Topics

1

Build Reports / Baltic Birch Fuzz

« on: March 24, 2020, 01:51:41 AM »

Since its going to be at least a few weeks (or more) before I can post what I am currently working on, and inspired by this build report: https://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=30931.0
I thought I would post something I did a few years ago, A fuzz pedal in a wooden box.
I had built a 2x12 cab using some Baltic Birch and had some left over.

Here is the schematic


Made this turret board (its missing a resistor in this picture)


Gut shot


Empty box pre-polishing


Polishing. I used olive oil (its all I had on hand at the time)


All done, minus knobs.


I had my neighbor, who has a little machine shop in his garage take care of the holes and hollowing out the inside.

2

Open Discussion / Spur of the moment video

« on: April 29, 2015, 11:16:56 PM »

Except for doing the video for my then future ex-girlfriend's daughter's wedding, this is the very first video I have ever made.
It was very much a spur of the moment thing, so please forgive the mess and shaky camera, crappy audio, crapy video.
This was filmed with a Kodak EasyShare C195 camera

The quality actually came out better than I expected.
Maybe I can actually demo some of my builds with this thing.
Although I need to find or look up the manual to see if I can hook up some kind of external audio source for better sound.
Not really to bad for a camera I paid $85 for at Walmart 4 -5 years ago.

3

Open Discussion / What does PIF stand for?

« on: April 16, 2015, 04:35:44 AM »

Looked but didn't find an answer. Or maybe I just got lazy
The only PIF i've ever been familiar with is "Program Information File" from the days when MS Windows ran on top of DOS.
Whatever it is, it sounds interesting and as soon as I have something to offer up.
Probably be a pedal build or something. I dunno.

4

Introductions / Hello from Northern Nevada

« on: April 02, 2015, 11:16:09 PM »

I could have sworn I joined this forum years ago.
But I guess not.
Anyway, I'm sure at least a few of you DIY'ers have seen me around the other DIY forums.

I live in a little place in the middle of nowhere called Stagecoach, Nevada.
Its about 30 miles east of Carson City, Nevada.
And about 60 miles or so from BEAUTIFUL Lake Tahoe.

About me?
Well, I'm gonna take the lazy route there and insert a post I made on TGP when someone questioned my qualifications when I degooped a pedal "made" by a suspicious "builder":

Ok, brief history lesson for you, not that it matters or is relevant.
BTW, how is it relevant as far as de-gooping a PCB goes?
I didn't realize that I needed to be an EE to de-goop a board.

1981, I took a 2 month course at a local occupational center for electronic assembly. That class was taught by a retired NASA technician.
Over the years I worked for numerous companies as either an electronic assembler or technician (learned the tech end of things on the job and some classes at Pierce Junior college and CSUN (California State University Northridge).
I also read books and did the hobbyist thing as well.
Over the years I worked primarily for military contractors and sub-contractors doing PCB assembly, cable/wire harness assembly, Operated and maintained wave solder equipment.
I also worked at NASA/JPL as a technician doing flight system PCB assembly, Ground Support Cable Assembly, Polymerics technician (Working with epoxies).
During my time as a Polymerics Technician I also de-gooped PCB's.
Yes, I de-gooped PCB's for NASA/The US Government and those PCB's probably cost more than the house you live in.
I worked on the Galileo Space probe, early Mars rover, several space shuttle sub-assemblies and other stuff I'm not allowed to talk about, EVER.

That takes us up to about 1988 and I think that's babbling enough for now.

Did I pass the audition?

Edit:
To continue on...
I built my first pedal from a kit I got at Radioshack around 1981.
It was a reverb pedal.
Of course, me being the tinkerer I am and suffering from what RG Keen calls "BUMS" (Blind Urge To Modify Syndrome), I immediately started to modify it.
Even though I had no clue what I was doing.

Most of the stuff I build is on PCB's which I etch myself.
I occasionally do builds on perfboard or turret board.
Heres a turret board build I did a few years ago:
http://smg.photobucket.com/user/CodeMonk/library/Builds/Baltic-Birch_StompBox?sort=3&page=1

I've been using DIYLC for quite awhile.
And I've been playing around with and learning Eagle off an on for a little while, but still have LOTS to learn about it.
Madbean's library is a wonderful addition to the Eagle library.

I like Rush. Alex Lifeson is my guitar god.
And Southern Rock.

Edit2:
And I noticed that there are a few people from Fresno on here.
I saw my 2nd ever concert in Fresno (my first concert was Johnny Cash at the Los Angeles Forum in 1970).
The Outlaws opening for Boston (The Outlaws made Boston look like a bar band with stage fright) in 1976 or 1977.
I also went to high school in Mariposa.