Build Your Own Clone Message Board

This is my second build from BYOC and is going great so far. Built the spring reverb already and love it. This time though, I think there are some mistakes in the manual. On page 14, it asks you to "Add wires to the IN, OUT, LED, POS, and the Ground eyelet located in the top of the board. Start by cutting 4 3.5” pieces of wire. Strip 1/4” off each end and tin the ends. "

First of all, the labeling is off on the PCB. From the diagram, it looks like I should be load the wires into the IN, OUT, RING, and Ground. There is also another ground on the right side of the PCB that a wire is not indicated to go in and -, bat, and + look like they need a wire as well. I've combed through the instructions and finally managed via the picture of the completed pedal to decide on the wires myself, cutting a 2.5" wire for RING, and 3 1.5" wires for -, bat, and +. I decided this based on the photo of the completed pedal on page 4, the diagram on page 22, and from consulting the manual for the Silver Pony II.

Am I just an idiot and missed something altogether or is the manual wrong? Help please! I'm at the stage where I am about to put the PCB into the box and I don't want to be stuck with wires that are too short to do the job or things where they should not be.

Thanks

No, you're not mistaken. In the interest of getting these long & detailed instructions out in a timely way to support the release of a new kit, I think a large amount of "copy/paste" is done, followed by going back through and updating those sections requiring changes. Inevitably in a document of this length, some get missed. Thanks for pointing these discrepancies out and I'll make sure they are brought to the attention of the responsible person.

As for wire lengths on this kit, I recommend:

• 4 x 2.5" for the four longer I/O jack wires. If you prefer, you can skip the ground connection on the output jack, assuming that you are using the metal enclosure that came with the kit and haven't painted the inside of it. The sleeve of that jack will ground back to the input jack sleeve through the enclosure.
• 10 x 1.5" for the six footswitch connections, the three DC jack connections, and the wire to the ring of the input jack.

NOTE: These wire length recommendations are specific to BYOC kits with top-mounted jacks, The older side-mount style requires different wire lengths!

Since you are a novice builder, here's a bit of additional advice on prepping your wires:

1. For the wire ends connecting to the F/S lugs, the PCB eyelets and the DC jack, strip off 1/8 - 3/16" of the insulation. For the connections to the I/O jack solder tabs, increase this to 1/4".
2. Once you've stripped the ends, twist the strands together as tightly as you can between your thumb and forefinger. Do this on ALL the stripped wire ends. (This step isn't needed if you use pre-twisted and tinned hook-up wire not provided in the kit.)
3. Apply a SMALL amount of solder to each wire end, to bind the strands together. Properly done, you should still be able to see the shape of the strands quite clearly. Remove any excess solder/blobs with a cleaned iron tip.
4. When you make your connections to the PCB eyelets, insert the prepped wire all the way down to the insulation and then solder in place from the other side of the PCB. For the jack connections, a good technique is to bend a hook shape into the wire end, insert it into the solder tab, crimp it in place with your pliers and then solder it. For connections to the footswitch lugs, this post has detailed guidance: viewtopic.php?f=50&t=33293

There's a wealth of additional information in these two great posts from moderator Stephen:

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=6401

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=52211

_________________
“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2

Thanks so much for the quick response. I figured I was on the right track. Thanks for the tips.

Thanks for pointing this out. I'm not sure how long it will take at the moment with the shutdown, but we'll edit the instructions ASAP.

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*patience is a virtue*

Please do not PM me. email is prefered. keith@buildyourownclone.com