventory in the process.
This years PIF season will most likely be filled with all kinds of parts from me...
So, I'm in the first year of working on my Bachelors, I work, I'm a father, I'm learning to play guitar and occasionally, just occasionally, I come across something I want to build. I don't use any of the build anymore, mostly logic on my laptop. I just don't have time to build BUT it won't always be this way. I'm not tired of it, and I sure don't have time for it...right now. I do it for it's therapeutic aspect, not interested in making money. Built a couple of pedals with my daughter because she wanted to. I will build again some day, but not right now.
Just a thought.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
yeah, I don't really build much anymore, staying really busy wth my pickup winding and building the occasional amp. I keep collecting parts and build some things here and there, and lately the diablo_chris stuff has totally gotten my attention, but for the most part I am shelving my pedal builds until my kids get bigger and I have more free time. I'd call it a season of not building, not "giving up" the hobby altogether. If pedal parts took up a ton of space maybe I'd view it more in those terms, but because I use the same workspace to build pedals as I do to wind pickups and do guitar repairs and setups I guess I have no real need to clear it out and restart when I have more time in the future.
The whole landscape is radically different than it was 8 years ago and it's changed the calculus. Order of magnitude more options and much lower prices. EH itself is selling the famous Muff variants and you pick them up for about the cost of building one.
Plus, most of the players I run into are where Jimi's at. "Yeah, anymore I just plug into the laptop ..." Easy, cheap, kid friendly and gives a satisfying sound, especially if distortion & delay is your default.
Speaking of which, anyone have recommendation for MacBook app?
We'll be here for you with open arms if/when you decide to build more. I have more pedals than I know what to do with (especially since my rig for a long time was a sole Boss DS-1), but I enjoy the practice of building/creating and finding ways to incorporate my kids by using their artwork or letting them use a screwdriver. Allow for a time for dry spells and find ways to evolve your hobby to make it more inclusive for people you want to spend time with. That's my two cents.
Same thing here. I've come off a few years of binge building and at some point you have to think you're just repeating yourself. Plus I'm old as dirt and am facing a big downsizing effort spearheaded by my wife and after years of pushing back I have to admit that she's right.
That said, I like the therapeutic aspect of being alone with my thoughts while I build and I really enjoy the time. I can easily scale back. And of course every time Bean comes out with a board I pounce on it, so old habits die hard. I wasn't planning on a Wavelord but then again it hasn't been released yet :-)
I hear you man. I've built almost nothing over the last few years, but when I get my teeth into a new project it energises me... So long as I can follow it through to completion. After reality life has been quite out of balance since starting my new job and study... I made the conscious decision to buy a blackface amp kit to build. Financially I could drop the same money on a used version of the original, but it's not the same. Building guitar stuff is a journey, and I'm happier when Ive got a project on the go.
Quote from: jubal81 on November 04, 2018, 01:11:00 PM
Speaking of which, anyone have recommendation for MacBook app?
I use logic, it just sounds cleaner than garage band. I bought it on eBay for around 35.00 downside is, you can't update it, upside is, I'm only recording, and playing at home for kicks, so it doesn't bother me too much.
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Out of pretty much boredom, not necessity, I went back to work in February. Building pedals kept life interesting and productive for the last 4 years. Ive got a box full of boards in various stages that I go out a couple of times a week and work on. After working as an adult babysitter (I'm a construction manager for a new home builder) for 9-10 hrs just going out and soldering a couple of parts just relieves a lot of the days frustrations. I've got two of the pedals I've built on my board (a Pale Horse and a Bolviator) so I too have gone the commercial route for the most part. But I still get a huge sense of satisfaction when I get one of these things to work. I still scan the board daily just to see the interesting stuff going on. Pickdropper's builds and enclosure finishing still just amazes the heck out of me.
Gordo my wife just shakes her head when she goes back and looks at the mass of pedals I've built so I know exactly where you're coming from.
And Cliff after having that DD-500 you sold me for a year it is on my board now. Echo delightful.
^glaf it's treating you well. I'm using an MS3 and awaiting a Skreddy echo. Those two will have me covered for sure.
