Mutt*Pups Launch

[muttley]

Things have moved on a little following a meeting yesterday with the guy who is behind me with pushing the muttpups along the supply chain. So I'd like to pick all your brains once again.

Things decided so far.

We will be pushing a limited range of stock pickups based on both a vintage option and an option based on the recipes you guys have come up with.

The range of off the shelf pickups will be under the banner "The Rebel Series" or "Rebel Range". I am in discussion with WJ about how to possibly enable a kick back to the site should this fly.

So far I have settled on the range as follows.

P90’s

• G90

The flag ship Gregor design

• V90

A typically vintage offering although gergs is close already. I have yet to nail down a full spec.

• B90

A bucker 90 based on the pickup that Bubba had made up.

Humbuckers

• MuttBucker

A vintage bucker based on the sets supplied to Gerg and BillL

• RebelBucker

A slightly hotter Bucker based on the pickups designed by JD, Bubba and Miner (I'm not sure which way to go yet)

Single coil

• The Ripper

based on miners design which has proved to be hugely popular.

Possible additions later down the road

• A strat set based on a vintage wind TBA

• A strat set based on a hotter wind TBA

Telecaster

A single Vintage set which seems to be all the market is interested in right now...

Specials.

Periodically we will be issuing limited edition pups in limited numbers to a to spec that would be a little outside the box. We can include anything here...


It is critical that we get decent reviews and soundclips up and sorted before the go date so thanks to all those that have let me have examples already and I will be seeking more reviews and soundclips if you guys are happy with that.

Gerg, the missing PM was about that... Will drop you a line later re- you recent track featuring the pups. In short, yeh, I'd love to have a copy of the mix and the dry component guitar parts with a brief description.

I hope to add to this thread in the coming weeks asking you guys opinion on stuff as we go. We are meeting again next week once some work has been done on branding, website, social media planning, packaging, marketing, and all that other stuff.

The first question I have for you all is gonna be a short poll on bobbin and cover colours. What you all prefer and what you have always liked the look of best. Tricky I know but I'm gonna have to shell out quite a bit to buy parts in from China in quantity and I dont want to order up stuff that just sits on a shelf..

Other considerations would be what sort of packaging you guys think would work? How you all research your purchases for gear? You Tube, Google, forums, social media, endorsements etc..

So next post follows shortly. Rambling over..

Thanks to all for the help so far.

[muttley]

So... whats you choice bobbin colour/combination?
What is you choice of cover?

stock Bobbins for buckers -black/white/ivory or combinations there of...
Stock covers gold/chrome/nickel. also available quite easily is black.
Stock for p90 covers, Cream/black/chrome both dogear and soapbar

My preference has always been cream for bobbins and nickle for covers, with black for the p90...

I know this is guitar dependent and very subjective but I have to start some where...

[Greg_L]

Awesome man. I'll help in any way I can.

[JD01]

Colour - Black and Cream uncovered buckers for me. I just think it looks best.
I think they way you delivered them in the little wooden boxes was pretty good - the two boxes were slightly different though and one was much better than the other.

Sound clips - No problem; I've actually already been giving this some thought to demonstrate the smooth lead tone on the neck bucker, the stratty split tone and the rhythm tone of the bridge bucker.

[Greg_L]

So... whats you choice bobbin colour/combination?
What is you choice of cover?

stock Bobbins for buckers -black/white/ivory or combinations there of...
Stock covers gold/chrome/nickel. also available quite easily is black.
Stock for p90 covers, Cream/black/chrome both dogear and soapbar

My preference has always been cream for bobbins and nickle for covers, with black for the p90...

I know this is guitar dependent and very subjective but I have to start some where...

I think the days of multi-colored bobbins are (thankfully) over. There may be a few stragglers, but mostly people are going back to traditional looks.

I'm personally right there with you for bobbins and pickup covers - black, white/cream, or chrome/nickel HB covers.

I like black or cream P90s equally. It just depends on the guitar it's going into. I'm personally not a big fan of chrome P90s. They look gaudy to me.

One thing you might want to consider is offering "aged" chrome or nickel humbucker covers. Some people like that stuff and it's apparently very easy to do.

[muttley]

Colour - Black and Cream uncovered buckers for me. I just think it looks best.
I think they way you delivered them in the little wooden boxes was pretty good - the two boxes were slightly different though and one was much better than the other.

Sound clips - No problem; I've actually already been giving this some thought to demonstrate the smooth lead tone on the neck bucker, the stratty split tone and the rhythm tone of the bridge bucker.

Yeh, those boxes I knocked up in about a half hour. If I went with a wooden box I would prolly buy them in and stamp them with bubbas stamp. Making them would just add to my to do list.

