Guitar Pedal Building Quest

I've been itching to start building my own guitar pedals.


I want to finish up this project. I'm about half-way through it, this will be a good refresher of all of the things that I've learned so far.

Then I'll probably try to build a pedal from a kit. I'll probably just build a General Guitar Gadgets ITS8 (GGG ITS8) w/ a "Very Expensive Boutique" Mod in it, which is supposed to be a clone of a Landgraf Dynamic Overdrive (LDO), which is pretty much a modified Ibanez Tube Screamer.

The GGG ITS8 kit is about $70, while the LDO is about $500 and apprently the wait list over 6-months long. I'm not sure if that fancy swirl paint job is worth an extra $430, so I'll just stick w/ my GGG ITS8 clone. :)

Then I'll probably try build a clean boost or fuzz based on the circuit from the video above. The reason why I want try to build the GGG ITS8 first is because it's easier and it'll be good practice for me to test my soldering, planning, & building skills.

Depending on how my attempt to build a pedal from scratch goes, I'll either try to build another kit, if I need more practice. If my pedal from scratch goes fine, then I'll probably try to build another pedal from scratch. My goal is to able to build pedals from scratch, but only if I can do them successfully. It's such a waste of time, money, and energy when you end up with a pedal that doesn't work.

Here are some pedals that I would love to be able to build from scratch:

ZVex Super Hard-On ($239)

Here's a layout of the homemade vero board version (< $40).

Paul Cochrane Timmy (around $250'ish on eBay or for $129 and about a 6 month wait)

Here's the vero board layout of the Timmy. (<$50) ZVex Fuzz Factory ($299) I'm really quite impressed by ZVex because they actually make pedals that are unconventional. They're designs are unconventional as well as sound and most importantly their design. Most pedals are modified pedals that have existed for over the past 30+ years or so, but ZVex makes some pretty original stuff. Plus they're based out of Minneapolis too.

Here's a vero board of the Fuzz Factory (< $75'ish) This is considered the Holy Grail of overdrive pedals, the Klon Centaur. This pedal is no longer in production either which only makes it harder to find ($800'ish on eBay).

Bill Finnegan, the creator of the Klon Centaur, has a new Klon in the works and here's a sneak peak (go to the 16:35 mark).

Here's a vero board of the Klon! It looks difficult but after I've built a few pedals I'm sure, with a little patience, I'll be able to make one (< $150'ish).

There are a bunch of other pedals that I would love to try to build, but I think you guys get the idea. There's a great DIY community out there that makes all of this possible. Thanks everybody for all the help! I hope soon to be contributing as well!