Newbies and on the fence guys take heed

[John EH]

If you're on the fence for buying a kit and worried you can't do it listen up a minute.

I bought my first bottlehead kit YEARS ago.  I've put together numerous kits over the years and I'm waiting on the Crack Kit with Speedball upgrade.

Anyway that is neither here nor there.  I had an older original Foreplay 3 that I decided to do the Extended Foreplay C4S upgrade to.  Ordered the kit and I thought I'd breeze through it.

Well I didn't breeze through it. Been a while since I picked up the soldering iron and while I essentially put everything together right there were some gotchas.

Here's where you need to really pay attention.  First sign of trouble you post a question here and YOU WILL GET AN ANSWER FROM THE GUYS WHO DESIGNED AND ARE SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS ON THE CIRCUIT.

Here is the link to my debacle.  As you can see they held my hand through the whole thing

http://www.bottlehead.com/smf/index.php/topic,4441.0.html

Three pages of hand holding, fast responses and no wild goose chases.  The troubleshooting steps provided were Barney Style, simple, and intuitive.  No wasted motion.

So I'm telling you that if you are afraid of buying a kit, or like me haven't done it for a while and my eyes sure aren't what they used to be.  I used to be the baddest mother humping solder-er in all the land.  Now I see fuzz up close.

Anyway don't let your doubts stand in your way.  You won't just get a box in the mail and that's the end of it.  The community resource has always been top notch here and I see nothing has changed in my years away from the hobby.

Buy your kits already.  They sound GREAT and its something you built. 

No downside to it.

John

[Grainger49]

Not to mention the amazement when your friends hear what YOU HAVE MADE and can't believe it.  I had an old friend and his wife over Saturday.  After hearing the music, and the differences between CD/SACD/LP, he said, "So you built this?  Do you think I could do it?"  The answer was "Sure!"

[earwaxxer]

True, True, - I had a couple of non-audiophile music lovers over the other day and they had the same reaction when seeing the Quickie. The first question was, "why does it look like that"? Cant blame um. My Quickie is bare bones electronic parts with a slab of polycarb to hold it all together. The only way it could looks stranger is if the polcarb was clear and I had LED's underneath so you could see all the wires and other stuff below (Hey Greg, there's a project for ya). All I had to say was, "I built that", and that pretty much shut them up.

[4krow]

  Eric,

    Sometimes it's great to build something that doesn't look like much and then knock the socks off the competition at the race. They do it with cars all the time, why not audio?

[Mike B]

Yes, you need to be able to see good up close.  Lots of small pads to solder.

I am almost 60 and like all grey haired people, the eyes don't focus close anymore.  I used to use a flourescent ring magnifier, which works good, but prescription reading glasses are even better.

[Doc B.]

And when all else fails, prescription reading glasses and the magnifier works.

Then there's the magnifying visor with the flip down 7X lenses and the super bright LEDs. But I have to be careful with that thing. Total chick magnet.

[Mmaxed]

Thanks for the post John.  I finally took the plunge and ordered a Reduction a few weeks ago.  While part of me is wanting it to be here NOW, part of me is saying "What the heck have I got myself into?"  Like many I am worried about the close up blur, but also my shakes.  I did solder up a kit on a printed board a while back so i figure I'll get through this one too.

[4krow]

Well, there are times that I have the shakes as well. Of course, you have learned how to help steady your hand by resting/propping it on something steady. The good thing here is that most all the point to point wiring is easier than circuit board soldering.

[John EH]

I have some 1.5x reading glasses that take away the fuzz.  Also bought one of those LED lights on the flexible tripod.  It's super bright and lights things up nicely.  I also use a loupe to look before I work and after I solder.

Oh but 10 or 15 years ago when I built my first kit I could solder PERFECT in the dark. 

John

[earwaxxer]

I think I would have to go back more than 10 or 15 years to say that! The surface mount resistors I can't do reliably. There must be a technique to it

[John EH]

I think I would have to go back more than 10 or 15 years to say that! The surface mount resistors I can't do reliably. There must be a technique to it

Some of my old builds could almost be considered art.  The soldering that is.  Running cables neatly is an art form that is developed over years.  Takes an artistic flair as well.  I'm weak in that department but boy of boy could I solder.  I'm still not bad but the Extended Foreplay retrofit is tough.  The other one I did I built it in from the get go.  That Foreplay is a thing of beauty.

I bought the speedball upgrade with the Crack and I'm just going to build it in.  Soooooo much easier.

John

[John EH]

Confession time regarding the eyes.

I'm building up the C4S boards on the Ex Foreplay and I mount it and feed in a wire from underneath and solder it in real pretty like and then snip the excess with a pair of dykes.

I look over and go hmmmmmm that needs to be clipped too........snip........and then I realized I clipped a resistor lead. F***.  It was still touching so I just heated it and put a dab of solder on it and it was fine but that's how bad my 50 year old eyes are now.

[earwaxxer]

A little dab'll do ya!

[E.T.]

And when all else fails, prescription reading glasses and the magnifier works.

Then there's the magnifying visor with the flip down 7X lenses and the super bright LEDs. But I have to be careful with that thing. Total chick magnet.

I have an old Vivitar 135mm camera lens from the 1960's.  It isn't worth any $, but it's a superb 2.5x magnifier.  Mainly what it does is eliminate all the eyestrain involved in looking up close at solder joints and stuff.  A 250mm would be way better than any 5x Hastings triplet.

[4krow]

I have tried numerous ways to see up close. It seems that there is a different device for each situation. Loops are good for some stuff, illuminated viewers(connected to a sort of robot arm) work for other situations. I just remember an eye doctor telling me that the closer you can get the lens to your eye the better it can work for you. As it turns out, THAT isn't always what you want.Dam! I remember as a child, being able to clearly see the fingerprint on each finger in detail.