Hi, I am a musician who suffers from PTSD and have found that soldering really helps me. I would like to put together a guitar pedal. Beyond putting together some Radio Shack soldering kits, I am new to electronics so I have a newbie question. How should I approach buying parts? I have attached a parts list for a board I really want to build, so you can get an idea of what I am looking at. With regards to the resistors , I managed to find a set on Amazon which included everything on the list, but the Capacitors... no luck. Do you just go to Digikey and order each one individually or is there a better way to start (with a couple misc capacitor set recommendations perhaps?). I plan on doing more than this one, and many of these boards seem to share similar parts, so I don't mind buying a set of parts to start with rather than ordering each part one at a time. I also was wondering what I should do when a part such as the semiconducters in my list (BC184 and MPF4393) are listed as obsolete. Go to ebay? Is there a better place or way?

Thanks in advance for any guidance.

 

My personal choice is DigiKey, they ship to me in Canada FedEx next day air for $8.00, no brokerage fee's etc.
Also excellent selection.
What is your country of origin.
In most cases you can obtain current equivalents for older devices.
Max.

 

If you give your location, suggestions could be made based upon that.

Whatever you do, don't buy from eBay or anyone who ships from China. Too much counterfeit stuff coming from there. I'd also be careful about Amazon. I've gotten counterfeit parts there, but it was auto parts.

Your best bet is to buy from an authorized distributor like Jameco, Newark, Mouser, etc. Digikey is a popular source, but I find their prices to be on the high end.

I'd stay away from kits and just buy extras of whatever you use. Over time, you'll build up inventor of parts you actually used.

I find the sweet spot for quantity price breaks to be 100. For parts I'm not likely to use often, I'll buy 10-20.

 

Ebay sellers offer keen prices on bulk components – here’s a couple of examples that include the values you require for your project (and much more besides).

I’ve bought loads of passive components from Chinese sellers on ebay and never had any problems.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/700Pcs-8...18563938?epid=28005356398&hash=item3d490c8b62

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200Pcs-1...70.l1311.R-1.TR12.TRC2.A0.H1.Xcapacitor+.TRS0

 

I found if you don't mind waiting up to 3 months from China then it can be cheaper, but if buying Asian and using DHL etc, then the cost is virtually on par.
Such as DigiKey offer qty discount if buying in bulk.
Max.

 

This transistor kit should be good for a start.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/X20-NPN-...&_sacat=0&_nkw=transistor+kit&_from=R40&rt=nc

fet transistors are more expensive, so probably best to buy as and when required – just search for an equivalent replacement for obsolete parts.

 

If you find soldering therapeutic, there are many solder projects available from ebay sellers

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6-Digit-...cat=0&_nkw=soldering+practice&_from=R40&rt=nc

Search ‘soldering practice kit’ – most are based on surface mount devices. You will need a fine tipped soldering iron, a steady hand and practice to master this.

I would recommend you start with through-hole components, and once you become proficient consider SMD.

 

If you want to go as far as designing and building/copying your own boards there is free schematic capture and board layout programs such as Kicad with many tutorials out there.
Max.

 

Thanks for the replies and the information. For those that asked , I am in the USA. Florida to be exact.