Essential Electronics for Beginning DIY Builders
Introduction
Having made experimental music with deconstructed cassette players and tape decks, as well as more traditional instruments, when I was younger, I’ve always been interested in learning proper circuit-bending and basic noisemaker construction. During COVID, I took my first remote circuit-bending workshop with the makers at Dogbotic. Talented artists themselves, the instructors were patient and smart, so I took additional workshops to build simple drum machines and synths from components, as well as a wonderful media-bending class called Ear Retraining. Attendees at these classes included professional musicians, experimental artists, builders, as well as curious weirdos like me. 2026 will be their final year teaching remote workshops, but all of the remaining ones are worth taking.
While the box of components sent to workshop attendees helped me build a decent collection of useful parts, as a beginner, shopping for the right tools and parts was intimidating and took time.
Developing This List
I had to answer the most common DIY questions, like “what parts should I buy” and “what tools do I need” for myself. Component sites like Tayda, Small Bear, Mouser, and Online Components have a huge selection and great prices, but making sure you are buying the correct parts can be challenging. Inevitably you will end up ordering the wrong part, like needing 100nF capacitors for a circuit but mistakenly ordering 100uF caps.
Through trial and error, I assembled a shopping list of essential tools and components according to these tenets:
- To ensure a reasonably comprehensive supply of each component, I recommend kits rather than bespoke parts.
- To simplify the ordering process, I suggest retail consumer sites like Amazon.
- While kits are not necessarily the least expensive way to purchase electronics components, prices are competitive and Amazon Prime customers save on shipping.
- While I’ve identified integrated circuits (ICs) most needed for many builds, many projects require specific ICs not listed here. You can search for IC identifiers to find kits that include them or order just the IC you need from a specialized component site.
- Additionally, I itemized a list of essential tools, storage, and safety equipment while avoiding those that are secondary or less important to the beginner.
While it isn’t exhaustive, this list covers everything you need to get started.
Components
Components are the individual electronic parts that make up a circuit, including resistors, capacitors, diodes, and transistors. Your parts kits will need assortments of electrolytic caps from 0.1uF to 1,000uF; ceramic caps from 10pF to 100nF; Zener diodes from 3V to 47V; resistors from 1Ω to 10MΩ; potentiometers from 1KΩ to 1MΩ and trim pots from 100Ω to 2MΩ; switches including foot-switches; LDRs, LEDs, and heat-shrink tubing for building vactrols; and assorted transistors.
Boards
You’ll need breadboards to build and test your circuits, and through-hole prototyping boards to finalize them. Since breadboards are critical for creating and verifying your circuits, you should have at least a few in case you work on more than one project concurrently.
While kits typically provide a printed circuit board (PCB), you’ll need solderable through-hole prototyping boards for your own projects. There are three types: perfboards, which offer a plain grid of unconnected holes where you must make all the connections; solderable breadboards, which provide center gap and power rails similar to breadboards; and veroboard or stripboards, which provide pre-connected copper strips and are commonly used for pedal builds.
Hardware
You’ll need physical materials and connectors to complete most basic builds. The hardware list includes solid wire and alligator clips for breadboarding; stranded wire for working in enclosures where flexibility is required; jacks for input and output; power barrel plugs; wired battery connectors and clips to connect to and hold 9V batteries; and washers, machine screws, nuts and knobs.
Enclosures
Enclosures are the metal boxes that house your circuits and hardware. While most pedal and synth kits include one, you’ll need some container to hold and protect your own projects. Note that enclosure kits that include a prototyping board and step drill bit may save the cost of buying them separately.
Integrated Circuits
Every project requires specific ICs, but there are a few that are more commonly needed, including the LM386 low voltage amp; 555 or 556 timer; TL071 and TL072 op-amps; 4049 and 4069 inverters; 40106 hex Schmitt inverter; and the PT2399 digital delay.
Tools
Most basic builds require the following tools: a soldering iron; 60/40 0.8mm to 1mm rosin-core solder; a desoldering pump; wire strippers; an IC extraction tool; a basic multimeter for continuity testing and identifying resistor values; needle nose pliers; flush cutters; an Exacto knife for cutting PCBs; and a hot glue gun. To create space for knobs, LEDs, and batteries in enclosures, you’ll need a drill and step drill bit, and a ruler or digital caliper to determine where to drill and measure drill-hole width.
Workstation
It’s helpful to put together a builder’s workstation. A heatproof soldering mat provides a surface on which to safely work; some include shallow storage for parts. Many soldering stations include a soldering iron holder, a lighted magnifying glass, helping hands (clips on flexible arms that hold parts for soldering); and tubs for solder flux, tip-cleaning sponges, and wire cleaning pads.
Safety
You should also have basic safety equipment in your work area, including goggles, nitrile gloves, and a smoke and fume extractor, some of which include LED work lights or rechargeable batteries.
Storage
Finally, you’ll need some storage. Component kits typically come in organizer cases; other parts like jumper wires, heat-shrink tubing, LEDs, and LDRs frequently do not; likewise, ICs are typically shipped in long plastic IC tubes. I use a couple of bead organizers with adjustable dividers, which are normally used by bead workers to store their similarly tiny parts, to keep my components organized and together. The organizers I prefer can have up to 36 separate compartments, which I label with the value of each component with tape and magic marker to make it easier to find the part I’m looking for.
