Sorry this might be a bit long winded but stick with me.
I was approached by a friend of a friend who works for an association/fablab here in Paris to start doing pedal related things for them. And I'm gonna need some help from you guys who are much more knowledgeable than me.
A little background. It will be done by two associations which are actually the same people. Sonic Lab
https://www.facebook.com/events/154011541862156/. Which will be doing workshops on making pedals, noise makers, basic synths, etc. And the other is Brutpop.
http://brutpop.blogspot.fr/p/blog-page_15.html . They do workshops with handcaped people mostly kids with instruments adapted to their handicaps. Often they work with autistic kids and make a bunch of noise with them. They travel around France and do workshops and leave the instruments with them. Sometimes they have workshops also with non handicapped kids just to get them into making noise.
The building they are in is really cool. It is an abandoned train station and they have a stage for concerts and many other charitable groups are based there also. Also a practice space for bands. Looks a bit like a squat. If anyone is in Paris you should check it out.
https://www.mu.asso.fr/station/So the goal will be to start doing workshops on building guitar pedals. These will be open to anyone who wants to take part and some junior high schools have asked about some classes too. Most of the people will be people who have never touched a solder iron in their life. The projects at the start are gonna be pretty simple. When we do workshops I will also build extra pedals that will be used to leave with the instruments so that the kids have some pedals to play with too. Hence, simple pedals with giant knobs to make it as easy as possible for someone with a handicap to manipulate.
Also. Money is tight so things will be almost as cheap as possible. They get a bit of funding from the government and private donors.
So this is the part that I need your help with.
First is any suggestions for pedals? A few prerequisites. They want to document every project so that other fablabs in the French speaking world can use them. So no clones of pedals currently in production. They will be on pcb because working with vero/perfboard and 13 year olds or complete beginners sound like a mess.
I was thinking the first one would be a bazz fuss maybe a fuzz face after. They also seemed interested in a tremolo and eventually a pt2399 based delay. Any ideas on a really simple tremolo or delay circuit? Any other ideas of pedals that are really simple?
Most of my builds have been on vero or pcb bought from here. So I have no idea how to make a pcb.
So, anyone willing to share their pcb designs for us to fabricate would be greatly appreciated or point me in the right direction.
Or if anyone is willing to design a pcb for instance a bazz fuss. They are willing to pay for services but it probably won't be to much more than you being able to buy a few beers from the bar. Or out of the kindness of your heart and leave the money for the kids.
Or if anyone has some old prototypes that are just collecting dust. Even more complicated ones. Feel free to donate them. Not so much for the workshops but for me to build for the kids.
Next question. What is your favorite place to get pcbs made from?
What is a good place to buy in bulk? They are looking to buy about 100 enclosures and 3pdt switches. Ive never searched buying in bulk like that before.
With the workshops I would like to give them some resources for further learning. If any French speakers have some good resources to share with me. Also I'll be putting links to all the pcb providers here (and elsewhere) so they can continue on their own if interested.
Anyway I'm excited about this project. It will feel good to give back to people instead of just building another pedal for me and my friends that we don't really need.
We are looking to start the end of January and I'd like to get the ball rolling soon. I'm off work now with a work related injury but will probably be going back soon and am looking to do the initial leg work now that I have a lot of free time.
I think those are all the questions I have for now. I'll probably have more in the future. Thanks in advance for any help.