DF Shortscale Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 Who's out there making cool / interesting / one-off / DIY pedals in the UK at the moment? Doesn't have to be bass specific, and if you're building pedals feel free to post your pedals and works in progress here too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 If you’re buying could I please have a Horrothia teeth, COG octave and a Sine Effects high pass filter please thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DF Shortscale Posted March 17 Author Share Posted March 17 4 hours ago, LukeFRC said: If you’re buying could I please have a Horrothia teeth, COG octave and a Sine Effects high pass filter please thanks It's not so much about buying pedals, I work as a designer / illustrator, I wanted to see if any builders needed help with artwork. Not for financial gain, more as a fun side project - I have a FT job so I'm busy enough but I always wanted to create artwork for pedals and really want to contribute or collab with a new builder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 36 minutes ago, DF Shortscale said: It's not so much about buying pedals, I work as a designer / illustrator, I wanted to see if any builders needed help with artwork. Not for financial gain, more as a fun side project - I have a FT job so I'm busy enough but I always wanted to create artwork for pedals and really want to contribute or collab with a new builder. ahhhh most the builders I can think of have a distinct style already - and those who don't I haven't heard of! I'm a designer/creative director myself and have kinda loved doing artwork on pedals I have built myself... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DF Shortscale Posted March 17 Author Share Posted March 17 2 hours ago, LukeFRC said: ahhhh most the builders I can think of have a distinct style already - and those who don't I haven't heard of! I'm a designer/creative director myself and have kinda loved doing artwork on pedals I have built myself... Yeah, having looked around a bit it seems like lots of builders have a design background, if there were more hours in the day I’d go down the DIY route and start building stuff myself. Such a great platform for artwork. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted March 18 Share Posted March 18 (edited) 12 hours ago, DF Shortscale said: I wanted to see if any builders needed help with artwork. AFAICS most "boutique" pedal builders seem to be content to use artwork produced by their young children. Edited March 18 by BigRedX 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted March 18 Share Posted March 18 8 hours ago, BigRedX said: AFAICS most "boutique" pedal builders seem to be content to use artwork produced by their young children. Ouch, tell us what you really think! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DF Shortscale Posted March 19 Author Share Posted March 19 Getting artwork onto pedals is quite a challenge, I’ve been looking into this over the past few days. Scribbling directly on the casing seems like the only method that isn’t a huge commitment, which is maybe why some boutique builders choose that as their ‘aesthetic’. Screen printing is probably the nicest method but it involves using inks that are pretty toxic, the studios I would normally print in don’t allow those materials. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulThePlug Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 Home Made and Own Painted if thats ya bag... but it will sound the same... If purchasing, how much of the cost is the artwork? Little sticky letters of the bay for my Joyo British Sound and Beh (or 'Meh') Beadyeye - understated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete.young Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 On 17/03/2024 at 20:54, DF Shortscale said: It's not so much about buying pedals, I work as a designer / illustrator, I wanted to see if any builders needed help with artwork. Is there something wrong with using the labels from Left Handed Giant beer cans? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezbass Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 I went Sharpie for my home made pedals. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DF Shortscale Posted March 19 Author Share Posted March 19 8 hours ago, PaulThePlug said: Home Made and Own Painted if thats ya bag... but it will sound the same... If purchasing, how much of the cost is the artwork? Little sticky letters of the bay for my Joyo British Sound and Beh (or 'Meh') Beadyeye - understated I guess printing will up the cost by a certain amount, and paying the artist will add to the cost if the artwork is not being done in-house. From what I can find online it seems like if you want full colour, the way to print these things is using UV printing. I think the place I work at has just bought some new equipment that can do this so I might buy a few enclosures and have a go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DF Shortscale Posted March 19 Author Share Posted March 19 8 hours ago, pete.young said: Is there something wrong with using the labels from Left Handed Giant beer cans? I guess that’s similar to people who build pedals using old tin boxes, that stuff looks great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 I think you need to get over to musikding and start building things yourself! