What would you charge for these pedals

[GrindCustoms]

What people should consider the most when selling pedals is the draw back of the price you will set at first.

You build up a customer base by building and selling any fuzz or OD out there for 100$ (i.e.) wich is REALLY cheap... unless you like to be seen as a volunteer.

More than often, with time the quality of your builts will increase (that's your skills and what people should be paying for and the reason why they got attracted by your work, not your cheap labor), you'll be using better parts because you're stashing more inventory... ...getting better components for less at that point.

Will you continue to charge per the cost of material? If i'd do so i'd be selling all my pedals 30$?

You have now built that customer base, your skills have improved, the quality level overall is higher, your name is getting know out there.. so you think of charging more for a simple OD, let say 150$... but now...  ...that customer base are used to pay 100$... No matter if you try to justify the added cost of your builds and blah blah blah.. the customer does'nt really gives a shit about that.. because the 100$ pedals where doing the job before.

It's a big take and give gamble, you'll make up on some builts and be tight with others, but the important thing is to not stuck yourself in a price range or builder category... ...'cause it will be the hardest thing to come over if you ever want to get serious.

Rej

[madbean]

FWIW how I price stuff

- Look at it.
- Pick the first number that comes to my head.
- Say "That sounds right" to no one in particular.
- Profit!

[Luke51411]

FWIW how I price stuff

- Look at it.
- Pick the first number that comes to my head.
- Say "That sounds right" to no one in particular.
- Profit!

You missed
- steal underpants

[playpunk]

I built a Duplex for a guy - charged $275 - and he's sending it back for mods. The stock G2 values make a great sounding effect, but it's very low gain and low output and kind of dark.


I've got the G2 on the breadboard right now and so far I've got it working a whole lot better with a few changes:
1) Replace the 680R resistors on the emitters of the first gain stage and first clipping stage with 100R.
2) Make the Sustain pot 100Kb and Vol pot 100Ka
3) Swap the feedback caps from 1n to 220pF.
4) In the first clipping stage, replace the single Ge diode pair with a pair of 3 Ge diodes in series. (I tried silicon here and it sounded quite different, and not so good.)

I might try these on my Duplex - I like the G2, but find it dark. When you say "3 GE diodes in series" do you mean two in series in a tent configuration or breakout board and one in its standard orientation or something else entirely?

[pickdropper]

What people should consider the most when selling pedals is the draw back of the price you will set at first.

You build up a customer base by building and selling any fuzz or OD out there for 100$ (i.e.) wich is REALLY cheap... unless you like to be seen as a volunteer.

More than often, with time the quality of your builts will increase (that's your skills and what people should be paying for and the reason why they got attracted by your work, not your cheap labor), you'll be using better parts because you're stashing more inventory... ...getting better components for less at that point.

Will you continue to charge per the cost of material? If i'd do so i'd be selling all my pedals 30$?

You have now built that customer base, your skills have improved, the quality level overall is higher, your name is getting know out there.. so you think of charging more for a simple OD, let say 150$... but now...  ...that customer base are used to pay 100$... No matter if you try to justify the added cost of your builds and blah blah blah.. the customer does'nt really gives a shit about that.. because the 100$ pedals where doing the job before.

It's a big take and give gamble, you'll make up on some builts and be tight with others, but the important thing is to not stuck yourself in a price range or builder category... ...'cause it will be the hardest thing to come over if you ever want to get serious.

Rej

Good points.

I also differentiate between a commissioned build and selling something I built for myself and am not using.

I also tell people upfront that custom graphics vary from no charge to significant charge depending on how much time it's going to take me.  Most folks are pretty reasonable when it's put in those terms.

Of course, some folks ask and then don't respond at all if they are quoted a price they don't like.  I actually have a lot of respect for the folks that politely decline.  That always seems the nicer way to handle it to me.

[alanp]

From what I've seen, though, if you have lazy, half-pai graphics like me, you're never going to sell a damn thing no matter the price.

[jubal81]

I built a Duplex for a guy - charged $275 - and he's sending it back for mods. The stock G2 values make a great sounding effect, but it's very low gain and low output and kind of dark.


I've got the G2 on the breadboard right now and so far I've got it working a whole lot better with a few changes:
1) Replace the 680R resistors on the emitters of the first gain stage and first clipping stage with 100R.
2) Make the Sustain pot 100Kb and Vol pot 100Ka
3) Swap the feedback caps from 1n to 220pF.
4) In the first clipping stage, replace the single Ge diode pair with a pair of 3 Ge diodes in series. (I tried silicon here and it sounded quite different, and not so good.)

I might try these on my Duplex - I like the G2, but find it dark. When you say "3 GE diodes in series" do you mean two in series in a tent configuration or breakout board and one in its standard orientation or something else entirely?

In that first clipping stage, replace each single diode with 3 Ge diodes in series - all pointed in same direction.

[billstein]

Thanks for all the comments. I really don't expect this to be any more than just a couple pedals now and then. I think Madbean and Grind Customs etc. are fairly safe.
I worked as a freelance graphic artist for years, it took me a long time to figure out a decent bidding formula that consistently worked. Materials + my time in hours + then double it. The reason I doubled it is because every job always took a longer than I thought it would. There was no way to foresee everything that might arise, such as that customer who makes last minute changes etc. Since I had built that buffer into the quote I didn't end up frustrated and regretting I had taken the job in the first place. 
I understand this formula won't work for pedals. I also knew there were those on this board who had gone through the sometimes painful process of figuring out what formula does work. I really want to thank all of you for sharing what you've learned through the years. Hopefully I can bypass some of the problems my ignorance would have brought into the equation so that both the customer and I end up with a good experience.

[blearyeyes]

Multi's I charge based on parts cost and the sheer amount of ball-ache they are to build.

Finally something I can relate to: Parts + markup + amount of ball-ache.