crazy idea but need advice

[sickbend]

ok so I have a crazy idea in my head. I was thinking of figuring out a way to make and sell custom tailored guitar pedals to people. I would have a hand full of basic starting circuits like say a son of tube screamer or dod 250 boss ds-1 etc. What I would do is take all the main tone modifying parts and have them be variable replace the resistors with trim pots the caps with a capacitor sub box or something like this http://www.thesquarewaveparade.com/images/MIMEO.jpg which is a variable capacitor circuit 100p to over 100uf  and a diode clipping array and  then bring a buyer into my studio and tweak everything across a meter while he plays write down all the values get some ideas for graphics and a week later the guy gets a custom pedal with his own vinyl graphics or airbrushed box. now what I have is time, a work shop, a recording studio and a airbrush guy who will do my pre painted boxes for $10 each can anyone give me the long and short of this if this seems a reasonable business? or do you think im wasting my time?  im not talking about ripping off everyone's layouts and making tons of clones, but rather custom modifying each pedal to a customers specifications 1 at a time.  this is obviously a nitch market business if anything not looking to get rich just suplment my ebay income any thoughts ideas would be great 






   

[mojotron]

First I think you have to ask yourself if you currently know the mechanical and electrical ways to build better pedals than anyone else.

Then, can you make the same old pedal day in and day out - fast enough to make your time worth more than minimum wage by the time you sell a pedal - factor in marketing time, build time, gas?

What do you think you can sell these pedals for? When you do the math on how much time it takes to do a good job, you may be looking at only making $10/hour.

If your idea is good enough to get an investor (Besides a relative/friend) to cover your start up costs, then you could assume the idea good enough to make a business out of. If the idea is not good enough to attract an investor, then perhaps it's not worth your time/money.

IMO, I think a lot of musicians would buy the hype on a big name pedal before they buy something custom made by someone they never heard of - so charging more to cover the extra time is likely not going to either attract enough customers. Also, if you have to have them come to where you are, you may only find a very small number of customers.

[culturejam]

It might work if you live in an area with a huge population of guitar players who have more money than they know what to do with. I imagine that the total time to test, tweak, and build a pedal in the manner you are describing would be outlandishly high. That would drive the cost beyond reasonable, I think, unless you plan to charge $0 for labor. Also, you'd be excluding all online/mail order sales.

It's a cool idea, though.

[sickbend]

IMO, I think a lot of musicians would buy the hype on a big name pedal before they buy something custom made by someone they never heard of - so charging more to cover the extra time is likely not going to either attract enough customers. Also, if you have to have them come to where you are, you may only find a very small number of customers."

very good points thank you

but what if you built a reputation at taking said "big name pedal" and modifying it to pure awesomeness robert keeley comes to mind then you become known for being the goto guy for pedal mods then you offer a service for a custom pedals to the local tone freaks on top of that put flyers up in all the guitar centers and so forth i think it may be doable if there is enough deversity in the business but i could be very wrong   

[mojotron]

...
but what if you built a reputation at taking said "big name pedal" and modifying it to pure awesomeness robert keeley comes to mind then you become known for being the goto guy for pedal mods then you offer a service for a custom pedals to the local tone freaks on top of that put flyers up in all the guitar centers and so forth i think it may be doable if there is enough deversity in the business but i could be very wrong   

Sure, I live in the Seattle area and that would work here I think - not for full time work, but if you can do business via craigslist/USPS and fliers at university campuses and GC I bet there would be enough customization work to keep you busy for 10-20 profitable hours a week. I'll buy a bunch of broken pedals once in a while too, like vintage EH pedals, or old Ibanez/Boss pedals super cheap, and resell some of those for 5x what I paid for them - you can do a mix of that like a lot of us here and make enough to make it worth it - but it's tough to do that for any real money and there's not a future there - unless, like you said - it's part of a bigger plan.

My day job is just way too intense to allow me to really sustain any sort of business related to my own electronic design/work, but at times I've been able to turn a small investment into 2x, 3x what I invested when I have time to focus on it. But, I think I would have to be focused and very disciplined to sustain a business like that long term if it were me. But, I think it is doable if you start with a small plan and an overall plan to get to bigger things.   

[banjo-guy]

  I think many people would be thrilled just to have the basic pedal types with a custom enclosure. In my opinion a lot of customers would be confused by too many choices, and would prefer to be shown fewer options.
  Many casual players would love to have, let's say, a dist+, or 808  but in a custom case

[mikemaddux]

I think it could work if you build a clientele that will allow you to use them as references.  If you can establish yourself as a "tone guru" in your area to prominent local musicians,  you may be able to cite your experiences with them and be able to prove yourself better.

You say you have a studio, so I imagine this wont be your main source of income.  You can do it...  Just don't go overboard and get in over your head... 

[Jered]

  If you can make ends meet doing this,...more power to ya. Good luck, I wish you success.
  Jered

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

I think it is a viable thing to do.
After all, some people pay for 'custom' clothing, hand-made shoes, employ landscape gardeners and so on.
The hardest part - by far - is getting to meet potential customers. If I was trying this, I would work in conjunction with guitar builders & repairers.
I don't believe that this business alone would support someone, but it would be another source of income, and these days we need as many different sources as we can get.

[runmikeyrun]

  I think many people would be thrilled just to have the basic pedal types with a custom enclosure. In my opinion a lot of customers would be confused by too many choices, and would prefer to be shown fewer options.
  Many casual players would love to have, let's say, a dist+, or 808  but in a custom case

I agree... how many times have you stood over a pedal subbing 3 or 4 different diode or transistor types, only to finally realize you dont notice a big difference and just go with the first choice?  A few options would probably work better.  Maybe have low and high gain versions for guitar and bass, and then options for different controls like switchable diode clipping.  Maybe if you had one of each type built and an array of choices for enclosures (or even just a sample of the different colors) people could just try them out right there and decide.  You could market this online as well, post sound samples and pics of enclosures, and even offer them in kit form.  "I want the high gain bass dist with dry signal blend control, in the polished UFO enclosure" sort of thing.

A lot of the allure of a high end (or my own) pedal is the enclosure- i want something cool that's going to stand out.  Having a bunch of different enclosures would allow someone to really customize their project so it is really unique. 

[sean k]

I've made my life turning my hobbies into income and after a few decades of this I think very carefully about what I actually want from an income stream before I leap in. I had a go at pedals a few years ago and found I was working too hard at something I didn't really understand and the part I liked the best was becoming subservient to the parts I didn't enjoy so much and understood least.

So take some time to consider what it is you'd most like to offer people while at the same time being what you enjoy doing the most and try and weave that into some sort of specialty service. It often pays to go for the elite  and extreme end of a spectrum instead of going for the least common denominator. That said I really think it's a matter of belief; you have to believe in what you have to offer and people who end up wanting it have to believe that they need it. Dream Big!