Premier guitar Bill Finnegan article

[jkokura]

Yeah, I just did the math. If he sold 8000 units, at a modest $325, that's 2.6 mil over 15 years. Even with his production costs, That's still 175 thou a year gross.

Jacob

That assumes that every sale is direct. I thought he had dealers, but I could be mistaken.

There is also the cost of tooling up and producing a unique enclosure.  It probably wasn't a fortune, but it would likely be more than getting an off the shelf box.

It also assumes no cost of running the business, but I have no idea what that was (doesn't sound like he has significant costs).

I assumed direct sales. That's what I was lead to believe on the interweb.

Rolling out the box would be pricey, but spread over 8000 units? Even if it were $25 per unit ($200,000), that's still $300 per unit left over...

Running a business would be assumed no matter what. With a gross of $175K per year averaged out, I'd assume anyone running any business with any sort of profit would have the same expenses: An accountant, and taxes.

Jacob

[aion]

Well, whatever he thinks of cloners, at least he has a firm grasp of the legal situation and isn't going after them with threats.

There are a few other big names who aren't so gracious (and who will remain nameless, lest they do vanity searches for themselves).

[pickdropper]

Yeah, I just did the math. If he sold 8000 units, at a modest $325, that's 2.6 mil over 15 years. Even with his production costs, That's still 175 thou a year gross.

Jacob

That assumes that every sale is direct. I thought he had dealers, but I could be mistaken.

There is also the cost of tooling up and producing a unique enclosure.  It probably wasn't a fortune, but it would likely be more than getting an off the shelf box.

It also assumes no cost of running the business, but I have no idea what that was (doesn't sound like he has significant costs).

I assumed direct sales. That's what I was lead to believe on the interweb.

Rolling out the box would be pricey, but spread over 8000 units? Even if it were $25 per unit ($200,000), that's still $300 per unit left over...

Running a business would be assumed no matter what. With a gross of $175K per year averaged out, I'd assume anyone running any business with any sort of profit would have the same expenses: An accountant, and taxes.

Jacob

Yeah, I could be wrong about the dealers; I seem to recall hearing dealers talk about carrying Klons.  I took a quick search and didn't find anything, although I did find out they used to be $279.

I'm the end, the conjecture is fun.  I am sure his take, whatever it was, was a decent wage (perhaps more than decent) and I think that's great.  He brought a cool product to market (even if he didn't fully design it himself) and made a nice living off it for more than a decade.

I think the real downside to doing all if the building himself is that it kept him occupied enough to prevent him from working on a new design.

Or maybe he is working a successor now.  One that will be harder to copy.  "The Wrath of Klon."

[playpunk]

This article cracked me up. His contributions to the circuit were, as far as I could tell, wanting a really good overdrive, which is a really exclusive desire amongst guitarists, and having the persistence and connections with actual engineers to make it happen.

He is just a whiny doofus, in my opinion, or maybe a crazy person. This article makes me want to build all of the clones, and sell 'em all on ebay at my material cost.

[Cortexturizer]

Well that escalated quickly, lol. You sure did justify your user name playpunk
Although I agree that the Klon creator leaves an impression of a slightly cray cray personae...

[aion]

"The Wrath of Klon."

That's funny... I actually did a custom Centaur build for someone in town a few months ago and he wanted it to say "The Wrath of Klon" on the front as a jab toward Bill. Wish I'd taken a picture of it before it left the house!

He used to own a real one, and said that when he originally bought it from Bill over the phone, he got grilled over his gear and playing style. And not just making conversation - he felt like Bill wanted to make sure he was good enough to have a Centaur.

[midwayfair]

cray cray

Annnnd I read this in the proper accent. Thanks for the laugh! 

[Micpoc]

Hell, I wished he'd make the enclosure alone available.

[angrykoko]

doofus

That made me laugh.   
And I was feeling left out and needed to post with the cool kids.

[pickdropper]

This article cracked me up. His contributions to the circuit were, as far as I could tell, wanting a really good overdrive, which is a really exclusive desire amongst guitarists, and having the persistence and connections with actual engineers to make it happen.

Well, in fairness to him, that is incredibly common in business.  Somebody in a company comes up with a marketable concept and then the engineers have to implement it.  In many cases, the person who came up with the concept may feel a certain ownership of the idea, even though they couldn't have done it on their own.

[selfdestroyer]

I think the point to this story is not to sell yourself short with resources and time. If you are going to make something that is popular and with such a high demand you need others to help or else its a battle of creation and distribution. More and more I think to myself "he did it to himself."

I do think he built a great circuit and had a great run at the market but you cant keep going over a decade on one design. I have NEVER read about/seen a company with just one product that has been around for 15 years.

As I see it:

• Make cool pedal and show it to the masses.
• Accepted by masses and the demand is made.
• Praise is given by people of the interwebs.
• Make as many pedals as I can to keep up with demand.
• Waiting list grows.
• People become unhappy with having to wait 10-12 weeks for pedal or more.
• Comments reflect unhappy people on the interwebs.
• Prices drive up for second had ones due to waiting list.
• People blame designer for high prices and smash him on the interwebs.

I have more to add but I have to clock back in at work.. will have to wait.

Cody

[juansolo]

Well, whatever he thinks of cloners, at least he has a firm grasp of the legal situation and isn't going after them with threats.

There are a few other big names who aren't so gracious (and who will remain nameless, lest they do vanity searches for themselves).

Oh he's been there, done that and got the T-shirt.

This article cracked me up. His contributions to the circuit were, as far as I could tell, wanting a really good overdrive, which is a really exclusive desire amongst guitarists, and having the persistence and connections with actual engineers to make it happen.

Well, in fairness to him, that is incredibly common in business.  Somebody in a company comes up with a marketable concept and then the engineers have to implement it.  In many cases, the person who came up with the concept may feel a certain ownership of the idea, even though they couldn't have done it on their own.

Ahhh, a project manager. I remember those

[culturejam]

Blah blah. I had something here, but then thought better of it. 

[juansolo]

I'm actually proud of myself for only getting involved here. 

[pickdropper]

Well, whatever he thinks of cloners, at least he has a firm grasp of the legal situation and isn't going after them with threats.

There are a few other big names who aren't so gracious (and who will remain nameless, lest they do vanity searches for themselves).

Oh he's been there, done that and got the T-shirt.

This article cracked me up. His contributions to the circuit were, as far as I could tell, wanting a really good overdrive, which is a really exclusive desire amongst guitarists, and having the persistence and connections with actual engineers to make it happen.

Well, in fairness to him, that is incredibly common in business.  Somebody in a company comes up with a marketable concept and then the engineers have to implement it.  In many cases, the person who came up with the concept may feel a certain ownership of the idea, even though they couldn't have done it on their own.

Ahhh, a project manager. I remember those

Actually, I was thinking of the sales department.  The Product and Project Manager are layers unto themselves.