Painting Pedals (Fans,Participants,Naysayers,etc...)

[Craigfnh]

Looks are important! I want my board to give me good vibes visually as well as how it sounds. I have owned a couple Arion pedals and liked them but I sold em because I hated looking at them. Same with some of the Dano mini's, very cheesy, although I am using the PB&J delay until I have enough cash for a better delay (we are buying a house right now and I am forbiden to buy any pedals).

[#16]

Originally posted by Craigfnh Looks are important! I want my board to give me good vibes visually as well as how it sounds. I have owned a couple Arion pedals and liked them but I sold em because I hated looking at them. Same with some of the Dano mini's, very cheesy, although I am using the PB&J delay until I have enough cash for a better delay (we are buying a house right now and I am forbiden to buy any pedals).

We will buy you a shovel.....
Bury her in the new garden!
:D

[Craigfnh]

HAHA, no she is very cool! Just not a good time for buying gear right now. We have talked about our tax return next february and she is totally cool with me spending $1000 for gear!!! I am already planning!!! I can't wait.

[#16]

Originally posted by Craigfnh HAHA, no she is very cool! Just not a good time for buying gear right now. We have talked about our tax return next february and she is totally cool with me spending $1000 for gear!!! I am already planning!!! I can't wait.

:thu:

[fernmeister]

i like this



and I like this

[varialbender]

I love:
Red Witch for the simple chrome sex appeal, and for a few of their custom colours which looked spectacular. The knob layout and simple graphics looked great with almost any colour combo, but they chose the colours well;
Moog for the strange vintage analog feel I get from the large boxes and wood pannels. The tilt and relatively simple face vs. crowded jacks in the back add to the feeling that I'm playing a modular synth;
ZVex for the handpainted simplicity. There's not huge detail, and that makes you feel that it's handpainted even more, which just adds to the separation from his pedals vs. most;
Catalinbread for the single colour with high detail black silkscreened single object. As for the semaphore, that's a bit different, but the colour combination there is great, and the ovals add to that... retro? feel (same sorta thing the laura b zvex pedals have with the odd colours and geometry);
Banzai for the unique enclosures with colours that pop very nicely;
EHX also for the retro/vintage thing;
Toneczar also for the chrome, but not as much as Red Witch (I think the added colour, not just always black, does it for me);
Some MXR for the simplicity and good choice of colours;
Diamond for the few custom boxes. Black is particularly slick with the silver knobs. Pink is pretty hot. Gold is beautiful, but that one's yours eh Donner?

In all, I think very few colours but very well chosen ones, along with minimal texture (unless it's like the gold donner, or other slick textures, nothing rugid), and subtle graphics make for my kind of pedal.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately, as I'm hoping to release a trem/ringmod/pan soon, and am paying a lot of attention to the look. The reason looks are so important to me is that they are gas inducing, and that's the best way to sell a pedal that no one has tried before. Once people have tried it, a pedal needs to sound good, so those who purchase based on reviews and word of mouth buy them, and those who already bought them keep them. Another reason is that it instills trust in the builder, as has been mentioned, and I think that's a very reasonable way of thinking.

I've been interested in having someone paint my boxes for me, as I would hate to put out an ugly pedal by doing it myself and possible trying to save money by not paying someone else. If I find out that I *can* paint well, awesome, but if not, I need a painter. Any recommendations?

I've messaged Swank (did you get my message adolf?) but am afraid that they might be geared towards smaller runs. Hopefully he tells me otherwise, and hopefully I can afford that. I couldn't find any info about purchasing yours, Donner, since it seems you're still working towards adding that section of your website. If you're able to do larger runs for reasonable rates, let me know, cause your stuff definitely looks great.

Any tips on painting them myself? I'm not a complete dud. I'm actually pretty decent with the visual art. It's more of a cherry I'm afraid to pop. Then again, that might look nice.

Thanks

[gil1]

I like good looking (and hopefully matching) pedals.

I fight not liking the sound of a pedal because I don't like the look.

But I really want sound to win.