Clear Cases

[Sweetfinger]

The slightly greener alternative plastic is PLA or 'corn plastic' which is likely available in some sort of clamshell packaging, or possibly a molded box. The classic 'white cardboard box with paper label' is sort of the go-to packaging for the higher volume boutique winder. Fralin, Highlander, and GFS use it. The nicer box(printed, or some other color than white) works for TV Jones, Fishman, Baggs, EMG, Danelectro.
If you're small enough as an operation, you could easily stock various types of containers and just ask your customer how they want their stuff packaged based on their particular display needs- Duncan-style plastic, white box, clamshell, or "Possum Baggie"

There are many products that lend themselves to 'green' packaging, but guitar pickups will pretty much always look and sell best in a slick clear plastic box. Pickups have metal covers, colored wire and screws that all appeal to the primitive "bird" part of the guitarist's brain...the part that likes small shiny objects! If I had any free time, I'd design some universal pickup packaging for Y'all and source a manufacturer.

[Spence]

Dave, as I said, people re-use my packaging. Isn't that a good thing?

If you want to sell something and can't deliver by hand, you have to have some sort of appropriate packaging.
Cardboard may sound like a nice green alternative but right at the start of the chain are murdered trees. If your packaging contained tree seeds so people could plant your packaging then that would be much better.

My boxes carry this symbol:

That means it's polypropylene.

Plastic bottles, containers and packaging typically have a symbol that indicates the type of plastic resin from which the item was made. The resin coding system was introduced in 1988 by the American Society of Plastics Industry (SPI). The symbols imprinted on plastic bottles, containers and packaging are a variation of the original three wide mobius arrows.They have been modified to a simpler and thinner version.


How are paper and cardboard made?
Paper and cardboard are mostly made from a fibre called cellulose that comes from trees harvested from plantations and forests.

Wood chips are mechanically and/or chemically treated to release the fibres. This produces a pulp which is then mixed with large amounts of water to make a slurry (mush) that is passed over a continuous, rapidly moving mesh. The water is drawn through the mesh, leaving the fibres behind. This damp paper is then passed over a series of rollers to flatten and dry it, then rolled onto huge spools, and sent to factories for cutting and shaping.

Each time paper is recycled the fibres shorten and lose strength, so new fibres have to be added. Some paper and cardboard are made from other fibres such as cotton or hemp.

Blimey, all that industry and gallons of chemicals to make cardboard.

What about paper then?

Some paper is made brand-new from trees - either small trees harvested just for that purpose, or from sawmill scraps left over when larger trees are made into lumber. A second source of papermaking material is recycled fiber. Each year, more and more paper is recycled - its fibers used a second, third or fourth time. Every year, about 50% of the paper Americans use is recovered for recycling and other uses.

Almost all of the paper you use today is made of wood fibers. Some specialty papers, like stationery and money, are made from linen, cotton, or other plants. Other papers contain a combination of cellulose fibers and synthetics such as latex. Still others are made completely from synthetic materials such as polyolefine. You might find latex in a waterproof mariner's chart, or polyolefine in a rugged courier envelope. But you'll find natural fiber paper almost everywhere!

Hardwood trees such as oaks and maples have wood with very short fibers. Paper made from these species is weaker than that made from softwoods, but its surface is smoother, and therefore better to write and print on.

Softwood trees such as pine and spruce have wood with long fibers, and paper made from this type of wood is much stronger. This paper is ideal for making products like shipping containers that require superior strength. But the finish is rougher, and that's not as good for writing, printing and many other uses.

Happily, we can blend fiber from hardwoods and softwoods into a single paper, getting just the combination of strength, whiteness, writing surface and other characteristics that we want.

And that's just what we do! Most of the paper you see today is made from both hardwoods and softwoods, a special blend for each purpose.

We make newsprint to be opaque (that means difficult to see through) - so you only see the newspaper's comics, not the stock market report on the other side!

