The Sushi Box FX Secret Society

[Rich48]

I wonder what people’s thoughts would be on Broughton and Sushi using contract manufacturing to build their products. As long as good quality control could be maintained. This would give them more time to invest in development and new products and cut the wait way down for buyers.

 

[kranahan]

Who is going to wait 3-4 months to flip a pedal at an exorbitant price? If I’m waiting that long, I’m sure as hell going to enjoy it.

 

[labeledbass]

I don't disagree but I don't think there's a solution that will satisfy. There will always be supply and demand especially with smaller run type things. I'm with you that hopefully there's a way to limit the opportunists. For example, I know I was stupid in not picking up the Calamity (I saw it), but I genuinely didn't want it and wanted to leave it to someone who really did. I would never take a slot for Sushi or buy something this expensive just to flip. I have better things to do.

Crushed dreams for sure, variant 1,000,001.

Yeah, well that's one issue, but drops from Broughton are essentially the exact same with Sushi, one equals a product now, another equals a slot for later. I've checked each drop so far, the last one didn't last long at all, if it gets that popular it will sell out even faster than the Bros. All I was saying they are basically the same, but one you have to wait (that's whatever though, you should understand that before you buy)

The only thing that can "fix" this predicament, for both companies is production (and I'm not saying to ramp up quantities, or change anything), once this brand gets up there, and it will soon, the drop for slots is going to be even crazier that a release over at Broughton, really only because Josh typically drops over 20.

I am firmly for limit to 1 slot each, but that can be a touchy subject if you don't nip in the bud now rather than later

 

[labeledbass]

Who is going to wait 3-4 months to flip a pedal at an exorbitant price? If I’m waiting that long, I’m sure as hell going to enjoy it.

You'd be surprised, I've seen pre sale slots sold 1.5/1 the day after they were bought - deal, done

 

[labeledbass]

I wonder what people’s thoughts would be on Broughton and Sushi using contract manufacturing to build their products. As long as good quality control could be maintained. This would give them more time to invest in development and new products and cut the wait way down for buyers.

Nope nope nope - them scary words. Too many companies like that, not enough companies like this

 

[kranahan]

You'd be surprised, I've seen pre sale slots sold 1.5/1 the day after they were bought - deal, done

Oh... You’re talking about selling the slots. Yeah that’s much harder to stop.

 

[labeledbass]

Oh... You’re talking about selling the slots. Well, that’s much harder to stop.

Something that can help with issues on the back end are dealers, they can bring their own set of issues to the table, but take the stress off the builder to offer more units. Its possible for that to workout if you have a good relationship with a few good shops

 

[Sushi Box FX]

I meant to ask @Sushi Box FX , at some time in the future are you going to limit the slots available per customer? one can look in the great direction this boutiques going and go drop a swift 3k down on all the slots, and then flip flop them on the verb.. is this something that will be controlled in the future?

If that ever becomes an issue I think limiting number of slots per customer is reasonable. Right now the most I've seen someone order in one month is 3 slots (*cough* @kranahan *cough*) but if I start to see something weird I'll definitely reach out to the customer in question, and I feel I'm well within my right to cancel someone's order if I think they're trying to take advantage of the system. @Sonicblaze that may be something to look into, can you limit the number of slots purchased per person at a time? You've been doing this for like 2 days but you already know more about the website than I do

I wonder what people’s thoughts would be on Broughton and Sushi using contract manufacturing to build their products. As long as good quality control could be maintained. This would give them more time to invest in development and new products and cut the wait way down for buyers.

I don't really want to. This isn't my day job, so it has never been about the money. The money is great and I really appreciate all the support, but I build pedals because I enjoy building pedals. I don't consider myself to be so special that nobody out there could do what I do at the same level of quality, I'm sure there are tons that could even do it better if I were to give them my designs. But at the end of the day I'm building pedals because I love building pedals.

You'd be surprised, I've seen pre sale slots sold 1.5/1 the day after they were bought - deal, done

Seriously? That's a thing people are doing? Well that's a little disappointing.

Something that can help with issues on the back end are dealers, they can bring their own set of issues to the table, but take the stress off the builder to offer more units. Its possible for that to workout if you have a good relationship with a few good shops

I have a couple issues with dealers. The biggest one is cost. I know I said it's not about the money, but there's still a price I put on my time, and if I make less than that doing something then it's not really worth my time. If I were to go through dealers I would have to raise prices more so the dealer can make enough money to make it worth their time to sell, which I understand, but I really want to have control over my prices. I try to price things low, not to undercut others, as I do think I'm doing something more or less unique, but because I really want people to be able to afford my pedals.

The second issue I have with dealers is inventory. I need to have a quantity of pedals stocked and ready to go to get them to a dealer. I have a friend with connections at Sweetwater that said if I can get 50 units ready to go he can get them sold through there. That's really cool, I would love to see my products spread out everywhere, but getting 50 builds together is a lot of work, and it's a lot of money that I'm investing up front that I don't get paid back for until the whole order is delivered, which could take a couple months at least.

