Local is good, if you are having problems sourcing, look at Mouser as well.
Changed all shopping list links to Mouser Electronics. Jameco wouldn't sell most things in less than 10.
Carbon Composition Resistors: I've been hearing good things about them as far as their abilities to add more crunch to the sound in guitar effects. Since I can't get a better tolerance than 5%, should I buy 2 or 3 of each?
AeonWire introduced me to
Halted Specialty.
The whole store was just aisles full of cardboard magazine holders, each of them filled with bulk pieces.
I had to maintain tunnel vision in the place, because they had vacuum tubes, vintage radio knobs, and all sorts of interesting solid state widgets too.
Instead of a shopping basket as you enter the store, you take a tray, and a pencil and paper to write down what you got.
Caps, resistors, switches: all of that was on sale, buy 2 get 1 free. It was easy to justify overbuying for testing. After all, the rest of the general public has been in here too, who knows what got thrown back into the wrong container?
I read the numbers and the stripes on each tiny piece, making sure all my multiples matched, before sweeping them into the tray.
It's a good thing I was convinced to put reference images on each line item of the Bill of Materials.
The parts bill for all this was $12.
Compromised on the LED's, got green instead of blue; Compromised on the carboncomp resistors, got some 1.6k to replace R14 because they were out of 1.5k. Hope one of 'em tests low.
http://campl.us/nWql
Electrolytic capacitors out, LED replaced with green, diode out. Some of the film stack caps are the wrong values so I'm ordering from digi-key.
Since your initial post, I have started ordering from Newark/Element14.
Absolutely amazing company. Superb customer and technical support. All American staff (really important when working out technical issues), good prices, fantastic shipping.
They recognize the home hobbyist and treat them as if they were a million dollar account holder.
Hell, they sponsor Ben Heck.
http://www.newark.com/
Inb4 pedalboard -- I know, I just need to hack an IKEA shelf into one. Here is my pedal chain.
Guitar - Lehle P-Split II - (split out to Rocksmith RealTone Cable) - Boss TU-3 Tuner - Dinosaur DCP-1 Compressor - Digitech Bad Monkey Overdrive -
Boss DS-1 Distortion with DIY Keeley Mods - Boss PW-10 V-Wah - DOD FX-69B Grunge - EHX Small Stone Phaser - DOD FX-96 Analog Delay - Xenrelic Octarine 10w tube amp.