With the impending release of another batch of Munchkins I realized that some of you may not have been around for previous releases and not fully understand what's going on.
Well, if you read my blog on the evolution of the pedal and my blogs on what I do, you will understand a couple of things.
One is, I don't actually consider myself a pedal builder in the sense of the word that many pedal builders would. I basically build pedals in my spare time, and I really don't have much of that. I personally run two shops, a studio, practice rooms, a backline hire company, a record label and I put on instores, help bands, repair things ............ AND I have a family. So, I build pedals in my spare time.
and two, I make EVERYTHING here, by myself, by hand, by myself, one by one.
The Munchkin is the first product I've made where I had a set number of identical units I needed to build and that number was higher than anything else I've made a single, unaltered, identical unit of. The story of how this came about is already written so I won't go into here. Suffice to say. I like what J does, he likes what I do. As do many other people who suport my business.
So, I've been making Munchkins in batches of 20 at a time over the life of this pedal. The first 100 had "song title" serial numbers, and the the rest are numbered. I made the first 120 or so VERY quickly, mainly to try and get them out there. I wasn't sure what demand would be like and it took me completely by surprise. To say they sell quickly is an understatement. They disappear in seconds. I have shut down servers putting these up for sale. I had to get a new site just to keep releasing them as demand is crazy. The last release on my old site showed stats of over 1000 simultaneous hits worldwide when they were released and the server kept shutting down for hours due to traffic.
So that brings me to all the usual questions ................
"why don't you make them all in one go" Because I can't.
"why don't you build them quicker" Because I can't.
"why don't you make more than 300" This is the number that J and I agreed on when we started this project. I actually wanted less as I knew my limitations in manufacturing this way.
"why don't you do presale, holds or orders" Because if I did, they would have been gone before you got a chance to even try and get one.
The releases of this pedal has shown me the best, and worst of people. I understand and completely appreciate the frustration in not being able to secure one. If I wasn't making these, I would want one, and would be bummed if I missed out. I must say that people saying that "their life is ruined by missing out on one" makes me upset. Watching your child die from a preventable disease would ruin your life. Missing out on an effects pedal is, at most, slightly annoying.
The other issue we have is just because you put one in your PayPal cart, doesn't mean you have bought it. You have to finish the process to get one. This makes total sense. If EVERYONE who put one in their cart (several hundred people at once) GOT one, we'd all be in trouble. This is actually a function of PayPal I support. The first 20 people in each batch to "buy" the pedal, get one. It's that simple and makes perfect sense.
I still believe all of this is the fairest way of doing this. In a different world this would be done differently. In this world, THIS is how it's done. If you don't agree or believe in this, then don't participate. I'm not trying to sell you anything. I'm trying to make stuff people might want.
So, I will release 20 in a batch until I reach 300 (this batch is approx 180-200) and I always release 10 in the morning and then 10 approx 12 hours later to try and give people around the world a better chance of being able to get them. I give about a weeks notice as to what day they go up on the site and then several notices leading up to it. I add them to the site and then update my Facebook page to say they're there ................. and then !!
Making pedals and gear like this, for people I respect and admire is one of the best parts of my job. These releases have become ......... stressful, for me but I'm still, and will always be, humbled by the fact that I get to do it.
Play nice and be good to each other. It's a cool pedal and there's more demand than there will EVER be supply of. It's not life or death.