Stores and sites to by parts and components.

[el badger]

I live in Fullerton, CA, USA. About 40 miles south of L.A. I was wondering if there are any physical stores (like Fry's or Radio Shack or Orvac's) that have large selections of things we need like ICs, switches, pots, etc. I was hoping to avoid the web and ordering direct from China and waiting 3 weeks for it to get here. But that tends to be cheapest. I am willing to pay a little more to walk into a store to be able to see the ICs and make sure the pins haven't been smashed, or even broken in shipping, or be able to see and touch before I buy. Thoughts?

[LaoWiz]

I live in LA. For ICs, stomps, and pots it's best to order on the web. Check out small bear electronics, pedal parts plus, and mouser.

All electronics in Van Nuys is great for caps and resistors, diodes, leds, and misc hardware. They do carry some ICs, as well. They also have solder, PCB blanks and lots of other shit. Good switches sometimes.

I scored a shitload of knobs and caps and misc stuff from Apex electronics in Sun Valley for super cheap. That would be a trek for you but its a cool place.

I have yet to go to Apex Jr which is probably closer to you than the other places but I think its by appointment only. Seems like they have a bunch of stuff there and on their website they had stomps.

The web is way easier, though.

[el badger]

thanks for the sites and stores. Im going to check them out this weekend. last week i bought a dozen PT2399 delay ICs from China and they won't be here until the end of Jan. I haven't found anybody locally or on the web that were as cheap as China, but Im impatient, willing to pay a little more as it probably balances out as what I would pay for a dozen i would probably pay for 2 or 3. The way I see it what difference is it if I buy a dozen, use 3, and store or give away 9, when compared to buying 3, using 3, and spending roughly the same amount. But I like the sound of what Apex Jr has. Im going to check their site now.

[Mike]

I know it sounds like I'm being a smart ass when I say this, but I'm not: start more projects.

If you are working three or four projects at a time, you will have plenty to do while you wait for parts to arrive. Three weeks will pass in the blink of an eye.

It might even reach a point where boxes of parts arrive from some far-flung corner of the world, and you have no clue why you ordered them... not that I'm speaking from experience or anything.

BTW, Tayda's economic express is reasonable, and cuts the shipping time to about 10 days (for me).

Good luck!

Mike

[el badger]

sweet..i have seen Tayda in a lot of places.. i think I'm going to check their site and see if ordering direct from tayda is cheaper than tayda with free shipping thru eBay.