Custom painted, flame enclosures. Interested?

[AntKnee]

Some of you may have seen my build report on my Tube Driver, which was custom painted by my dad. (See attached pic.) He has expressed some interest in painting some and making them available for purchase. I thought this would be a great forum to gauge interest and see what you all would be willing to pay for a custom flame-painted enclosure. He would use the high quality powder coated enclosures from PPP that we all know well. I am also curious to know what colors you all would prefer, and any other input anyone may have regarding this possible venture.

So, in your reply, please let me know:
1. Would you buy one?
2. How much would you pay? (Be reasonable here, please. It is custom work, after all.)
3. What colors would you prefer?
4. Any other comments?

If you would prefer to PM your reply, feel free to do so.

Thanks!

[jkokura]

1. I would buy 2-3
2. $12-15 plus shipping each
3. I like a light blue on Black, or other flame colours on pretty much anything
4. Really reminds me of one of my favourite punk albums. Slick Shoes' 'Burn Out'. I'd love an enclosure or two like that album cover.

http://punkmart.ocnk.net/data/punkmart/product/d6a0bef168.jpg

Jacob

[aballen]

I would do a few at that price too.  Oddly enough I was thinking blue on black as well... I like how your dads fades to white too.  Black with red to yellow would be sweet too.

[AntKnee]

12 to 15 will barely cover the box from PPP. We are talking about hours of paint work spread over multiple days. It probably is not a practical idea, after all.

[jimilee]

It really is beautiful work, but we're a bunch of broke musicians. it would be worth a one off if I was building for a client, but you're right, not practical for just sitting around the house. Again, it's beautiful work and every much worth a nice price tag.

[selfdestroyer]

I agree with Jimi. Its a labor of love for sure. Sometime we do things that take us hours to do and is challenging and its hard to get others to pay the price for our labor. If it was something that was mass produced then cost would go down... I think you got mad painting & masking skills and I am sure you will make some money with this.

Cody

[culturejam]

12 to 15 will barely cover the box from PPP. We are talking about hours of paint work spread over multiple days. It probably is not a practical idea, after all.

It really probably isn't all that practical in terms of labor involved vs price tolerance of this niche market. As Jimi pointed out, we're a notoriously cheap bunch of bastards. I mean, we'll drop $100 on resistors, but it had better be a screaming deal on a per-unit basis. 

Maybe work with your dad to develop a template that you can use to reduce the labor cost?

[AntKnee]

All good things.
Thanks for the feedback.

[Justus]

I agree with what was said above.  Also, consider that this is the DIY realm, where people tend to want to do it themselves.  For instance, I was/am considering creating my own relay bypass switch to use soft-touch SPST momentary switches for my effects' on/off.  This has already been done, so I wouldn't have to reinvent the wheel.  I really, really like looks of the Uber Switch that TH Customs put out, and the low price point at which he sells that package makes it insane for me to go through all the work to develop my own.  For my low-volume application, I could barely buy the parts for what he's asking for the entire kit, let alone have the PCB fabricated.  But, I'm still considering it just because doing something like that myself is a challenge, and I'd get satisfaction from doing it.

Creating custom enclosures is a similar concept when considering the DIY realm.  For what it's worth, my guess is you'd likely have better luck selling those enclosures, with working circuits already boxed in them, to people who want to buy entire effects pedals.  Not saying you have a bad product, just saying the market would likely be much bigger and looser with cash.