Guitar Pedals

Building Guitar pedals was my first interaction with the melding of my two passions, music and electronics. I started building guitar pedals in high school and made a blog that followed my construction process step-by-step. Whether playing at venues or in my home studio, I continue to use these pedals I have built . Many of the pedals I have built are clones of existing pedals. One of the reasons for choosing to pursue a degree in Electrical Engineering was to be able to realize my own, original circuits for guitar, or any other musical application. Below are some photos of pedals that I have built.

During high school, I started a blog which documented the building and modification of various guitar pedals step by step. When I first was introduced to guitar pedal DIY, I found there was no detailed step by step guide. I set out to make my own walk through of the various steps required to build your own guitar pedal. My first blog posts followed the construction of my first guitar pedal build, the famous MXR Distortion Plus. My goal was to give a detailed documentation of the process so other beginners, like myself, could learn. Since my first blog post in 2013, my blog has received over 100,000 page views. I am confident my original goal was met by reaching out and helping the niche community of guitar DIY. Although I have stopped updating my blog, I can look back at the site with pride knowing it is a source of valuable information for anyone looking to seek it.

Furthermore, the creation of my blog gave me the opportunity to practice my technical writing skills and taught me the importance of the proper documentation of my work. By taking pictures and explaining my process every step of the way, I was more cautious and meticulous towards my construction which resulted in even better finished products. With each subsequent guitar pedal I built, I started to develop my own techniques to make my construction more clean and efficient. Building guitar pedals has made me proficient in areas such as

• Design process
• Soldering
• Electronics construction
• Basic audio circuit design
• Modification of existing circuits
• Troubleshooting (if there is one thing I've learned, something will go wrong)