A Word (Many Words) on Price Increases.
Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2011 12:13 am
Reposted from http://fuzzhugger.com/newslog.html
In the last three years, I've raised prices on the Algal Bloom and AB-Synth $5-10 total. I've been told my prices are laughably low...I'm very proud of that. But FuzzHugger(fx) can't keep going without a real price raise in 2012.
I personally build every pedal, start to finish. With such low prices, I need to make a lot of pedals--and quickly!--to keep going. With such a hands-on, detail-focused process, I don't build quickly. I'm not cranking out pedals. There's a waitlist, and it's getting longer.
Each FuzzHugger pedal is built one at a time, in a very hands-on process. The only thing I don't do all of myself anymore is drilling, which is still done in-house. (Though I personally punch all pilot holes before drilling.) After that, I hand wash each enclosure. If it's not painted by Laura Bennett or Pat Corrigan, I then hand finish every pedal. I hand cut all graphics, hand-press each print, and personally paint each pedal. Most painted pedals receive 4-6 separate coats of fixer and paint.
I use the highest quality parts available. Period. Guys selling pedals for twice what FuzzHugger(fx) sells for? Same sources, same quality parts. Our PCBs are professionally printed, lead-free, and expensive. No sticker paper or printer paper labels for graphics--the graphics (a processed developed by FuzzHugger!) are full color, scratch, chip, and water resistant. It's a time-consuming process to apply them. And those gem button LEDs cost 4x what standard LEDs cost. (Not complaining--they're worth it!)
Every pedal is then hand assembled, and wired, by me. They are then tested (jammed on!), wrapped, boxed, and shipped...by me. Am I crazy? It is a grueling, hands-on, detail-oriented process building just one pedal start to finish. (Aside: There are pedalbuilders with small factories, kicking their feet back while employees assemble and solder pedals...using predrilled enclosures, that arrive pre-powder-coated and/or pre-screen-printed, sometimes with machine-populated PCBs...and they call their pedals hand-built...shipping 1,000 pedals a month, and still pushing the idea that they're small builder. There are degrees of hand-built, and degrees of small builder.)
I'm not writing this to defend myself for the coming price increase...it's partly a heads up, so people can grab FuzzHugger now before the price increase...and mainly to let people in on the secret, and the level of hands-on they're getting when they buy a FuzzHugger(fx) pedal.
Thank you all so much for your interest and support. You mean the world to me.
In the last three years, I've raised prices on the Algal Bloom and AB-Synth $5-10 total. I've been told my prices are laughably low...I'm very proud of that. But FuzzHugger(fx) can't keep going without a real price raise in 2012.
I personally build every pedal, start to finish. With such low prices, I need to make a lot of pedals--and quickly!--to keep going. With such a hands-on, detail-focused process, I don't build quickly. I'm not cranking out pedals. There's a waitlist, and it's getting longer.
Each FuzzHugger pedal is built one at a time, in a very hands-on process. The only thing I don't do all of myself anymore is drilling, which is still done in-house. (Though I personally punch all pilot holes before drilling.) After that, I hand wash each enclosure. If it's not painted by Laura Bennett or Pat Corrigan, I then hand finish every pedal. I hand cut all graphics, hand-press each print, and personally paint each pedal. Most painted pedals receive 4-6 separate coats of fixer and paint.
I use the highest quality parts available. Period. Guys selling pedals for twice what FuzzHugger(fx) sells for? Same sources, same quality parts. Our PCBs are professionally printed, lead-free, and expensive. No sticker paper or printer paper labels for graphics--the graphics (a processed developed by FuzzHugger!) are full color, scratch, chip, and water resistant. It's a time-consuming process to apply them. And those gem button LEDs cost 4x what standard LEDs cost. (Not complaining--they're worth it!)
Every pedal is then hand assembled, and wired, by me. They are then tested (jammed on!), wrapped, boxed, and shipped...by me. Am I crazy? It is a grueling, hands-on, detail-oriented process building just one pedal start to finish. (Aside: There are pedalbuilders with small factories, kicking their feet back while employees assemble and solder pedals...using predrilled enclosures, that arrive pre-powder-coated and/or pre-screen-printed, sometimes with machine-populated PCBs...and they call their pedals hand-built...shipping 1,000 pedals a month, and still pushing the idea that they're small builder. There are degrees of hand-built, and degrees of small builder.)
I'm not writing this to defend myself for the coming price increase...it's partly a heads up, so people can grab FuzzHugger now before the price increase...and mainly to let people in on the secret, and the level of hands-on they're getting when they buy a FuzzHugger(fx) pedal.
Thank you all so much for your interest and support. You mean the world to me.