We make grocery bag paper strong, tissue soft, fine writing paper smooth. Even within the same category, there's quite a range. Among printing papers, for example, compare the thin sheets of a Bible to the thick, tough pages of a kid's picture book.

The basic recipe - wood, water and energy - is adjusted to make just the paper that's needed.

First, workers harvest trees, mostly from special tree-growing areas called tree farms. After the trees are removed, more trees are planted in their place.

The logs are transported to the paper company where they get a bath to rinse away dirt and other impurities before being turned into small chips of wood. The chips are then sorted according to size, and moved to the pulping operation, where they will be turned into pulp for making paper.

In the pulping stage, the individual wood fibers in the chips must be separated from one another. This can be accomplished using one or more pulping techniques. The type of paper that's being made determines the pulping process that is used. The finished pulp looks like a mushy, watery solution. But if you look at it under a microscope, you will see that the individual wood fibers have all been separated.

Now it's time to make paper out of our pulp. That mainly means getting the water out of the wood-fiber soup, since this papermaking stock is about 99% water. The first area in which this takes place is called the wet end of the papermaking machine.

First, papermakers spray the stock onto a long, wide screen, called a wire. Immediately, water begins to drain out the bottom of the wire. Meanwhile, the pulp fibers are caught on the top side of the wire, and begin to bond together in a very thin mat. The fiber mat remaining on the wire is then squeezed between felt-covered press rollers to absorb more of the water.

Even when this wet end work is over, the pulpy stuff on the wire is still about 60% water. But now it's time for the dry end.

In the dry end, huge metal cylinders are heated by filling them with steam. The wet paper, which can be up to 30 feet wide, passes through these hot rollers - sometimes dozens of them, and often in three to five groups. Heating and drying the wet sheet seals the fibers closer and closer together, turning them gradually from pulp into paper.

When you look at a piece of paper, can you find any difference in thickness in that single sheet? Probably not, thanks to a part of the paper machine called the calender - big, heavy cast iron rollers that press the drying paper smooth and uniform in thickness.

Sometimes the paper is coated, often with fine clay, to make it glossier and easier to print on.

A bit more drying, then rolled onto a big spool or reel, the pulp - a miraculous mat of fibers from trees - has become paper, ready for a thousand uses.


I'm not convinced that we should be using paper and cardboard.

[Possum]

....

Interesting paper info. Do you guys recycle in the UK? Our garbage pickup takes cardboard boxes, cereal boxes etc. alot of recycling here in Washington State.

I don't know what the world is coming to, I hope Nitewinder doesn't end up like these guys:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AZb9...eature=related

[Spence]

OurGovernment has gone beserk on recycling so we all do. having got us to recycle, they fine people for putting the wrong types of recyclables in wrong types of bags and have computer bugs in the bins to monitor how much we throw away. Now they are trying to introduce a bin tax. We all wonder why we should pay an extra tax when a huge amount of our waste goes to China for recycling and we already pay unbelievable amounts in local council taxes.

[David King]

Shed, I like some of those larger plastic boxes from your link, I suggest you all ship pickups in the 84 Ltr size so the guitarists can start using them to store their dirty laundry in the back of the tour van. Think what a boon that would be to the music industry generally.

[Spence]

I'm currently living in one of them. Beats the crap out of cardboard. Wales is too wet for that.

[Possum]

oh no....

Spence Get Out Of There, They Are Recycling More Than Cardboard.....soylent Green Is.........people!!!!!!!!!!!!

[chevalij]

Oh, luxury! I used to live in a shoe box in the middle of the road...

I'm currently living in one of them. Beats the crap out of cardboard. Wales is too wet for that.

[SonnyW]

Clear Cases

Nightwinder, You might look at these jewelry boxes. They aren't plastic cases, but they do have clear tops. Made from 60% recycled cardboard.. Not as sturdy as SD's but they do come with cotton pad insert. the 3x2x1 size fits a single coil pu well.

http://www.nashvillewraps.com/ShowSk...s=011&Type=014

I have a shot of some of mine but being quite a newbie I haven't yet figured out how to post the photo.

