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A kit is definitely a good starting point.   One of the biggest hurdles with getting started in this field is sourcing parts.   Having a kit, especially with a pre drilled enclosure takes all of that stuff out of the mix so you can focus on a successful build.  After you've gotten through that, then you'll find that you can be a lot more adventurous.   The AionFX kits are top notch and great places to start.  I did one of those with my teenager that has gotten into guitar.

The Madbean boards are great and the docs are excellent with good info for sourcing the less common stuff.

I get emails every other day that somebody tested positive in either of my high-schoolers classes.   Thankfully they are vaxxed and haven't had any issues.  If they were in elementary still and couldn't get vaxxed, I'd be a lot more concerned.

Wait, instead of focusing on a vaccine, they should have worked on NyQuil for Covid?  The whole point of the vaccine is to reduce the spread so the mutations stop forming, effectively wiping the thing out.  It could have little flare ups that quickly get stomped out but it becomes just a minor annoyance at worst.

The current vaccines as-is are doing a pretty remarkable job with the variants that have developed.  That may not always be the case, but the more people that get vaccinated helps prevent further mutations from gaining any real traction.

Any experts correct me here (and there are a lot on this forum) but I think that's the worry with younger kids is that their immune systems are so on point that the symptoms might be rather severe.  My mom (in her 80's) had just a minor sore arm.  I (in my 60's) had pretty minor reaction for 24 hours.  When I had Covid I had what I'd consider minor symptoms as well.

My 17 year old got his second Pfizer shot in early May and his symptoms were about the same as mine - feeling pretty bleh the next day with a low fever and soreness.   That went away by late afternoon the day after the shot and nothing since then.   My 14 & 15 year olds get their second jab of Pfizer next week but I suspect they will have very similar side effects.

I do have to add that it has been shocking to see how swift it has been to be able to get the jabs here in Florida, with caveats of being in an urban area and having at least basic computer savvy.  In my county, the DoH has a site (using SalesForce of all things on the backend) that keeps it simple and actually works well enough.  I was able to get the in-laws scheduled back in Jan/Feb without any fuss and then myself, the Mrs and my oldest in early April as they lowered the age requirements.  The facility was like walking thru a Disney ride as a celebrity.  We had the shot in under 5 minutes of arrival and then just had to wait the 15 minutes.  I know other areas have lines out the door and it takes hours which is a massive barrier to getting the shot at all.   It's astounding when the local government can have their collective crap together well enough to make the process surprisingly smooth.

Getting flu shots for the kids is usually a much larger hassle than this one has been.

My 17 year old got his second jab of Pfizer today.  Curious to see how he'll be tomorrow.  I was fatigued the day after but not real bad.  Very similar to if I had tied one on the night before.

I got my second Pfizer this week.  Had some chills overnight and a bit of blah feeling the next day.  Tylenol helped keep it at bay and eating a bit more would have helped.  By the day after, I was fine.

A bit pricier than the others but guitarinstructor.com has loads of tabs - the same ones in the books.  They also have videos showing you how to play a number of songs which can be helpful for trickier stuff.   They often do a deal at black a Friday for an annual sub for around $60.

Got Moderna #1 on Wednesday.

Shot 1 today. Very mild soreness in arm but barely noticeable. However, the first couple hours after the shot I definitely felt a bit out of it. Felt fine afterward. I guess it kicks your immune system into high gear for a bit?

Same exact response for me. Arm was sore, and I felt really weird for about 4-5 hours after the shot. Since then, no symptoms or side effects.

Probably it was the micro-chip powering up that made me feel weird. 

Well, it is designed by Bill Gates so it needs a bunch of patches and reboots after it first starts up [emoji1][emoji23]

For my first jab of Pfizer the other day.  Arm was sore like after a flu shot but everything else was fine.   Didn't even notice any blah feelings.   Happy to start getting this closer to over with!

The whole mRNA thing is really interesting.   Seems akin to having a standard pedal base that handles I/O, power filtering and standard tone controls and you just need to fit the actual meat for the effect.  May wind up being a game changer for future vaccine development.   I was reading that they've found some common protein(s) for different strains of the flu so if they could make a vax that targeted that, it could largely work on most/all strains.  The future could be pretty bright, or we will all be zombies.  I for one welcome our undead overlords!

So because they were doing the trials fairly quickly, there is a chance that they aren't quite as effective as original trials demonstrate.  That really shouldn't be a shocker to anyone.  There has been a whole lot of digital ink spilled during this pandemic with folks chasing the 100% perfect versus the more realistic 'good enough'.  All the crap that folks like to spew that 'masks don't do anything', 'they don't stop everything' or trying to sanitize vegetables has just been a distraction from the reality that if you just do a few things reasonably well such as wear your dang mask and wash your hands and don't do big gatherings, you'll stand a good chance of avoiding this thing until the imperfect vaccines roll around and bring this thing under enough control that we can all start going to concerts again.

I picked up a Helios (Proco Rat) kit to build with my kid and these kits really are quite pro.  I've built a bunch of pedals so I can largely get by with a PCB and a BOM, but these kits cover everything and look top notch when done.  The docs cover everything you could want and the wiring harnesses are a great time saver.  I've always hated the tedious wiring that can be involved with taking a pedal to completion.

Why in the hell does it cost $3K+ for a good named Gibson guitar just because it is "made in the U.S.A?

It's simple: because enough people keep paying the asking price.

Or not enough people based on the bankruptcy....

There's definitely a good amount of markup for the name no doubt.  From what I can tell with other boutique makers, Wood choice is going to be a significant factor in the cost.   Some kind of spray painted basswood won't be too pricy, but a fancy finished highly figured wood body/top will drive the cost up. 

Of course, labor wise it's all fairly close to the same as most/all use CNC machines and finish from there.