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Oof, sorry to hear that. Loss is a kind of insanity. At least we're built to survive it.

Level-up  Congrats!

These days, I hit BLMS first, then try to string together something at the others. They're geographically close to me, but their prices on pots, switches, and jacks are close-to-the-same-or-better than the others.

GuitarPCB.com has good sales on transistors and ICs, and they have  several unique boards.

Looking for cool knobs is a whole other level of searching/browsing. There just seems to be no order or reason to who has what, when.

I'm all over this. I don't know why, because my kid's just going to steal it, like he keeps swiping my OG Cave Dweller 

I won't miss the USPS option. They've lost a couple packages recently, and sent a couple more back to the sender for no apparent reason. You can file a lost package claim, and I always get a polite response to those from my local post office--but the packages stay lost and with USPS you have no effective recourse beyond that. I assume that's due to their semi-public-semi-private status?

It will be pretty cool to get stuff from Tayda in the same month that I order it. The parts ordering flow chart is still hopelessly convoluted 

I like how JHS has learned to get outside artists to tell their jokes so they seem less spiteful.

In any case, this reminded me of a rig rundown with Sonny Landreth in which he says he didn't like the sound he got with 9v rechargeable batteries (presumably NiMH), preferring the sound of a SLA (or maybe Li Ion?) battery pedal power supply. If I ever claim something like that, I hope someone slaps me back to my senses--but Sonny Landreth, I dunno.

If you google "2SB54 transistor" you usually get a datasheet link pretty high in the results. Forward current transfer ratio, or gain, is the main thing to find out. All of those are germanium PNP transistors and the datasheets say their gain is 70+. If that turns out to be the case, and their leakage is reasonable, they're in the zone for several fuzz and boost circuits. IMHO the specific part number matters a lot less than the gain and just the individual quirks of the actual transistor in your hand.

You can test their gain and leakage with this method: http://www.geofex.com/article_folders/ffselect.htm

That method needs a specific and precise resistor, so a dedicated tester may be a more appealing route. A lot of people use a component tester like the TC1, which is cheap, or a Peak Atlas model, which is robust and reliable.

So yeah, those have a good chance of being useful, even highly desirable, for fuzz circuits. Build docs for fuzz pedals will suggest gain ranges and gain ratios between transistors.

Congratulations--a big achievement! But that dream where it's finals week and you haven't gone to class all semester? It's not going to stop, sad to say.

Been using the solda-pult for a while, now wondering if I've chosen the wrong path. It's really big for what it does.

Totally love the blue tape idea!

I sometimes use a cafeteria tray for each ongoing project, with the necessary parts on it somewhere.

Given that they just had a pretty sweet sale, it doesn't strike me as cause for concern, other than that they are probably understaffed. I ordered at the end of the sale and it says awaiting fulfillment. I'd be concerned if it said NaN or some error code, but as it is, I believe they're being truthful and sincere with their banner message at the top of the page. They're a force of good in the community IMHO, and if they're selling too much too fast it may mean they're healthy enough to stick around as a business.

Still, it wouldn't hurt to call or email about it, other than, you know, Bostonians (kidding!).

I've had good results with an MLCC assortment too--from EEEEE. Not crazy about having another packaging style, but they're in spec and coverage is OK (missing a couple E6 values). The EEEEE resistor assortment is working out fine as well--it's full E12 in the 100, 1K, and 10K decades, full E6 in the others, and no oddball values.

There's also small fastener sets--the Hilitchi M2 & M3 button head and spacer sets have been handy, and all four have the same style of box.

First thing that came to mind was a razor saw mitre box:



Handy for lots of light-use jobs.

Awesome! There's also this breadboard pcb. Because, sometimes, all you need is a prototype 

Really? Sounds right up my apartment dwelling alley! Have you tried that? Got any pics of the setup?

I haven't built it and cannot vouch for its safety or effectiveness, but here's an apparently tested design:
http://makezine.com/projects/make-35/ez-make-oven/