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DF Shortscale Posted March 19 Author Share Posted March 19 25 minutes ago, LukeFRC said: I think you need to get over to musikding and start building things yourself! I would love to, but there’s a full time job, a freelance career on the side, plus gigs, practice, and two mouths to feed* which unfortunately doesn’t leave much time for new hobbies.. *ok they’re just cats, but they do eat an awful lot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 On a more serious note, I suspect that one of the reasons that boutique pedal builders opt for low-cost graphic solutions is that they simply don't produce their devices in sufficiently larger numbers at a time to be able to afford anything else. For anything reasonably professional looking they would need to be considering a production runs of several hundreds minimum. I wouldn't be surprised to find that some designs are only made to order, in which case the graphics need to be capable for being produced one at a time too. The other thing is that most boutique pedal builders won't have budgeted for "design". As someone who makes their living doing graphic design (mostly for food packaging) myself I deal with quite a few clients who are doing low volume production runs. Despite the fact that I consider my rates to be competitive, many of them simply can't afford for me to create anything much more complicated in design than their logo and product name printed in a single colour on the box or label. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Passinwind Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 On 19/03/2024 at 03:20, PaulThePlug said: Home Made and Own Painted if thats ya bag... but it will sound the same... If purchasing, how much of the cost is the artwork? Here in the US Pacific Northwet, most of my UV prints cost me $6 plus one extra shipping fee since I have enclosures drop shipped directly from the vendor to the UV print shop. I typically buy two or three at a time, often different designs, since that's the most economical play as far as mitigating shipping cost. And then paying the same guy to do most of the drilling greatly speeds up building time on my end, so I usually go for that as well. But the print guy has become very busy lately and I'm sure his prices are bound to go up a bit. For reference, here are a few of his jobs he's done for me: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 3 hours ago, BigRedX said: On a more serious note, I suspect that one of the reasons that boutique pedal builders opt for low-cost graphic solutions is that they simply don't produce their devices in sufficiently larger numbers at a time to be able to afford anything else. For anything reasonably professional looking they would need to be considering a production runs of several hundreds minimum. I wouldn't be surprised to find that some designs are only made to order, in which case the graphics need to be capable for being produced one at a time too. The other thing is that most boutique pedal builders won't have budgeted for "design". As someone who makes their living doing graphic design (mostly for food packaging) myself I deal with quite a few clients who are doing low volume production runs. Despite the fact that I consider my rates to be competitive, many of them simply can't afford for me to create anything much more complicated in design than their logo and product name printed in a single colour on the box or label. I think by the time they are making runs in the hundreds they either have a style that works too. There's a lot of meh, but there's not much in the "oh my word that's awful" camp that I've seen that are professionally/semi professionally for sale. Actually now I think there are a few but ... can just ignore them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DF Shortscale Posted March 20 Author Share Posted March 20 3 hours ago, BigRedX said: On a more serious note, I suspect that one of the reasons that boutique pedal builders opt for low-cost graphic solutions is that they simply don't produce their devices in sufficiently larger numbers at a time to be able to afford anything else. For anything reasonably professional looking they would need to be considering a production runs of several hundreds minimum. I wouldn't be surprised to find that some designs are only made to order, in which case the graphics need to be capable for being produced one at a time too. The other thing is that most boutique pedal builders won't have budgeted for "design". As someone who makes their living doing graphic design (mostly for food packaging) myself I deal with quite a few clients who are doing low volume production runs. Despite the fact that I consider my rates to be competitive, many of them simply can't afford for me to create anything much more complicated in design than their logo and product name printed in a single colour on the box or label. The single colour / minimalist approach can be really nice, I love graphics like this on pedals. Although this may still be a UV print, I’m not sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DF Shortscale Posted March 20 Author Share Posted March 20 30 minutes ago, LukeFRC said: I think by the time they are making runs in the hundreds they either have a style that works too. There's a lot of meh, but there's not much in the "oh my word that's awful" camp that I've seen that are professionally/semi professionally for sale. Actually now I think there are a few but ... can just ignore them! I’m sure the fact that lots of builders come from design / illustration backgrounds will have something to do with that, I think the general standard out there is pretty decent right now in terms of aesthetics. Even the visually ‘meh’ is usually a solid and functional design. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 52 minutes ago, DF Shortscale said: The single colour / minimalist approach can be really nice, I love graphics like this on pedals. Although this may still be a UV print, I’m not sure. Looks like a face plate similar to his origin do there’s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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