For those who have concerns about me.....

[GrindCustoms]

Hi everyone, i'm pretty much new here, but it appears obvious to many of you that i build pedal in a commercial way. Can't deny that is the truth, in fact pedal building/DIY supply, his my only income at the moment.

I received a pm from Jkokura(Jacob/JMK) concerning my intentions toward buying is pcb's, i'm really glad that he contacted me about that, because it gave me the opportunity to discuss with a great person and point out some aspect of my buisness and make them clear.

If i'm posting this, it's because i tought maybe Brian and Josh would also like to be aware of my activities.

For me the most important points are being honest and legit.

The pedals that i sell commercially are the Chimaera and Clean Boost, i have other design on their way, OD, Fuzz and various audio solutions.....these are my layouts, that i have in some case bought the intellectual properties from their original owners or come up with my version of the circuits. These are what i sell commercially.

I do custom builts for close friends, against a bit of money that covers the parts and a bit of labor...but i mostly get paid with BBQ and beer (way better than paypal!haha).

When i do full custom buits for people i don't really know, i will use vero/perf layouts or pcb from people who gave their approbation for that said use of their work (CJ for exemple).

So all in all...i don't know if this makes much sense, but i just want you guys (pcb manufacturer) to be confident that when i buy you pcb, it's for my private use or for close friends, like alot of other guys.

If i ever want to do a small run of a circuit that his not my property or that is said to not be used in a commercial way, be sure that i will contact you prior to do anything.

Thanks

Rej

[culturejam]

Rej is a good guy. And extremely honest and forthright.

[jimmybjj]

+1 Rej is a good dude. That's for being forthcoming.

[GrindCustoms]

Thanks guys

I did'nt post this to get the praise of anyone, not at all....., but simply to be sure there was'nt a dark cloud over my head....

By the way, Jimmy, could you pm me the mouser part number for the SMD trimpot....i totally lost that in the interweb.....

Rej

[pickdropper]

Yep, Rej is a good dude.

[juansolo]

To be fair, I consider myself a DIYer, but I will make pedals for people. These are usually people I know, have met or know online via a UK based guitar forum (I have never advertised and do not have a 'buy my pedals' website). I encourage people to buy the originals from enlightened companies, but admit that I'm morally flexible when it comes to some of the others. I have made quite a few klones for example and I have used PCBs obtained from here there and everywhere to do so (I REALLY can't be arsed to make that on vero. I'm bored enough of making the damn things as it is! But every bugger wants one...).

Given that I've been selling odd ones here and there for probably the last couple of years, I still haven't made a penny that's gone into my back pocket. It's all gone back into making more pedals, which is why I do it. What it means is that both Cleggy and my pedals are paid for. To a point as I seem to constantly run a couple of hundred quid or so in the red and need to sell a couple more to make it back Essentially I cover my costs and a bit of labour and the labour costs I charge are pitifully small for the work involved.

Which brings us back to the never ending moral debate when it comes to selling DIY pedals. I suspect what I do will be offensive to someone. I've come to the conclusion you can't even make the things for yourself without pissing someone off somewhere. Though I hope it doesn't piss off bean or CJ who are people I'd rather not offend.

Oh and Rej is the man. It's cold up there, the dude needs to keep warm!

[culturejam]

It's pretty hard to piss me off. Especially when it comes to build pedals. What pisses me off is when people try to stop you from building any given pedal.

[juansolo]

Thankfully I've never had that, but then I'm (hopefully) below the radar enough not to kop for that sort of nonsense. Anyhow I'm in the UK so I can always claim cultural differences / language difficulties

[jkokura]

Just to clarify, my concern with Rej was merely one of encouragement to communicate clearly. I have no issues with DIYers selling pedals with PCBs I make, IF they talk to me about it first. Just send me a message, no biggie.

Jacob

[GrindCustoms]

In all honesty, i never tought that my DIY activities would have turn out as a prolific buisness, in fact it's growing bigger everyday.

My offerings are now sold via a distributor in Quebec wich is another DIY friend who's the owner, you can check out www.arsenalmusical.com

I'll try to make a short story of all this....

I started GrindCustoms 2 years ago, as a guitar repair/modifying/custom shop. I have a luthier formation, a 6month course that i took in a private school when i was 17 years old (now 28). Always did those kind of job as a sideline or service to good friends or people that it worth it to help them out.

