Build Your Own Point to Point Fuzz Face
I try to take Sundays off from working. However i break my own rule fairly regularly… last year i built a point to point fuzz face which i spent some time designing the layout. On Sunday i decided to make a little diagram of it so that others can use my layout to build their own.
The schematic above is probably one you recognise. Its a standard NPN fuzz face schematic along side a much tidier version of the layout i drew on a scrap of paper. and finally on the right is the finished pedal guts.
A few quick notes:
I used 16mm alpha pots, Vishay military spec resistors, Vishay capacitors, Switchcraft jacks, a standard 3pdt footswitch, a 2.1mm dc jack, some cloth covered wire I had left from another project and finally, 2 NOS germanium transistors. pretty much everything on this list can be replaced with whatever you happen to have provided they are the right values. For your transistors, you can use pretty much any germanium transistors.
Wiring point to point is really fun but a bit different to normal pedal building. I recommend using blue tac to hold your components in place while you solder the connections.
Here’s a layout of the components that need attatching in to the enclosure, the pots, jacks, switch and LED.
I used a 1590B type enclosure for mine but anything that size or bigger will also work.
This layout shows the positions of the wires that need to go in before the circuit. This is fairly standard off board wiring using a 3pdt.
Notice the current limiting resistor for the LED. this will be covered by the input capacitor in the next layout so make sure you wire this first. I used black cloth covered wire for these so they blend in to the background but if you find it easier you can use different colours for each wire so you can tell them apart.
And finally you can add your components in.
I recommend starting with the 22uF capacitor then doing the resistors and transistors and doing the other two capacitors last. you can reference my image above to see how i did it!
If you build one, tag me in a pic on Instagram!