# Motivation lacking for final touch



## Dali (Feb 2, 2020)

This is a thread about motivation and lack of it.

I feel very weird not really being into the final step of boxing. Really, I'm surprised myself! I studied in Fine Arts, got a university degree in 1991 but I still have about only 20% of my pedals with graphics. And that's because I forced myself this morning to do 4 visuals.

Sure Fine Arts and Graphic design were "ennemies" at school (same building, dreamers against whores was the spirit!  ) but I'm still highly into creative stuff (music, lyrics, drawing) but I don't know. It looks like that final step of making pedals eludes me... Or maybe I'm too in a rush to try it?

Maybe I should enforce some "visual done before soldering" for myself.

I'm curious, am I alone with that "problem"?


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## Nostradoomus (Feb 2, 2020)

I definitely understand. My lack of motivation stems from lack of competence with computer layout software I think. I have to force myself to get better/quicker at it but it’s rather difficult to be up to the task.

I have boxes and boxes of completed circuits and plenty of empty enclosures. My chosen medium (acid etching) is a rather long process so I don’t think that helps either.


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## zgrav (Feb 2, 2020)

If this is a hobby, then I think it depends on what you enjoy doing.  If you want to build the pedals and get them working but don't really care (yet) about the design, put some masking tape on the box and label the controls with a sharpie.  Then go play with the new pedal or set is aside and start another build.


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## BurntFingers (Feb 2, 2020)

Maybe find a method that inspires you? I could never sit at a computer in illustrator designing pedal labels and call it fun, but sitting down with acrylic paints and a little brush and watching something come to life is my favourite part of the whole build.

So perhaps it's a choice of methodology or not having a vision of how you want it to look or be? Since you're into lyrics and writing I suspect you're into words for their sounds and not for their meaning- that might be a good place to start from: adapt some cool lines or turns of phrase into pedal names and then devise an identity for your builds based on those words. What colour would they be, would it be big and bold, faded and uncertain?

That sounds like total new age garbage but it's helped me.


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## jimmibob (Feb 2, 2020)

Nope totally relate. My initial issue was HOW I was going to do it and even after that is figured out creative paralysis can set in. Having a good set of templates ready to go really helps and now I find it one of the more enjoyable parts of the whole process. If anybody is interested I used this method here. Works well especially on lighter colored enclosures.


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## Dali (Feb 2, 2020)

zgrav said:


> If you want to build the pedals and get them working but don't really care (yet) about the design, put some masking tape on the box and label the controls with a sharpie.



Many are at this unfinished step. 

The good news is that 3 of these have their graphic ready. I just need to half-unbox them and apply the water decals over them. Watch the Build Report forum later...


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## Jbanks (Feb 2, 2020)

Dali said:


> Many are at this unfinished step.
> 
> The good news is that 3 of these have their graphic ready. I just need to half-unbox them and apply the water decals over them. Watch the Build Report forum later...
> View attachment 2871


I don’t ever put art on my enclosures after I build the pedals. Sure, it’d be sweet to have acid etched enclosures or snazzy stickers, but I build the pedals to be played, not looked at. Sure I may use a sharpie to remind me which is tone vs gain sometimes, but I generally leave them blank and don’t have anxiety because of it.
If finishing the art means a lot to you, I liked the idea of having a thematic concept for it. I do that on mine with stickers sometimes. I made a KoT clone (Paragon?) in purple like Analog man. But I used green and Gold barefoot buttons and liked the color scheme. Reminded me of the plastic baby buried in the King Cakes in New Orleans. Slapped a sticker of a King cake onto it and voila!

Just have fun building pedals and work to what you want do, not what someone else’s expectations of a pedal may or may not be.

good luck


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## Dali (Feb 2, 2020)

I succeed making a full one  : https://forum.pedalpcb.com/threads/the-philip-glass-generator-haarp.2214/


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## jjjimi84 (Feb 2, 2020)

I have about 70 pedals unpainted, I usually build first and if the pedal is something that I love and an idea comes to mind right away then I paint it. My new years resolution, which i made last week, is to try and paint three a week. So far I am one for one seven painted in seven days. My motivation wanes when it comes to posting in build reports, that is where i stuggle.


