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Can I please canvas some thoughts and opinions on the following dilema, there's no better resource than this place afterall.
So, my Grab range has been well received from the off, offers a good few options for those who want a small board and the bag is something different from the norm and that's by design, it has no zips, no pockets etc, i.e. nothing to go wrong or disintigrate over time - which is my pet hate with pedalboard bags.
But anyone who has been on my website will have seen that the larger Tier range has had a rather long gestation period. I have been selling the board only when customers contact me but it's still not "officially" available on the website and this is solely because of the lack of a case option.
My plan was to offer a hard case only option as I couldn't develop a soft bag that was robust enough for my liking (thinking back to my pet hate), however, after sampling LOTS of hard case options, I'm still not satisfied - I can't find a supplier who can make them accurate / cost effective / sturdy but dosen't wiegh a tonne etc.
I also get the impression from customers I've had contact with that a hard case isn't always ideal for them, people want a light option, and if they want a hard case then there are decent options out there already with integrated pedalboards etc. I also feel it's a bit of a miss-match with the principles of building a lightweight Aluminium board, only to place it in a heavy duty hard case.
So I've come to this as a potential option - build the Tier range to fit the three sizes of Mono Pedalboard bags. Now these bags really are quality. My Tier600 is almost an exact fit for a PB2 already, the Tier500 would need to shrink a bit to be a Tier430 to fit a PB1, and then I would develop a Tier800 to be the Daddy of the range to fit a PB3.
Now, this won't be the cheapest option (due to the cost of the Mono's) if I was to sell them as a package but to be honest, I've no desire to race to the bottom on price, I would sooner offer a different option that focuses on ultimate quality, although prices won't exactly be at boutique levels either.
It does mean that I would be without a custom sized case option for custom sized boards, however, all of the custom size orders I've had so far haven't asked for a case option.
So what do you think geetar players and pedalboard lovers, how many of you use a hard case vs soft case for their pedalboard?, how many are put off by the weight of hard cases? Any thoughts appreciated.
Cheers
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Comments
In order for you to make hard cases, you need to do one of 2 things- either correctly guess the correct height of the board with pedals or speculatively make one big enough (and hold stock) to cover everything (with the new TRex Chorus that's about 1m tall that may be difficult!)
So, my view is simple: you offer a soft case as standard BUT you agree back to back rates with say Swan Flight to do an 'upgrade' option to a hard case which has a range of depths available and publish them as an 'upgrade'.
And, I'd powder coat your ali product black too.
PS: by offering menu options an build options you're also engaging your client- a very good thing.
*An Official Foo-Approved guitarist since Sept 2023.
How many pro players with roadies do you build for? (sure there's a few, but most will be punters like us).
How do those people transport it?
What are the rates charged to the same demographic by your competitors? I'd also ask someone like guitarguitar the proportuion of PT's sold in hard cases v soft.
*An Official Foo-Approved guitarist since Sept 2023.
Even my Pedaltrain Jr softcase has lasted for several years with only the first signs of fraying appearing now.
Good luck Dan
Absolutely fine if you're packing the case in the car/ van yourself (rather than a hairy-arsed roadie).
Has the advantage that if your pedals overhang the board by a few mm then you have a bit of wiggle room to still fit the board in the case. Whereas a hard case can be f*cking irritating as there is no wiggle room whatsoever! The board either fits inside, or that extra pedal must come off.
Hard case probably only necessary if you're doing 50+ gigs per year.
My music:- https://soundcloud.com/hubobulous
This is what puts me off them.
Perhaps if you put a pouch in the case, as Roqsolid do, so that the customer can add a board or not as they see fit? I'd be quite interested in a Tier 500 if this option was available, but a hard case is going to be too big and heavy, so worse than my current Diago, and a soft case will allow my settings to change too easily.