American FuzzRite 60s kit

THis was my first build and it looks like it was the right choice. All went smooth. The documentation was very clear, and Im very pleased with the result. I was hoping to get the once opon a time in the west soundtrack guitar sound (as this project is based on a fuzzrite) and damn, with a single coil guitar its a very very good match to that exact sound. A well recommended build for anyone whos after that sound.

richard s., 20.01.2016

Great Kit

Sébastien S., 20.07.2020

This was my second and fourth project.
Yes, first time it failed... I got a predrilled enclosure and I put the pots in the way I thought they should go. But that made them upside down, so turning the knobs made the effects work in the opposite direction.
I guess I could have lived with it. Or I should have cut the legs and soldered wires.
But I was very new at this so I decided to de-solder the trimpots, which was a big mistake. I ended up ruining the board and the through holes for the pots, and later trying to wire up connections to the proper components instead according to the schema didnt work in the end.
So lesson learned, I got a new kit. And this time I knew better how to arrange things.
The build itself is quite straight forward. I added (extra) sockets for the noise reducing capacitors at C2, C5 and C9 but in the end never put the caps in since there was not much noise.
The LED is two-color, which is fun but a little bit odd. Now it is shining red when power is on but pedal is off and green when pedal is engaged. I chose a metal bezel for the LED so I put some heat shrink tubing on the legs to avoid shorting it. Also you need to bend it a little to fit properly, but not a big thing.
For the two pots, I ended up putting the legs pointy part facing close to the end of the enclosure, then folded them back and then folded the tips upward. (Be careful since the legs do not bend many times I think.) This way I could solder the pcb on them and make it sit nicely and still no need for crossing the legs with wires.
The other option is to get pots with lugs and use wires, but then you need to figure out some way to keep the pcb in place. Glue?
Or you can buy a non-drilled enclosure and drill to your own needs.
I spent some time in polishing the box so that the sides as brushed aluminum and the face side is polished, almost mirror. Then I used only varnish to preserve it. Some of the shine was lost in the process but with metal knobs to match it is not very far from the original.

The sound is very strong and has its own flavor of Fuzz imho. There is Morricone and Iron Butterfly in there although I will probably experiment some more with the transistors later on. GuitarPCB.com have a nice forum if you need some hints and tips from other builders.

Mathias O., 11.10.2021

Very good for at starter like me

Gert R., 15.03.2022