Wholesale components

[mr-nad]

Good evening all.
Firstly, I'm completely hooked on pedals!!! I built the Green Giant last week (Thank you to all that offered advice on that) and have just got into the stages of building yet another.
The question i pose is this....
Is there anywhere in the wide web that i can purchase a wholesale amount of rotary potentiometers of varying values for my projects? All other components are quite easy to source in relatively large amounts.
It's just that I have also started thinking about building my own amplifiers and guitars also. I have already modded one guitar, half built a telecaster from scratch and have a plethora of schematics for amp building.
Potentiometers seem to be a hassle in sourcing in larger amounts anywhere other that eBay and it has started to become quite costly buying a few values here, a few values there.

Does anyone have advice on this.
Many thankd
Mr-nad

[Travis]

Most of us buy pots from Tayda it seems. They're pretty much the cheapest place to get alphas

[Silver Blues]

Tayda. Honestly the cheapest I have ever seen rotary pots, and they're not even generic shit either which is fantastic. Real knurled-shaft Alpha pots complete with sleeves; the only thing is that they only sell them in the straight solder pin format. Not really an issue for me personally but some people don't like it. There's always the trick of soldering a 2x5 piece of vero to the pins.

[rocket88]

They have the knurled ones with sleeves in solder line too cause that's what I use, just not all values. In perticular anti-logs are only straight pins. And to second what's been said already, tayda is you're friend for pots, especially if there's a 20% coupon.

Just one things to remember about building an amp.

1 - if you're building a tube amp, the voltage can kill you if you accidentally discharge the tube
2 - it will cost between $600-1000 depending on the parts you use, and type of amp (marshall, fender, oranage, etc.) if you're not buying a kit.
3 - if you're not buying a kit, be prepared to have to turn the schematic into a turret layout.

If you're looking at building a guitar from scratch think about the following

1 - if you're looking at building a guitar based on a normal available model, like a les paul, it can cost you a lot more then just modding a normal one.
2 - remember every measurement counts and a little off can fuck it all up, for instance the neck pocket is not straight will mess up your bridge position, how your strings sit across your pickups, intonation, etc.

Not discouraging you, just speaking from experience. I've built multiple guitars, and been working on converting a schematic to turretboard for the amp I'm going to build, and pricing it all out it ends up being a lot more then you think. For me the amp would cost over 4k to buy, so spending 1k in parts and spending time to build it, and collecting the parts isn't a big deal, but some it's not worth it. A few basses I've built whcihc were fender jazz style basses cost over 1k but I used high end parts which is why it cost more then a new fender and just modding it, but its built exactly to my specs and fit me, plus there's nothing in it that you can get from fender. But, the custom on I'm building that's not based on a factory bass is going to be more cost effective, cause you can't get it anywhere, if you know what I mean.

[negativefx]

Neck pockets are the devil.   Always start up and test your amp *without* tubes in it to make sure there are no shorts.  Transformers are a lot more expensive than a cap in a 9v pedal!

If you really want wholesale parts, look at the 10k+ markdowns on Mouser.  ;)   Tayda's the best I've found for almost anything but I'm starting to question a few of their transistors.

[Muadzin]

Silver Blues wrote

the only thing is that they only sell them in the straight solder pin format. Not really an issue for me personally but some people don't like it. There's always the trick of soldering a 2x5 piece of vero to the pins.

Am I the only one who has no problems soldering wires to straight pins? I used to do the vero piece trick but after doing a short stint in industrial soldering where I had to solder wires to straight pinned pots that now seems so..... clumsy?

[Silver Blues]

Well no I always just solder right to the pins  I was just pointing it out because you and I seem to be in the minority.

And yeah I always keep forgetting that Tayda has a separate store, I just buy off their eBay store all the time. It was actually looking for antilog pots that I re-discovered this fact. Lol

[rocket88]

Silver Blues wrote

Well no I always just solder right to the pins  I was just pointing it out because you and I seem to be in the minority.

And yeah I always keep forgetting that Tayda has a separate store, I just buy off their eBay store all the time. It was actually looking for antilog pots that I re-discovered this fact. Lol

Make that three of us.  mostly because I don't like having that piece of vero hanging down.

[mr-nad]

Thanks for the reply. Sorry about the delay, just got in from work.

Some intersting points there....
The conception of my plan came when I decided I wanted a totally unique setup and to give me a complete understanding of how everything works. I've done basic electronics in college, but that seems like such a long time ago now. I'm just about financially sound with starting this project. I have a good flow of cash coming in every four weeks and am no longer a drinker so I have a fairly decent monthly expendible income.

The body is already built and I have most of the furniture and components to go with it. (Neck pocket is still uncut as I'm still undecided on the material I would like to use for the neck)

I was thinking about initially doing a turret board layout and seeing how I got on from there.

I didnt realise that this was a US forum as I am from the UK,

Dan

[mr-nad]

Ive always soldered straight to pins, Had never thought about using a strip of vero.

[Silver Blues]

This isn't necessarily a US forum, there are people from all around the world here. I'm not even American myself. Tayda also ships internationally.

[rocket88]

mr-nad wrote

I didnt realise that this was a US forum as I am from the UK,

yea man, we are from all over the world, like the us, uk, spain, canada, france, iceland, you name it i'm sure someone here is from that country or nearby. so i besides all that stuff. Welcome

that's awesome you're making a guitar. it's always fun, but some parts are frustrating as hell, and as said before neck pockets are the fucking devil. my only advice is to just take it slow and measure like 20x before going for it. even when i do that i sweat a little when i make the first cut.

[Beaker]

Head Honcho IVIark (Mark) is from Manchester, while site Second In Command Mirosol is from Finland, so no, it's not a USA based site.

As stated, we have members and contributors from every continent excluding Antartica. We have however found the best places to buy parts - from Tayda in Thailand, to our suppliers of rare Germanium goodies in Bulgaria. It's all good stuff.

[mr-nad]

my only advice is to just take it slow and measure like 20x before going for it. even when i do that i sweat a little when i make the first cut.


certainly a case of measure twice cut once. I think i would probably cry if i ballsed it up.

I think just the prices coming up in dollars made me think it was US.