What's your current headache?

Over the years I've kept tabs on my pedal building expenses and compared them to actual sales. And only in the last year has my sales totals finally surpassed my expenses totals. Over those years, with nearly ~$11K in total expenses (tools, build inventory parts and storage), my total sales over that same period reached ~$13.5K.

The first dozen years the hobby was just a red-holed money pit.

I found that, when I came across a successful build that generated a lot of interest, by doing small runs of 5 to 20 of that same build, I was able to create a better cost to profit margin and actually make some money instead of just throwing more money into a beloved pedal building money pit. No formal website or portal other than eBay & Reverb. Doing just onesies and twosies just never yielded a profit.
 
Cybercow said:
Over the years I've kept tabs on my pedal building expenses and compared them to actual sales. And only in the last year has my sales totals finally surpassed my expenses totals. Over those years, with nearly ~$11K in total expenses (tools, build inventory parts and storage), my total sales over that same period reached ~$13.5K.

The first dozen years the hobby was just a red-holed money pit.

I found that, when I came across a successful build that generated a lot of interest, by doing small runs of 5 to 20 of that same build, I was able to create a better cost to profit margin and actually make some money instead of just throwing more money into a beloved pedal building money pit. No formal website or portal other than eBay & Reverb. Doing just onesies and twosies just never yielded a profit.
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Are you counting the cost of building pedals that you kept? Or just the cost of pedals you sold?

Either way, I'm impressed!
 
For whatever reason I thought insulating pots with electrical tape was a good idea. 90% of my troubleshooting problems are from a clipped component lead poking through the tape and grounding on a pot. I've fixed this issue well over a dozen times now. And yet I keep doing it, despite the evidence that it's a bad idea. I spent hours trying to fix a low tide over maybe 18 months. Double checked the components, meticulously checked continuity. 5/6 pots insulated with electrical tape. Put pot covers on them and all of a sudden sounds are modulating. Uggghhh
 
This could be a major headache for US DIY-ers:

www.nytimes.com

Trump Executive Order Ends De Minimis Exemption for Rest of World

The low-cost shipments were previously excluded from tariffs; President Trump said the loophole has allowed countries to avoid taxes and smuggle drugs into the U.S.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com

De minimus will end for all countries, not just China, on Aug 30.

President Trump on Wednesday ordered the end of a policy that has allowed billions of dollars of low-value imports to enter the United States without paying tariffs.​
​
In May, he eliminated the exemption for inexpensive goods from China, which had been the largest source of such shipments. His executive order signed on Wednesday ends the “de minimis exemption” for goods from the rest of the world.​
​
The policy allowed goods worth under $800 to enter the country without paying duty, and the shipments did not require the sender or recipient to complete detailed customs paperwork. As of Aug. 29, such shipments will be subject to the tariff placed on their country of origin.​
 
joeyd said:
For whatever reason I thought insulating pots with electrical tape was a good idea. 90% of my troubleshooting problems are from a clipped component lead poking through the tape and grounding on a pot. I've fixed this issue well over a dozen times now. And yet I keep doing it, despite the evidence that it's a bad idea. I spent hours trying to fix a low tide over maybe 18 months. Double checked the components, meticulously checked continuity. 5/6 pots insulated with electrical tape. Put pot covers on them and all of a sudden sounds are modulating. Uggghhh
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I use foam tape.
 
a1ztsi.jpg
 
If any of yall saw in the concert thread, this was supposed to be my big week for concerts. Concerts are one of the only things I really enjoy anymore, and usually I go to a bunch each year. This year the selection has been incredibly lean, and ticket prices have made it even leaner.
Bricksnbeatles said:
Gonna be a busy week.

Thursday I have Adrian Belew and Jerry Harrison’s Remain in Light show at Webster Hall. This’ll be my third time seeing them do this show, after seeing them in February of 2023 and July of 2024. It’s always the same set, but it’s a truly incredible show so I’m more than happy to keep going each year for as long as they wanna do it.

Friday I have Outlaw Festival at Jones Beach. I caught Outlaw Fest last year at Bethel Woods, so I’ve seen Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan before, but it’ll be my first time seeing Wilco, which has been one I’ve been dying to see for years. Everyone I went with last year though Bob sucked, but I really thoroughly enjoyed his set, so I’m looking forward to seeing what he breaks out this time— I’m all for the deep cuts and new arrangements, so whatever he does will probably be fun to me. I’m not really a Willie listener, but he blew me away last year so I’m looking forward to acquainting myself with more of his material this time.

Saturday I have Lost 80s Live festival at Pier 17. It’s a whole big laundry list of 80s new wave acts (most of which only have 1 or 2 original members, but I’m not picky about that— I’m very much of the Robert Fripp school of a single key member being able to keep the ship of Theseus intact) playing, including A Flock of Seagulls, the Vapors, General Public, and Big Country, among others.