My first goal was too start my own guitar line, in fact, i have 3 distinct models all modelized on AutoCad and ready to go, a blend of modern and old school fabrication process, using CNC milling.

The only problem i had to launch this............MONEY, it costs a shitload of money to launch a guitar company.

So...., at a certain point i realized that i may not be able to launch it, so i had to find a way to raise money and keep a good activity going in the music industry at the same. Building pedals did'nt came at first.

I decided to become a BareKnuckles Pickup, SIT and Kerly Strings Dealer, but it turned out to be a bunch of problems.

So one day.....with 35$ in my paypal account, i decided to order a Confidence Boost from BYOC, an enclosure pot, switch, knob...........well...box up that first basic kit......., so i did.

I builted it, played it and showed it to some of my friend here, who where really impressed by the fact that i could build guitar pedals. So 2 of them asked me to build them a buffer each, wich i sold for a bit of money including parts and labor.

Since that first 35$ that i spent to build that boost (1 year ago), all my DIY activities never costed me nothing........, it kind of exploded........, nobody was offering this in my area and already had a popular facebook page.....and that brought me where i am now...........over 100 pedal sold in 1 year (it will be my first anniversary as a builder in 3 days.hehe!)

So it's a bit of luck and buisness flare.

My first real succes was with the CleanBoost, wich is based on Barry's (guitarpcb) Stage 3 Booster but with some tweaks to suit it to what i wanted.

I than discovered the Klon..........and that! Really made something big happen, so it was just normal that i get my own layout of it.

Some folks have bought me 20 to 40 pcb of the Chimaera layout, with the purpose of building for selling, even using my promotion clips to promote and help their sells. How do i feel about that: Fawking Great!

Why, because the individual who buys that pedal in my circuit in it, when he opens the lid of his enclosure, what do he see, he sees ME, and come back to me, because he sees me as the source of the fun his having at the moment.

So it's promotion and publicity for me aswell.

But that is my vision of the thing...........i must say that i've grown in a different culture, different habits and i'm a MetalHead with a true hippie spirit...........and...........i'm leaning more toward the socialist or communist state of mind...than capitalism wich is the death of being.....but the born of the blinded!

I'll always respect how other people want their goods to be used, because yes! they are the one who put the time and effort it what they are offering. And natural as it can be, we don't all have the same «tought patterns».

I have tons of respect for everyone in this underground industry, forum like this one, BYOC, CircuitWorkshop are too me some of the best place on the net. I've «met» some of the nicest people ever on these message board.

So! Kudos to all you, no matter what happens in my life, all i have to do is log in one of these board and the feel good feeling strikes me again in a gentle pulse of addictive geekness!

Hell Yeah!

Rej

[GrindCustoms]

Just to clarify, my concern with Rej was merely one of encouragement to communicate clearly. I have no issues with DIYers selling pedals with PCBs I make, IF they talk to me about it first. Just send me a message, no biggie.

Jacob

+1

That's what i tried to say in my first post........., it was probably un-clear......., sorry about that

[DutchMF]

Hey Rej, Big +1 to your activities!! I sincerely respect you for taking the plunge and doing this, and supporting the DIY community in the process. It's a shame we're in such distant parts of this wonderful world, as I've got a feeling we would have a great time doin' some beers together. It's really interesting to read how you got your start in the DIY business, thanks for sharing. Hope you can build an empire (and we all can say we knew you in the beginning!)

Paul

[GrindCustoms]

Thanks Paul

I doubt that i'll become famous.........., well thinking of it...........i could..., JHS and AnalogMan are professional cloners......Hahahahaha!

Yeah, that's off topic, but i started the thread so...........i can do it...

All that Booteek, unicorn shitdrop that makes even harmonic distortion and mojo-tastic leo fender sweat..............is something that i strongly fight against.

So no, i never want to become a «boutique» builder, i'm just a builder...who enjoy putting circuits together that will generate a noise!

It's all about the noise! hehe

[bigmufffuzzwizz]

I'm with you too on this. I've built one offs for my buddies, I don't feel like I ever charge the amount of work I put into it and it basically pays for me to continue building for myself.
I haven't spoken to you yet but you sound all good and I'm glad to see how many projects your involved in here and over at BYOC. Keep it up!