Why is THAT stuff selling?

[timd]

I generally have a few pedals at a time for sale to get some parts money (and to appease the wife with this hobby of mine!) and I have noticed a weird trend. My builds that have sold the quickest are not the ones I would have guessed. I have sold a build in a spray painted CPU power supply box, an overturned stainless steel bowl (stainless is a bitch to drill btw) A random big metal box, etc. Why are these going fast when more "standard" pedal shapes are not? Are people getting sick of the status quo and looking for more random pieces? Its not a local thing - I'm selling almost all my stuff on Ebay to people I don't know...

[Cliff Schecht]

How much are you selling these goofy pedals for vs. a more standard one? If what you are saying is true, I have a lot of amp builds that would sell quickly on ebay.

[Jdansti]

Sounds like it's time to list my toilet seat build!

[markeebee]

^ I have a bid ready and waiting.

I think maybe people like to say "I bought this really mad pedal built by a deranged genius in a spitoon"  rather than "I bought a home-made fuzz".

[timd]

How much are you selling these goofy pedals for vs. a more standard one? If what you are saying is true, I have a lot of amp builds that would sell quickly on ebay.

Surprisingly - the same price!

[Mark Hammer]

Ironically, what has facilitated the boutique industry is the widespread availability of Hammond boxes, Davies knobs, and 3PDT stompswitches.  I say "ironically" because these same elements create a huge sameness to pedals.  At a certain point, folks have exhausted the permutations and combinations of colours available in knobs and powder-coated boxes, and something else is required to distinguish them.  It's not unlike the sorts of things done to make recordings and artists distinctive near the end of the vinyl era; swirl-type vinyl coloring, laser-etched patterns on the vinyl surface, 3-sided albums, etc.

Kids want something to make them seem different to others, so they can be accepted by their peer group.  I think if one logged the age of all purchasers of the unorthodox enclosures, you'd find that their average age was much lower than the average age of working musicians who depend on gigging and recording as their primary revenue stream to support themselves and their family.

[Jdansti]

Good points Mark. I don't have any kids, but does anyone know what would be popular that could be incorporated into pedals without copyright or trademark violations?  I'm not planning on doing pedals as a business, but I'm curious now that it's been brought up.

[Mark Hammer]

Well, near the end of this month there should be these things:  http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=98678.0

[Jaicen_solo]

Oh god, they look awesome! I bet shipping to the UK is going to be a killer, but I might just have to pick up a couple, or at least one to paint lime green..

[DougH]

At a certain point, folks have exhausted the permutations and combinations of colours available in knobs and powder-coated boxes, and something else is required to distinguish them. 

Yeah, like maybe what they sound like or what they actually do.

No, wait a minute... That can't be it.

[Mark Hammer]

heh, heh.  Why you little subversive....! 

[deadastronaut]

Oh god, they look awesome! I bet shipping to the UK is going to be a killer,

yep i bet.....nice boxes though!

[teemuk]

If there's one thing I've learned about audio / MI electronics it's that way things look is WAY more important than the way things sound.

[R.G.]

As H.L. Mencken said:
"No one in this world, so far as I know — and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me — has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people."

[Processaurus]

^ I have a bid ready and waiting.

I think maybe people like to say "I bought this really mad pedal built by a deranged genius in a spitoon"  rather than "I bought a home-made fuzz".

I've always liked this guys work, who uses soviet era geiger counters and the like as boxes for effects and synths:
http://tim-kaiser.org/?p=600

Musicians are weirdos, and like weird objects.  Go to their houses. 

[Paul Marossy]

As H.L. Mencken said:
"No one in this world, so far as I know — and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me — has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people."

I wish there was a "Like" button on this forum. 

[timd]

I was envisioning the people buying the pedals to be slightly eccentric - and probably not live musicians. I imagine the builds will sit on a shelf in a room waiting to be conversation starters.

[Mike Burgundy]

I was envisioning the people buying the pedals to be slightly eccentric - and probably not live musicians. I imagine the builds will sit on a shelf in a room waiting to be conversation starters.

No no no, not really. The biggest conversation starter I have seen regarding a pedal was a booster housed in a Volkswagen Beetle model car (cast metal). Stomp through the roof, controls hidden inside the doors... looked brilliant, but had a tendency to roll off the stage when stomped. Or send the stomper flying.

Edit: Oh, and guess what the indicator LED was/were... ;P

[davent]

I was envisioning the people buying the pedals to be slightly eccentric - and probably not live musicians. I imagine the builds will sit on a shelf in a room waiting to be conversation starters.

No no no, not really. The biggest conversation starter I have seen regarding a pedal was a booster housed in a Volkswagen Beetle model car (cast metal). Stomp through the roof, controls hidden inside the doors... looked brilliant, but had a tendency to roll off the stage when stomped. Or send the stomper flying.

Edit: Oh, and guess what the indicator LED was/were... ;P

From a thread at Amp Garage

[Mark Hammer]

Somebody should start a line of unusual and silly chassis, or paintjobs, or rehousings, and call their product line "Scherzo": the Italian term for a musical joke, which is what I think some folks seek in a pedal sometimes.  Sometimes the joke comes in the form of the legending or pedal name (see DOD distortions, or Metasonix pedals), sometimes in the form of the paint job (like those blood-spattered paint jobs, swirls, or even early ZVEX paintjobs), and sometimes in the form of a playful chassis (see the Danelectro Shift Daddy, or Wasabi pedals, or Expandora).  People LIKE the lighthearted in their equipment, whether it is a change from dreary black tolex to a different color or offset speaker grill in their amp, or silly knobs or flames or rust or "monkey grips" or dangerous points on their guitars, or goofy straps.

Nuthin' wrong with a little fun.  It's only rock and roll, after all.