Both Thursday and Saturday are standing-only, and both Friday and Saturday are full-day affairs with doors opening at 3pm and the tests running until 11pm. My feet are already sore thinking about it, and I’ll certainly need all day Sunday to crash and recharge.
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Bricksnbeatles said:
I was at the train station about to get on the train to the city, but got off at the last second. Bailing on Belew and Harrison tonight. Really bummed about it, but the weather is terrible and I don’t wanna risk getting stuck at Penn station if the flooding makes them halt the trains tonight. Gutted, but I’ve seen them do this show twice already so it’s not the end of the world. Still, in 2023 and 2024 it was probably the best show I’ve seen of the year.

If any of yall are in the city and wanna see Adrian Belew and Jerry Harrison doing Talking Heads stuff at Webster Hall, hit me up. I’ve got 2 tix— paid $130 for the pair after fees and everything. I have them listed on the resale sites, but I’ll let them go to any of y’all for $80 for the pair or make me an offer (money, parts, whatever)— just want them going to someone who will enjoy more than anything else.
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I wound up missing the Thursday concert because of the weather, and then last night was Outlaw. During Dylan’s set the couple behind me was loudly talking about crypto for the first 9 songs or the set, and after I asked them to quiet down a bit the girl got super pissy and started screaming “I’m not here to see Bob Dylan” and “I paid the same to be here as you, I’ll talk as loud as I want to” and “if you didn’t want to hear people talk, you should have bought more expensive seats, c**ksucker”. Of course security told me talking isn’t against the rules, and when I said she was getting up in our faces and yelling at us (not to mention using slurs), they said they’d ask her to quiet down but wouldn’t kick her out or anything. Went down after bob’s set to see if gust services could move us, and they said too bad since it’s sold out. She made it a point to be an ass during the Willie set too, but only by making comments between songs and clapping as aggressively as possible right next to my ears when she thought I was trying to take a video.

I’ve been going to jones beach my entire life bc it’s one of the only venues near me that actually gets acts I want to see, but this year and last year the audiences have been way too drunk, loud, and combative. I think after this year I’m done with Jones Beach. Fuckin sucks that it’s come to this.

It’s kinda got me feeling burned out today, and I don’t even really want to go to the city for the Lost 80s Live show anymore. My girlfriend isn’t able to go tonight, and I couldn’t find any friends who wanted to take her place, so it would just be me and my parents. They’re not really into general admission stuff, so they’ll just be off to the side where you can hear but not see anything. I don’t know, I just feel like after last night, I’m gonna be anxious the entire time and not be able to enjoy it, and I only really know one song by each of the artists except flock of seagulls, and I feel like I could probably see them on their own some time in the future. I don’t want to let the assholes win and ruin for me some of the only stuff I still enjoy, but at the same time the circumstances aren’t lining up how I’d like, and I don’t know if it’s really worth the discomfort of 9 hours of nonstop standing in the heat just because I don’t want to feel like the year has been a bust.
 
Worked 36 out of 40 hours Thursday/Friday. Bluuuuhhhh
System is fixed. Third party service company that has the contract from the MR had t flushed/swapped the coolant water for the amplifiers since install 5 years ago. Bacteria set in. pH shifted and it started eating at the meals in to cold plates of the amps. IGBTs stated popping left and right as they weren't properly cooled.
Was just there for a field change(thermocouple install and system test). Blew up 1 amp 5 minutes I to first test. Replaced, recalibrated system. Ran test. First axis passed. Next axis popped 30 minutes into the 1 hour test. Well. 1 hour 30 as we had to test the first axis again. By then it was 6am.

Had to replace all 3 amps, flush and recharge and recalibrate for a third time. When flushing the old amps, what should be water looked like chocolate milk. Every valve in the cooling cabinet is cororded internally and won't move. Lord knows what the gradient coila copper coolant lines look like.
All because some hack of a tech didn't take the 20 minutes to flush the system once every 2 years. Gonna cost them close to a quarter mil. Will cost more as other components fail down the road.
 
jwin615 said:
Worked 36 out of 40 hours Thursday/Friday. Bluuuuhhhh
System is fixed. Third party service company that has the contract from the MR had t flushed/swapped the coolant water for the amplifiers since install 5 years ago. Bacteria set in. pH shifted and it started eating at the meals in to cold plates of the amps. IGBTs stated popping left and right as they weren't properly cooled.
Was just there for a field change(thermocouple install and system test). Blew up 1 amp 5 minutes I to first test. Replaced, recalibrated system. Ran test. First axis passed. Next axis popped 30 minutes into the 1 hour test. Well. 1 hour 30 as we had to test the first axis again. By then it was 6am.

Had to replace all 3 amps, flush and recharge and recalibrate for a third time. When flushing the old amps, what should be water looked like chocolate milk. Every valve in the cooling cabinet is cororded internally and won't move. Lord knows what the gradient coila copper coolant lines look like.
All because some hack of a tech didn't take the 20 minutes to flush the system once every 2 years. Gonna cost them close to a quarter mil. Will cost more as other components fail down the road.
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I suppose this isn’t about vintage amps with RCA valves. :unsure:
 
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