Final Notes
With the right components, tools, and workspace in place, you’ll spend less time hunting for parts. This list won’t cover every project’s needs, but it provides a solid foundation to get started and grow.
Components and Tools Finder
The following is a list of each component or equipment described in this article, an affiliates link to its Amazon listing, and its approximate cost at the time of publication.
Components
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| 2-way and 3-way Switches Kit | Assorted 2-way and 3-way switches |
| Capacitor Kit (microfarads) | 680-piece assortment of aluminum electrolytic capacitors from 0.1uF to 1000uF |
| Capacitor Kit (pico- and nanofarads) | 600-piece ceramic capacitor kit from 10pf to 100nF |
| Diodes Kit | Assorted diodes covering 3V to 47V |
| Footswitch Kit (x5) | 5-pack of 9-pin stompbox footswitches including wiring PCB and metal washers |
| Heat Shrink Tubing | Assorted heat shrink tubing for insulating solder joints, bundling wires, and creating vactrols |
| LEDs | 450-piece assortment of 5mm LEDs in 5 colors |
| Light Dependent Resistors (LDRs) | 50-piece light sensitive LDR resistors |
| Potentiometer Kit | 45-piece potentiometer kit with knobs, nuts, and washers included |
| Resistor Kit | 1280-piece resistor assortment from 1 ohm to 10M ohm, with enough of each to get through multiple builds |
| Transistor Kit | 580-piece transistor assortment |
| Trim Potentiometers | 150-piece assorted trim potentiometers from 100 - 2M Ohm |
Boards
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| Breadboards (x3) | 830-point solderless breadboard with four power rails and clearly labeled rows and columns |
| Perfboards (x32) | 5 different sizes of through-hole prototyping perfboards |
| Solderable Breadboards | 5 solderable through-hole PCB boards with a layout that mirrors breadboard spacing |
| Stripboards (x10) | 10 73mm x 100mm through-hole stripboards (or veroboards) for DIY builds |
Hardware
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| Battery Clips | Simple clip to hold 9V batteries |
| Battery Connectors (x6) | 6-pack of hard-shell 9V connectors |
| Guitar Jack | 20-pack of 1/4' guitar cable jacks with nuts and washers |
| Power Barrel Plug Kit (x6) | 6 sets of barrel plugs, adapters, and nuts for connecting to 9V wall warts or battery |
| Solid Hookup Wire | Six-color 22 AWG solid core tinned copper wire for running connections on breadboards and PCBs |
| Stranded Wire | Six-color 22 AWG stranded copper wire for running connections that require flexibility |
| Wires with Alligator Clips (x10) | 10 Piece test leads with alligator clips |
Enclosures
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| Enclosures, Step Drill Bit, and PCB (x3) | 3-pack of standard aluminum pedal enclosures with a step drill bit and PCB included |
Integrated Circuits
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| Integrated Circuit (40106) (x10) | 10-pack of CD40106 hex Schmitt trigger inverter chips |
| Integrated Circuit Kit | 173-piece IC assortment covering NE555, LM386, NE5532, JRC4558, and op-amp chips, with DIP sockets and an IC removal tool |
Tools
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| Desolder Pump | Spring-loaded solder sucker with a replaceable tip |
| Digital Calipers | Precision measuring tool that displays exact measurements, useful for checking component spacing, hole placement, and jack/pot sizing |
| Flush Cutters | Compact 5" flush cutters with an angled head |
| Hot Glue Gun | Cheap, good-enough 30W hot glue gun |
| Integrated Circuit Extraction Tool | Insulated, well-priced IC puller |
| Multimeter | Digital multimeter that measures voltage, current, resistance, continuity, and capacitance |
| Needle Nose Pliers | Compact needle nose pliers with serrated jaws and spring-loaded action |
| Solder | 60/40 0.8mm & 1.0mm rosin core solder |
| Soldering Iron | 80W soldering iron with LCD temp display, 5 tips, stand, solder wire, and flux is a solid, cheap, all-in-one set |
| Wire Strippers | Two-piece wire stripper set handles 10-30 gauges |
Workstation
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| Soldering Mat | 10" x 15" heat-resistant soldering mat |
| Soldering Station | Helping hands soldering station with magnifying glass, LED light, and adjustable alligator clips |
Safety
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| Anti-Fog Safety Goggles | Plastic safety goggles provide some basic eye protection against solder splatter, wire clippings, and other physical debris |
| Nitrile Gloves (100 count) | Disposable large-size nitrile gloves |
| Smoke and Fume Fan (Wireless) | Basic, rechargeable wireless fan for removing and dispersing solder smoke and fumes |
| Smoke and Fume Fan (with Filters) | Smoke and fume removal fan has two filters, helping-hands, a LED light, and runs off wall power. |
Storage
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| Organizer Box (x2) | Clear plastic organizer with adjustable dividers for sorting resistors, capacitors, and other small components |