Coming Up For Air, And Looking To '06

[smallbearelec]

Apologies for my absence of the past couple of months; I have been giving all my time to finishing the move and re-org of new Cave and getting pre-Christmas orders out. The move and re-org are finally done, and they have had the effect I intended: I'm once again a ton more efficient, and at a much higher volume than I ever thought possible. This Christmas season is the first one in several years in which I have not been heavily backlogged. I hope you've noticed that shipments have returned to being mostly timely.

I will post before year-end a short list of bits and pieces that I had bought during '05 but not made available, because I had run out of storage space. Going forward, I now have both some capital and some time to give to adding more goodies. So, after New Year's, I expect to start buying some of the things that were suggested in the last marketing survey, and doing work on some of my own designs.

Merry Musical Christmas, and Happy Chanukah!

SD

[MR COFFEE]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for checking in, and glad to hear that things at the cave are getting more serene for you. I really appreciate having Small Bear around to sell the specialized components I and other music DIY people need for our projects. I have ordered from you several times, and I'll order again. I especially appreciate your volume pricing breaks at 10 or more pieces for folks like me that do this sort of thing for pleasure and a little sideline work.

I'm sure we all have a wish list of what all we wish you carried in stock, but I would like to say that my #1 wish is ....

for you to stay in business.

I have seen a number of specialty companies come and go at this phase in their growth. Other long-time DIY folks here may remember PGS Electronics in Terra Haute, Indianna, IIRC. They were prospering and growing for a few years, and then WHAM they were gone. Bill Godbout Electronics did Craig Anderton parts and kits back before PGS came into existence, but they also went out of the music electronics DIY business after several years (although I don't think they just folded; at least, not right away). I think they morphed into Computers (Compupro maybe??) in the S100 days. And now they're gone AFAIK.

Don't want to sound discouraging *at all*. Just a friendly caution about listening *too* much to us "customers" and trying *too* hard to meet "what customers want",....  which is d*mn hard to tell just from what we say.

Bob Pease has interesting bits of wisdom on asking customers what they would like to see his employer produce. As he says, *orders* are the only customer survey that is worth a d*mn. Yeah, sure, people express interest in things like wah shells, resistor and cap assortments, etc. But what will they actually order from you? Depends on what *price* and a lot of customer variables I sure as heck don't understand.

It seems your stock list so far indicates you have had pretty good judgement on this, but I really encourage you to look critically at what sells and pay close attention to what items you have that NOONE else has. Germanium trannys with the right gains. Specialty music and audio chips - especially in DIY-friendly packages. Those things bring people's orders to Small Bear. Make sure you can sell more generic  stuff cheap enough to get actual orders for them. Your prices on things like cast aluminum boxes are competitive with big vendors\distributors - heck, better than several ! That's great. Wah shells - your competing with dead wahs and cheap off brands pedals in good housings, like Paul Morossy's recent thread. $33 bucks with a decent - so far, at least - wah pot.

Some of your responses in a previous thread indicate you are already thinking in these terms, so maybe this caution is unnecessary. If so, just ignore me. 

Hey, I just want to be able to order stuff from you 3 years from now *and* 10 years from now.

Live long and prosper, guy !!!

But please LAST, first and foremost.

Best wishes for a happy holiday season !!!

[Dave_B]

Other long-time DIY folks here may remember PGS Electronics in Terra Haute, Indianna, IIRC.

He still owes me about $40.     I remember somehow getting ahold his work phone number.  As a fairly naive kid I called him trying to find out where my parts were and he assured me he'd get them out to me.  ...still waiting for that along with my KISS Army stuff. 

[Dragonfly]

Steve...

MERRY CHRISTMAS to ya !  I got my recent order MUCH fast ! Thanks for the continuing GREAT service !

wishing you all the best for the new year,

Andy

[troubledtom]

way to go steve!!!!!!!!   go man GO!!!!!!!!!!!
         nice to hear from you,
                 - tom pollock

[Dave_B]

Is it difficult to track down the manufacturers of parts?  For example, the wah on Paul's thread is only $50 new.  It would seem the shell could be purchased of considerably less if the order size was right.  Just curious. 

Looking forward to seeing the new parts, Steve!

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

Is it difficult to track down the manufacturers of parts?  For example, the wah on Paul's thread is only $50 new.  It would seem the shell could be purchased of considerably less if the order size was right. 

The problem is, these kind of things are made (in quantities of 5,000 or more minimum) for specific manufacturers, who wouldn't be happy to see the cases they designed going off to someone else. Mind you, some Chinese factories don't mind selling extras.... that's how Behringer got started, buying parts that Mackie had designed.

[no one ever]

Is it difficult to track down the manufacturers of parts?  For example, the wah on Paul's thread is only $50 new.  It would seem the shell could be purchased of considerably less if the order size was right. 

The problem is, these kind of things are made (in quantities of 5,000 or more minimum) for specific manufacturers, who wouldn't be happy to see the cases they designed going off to someone else. Mind you, some Chinese factories don't mind selling extras.... that's how Behringer got started, buying parts that Mackie had designed.

per$uaded

[smallbearelec]

I have found a source and sent a deposit for an order. They have to come in by boat, because air freight is prohibitive, so I won't have anything to sell till probably mid-March. This is a test run to see what it actually costs me to get the beasts in my door and what the market really is. Possibility:

Some coomercial customers have told me that they would like to buy pedal shells. Sure, they can do what the hobbyist does and tear apart an assembled pedal, but it's expensive, and not very economical of their time. If I can be a reliable source for these for boutiques, it may be another situation in which demand from commercial accounts makes it possible to offer a competitive price to hobbyists. It occurred to me that I can maybe do a little marketing and offer a "complete" shell with choice of stomp switch, jacks, pot, etc.

Of course, I will advise as soon as i have something solid.

SD

[Skreddy]

You are awesome, Dude.