How to learn about building pedals/how the circuits work

[greekorican]

Summer break starts next week and I will have lots of free time. The job hunt doesn't look like it will be successful, so i need to fill all the free time I will have. I've decided I want to build some pedals over summer. I have found some schematics and read the Beavis Audio article about schematics, but I still don't know enough to build my own pedal yet. I want more in depth explanation about schematics and what they mean, as well the parts I need. I also want to know how these circuits work and why they have the effect that they do on sound. I plan to pursue electronics of some kind as a career, so I would like to learn as much as I can about this. Can anyone link me to some good websites or recommend some good books about pedal building?

These are some pedals that I would like to build:
Envelope filter (Probably a mutron)
Fuzz (woolly mammoth or soemthing similar)
Compression
Eq

Any advice about which to try first? My guess is that a fuzz pedal would be the easiest to start with. It seems to be the simplest. Either way, any advice about any of those pedals would be appreciated.

I'm also having trouble with figuring out what to use to make the housing for a stompbox. My only idea is using an outlet housing. What do you guys use?


I realize I'm asking alot, but I would appreciate any help I can get.

Thanks

[mikeboth]

diystompboxes.com
geofex.com
muzique.com
freestompboxes.org

[BassJunkie730]

tonepad.com
generalguitargadgets.com
buildyourownclone.com
smallbearelec.com

and of course mouser.com for large part orders

[Din Of Win]

Yep +1 to both of the other posters.

I've only delt with generalguitargadgets and buildyourownclone, but it is soooo much fun!

I would reccoment especially BYOC. You can request a sort of "Practice" build when you order your pedal and it is great for that purpose!

[Gashaponcito]

you know I'm planning of doing something similar I also want to know how do pedals work, and I was thinking of buying the beavisboard I think its a great place to start my its maybe its a little bit pricey but I think its worth it

[rcubed]

Buy a decent soldering iron and some rosin core solder and get a kit from BYOC or GGG. If that is successful and you enjoy, get further into it by buying a breadboard, multimeter and the rest of the tools needed.

[greekorican]

I already have a soldering iron and rosin core solder, and I have a very basic ability to solder. I need some practice, I need to find some wires and some something to solder them to for some practice. Also, I'm thinking of doing this from scratch, a kit seems kinda like cheating to me. Thats just the way I am, I want to make things harder than they have to be, haha. I'm really excited to do this, but I have alot to learn before I'm gonna try to build one.