I think my main problem is allowing too many projects to build up. The back of my mind pull to make progress and finish them is quite distracting. I don't like leaving things unfinished. Once I'm through the handful of unobtanium partial builds I have going I'll probably quit for a bit and focus on playing. I will probably also get rid of much of my parts inventory as well to clear my mind and squash the temptation to accumulate more projects. Then I'll just keep an eye on things and get one project at a time when something comes out that piques my interest and is not readily available.
Oh and if I could build like some of you guys who make beautiful pedals inside and out (pretty much everyone but me here at this point) I may give even more time to the hobby it than I do. As it stands I can't bring myself to do anything but plain enclosures... graphic design, etching, etc. are fortunately beyond my capabilities and limited attention.
Quote from: cajone5 on November 04, 2018, 06:26:52 PM
... I think my main problem is allowing too many projects to build up ...
solution: 1) stop posting on the forum
2) get your ducks in a row
3) finish a project
4) go back to step #2
Quote from: cajone5 on November 04, 2018, 06:26:52 PM
As it stands I can't bring myself to do anything but plain enclosures... graphic design, etching, etc. are fortunately beyond my capabilities and limited attention.
I'm with you on this!
As to the OP -- I'd say put your DIY gear in a box in the shed for now, and come back to it in a few months. It could, as others are saying, just be burnout. A big question is where do you get the joy from? Is it in the soldering, or the actual playing, or both?
This is something I think about occasionally.
I'm certainly on a dry patch at the moment. I tend to populate a lot of things and then do the boxes all together and that's why you'll see a run of 4 or five from me every so often. Right now, I've pretty much built everything I need, and I'm more along the lines of revisiting past builds and doing them better. My "Stealth" multi effect is going to be redone into a DD, as is my "Random Stranger", probably using more pcbs, better (straight) drilling, better artwork, just better all round.
But what am I really looking to do? I dunno. There's around 35 pedals in this house currently (and a fair few out on loan), and some stupid number of pcbs and veros in various states of completion. I've got more MIABs that I know what do do with, and while they all sound pretty good I'm still not massively content with the sound of any of them. It's damn near impossible to sell DIY pedals, as someone else has noted.
I have other hobbies - I like to build plastic models (but even that has it's own levels of self imposed standards that are taking some of the fun out of it), and of course I play guitar. Just not enough of it. 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.
Quote from: Willybomb on November 05, 2018, 12:51:27 AM
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.
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.
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.
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-
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 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.
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. ;)
Quote from: Muadzin on November 06, 2018, 04:08:14 PM
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
Quote from: peAk on November 05, 2018, 05:59:51 PM
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.
Quote from: TFZ on November 08, 2018, 06:50:05 PM
How much enjoyment you take out of an activity is up to you.
I could not agree more.
Quote from: playpunk on November 06, 2018, 05:07:16 PM
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?
Quote from: Muadzin on November 09, 2018, 08:57:52 AM
Quote from: playpunk on November 06, 2018, 05:07:16 PM
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!
Quote from: playpunk on November 06, 2018, 05:07:16 PM
Quote from: Muadzin on November 06, 2018, 04:08:14 PM
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.
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
Quote from: pickdropper on November 09, 2018, 12:06:39 PM
Quote from: playpunk on November 06, 2018, 05:07:16 PM
Quote from: Muadzin on November 06, 2018, 04:08:14 PM
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.
Quote from: TFZ on November 08, 2018, 06:50:05 PM
Quote from: peAk on November 05, 2018, 05:59:51 PM
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.
This actually reminds me a bit of a concept I teach in one of my college classes: the autotelic mindset. According to psychologist Mihaly Csikszenmihalyi, the feeling of enjoyment - the entering of "flow" that attends something like playing a video game, getting deep with art, or building electronics - requires a balance between feeling just challenged enough to feel neither defeated (e.g. the failure bin, which has warned me off building for months in the past) nor bored (e.g yet another fuzz, yet another Muff variant, yet another PT2399, etc.). He calls the innate ability to find that place in any activity the "autotelic mindset."
