Zen and the art of Tinkering

[bendelzer]

I've been tinkering with electronics for 30 years (since preschool really - when i first started taking things apart to find out how they work); and playing music in one form or other since 2nd grade.  I have always loved bringing the two together.  Especially taking broken things and making them work again or making them work better than before.  I also love building things new from scratch.  This is my yoga i think.

But here is the conflict - I have mostly built overdrives, distortions, and compressors.  Many of these I have sold to friends or on ebay.  I'd like to finalize some designs, but am constantly tweaking and changing.  Where do you stop?  When is a design finished? Is there ever finality?

Just curious if I'm alone in this...

[Lizard King]

Send 'em to me & I'll let you know if they're good enough.....

[Bill Mountain]

This bothers me too.  You're never quite finished.  I built a distortion pedal I liked and I've made copies for my friends and they liked it.  Now I can hear something in the high end that I want to eliminate.  Do I keep tinkering?  Do I start from scratch?  Or do I realize that no one else will notice the difference?

I think it's time to let this one go.  It might not be the sound I have in my head but it's a good sound and my friends enjoy it.  So I will either work on better lay outs or maybe nicer enclosures but I made a deal with myself not to touch the circuit.  I like to think that this is how manufacturers do it.  If they were trying to achieve the perfect tone then they'd never release a product.

[Arcane Analog]

Several boutique brands simply use a design as a base and constantly tweak that base to make 'new' products. You can get alot of milage from one circuit.

[EATyourGuitar]

best advice ever ------> don't give up.

the solution to your problem probably exists, you just haven't thought of it and implemented it yet. I agree %100 with arcane analog.

on the other hand, where do you stop? I think you stop when you have tried everything in your ability to address the problem and you feel your time is better spent with new circuits. I think you learn more from solving the tough problems than the easy ones. just my $0.02

[rousejeremy]

Just building the same circuit over and over can yield different results. I've built bunches and bunches of fuzz pedals and no two sounded the same.
The only two pedals I've built that I have kept for myself are a Silicon Fuzz that just turned out right and a Tremulus Lune that is such a piece of sh*t that I couldn't in good conscience sell it to someone.

When asked about practicing and what it takes to be great, Eric Johnson said "You have to love the process". If all you are thinking about is the end result, you will limit your enjoyment of the moments when learning and creativity really happen. Love the process, you'll never be finished.

[defaced]

The trick to finishing a design is to not move/limit changes to the final objective.    

[garcho]

I'd like to finalize some designs, but am constantly tweaking and changing.

Until you fab 1000 of them, I would tweak away ad nauseam. One of those little tinkerings might be what makes your pedal outstanding. I know when I'm writing or mixing my ears can get tired and confused and stuck in a rut and it's good to put things down for a while. Try making some delays or filters or a chorus?

Several boutique brands simply use a design as a base and constantly tweak that base to make 'new' products.

Not just boutique brands. How many distortion pedals has Boss made? 20-something?

[J0K3RX]

I sort of have this problem... My problem is that I never feel my stuff is just right! If a pedal is really good but I find one flaw I will not build it to completion... I will tinker with it until I finally shove it off in the bone barrel (scrap pile) where it will be cannibalized slowly until all the parts are gone and nothing but a circuit board with a few resistors is left over. I sometimes will go back to square one after I have changed damn near everything and start over... I am just never 100% satisfied with what I make I just know what "I like" if I buy a pedal and my standards are very high! Paralyzed by the pursuit of perfection... 

[deafbutpicky]

At some point you really want to use your circuit. That's the drawing line for me to finish tinkering and box it up.

[drolo]

At some point you really want to use your circuit. That's the drawing line for me to finish tinkering and box it up.

I find myself breadboarding quite extensively these days. Even bought more breadboards so i can leave some projects waiting while i do something else for a change. But I only have patience to tinker on breadboard for some time... At one point you really want to rock out and see how it really works with your amp etc. Then when it's boxed I usually start the fine tuning. I leave the project on the breadboard for a while after boxing it, so i can continue to test things. But when changes go beyond a mere part swapping and involves different routing of the signal etc it gets tricky ...

I am starting to think that Zvex's Inventobox ( or some homemade similar device) could be a very nice thing to have.

[deadastronaut]

^ yep me too, i breadboard everything, just so i can tweak to my ears/amp etc...its eally worth it for the end result...when your finally happy....whenever that is.

and i also build it, but keep it on breadboard too....you never know right!....you can never have too many breadboards anyway....

[Bill Mountain]

I sort of have this problem... My problem is that I never feel my stuff is just right! If a pedal is really good but I find one flaw I will not build it to completion... I will tinker with it until I finally shove it off in the bone barrel (scrap pile) where it will be cannibalized slowly until all the parts are gone and nothing but a circuit board with a few resistors is left over. I sometimes will go back to square one after I have changed damn near everything and start over... I am just never 100% satisfied with what I make I just know what "I like" if I buy a pedal and my standards are very high! Paralyzed by the pursuit of perfection... 

This is exactly my problem.

[R.G.]

I recommend everyone who posted in this thread find a copy of "The Sensuous Gadgeteer" if you can.

[defaced]

I recommend everyone who posted in this thread find a copy of "The Sensuous Gadgeteer" if you can.

Thanks for the recommendation.  I was able to pick up a copy for around 10 bucks shipped from ABE Books. 

[DougH]

I quit tinkering when it got to the point that the "new" things were sounding like things I already built, and when I decided to start playing guitar again.

[PRR]

It's hand-made art.

When did daVinci or Piccaso "stop"? Yeah, Leo did spend a lot of time tweaking that chapel ceiling, but he also did a lot of hasty work. Piccaso used to wave his arm for 20 minutes and sell it for $20,000.

Writers have a theory that the more you write, whatever, the better you get. It may be valid to do a LOT of good-not-always-great pedals, same and different, just for experience.

[tca]

At some point you really want to use your circuit. That's the drawing line for me to finish tinkering and box it up.

My feeling exactly!

I am starting to think that Zvex's Inventobox ( or some homemade similar device) could be a very nice thing to have.

Although I always keep something like this near my amp.

Just in case.

[J0K3RX]

I recommend everyone who posted in this thread find a copy of "The Sensuous Gadgeteer" if you can.

ain't nobody got timer fer dat!

[Electron Tornado]

I recommend everyone who posted in this thread find a copy of "The Sensuous Gadgeteer" if you can.

It was also later published as "Shop Tactics".