Extrapolating into the future, I’m curious where I’ll take all of the knowledge that I’m gaining during 3rd year. I’m interested in making circuits for other people, and I already have some commissions from interested individuals: a harmonic tremolo pedal, fuzz pedal and a dub siren. These will indeed earn me some money but I doubt I’ll reach a point of financial security from them for a long time, they are more akin to passion projects that I can earn from nontheless.

There is also the aspect of repair; repair is a whole other discipline to hashing janky circuits. It requires a true engineers mindset; the sheer lust for problem solving and the ceaseless vigilance to get to the bottom of issues lies at the heart of repairing electronics, and I feel like I have a certain dollop of that already. The knowledge and know-how is another matter, but I don’t doubt that I’ll eventually get there with a bit of practise. I’ve blown up a mates amp head (for the second time, as it arrived on my bench already blown up) in the process of fixing it, and have a number of tape decks that need some sort of repair or calibration. These will be my practise pieces, and I hope to really refine my knowledge through them. If I can get good at repair, then that is a more solid and reliable source of income than making idiosyncratic and peculiar circuits for creatives.

I already do guitar setups for a lot of friends, and have repaired an old digital pedal (removing the IC and then cleaning the contacts was the only issue), and ocasionally have people coming to me with broken thingss as I seem to be the only person in my small bubble of friends with any electronics know-how.

Perhaps one of my final projects will be repair-centered?