So: let's imagine you're building OD #1000 because, hey, it's Tuesday and you want to feel accomplished. The trick, he would argue, would be to find the game in it: What exactly does that IC do? That resistor? Can I master the Baxandall tone stack today? How would this pedal sound at 12v? Or, even more basic: what constitutes a "perfect" build, and how can I get there as cheaply as possible? These are the little challenges that, if treated as goals that require thoughtful engagement, can make the hobby still worthwhile. I'm currently having a moment with PSUs on my end, and I've ended up buying and reading books to get a better handle on them. As long as you remember to be playful and not slavish, you can likely still get mileage out of pedal building. (Or something else! Electronics is a pretty vast landscape.)
Quote from: vizcities on November 09, 2018, 06:58:40 PM
Quote from: TFZ on November 08, 2018, 06:50:05 PM
Quote from: peAk on November 05, 2018, 05:59:51 PM
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.
This actually reminds me a bit of a concept I teach in one of my college classes: the autotelic mindset. According to psychologist Mihaly Csikszenmihalyi, the feeling of enjoyment - the entering of "flow" that attends something like playing a video game, getting deep with art, or building electronics - requires a balance between feeling just challenged enough to feel neither defeated (e.g. the failure bin, which has warned me off building for months in the past) nor bored (e.g yet another fuzz, yet another Muff variant, yet another PT2399, etc.). He calls the innate ability to find that place in any activity the "autotelic mindset."
So: let's imagine you're building OD #1000 because, hey, it's Tuesday and you want to feel accomplished. The trick, he would argue, would be to find the game in it: What exactly does that IC do? That resistor? Can I master the Baxandall tone stack today? How would this pedal sound at 12v? Or, even more basic: what constitutes a "perfect" build, and how can I get there as cheaply as possible? These are the little challenges that, if treated as goals that require thoughtful engagement, can make the hobby still worthwhile. I'm currently having a moment with PSUs on my end, and I've ended up buying and reading books to get a better handle on them. As long as you remember to be playful and not slavish, you can likely still get mileage out of pedal building. (Or something else! Electronics is a pretty vast landscape.)
Well said
Otherwise known as the Zone of Personal Development.
Yea... I don't have a ton of excess energy and time to devote to learning about building and electronics at the moment which is OK. And I can definitely say the experience of "flow" is far away from this hobby at the moment. For example, I'm particularly turned off by offboard wiring which is most of the work ahead of me to finish up what I've been working on. It really takes a lot of work to make it super clean and it's the same rote tasks over and over. Yuck. That's OK though. I'll set those aside for days when I'm just looking to relax and mindlessly kill some time (who knows when that'll be...).
Anyway, on the bright side, I finished another Echo Bender delay today that's been on my half-finished pile for the last year (like the 10th+ one I've built, but this one I'm keeping). It's a super versatile delay/distortion/noisemaker and I highly recommend anyone who is interested in something totally usable but a bit different to check it out. I also built up the Quaverato kit from Zeppelin Design Labs. I have to say that thing is flipping awesome. Highly recommend it. I'm currently kicking myself for not getting the midi add-on. I didn't see it when I originally ordered or I would have built it in. Now that it's done I'm very unlikely to go back and add it. It's a great pedal though.
So progress has been made. And I think I've come to the conclusion that...
-- I should clear out some things I'll be unlikely to use and rid myself of some of my clutter
-- On future projects, I'll purchase what I want, build to completion and avoid stocking up on extra "stuff"
-- Also in the meantime, I'll keep making incremental progress on projects when I have time, but not pressure myself to get through the pile
-- I'll also avoid buying anything else until I finish my pile... I hope
-- Finally, I'm likely going to start keeping what I build... It's just not worth selling this stuff and some day it may inspire something in me that is worth more than the tiny return (if any) that could be produced by selling
Quote from: cajone5 on November 17, 2018, 02:28:23 PM
-- I should clear out some things I'll be unlikely to use and rid myself of some of my clutter
-- Also in the meantime, I'll keep making incremental progress on projects when I have time, but not pressure myself to get through the pile
These 2 points are key for me. No pressure to finish builds and alleviating the clutter (mental included) definitely helps to keep the sense of impending doom at bay a little.
Best of luck.
I started selling off stuff on eBay. The money is OK, getting the stuff out of my sight is even better.