So ever since I started building my own pedals this year it’s been hard but fun. I thought I would share some of my experience with the process. Like I never knew that soldering tips didn’t last forever. I’ve soldered a few things in my life time but never dedicated much time to it. I mostly used simple soldering irons that plug directly into the wall and no temperature control. But I bought a neat soldering station with temperature control, helper arm clamps, auto shut off, sponge holder, copper wool and solder roll holder with a roll of solder… the works. So everything was going great until I noticed that my soldering tip looked like it was melting. So it turned out that the solder and flux and whatever other factors were causing the tip to oxidize and it just got completely destroyed. So in the process and experimenting with different solder types, temperature and pcb types. I’ve destroyed a couple of chips, resistors, capacitors, switches and pcb boards. But overall a great learning experience. And I’m currently working on creating my own pcb boards. If I’m working with an actual circuit board it’s easier to solder, the prototype boards are cool but not easy to work with depending on the type. Stay tuned for more updates!!

when they get like this, they dont hurt at all. and yes, i do clean my strings. playing with 13's turns the ends of your fingers into little hammers. LOL

anybody ever tried these? Andy Mckee, Mike Dawes, and quite a few other notables have endorsements. I'm tempted but skeptical.

I'm still here. Somehow, after officially retiring a few weeks ago, I've gotten busier and haven't been able to devote much time to the community. But I'm still lurking around occasionally.

The electronics haven't worked on my old acoustic for about 15 years. Instead of butchering it to replace them, I found an alternative. This is pretty sweet. It sounds good, and is a permanent pickup with jack, but still easily removeable if I wanted to. It sounds so good I might put one in my 12 string. These are the before and after pics.