[David Schwab]

...
My boxes carry this symbol: [ATTACH]2638[/ATTACH]

...

I'm not convinced that we should be using paper and cardboard.

The big problem is people don't always recycle. In my household we recycle everything. We even use the plastic bags that our groceries come in as trash bags. We have very little refuse at the end of the week. Maybe one or two of those bags.

Here they take paper/carboard, glass and plastic. We have to have everything separate. But it varies by municipality. In some areas people just throw it all in the trash, and even in places where they do recycle, some people don't bother.

So a lot of plastic ends up in a land fill, and is never recycled. Also some of it that goes for recycling never gets recycled!

I can also personally attest to the fact that some printed material that claims to be printed on recycled paper is not. I've seen this with my own eyes. The reason claimed was recycled paper was more expensive. But they printed the "printed on recycled paper" notice anyway.. and probably charged the client extra as well!

So in the beginning I was going to go with those nice plastic boxes that Dimarzio and Duncan use, and then was talked out of it by my wife. Also the cardboard boxes are cheaper.

I use kraft boxes.... they are brown like paper bags, so no bleaching was done. If they don't end up getting recycled, then they will degrade, which a plastic box will not.

I get them here:

Paper Mart Packaging: Natural Kraft Gift Boxes


...

This has to be the worst offender as far as packaging. Sure you can reuse the boxes, if you buy enough of these pickups, what do you do with all of them? And how much does this increase the price of the pickups?




This is one of my boxes.

[David Schwab]

I guess you didn't actually watch the video. No one ever said global warming is CAUSING more hurricanes. Its making them STRONGER.

Hurricanes are a way for the planet to shed extra heat. Global warming also makes winters colder and weather more extreme.

It just turned summer here (yesterday) and we are having freaky weather... we have been having a thunder storm every day for the past two weeks! We are having one now. Then the sun comes back out. Sometimes this happens a few times a day.

[greenfingers]

Does any one have a problem with sending there pickups to the other side of the world?

All those air miles don't help things

[David Schwab]

Does any one have a problem with sending there pickups to the other side of the world?

I've sent pickups to New Zealand and France with no problems.

[Spence]

Nice one Greenfingers. You may just have given me the perfect excuse. I'll say that I've sent them by eco-friendly carrier pidgeon. Who knows when they may turn up or even if they will turn up. Who could complain. I'll just strap the pickups to the pidgeon's back and hope the magnetic field doesn't screw up his navigation.

But seriously, you made the perfect point.

[kevinT]

Your box looks nice. What do you use for stuffing? That Rockfield box was the one i was refering to earlier. I guess you could store guitar picks or something in there. I wonder how much those costs to make?


The other issue about packaging is having something unique that stands out and is different from competitors

The big problem is people don't always recycle. In my household we recycle everything. We even use the plastic bags that our groceries come in as trash bags. We have very little refuse at the end of the week. Maybe one or two of those bags.

Here they take paper/carboard, glass and plastic. We have to have everything separate. But it varies by municipality. In some areas people just throw it all in the trash, and even in places where they do recycle, some people don't bother.

So a lot of plastic ends up in a land fill, and is never recycled. Also some of it that goes for recycling never gets recycled!

I can also personally attest to the fact that some printed material that claims to be printed on recycled paper is not. I've seen this with my own eyes. The reason claimed was recycled paper was more expensive. But they printed the "printed on recycled paper" notice anyway.. and probably charged the client extra as well!

So in the beginning I was going to go with those nice plastic boxes that Dimarzio and Duncan use, and then was talked out of it by my wife. Also the cardboard boxes are cheaper.

I use kraft boxes.... they are brown like paper bags, so no bleaching was done. If they don't end up getting recycled, then they will degrade, which a plastic box will not.

I get them here:

Paper Mart Packaging: Natural Kraft Gift Boxes


...

This has to be the worst offender as far as packaging. Sure you can reuse the boxes, if you buy enough of these pickups, what do you do with all of them? And how much does this increase the price of the pickups?




This is one of my boxes.