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PostPosted: Fri Aug 05, 2022 4:33 pm 
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Joined: Sat Apr 24, 2010 8:18 am
Posts: 135
Finished a Crown Jewel with treble boost build. Other than a couple of minor speed bumps requiring a couple of visits to this board due to version issues, the build went smoothly. I took my time and built it in my own way, starting with soldering the more central components and then working my way to the periphery. From experience (this is pedal #38), I soldered the jack, switch and power wires to the board first making it a lot easier to make the connections to these particular hardware items near the end, after the board and pots were inserted into the enclosure. I also soldered the LED's near the end, placing them in the appropriate eyelets (solder pads) and bending the leads to hold them in place. Once the board with pots was inserted into the enclosure and nuts tightened down, I advanced the LED's into place and then did the final soldering to the board.

The most difficult part of the build was soldering the pots and switches as most builders of this pedal encountered. I tried like the dickens to do it the method described in the instructions (lowering the enclosure onto the board with unsoldered pots and switches) and almost got everything to go into place. But after messing around with this frustrating method unsuccessfully for awhile, I visited the forum and picked up tips from people who had posted about how they did it.

So I set and soldered the toggle switches first, one to two at a time. Once all switches were installed, I then methodically soldered the pots, mostly one at a time. The installed switches and pots were used to help guide the enclosure and the unsoldered pot into proper position. Once the nuts were tightened, I tack soldered one of the pins on the pot. Then untightened the nuts and removed the board from the enclosure, starting the process over again. It was somewhat slow going, but not even close to frustrating, and it worked like a charm. Once all pots and switches were tack soldered, the PCB was removed from the enclosure and the rest of the pot and switch pins were soldered to the board. Then all I had to do was drop the board into the enclosure, which fit perfectly without having to wrangle it into place, and then tighten all of the nuts. IMO, this method is the way to go instead of what is written in the instructions. At the end I only had to set the trimmer on the treble booster and dialed it in to 7.02V at the collector, about as close as you can get it.

The finished product.
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 09, 2022 11:03 am 
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Location: Richland, WA
Nice. Did you do those graphics ourself, or were you lucky enough to find one from a distributor?

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PostPosted: Tue Aug 09, 2022 12:36 pm 
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Location: Albany, NY
Looks great, but a forum veteran like you should know better than to post a top photo without an accompanying "gut shot"!!! Tsk-tsk! ;)

With eight pots and five toggle switches, getting the hardware aligned with the enclosure is certainly one of the most (THE most?) challenging parts of a CJ build. I've built four of them now and the method I find the best (but not necessarily the fastest!) is as follows:

  1. Mount the five toggles, then place the PCB down onto them, adjusting their position (there's not much play) until the PCB fits easily over them. Take care to keep the height of the toggles as equal as possible, particularly for the cluster of four toggles next to each other. Tighten the mounting nuts to hold these positions and then remove the PCB.
  2. Add the pots to the enclosure one at a time, adjusting its position until the PCB fits over it along with the toggles. This is pretty easy to do since there is more play between the pot shafts and the mounting holes, and you can bend the pot legs a bit to align with the PCB eyelets. Tighten the mounting nut to hold the pot in place. Repeat this process until you have all eight pots mounted and tightened, and the PCB still fits down over all the pots and switches with minimal finagling.
  3. Measure and solder to the PCB all of the wiring for the jacks and footswitches (as well as the wiring for the dry blend board, if you chose that option).
  4. Insert the two indicator LED's into the PCB and bend the last 1/4" or so of the leads outward to keep the LED's from falling out of the PCB.
  5. Mount the PCB onto the pots & toggles (don't push it down all the way--leave the PCB up a couple of millimeters off the pots to avoid shorting against them), position the two indicator LED's into their respective enclosure holes, and then solder all of the legs and leads to the PCB.
  6. Add your jacks and footswitches (and dry blend board, if applicable) and solder in their wire connections from the PCB. Add your knobs and you're ready to rock!

I find this method works the best for me. First, I avoid the juggling act of trying to get all of the pots and toggles aligned with their mounting holes before they're soldered. Secondly, doing all of the soldering of the pre-mounted pots and switches to the PCB at the same time avoids creating any stress between them due to height or alignment differences. I have seen such stresses cause major problems in a couple of CJ builds that I've repaired for other builders, and this method avoids that pitfall.

I should also add that this is NOT the method that the CJ instructions contain, so take that into consideration. But it's worked great for me.

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