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OK, now I just want to try it for fun.

Damn you righties! 

I'm a 100% lefty who play right to not be stuck in the rut of non-available lefty!

This is me too. Although it was my first guitar teacher that encouraged my parents to make me learn to play right handed. Glad he did

Just some really good pop rock. These guys are going places.

Fun fact for anyone who listened to CCM music over the last few decades, the singer and drummer are two of Steven Curtis Chapman's kids.

What is that decal printed on/how was is printed (laserjet/inkjet)?

Anyone else click on this expecting to see a comic cover? Or am I the only one?

Love all these stories, keep 'em coming.

[A]

I don't know if we have a thread like this yet.... but I'm curious about what got everybody started in this hobby/addiction.

I'll go first, and my apologies, as this will be long winded....

For me it was kind of out of necessity. I started playing guitar when I was 9 years old, and then picked up a bass in my freshman year of high school (story behind that one was that I wanted to play guitar in the school Jazz band, but was late for auditions and they already filled that spot. so the teacher handed me a bass and said "here, just remember All Cows Eat Grass for the bass clef and go for it"). Still focused on guitar, then went off to college.

Played guitar in a couple of bands while in college, until one day when all of my pedals, and my amp were all stolen from a rehearsal space that was on campus. Being a college kid, I had no money to replace the gear, nothing was insured, I was screwed. I borrowed gear from friends for a while and then that band disbanded. Around the same time some good friends of mine kicked their horrible guitar player out, their bassist moved to guitar (and is incredible), and they asked me to play bass for them. The band owned the whole bass rig, so it was no cost for me. Did that with those guys for 4 years, then left and moved to Nashville, now focusing on bass. At this time the zVex Woolly Mammoth was going for like $350, and I wanted one, but now I'm newly married, right out of college, living in Nashville, in a sketchy part of Nashville, painting apartments to barely pay my bills while pursuing music. Just didn't have the money.... but I had spent hours soldering cable in college for our schools recording studios, so I was just curious, "can I make one? maybe it'll be cheaper. worth a look."

Hop on Google to search for a schematic. I find one on analogguru's site. Then I discover DIYSB and smallbear and add everything to a cart, and it was like $35 with everything but a circuit board. I was floored. "That's all that it is? Holy..."

Attempted a vero layout based on analagguru's schematic.... fail. Find FSB and Brian's Sabertooth layout. He may not remember this, but I emailed him a ton of noob questions, multiple times, and he kindly replied every time and answered. Ordered some tiny drill bits, bought some PCB etchant and cooper clad from Radio Shack, grabbed a magazine and an iron, and etched my first board, and eventually built my first pedal. The rest, as they say, is history.

I love this hobby, not just for the money it has saved me in gear, but also for the sense of accomplishment I get each time I fire up a pedal, and really for allowing me to build my guitar rig back up and start playing my first love again. I'm forever grateful for this community.

I'd love to hear your story.

Cheers everyone.

Ian

Cool! If I were you, I would add a couple of wheels to it, it looks heavy! 

I definitely plan on casters. I'll post updates as I continue

Wow, impressive!

I am curious about what method are you going to follow for the case: rack/amp suitcase type or Salvage Custom Shop style (on which the pedalboard itself is one side of the suitcase)

It will definitely be a case that is independent from the board. It'll either have a lid and tray, or will open up like a chest and i'll pull the board out from the handles.

This looks awesome! Worth it? Not worth it?

What are you gonna do with the pt-pro?

I think it's definitely worth it. It was a fun build. And it's always rewarding when you build something on your own.

I didn't have a PT-Pro, i had a PT-3. I sold the actual pedalboard to a friend....  but if anyone has a need for a PT-3 sized flight case, let me know. i have one I can't use.

I've probably missed the build reports, but what are the four pedals up in the right hand corner and how did you finish them?  They look like vinyl car window sticker type things (but are probably laser etched..)

The pedalboard look great, btw.

You didn't miss the build reports. I had to build these up super fast in order to play at church this Sunday, haha. So I didn't take pictures and post, and get them all wired up. But currently this is what I've on there.

- Squints (from The Sandlot, top right) - Afterlife compressor with Jon's Ghost Note mod, and a little mod I did to take a little "bite" off because one of my bridge pickups was a little bright through it.
- Turntable - RC Booster
- Woodsman (ax/log one) - LaVache
- Batman - Timmy

All those decals were done with the PulsarProFX system. Took me a long time, but I've finally got the hang of it and usually get good results.

I had a PT-3, which was plenty big, until I bought a Big Sky (and completed the Strymon "big three"). They took up too much room for me to have everything I wanted on there, plus, I wanted to completely redo my setup anyway with a whole new gain section. So... in the true spirit of DIY, I decided to build one. It's roughly PT-Pro Size (not quite as long, but slightly deeper).

Super fun project using oak for the frame and Baltic birch for the top. IEC inlet, locking jacks, etc. I'm really proud of it.

I'm in the process of designing a case for it. I'm leaning toward a hinged lid vs. a lift off (since I put handles on the board)... but even as I'm typing this, I think I just changed my own mind, haha. We'll see. I'm open to Ideas if you all have them, or have built them before, any input is welcome.



Here is a "in progress" picture. Still a lot of work to be done, still some building to finish. I've done some more since this picture was taken too.

So, I know this isn't necessary because the Afterlife is pretty transparent, but on one of my guitars it seemed like when i turned it on, I got some extra treble in there. So, I added a switch and cap parallel with R3 and the LDR. I tested values from 100pF all the way up to 820pF, and in the end landed on 330pF. At least for this particular guitar that seemed to take of some of the extra "bite" I felt like I was hearing, but wasn't too drastic. 220p was good too. Anything above 330pF was too drastic/dark.

Easiest way I hooked this up was using a DPDT ON-ON switch. I removed R3 and soldered wires there soldered the wires and 220K resistor to the middle lugs of the switch, and then just soldered the cap to one side, leaving the other empty. Presto, change-o, done.

Again, minor mod, but served it's purpose for my situation.

I hadn't, I was using the wall wart that came with one of the strymon pedals... i just plugged into the 4x4 and it works fine. Should have tried that last night.

I will take pictures and post voltages as soon as possible, BUT, I'll post this and see if someone has any ideas....

I built this up, I've checks cap orientation, all values, etc, but when I turn the volume up on this La Vache, I get this noise. I even get it when there is no transistor in the socket....

[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/irmcdermott/la-vache-noise[/soundcloud]