The third issue (maybe the most trivial) is customization. Honestly offering custom color options takes exrta time on my part. It takes me about 10 minutes to change between colors on my powdercoating setup, and in the November batch (as an example) I have 11 different colors people chose. I could save time and money if I only offered a couple colors, or especially if I chose the colors myself and didn't offer choices. But I want you to be excited about the pedal. Not just the sound, but everything about it. You don't just buy your bass because it sounds good, if sound was the only thing that mattered you would get a nice block of wood with some pickups in it and throw a neck on. The look and the color matter. They absolutely don't affect the tone (though I swear Rainbow's End makes everything sound better) but they make it more personal.

I'd apologize for the long post, but long posts are kind of my thing, I like talking about pedals Seriously if anyone wants to grab lunch and listen to me talk about pedals for an hour, let me know.

 

[labeledbass]

I'd apologize for the long post, but long posts are kind of my thing, I like talking about pedals Seriously if anyone wants to grab lunch and listen to me talk about pedals for an hour, let me know.

Yeah I know, that's why I said "don't change anything" (I find the way all these businesses run interesting) - but yeah, as in any boutique company there are folks out there just trying to make money off it, people see opportunity, suks.

How do I go about changing a model for Feb? I'm still on the fence about upgrading to a X BeePre, when available, or maybe just moving to a Watson, do I just wait until more info on the Bee X comes out and then proceed? thanks

 

[scubaduba]

I’m game for lunch.

 

[kranahan]

I love being put on blast! I ordered 1 in October, 2 in November, 2 in January and 1 in February.

 

[Sushi Box FX]

How do I go about changing a model for Feb? I'm still on the fence about upgrading to a X BeePre, when available, or maybe just moving to a Watson, do I just wait until more info on the Bee X comes out and then proceed? thanks

The best way is to use the Contact page on the website. It sends me an email same as anything, but it connects it to your "customer profile" on the website so it's easier for me to keep things organized.

 

[Sushi Box FX]

I’m game for lunch.

I didn't know how often you get down to the area, but let me know next time you do for sure

 

[Pedalnetics]

@Sonicblaze that may be something to look into, can you limit the number of slots purchased per person at a time?

I've already been thinking about that actually, lol. Limits are silly in my mind, because they don't actually stop anything from a technical standpoint.
First, if anyone is worried about someone building 20 pedals and buying them before you can get one, please go visit the shop page and mock-build your pedal, then imagine that 20 times.
Second, yes you can technically put one in your cart and change qty to 20. If you do that, you either really really want 20 copies of your pink-enclosure gold-knob Partical Accelerator, or you're trying to profit. I'd guess the order would get canceled
And end of the day, all limits systems can be bypassed anyways. Multiple browsers, multiple IP's on a Tor network, multiple PO boxes to ship to,, whatever. A sufficiently motivated individual could game anything.

I'd actually think the wait-months-for-product money-in-advance system would hopefully discourage trying to profit 6months in advance.

I'm not sure how selling a spot would work. Do you keep your spot, and just change your order to what the other user wants, receive shipment, then ship it to them? No idea...

@Sushi Box FX Id say if anything, don't allow users to "transfer" on the back-end (email you to transfer to someone else); doesn't sound like that happened, but if it does I'd say cancel and random-draw a replacement..

 

[kranahan]

How about a weekly Sushi Zoom call talking about pedals since most of us can’t make the lunch date? That sounds sweet!

 

[Sushi Box FX]

I've already been thinking about that actually, lol.
I'm not sure how selling a spot would work. Do you keep your spot, and just change your order to what the other user wants, receive shipment, then ship it to them? No idea...

@Sushi Box FX Id say if anything, don't allow users to "transfer" on the back-end (email you to transfer to someone else); doesn't sound like that happened, but if it does I'd say cancel and random-draw a replacement.
And not to turn people into snitches, but if it gets too bad, just allow users to report it with evidence and cancel orders.

I've never had anyone try to transfer the order to someone else, that would definitely be a red flag. I have had people ask to change what model and colors they're getting, but I like to assume the best of people and assume they just changed their mind. The only people that have made dramatic changes to their order have been people from this forum that I know, and I'm pretty sure they wouldn't be flipping a spot.

How about a weekly Sushi Zoom call talking about pedals since most of us can’t make the lunch date? That sounds sweet!

Weekly? Seriously? Pretty sure you would all get tired of me pretty quick. I have thought about doing like a live Q&A or something on facebook or youtube, but I wasn't sure anyone would actually be interested enough to check it out.

 

[Pedalnetics]

I like to assume the best of people and assume they just changed their mind.

Ditto. If it gets too crazy and a black-market dark-web Sushi Box Pedal Reservation Trading store pops up, maybe I'll see what crazy psycho code I can whip up...

I have thought about doing like a live Q&A or something on facebook or youtube, but I wasn't sure anyone would actually be interested enough to check it out

I don't have any questions I haven't already pestered you with over IM, but I'd totally login to that.

 

[Pedalnetics]

Ooo. Partner with Order Sushi – Get Sushi Delivered Straight to Your Door – Banzai Sushi, sell tickets to online event "Dinner with Sushi (Box)", dropship sushi to peoples houses, live q&a

 

[Lowendtech]

Sushi lunch

Great. Now I’m hungry.

 

[kranahan]

I was just kidding but a Q&A is a great way to go. I come across too sarcastic sometimes.