There are some projects around for perf boards if you don't want to mess with etching... I don't remember now where they were, but pretty good option for start, I never build a kit because of two things, for guitar pedals I think it doesn't worth it, most of them are expensive as you mention, and I have a hard time to get kits here in Argentina, in UK should be much easier. In my experience first pedal was really frustrating, till it get working, second not so much, you already pass all the mistakes you've already done much quicker, the third and up probably much easier already, mage flawless, all begins again when you jump out of distortion or booster circuits cos they are easier (most of them) than a chorus for example, probably a compressor is a good middle point, where you probably need some tweaking, then a phaser where matching FETs is required, then bias them properly, hard to get working as nice as you want but really good when you get there. Then chorus and delay, took a lot to make my chorus and then I tweak it out to the end, you couldn't possibly know how to use all those pots and it got really interesting. I didn't build a delay because non of what I could build really liked me and I got a marshall one cheap that fit most my needs, then I bought not so cheap but still cheap for what it is a really nice tape delay which delites me in studio, it needed some work, change the motor and some parts of the electronics but I really love it.
Some strange components could be replaced in the first project perfectly or in any project first approach and then when you get the correct part you just change it, one exception I think it's DS1, which has an opamp with different package and a lot of mods to work properly but can be build anyway, not easy to adapt for the correct part later. If you can't get the JRC4558D just buy a normal one (RC4558) or a TL072 that will work, then you can try with a MN5534 for example. Once I was able to find a bunch of ICs for guitar pedals in a store at 20' where I lived, I went there few times for simple buys for stuff I couldn't get closer, once I get known by the people there I went and stay all the morning this day, the guy brought me the boxes with components and I start to picked myself, a loooot of JRC4558D and some DD IIRC from the normal RC4558 box, I still have some lying around. Also some TA7136 for the DS1, which I mention quite a bit regardless is a pretty hated pedal in the community, it has really nice interaction with some tube amps, and some more cool stuff, as germanium parts, rare ICs for chorus for example and more. For the sans amp are some nice opamps which are hard to get here at least, but once I get some, I never builded mine but a friend did and I gave a couple of those ICs and there was a noticeable difference. A lot to play with in guitar pedals, I get a lot of them working that never convinced me completely so never get a box, some others where in a box for a while and then used the box for another project, once you've solved the box problem the rest is pretty easy, most boxes are builded much alike so not really hard to change from one pedal to the other and as they are the most expensive parts, with proper footswitch and connectors, you can make an internal connector for the 4 wires that connects the pedal with the outside world and change the inside if you want it, you probably won't use more than 10 pedals in a show, so you have 12, maybe 12 boxes assembled and then you pick from your builds which to get to the show, most of them will probably be the same for all shows anyway so you live with those boxes count, and change the boards inside. It makes really cheap to have a lot of effects and a vice too, one holidays I expend a couple of weeks building almost one pedal a day, maybe 2 or 3 U$ for each, in PCB, caps, transistors and opamps, and that's it, some projects are more expensive and needs more than a day to get working properly but they do worth it.
JS