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## Barry (Feb 2, 2020)

I know from past experience if I box before the graphic is done it will never get done, so I've taken to doing the enclosure first, which sucks, because that's the stage I procrastinate on the most!


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## HamishR (Feb 2, 2020)

I have an ever increasing collection of black hammond boxes with white or sometimes coloured knobs.  No labelling except a piece of masking tape on the back with the name of the pedal written on in pen. I too have a degree in design and was top in art at school! But can I be bothered with graphics??

I really like the plain boxes and while it would be helpful at times to have the knobs labelled for function I also like the idea that at gigs nobody will know what the hell I am using!  I have a consistent rule for which knob is which for my vero builds but it gets trickier with bought PCB builds.


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## Nostradoomus (Feb 2, 2020)

I like seeing projects to the bitter end I guess haha. I don’t think anybody can tell what it is even with graphics on it. I generally pull out weird old anatomical drawings or woodcuts of medieval executions (public domain of course) and etch them on. If I feel like it playing with GIMP for hours, that is.


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## HamishR (Feb 3, 2020)

"My motivation wanes when it comes to posting in build reports, that is where i struggle."

Not for me!  I can talk about pedals for ages.  Paint them?  Nope.


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## Dali (Feb 3, 2020)

I bit the bullet... 

Muffin (Guild Foxey) Magnetron Delay and Organ Donor


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## jjjimi84 (Feb 3, 2020)

HamishR said:


> "My motivation wanes when it comes to posting in build reports, that is where i struggle."
> 
> Not for me!  I can talk about pedals for ages.  Paint them?  Nope.



I can talk pedals until I bore my wife to sleep, but posting online is like licking a urinal cake. I think it has something to do with being on multiple computers all night at work and just wanting analog when i get home.

I say this while typing on a little iphone from my couch.

Also, I checked my spreadsheet it’s not 70 it is 156. That is 3 a week for the next year, not including the 30 I have parted out or the loop switcher project I am working on.

Fuck man, I got a problem.


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## Bobbyd67 (Feb 3, 2020)

Yeah I got a plastic bin full of unboxed projects for the same reason. I think it's just part of the game. I have started selling pedals on reverb thought, it's been a good motivator to recup some of the cost of the hobby ^^


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## zgrav (Feb 3, 2020)

Thanks to Dali for posting a great discussion topic!  Love the reference to Philip Glass on the HAARP (especially if you fed it into a Spacialist Reverb for that Einstein on the Beach Is-that-needle-stuck-in-the-groove? sound...)


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## p_wats (Feb 3, 2020)

If it came down to needing to design, print, fuss with waterslide decals, etc. for each build I would never box one up. However, I love abstract globs of spray paint and hand drawn designs, so that's what motivates me instead. As someone else already said, it's all about finding the method that fits with your workflow. Good discussion, for sure.


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## dlazzarini (Feb 3, 2020)

I have to force myself to finish the enclosure first because I know once it’s boxed I don’t want to unbox it. My ocd won’t allow me to call a plain boxed pedal finished.


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## HamishR (Feb 3, 2020)

Haha jjjimi! I haven't built a pedal since November - spent December in Europe and haven't turned on the soldering iron since I got back. I have drawers full of pedals with unmarked boxes - but very few in plain metal.  At least I buy painted or powder coated boxes.   

And i rarely talk to my wife about them. Only with guitarists. I have too much respect for my wife.


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## Nostradoomus (Feb 4, 2020)

That’s sweet!


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## music6000 (Feb 4, 2020)

Here's my next pedal, The PCB Board hasn't arrived @ PedalPCB yet.


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