Man was i in a bad mood last night. Sorry. I'll try to explain though.
There are several pedals out now based on the FP. at least 4 I can see. Oh well c'est la vie. It's a compliment.
It's just hard for me to digest when you know my whole story. I guess I owe you guys that much. TL;DR activate:
Everyone asks me, "will you build the Fingerprint again?" No. Only for charity. The next questions are, "why?" and "where you been?"
Back in 2008 or so, things were going well for me. Personally, financially, and with Penny pedals. I was a stay-at-home dad with a small cottage business doing what I loved to do, build shit. To everyone 'on the surface', PP had a few dirt boxes and a big wait list... par for the booteek course. Behind the scenes, things were going nuts, in a good way. I spent TONNSSS of money on tools, parts, test equipment, LLC/incorporation, website design, graphic design, equipment to do demos (audio and video), guitars and amps to demo with, you name it. I had 3 new designs ready to go "to press" (circuit boards designed and ready to be printed). For every couple of pedals I built and sold, I took that money and turned it into a future of building more pedals.
The Fingerprint was easily my most popular pedal. The 'problem' with it was that it was HARD to make. The circuit is simple, but the process of sending boxes out to Laura to paint, paying for shipping, paying her, paying for return shipping, clear coating them, then building them without chipping the paint was tough. I could have easily made a simple screenprint version that people would have loved, and still made some painted ones, but what a lot of people don't realize is that LB helped me design the circuit. Not with technical knowledge or saying 'resistor this' or 'clipping that' but just a lot of conversations about sound and how she would like it to work. Sounds artsy-fartsy but it worked out well, and we created something pretty cool. I owed it to her to keep her on the 'payroll' so she could make a few bucks for the circuit she helped design, while doing something she loves. As artists, isn't that what we all want?
So, with a wait list backing up I ordered more LB boxes and got ready for a big push, not only with the FP but ready to drop the other new stuff too. I had converted my entire garage into a workshop just for PP, as well as most of the basement. Then it all came to a grinding halt.
I started PP in 2006, and have been active on effects forums and as a musician for about 10 years before that. In that time, I heard EVERY lame excuse from every small builder as to why they stopped building pedals, why they have a huge wait list, why they dropped off the face of the internet.... family death/sickness, got a real job, computer died, lost interest, someone hurt my feewings, you guys know all the stories ( some sad, some laughable, some anger-inducing). In a 1 year period from 2008-2009ish, it ALL happened... I lost 3 out of 4 grandparents, my computer (with ALLL the above LLC, schematic, circuit board, wait list, etc etc info on it) completely died, and a lot of other shit I'd rather not talk about. But, I was undeterred. I spent so much time and money on going forward, trying to make a small living doing what I love, that no stupid computer or family loss was going to stop me. I didn't want to be another 'disappearing booteek' cliche. I actually remember poking fun at some of those guys.
I was hemorrhaging money. But, I wanted to do it the 'right' way, just like any other small business. You gotta spend to play with the big boys, and at that time a lot of small companies were really stepping on the gas pedal with their designs, build quality, and even marketing. Companies like Catalinbread, malekko, and others were really doing it right, and smaller companies were putting out impressive shit. Even with life sucking hard it was time to put up or shut up. Don't be a booteek cliche.
I pushed forward and made a large batch of FP's. With the money from these (I never took a deposit or payment before a pedal was ready), I would be ready to take a big step forward. Then two interesting things happened.
The economy completely
shit the bed. Anyone remember 2008-2009? Try starting a business selling non-essential goods at that time. While all my excel spreadsheets were gone, I still had a wait list of sorts in my gmail account. For a while, I would email people and tell them that their FP was ready. IF I got an email back, it was usually 'hey sorry man I just lost my job' or 'thanks but I can't afford it right now.' The number that I remember distinctly was 22. I emailed 22 dudes who originally wanted a pedal, all of them could not buy one. I can't blame them. It was a dark time for me personally as well. I took a break. It all seemed pointless.
Enter Mike from Secret Seasons. Seeing that I was no longer doing anything, he asked to use the FP. I said sure as long as Laura still pants them, go for it. There was talk that I "Sold" the FP, I never got a dime for it. I just said go for it and keep the circuit alive and keep Laura in the loop. After that, It was a bit of a blurr. My Dad had a major heart attack and stroke. Again with the cliche's... would you have believed me? "Oh, my dad is sick, my computer died, my dog ate my schematics..." I couldn't even bear to post about it, it's unbelievable and very bullshit sounding. I closed the door to the garage and locked it for about 2 years.
I'd poke my head in now and then... both in that garage and here. FSB posted the FP schematic and now anyone could build one in their bedroom. Secret seasons? i dunno what happened there. Dudes are selling FP's on ebay for $300, clones are all over the place, dogs and cats sleeping together. Fuzzprint? Snakes pedals? um, OK, more power to ya.
So, due to heinously poor timing and circumstances, I'm done with the Fingerprint and encourage you to build your own, buy someone else's version, whatever. I also encourage you to ask Laura to paint it for you. If you are a company using the FP circuit, you do whatever you feel is right, I can't stop ya. But hopefully now you can see how I might be a little bitter about people building them for their own profit.
In the end, it's just a pile of resistors, caps and wires in a particular order. But unlike a pile of paint on a canvas, or words on paper, or notes and beats recorded, or images on film, or any other art form... I can't say 'hey, that's mine!...' Once I show it to you, it's ours. In a way that is both beautiful, and terrible.
Thanks for letting me vent, here's to bigger and better things in 2013.
