Box Design

[KinkyWinks]

One of my suppliers in Korea can produce the electronics but, is looking for something new in the way of the box. He thinks that a new shape, color, logo, or magic, will make his boxes more attractive, and they will sell better. I have no experience with boxes other than used a few over the years.
Do you think he is right?, wrong?, maybe?
Would anyone be interested in working with him? or maybe entering a "Design the Box" contest with the prize to be a whole lot of pickup parts or other guitar parts?
Thanks,
Dennis Antel
Guitar Parts USA

[LeftyStrat]

One of my suppliers in Korea can produce the electronics but, is looking for something new in the way of the box. He thinks that a new shape, color, logo, or magic, will make his boxes more attractive, and they will sell better. I have no experience with boxes other than used a few over the years.
Do you think he is right?, wrong?, maybe?
Would anyone be interested in working with him? or maybe entering a "Design the Box" contest with the prize to be a whole lot of pickup parts or other guitar parts?
Thanks,
Dennis Antel
Guitar Parts USA

I'm sure he's right. The standard powder coated hammond boxes don't do much to set a pedal apart from the gazillion other ones on the market.

The big question is what manufacturing techniques are available for the design? Die casting, stamped metal, CNC engraving, etc.

I've had some success using die cast aluminum, using CNC engraving to do lettering and graphics, and then hand polishing aluminum. But the polishing part is pretty labor intensive. Then you still need to apply some type of clear coat to keep the aluminum from oxidizing.

If he has capabilities for casting his own shapes, the skies the limit. Given the choice between a fuzz face in the standard hammond box or one in that round face looking case, every kid on the block is going to choose the round one.

[Mark Hammer]

Distinctive boxes can help to set a line of products apart from the many also-rans. If you go to a site like MusicToyz and take a gander at how many "manufacturers" produce everything in Hammond 1590B or BB boxes, it's a wonder any of them can sell more product than to just family members and the barband guys they know in their area.

Another feature of distinctive boxes is as a form of counterfeit protection. By "counterfeit" I mean something sold AS an original (with the same price tag), not simply as a declared clone of another pedal. Several years back, Zachary Vex stumbled onto some counterfeit SHO pedals being sold in Japan. Since the hand-painted graphics were not so familiar to buyers that they could tell the difference between a real and fake, all it took to make a fake was a 1590B and some painting. I strongly doubt that anyone would attempt to produce counterfeit Roger Mayer or Klon pedals, given the very distinctive chassis those two use.

At the same time, there is much to be said for being able to keep production costs down by using an easily available commercial chassis, and much to be said for adopting a "standardized" package which lines up well with other things in one's pedalboard. Personally, I thought that Electro-Harmonix' shift to cast aluminum would hurt them in the end, but it seems I was wrong, wrong, wrong. People LIKE being able to buy the pedals cheaper and cram more of them on a pedalboard.

The ideal is something that: a) take abuse, b) doesn't require THAT much paint or finishing, c) provides room for as many controls as any product in one's complete (extant and future) line would need, d) keeps feet and controls a safe distance from each other, e) permits easy battery change, f) affords flexibility in board layout.

Although Hammond makes some nice ones, there is a dearth of sturdy sloped front bent sheet-aluminum cases. The Hammond ones have the side walls outside the top/front panel. Something optimized for floor pedal use would have the sloped-top panel resting on top of the bottom/side panel such that the sides act as rigid support for the top when one hits any stompswitch.

Folded metal is something you can have just about any sheet-metal place make for you. If you have a well-chosen standard size, you can leave the bottom/side panel plain and finish the top panel only, same way that EHX and Menatone (among others) do. Although a lot of places have switched to Hammond-style boxes, two-piece folded metal chassis hasn't hurt Full-tone or impinged on the value of Way Huge or Lovetone pedals.

[KinkyWinks]

He can get anything done in the way of manufacturing process. He's just a bit short on ideas. I think he was involved with some pedals that looked like "Land Mines"

[JJGross]

There is a guy (can't remember the name) on either the BYOC forum or the DIYStompboxes forum that is selling welded stepped aluminum enclosures. The front part of the top where the switch goes is slanted high in back and lower in front, then the forward part of the top (about an inch of it) is stepped down to slightly recess the controls. That part is flat and parallel to the floor. He also does round enclosures that way that aren't like the 'landmine' fuzzface type, but more like little hat boxes. Check out those forums and search for "round enclosures". You should find them.

Cheers

[LeftyStrat]

Okay, here's a few designs, complete with marketing names:

Die cast aluminum in the shape of a football (American): Foot Ballz

Die cast in the shape of a bare foot like this:

http://spideraccessories.stores.yaho...footpedal.html

Call 'em "Stompers" or "Big Footz"

How about in the shape of a map of Texas. Nothing screams roadhouse blues like a pedal in the shape of Texas, manufactured in Korea

An inverted pentagram for the death metal crowd and your line of 666 pedals.

Man, and I'm only on my second cup of coffee...

[Mark Hammer]

While it is always nice to see something a little different than the same old Hammond boxes, the urge to have a compact pedalboard with jacks in convenient locations is often stronger among pro musicians. There is much to be said for the good old rectangle, and as Moolon has shown amply, Hammond boxes CAN be distinctive. The other thing to consider is how much a custom chassis would add to the production cost of the pedal and ultimately to its pricepoint. I'm sort of curious about those new Visual Sound pedals with the raised backs (they are intended to protect the controls against "wayward feet"), and wonder what % of the total production cost they represent.