I'm thinking black cream would definitely be an option for the non vintage. I'd imagine that most of the vintage guys would want covers.. I'm prolly gonna use butyrate bobbins for the vintage stuff so that might limit the options in the short term. It will depend on how cheap I can get them. They are silly expensive..

Look forward to the clips when you have time, you gerg and miner have always delivered. Cheers guys..

[muttley]

So... whats you choice bobbin colour/combination?
What is you choice of cover?

stock Bobbins for buckers -black/white/ivory or combinations there of...
Stock covers gold/chrome/nickel. also available quite easily is black.
Stock for p90 covers, Cream/black/chrome both dogear and soapbar

My preference has always been cream for bobbins and nickle for covers, with black for the p90...

I know this is guitar dependent and very subjective but I have to start some where...

I think the days of multi-colored bobbins are (thankfully) over. There may be a few stragglers, but mostly people are going back to traditional looks.

I'm personally right there with you for bobbins and pickup covers - black, white/cream, or chrome/nickel HB covers.

I like black or cream P90s equally. It just depends on the guitar it's going into. I'm personally not a big fan of chrome P90s. They look gaudy to me.

One thing you might want to consider is offering "aged" chrome or nickel humbucker covers. Some people like that stuff and it's apparently very easy to do.

Multi coloured bobbins would be a special whatever and I agree there is very limited demand these days thankfully.

Ditto the chrome p90 covers. They dont just look cheap they feel cheap too.

In the short to mid term I will prolly steer clear of relic'd covers for the simple reason that we intend to keep the range manageable to start with. Too many options requires holding too much stock. Again though if the demand is out there I'd go for it. It isnt hard to do.. right now I list them as a special order.

[Greg_L]

I liked the clear plastic box my P/G90s came in. I keep picks in it.

I also liked the simple paper sleeves my buckers came in. Lol.

I think nice packaging could be a cool trick, but it's just packaging. Do people really care that much about that stuff? Just give me a good product and you could put it in a plain paper bag for all I care. Maybe I'm the weird one.

If you do go the nice packaging route, one thing many companies do that people seem to like is include some goodies in there with the main product. Bare Knuckles come with build notes, picks, and a set of strings in their nice packaging. IMO, being in the UK, you probably need to consider them as pretty stiff competition. Doing something similar might give you more legitimacy in some people's eyes.

For what it's worth, I have a set of Bare Knuckles, and I have no idea where the fancy packaging is, no idea where the build notes are, the strings were Rotosound garbage, and the picks are lost in the ether. So there is that.

[JD01]

Regarding packaging, it would probably be nice to have decent box, maybe a handful of picks and a Mutt-Pups sticker.
People like a box to stick things in - I still have a pedal box from the mists of time with allen keys and picks in it.
My guitar case is covered in stickers from whatever things have come with a sticker.

Strings is a shit idea; people are picky about strings. It would be expensive for you and probably worthless for them.

[Greg_L]

In the short to mid term I will prolly steer clear of relic'd covers for the simple reason that we intend to keep the range manageable to start with. Too many options requires holding too much stock. Again though if the demand is out there I'd go for it. It isnt hard to do.. right now I list them as a special order.

I get what you're saying, but it's not something you'd have to keep in stock. You'd just do it to a regular cover if they ask for it. One of my bandmates does painting and relic'ing for people, and aging hardware is one of his tricks. I'm not sure how he does it exactly, but it involves a small tub of some kind of toxic acid and he suspends the hardware in the fumes. A few minutes later, boom, aged hardware. It looks great. Very authentic.

[muttley]

My buddy is looking into packaging for us. My request to him was that initially we would want a one size fits all box and swap out the insert whether that be foam or molded. That way we could just keep one stock package with the branding on it and stick a label on as and when they get used to describe the contents. I'm reluctant to keep a variety of packaging boxes as it would be a logistical issue as well as having to over stock and increase cost. One thing is certain the packaging has to look cool as we are hoping these things will end up on shop shelves in time.

We discussed promotion and goodies and my take on it is to have a look round and see what I have that goes everywhere with me and what freebies I have about. I have a few coffee mugs, the odd T shirt and most everything else goes in the bin. On my person I always have my phone, my wallet and my keys so we decided initially to go for a key fob gig spanner (what right thinking musicians wouldnt want a bottle opener to hand). Picks of a heavier gauge, and we are looking at getting some iphone cases and tshirts costed. Stickers are easy to do but I thought no one still sticks them on their cases anymore, seems I'm mistaken JD. I will send you a few when they are done...

Any other suggestions that we may have missed are welcome.

[muttley]

In the short to mid term I will prolly steer clear of relic'd covers for the simple reason that we intend to keep the range manageable to start with. Too many options requires holding too much stock. Again though if the demand is out there I'd go for it. It isnt hard to do.. right now I list them as a special order.

I get what you're saying, but it's not something you'd have to keep in stock. You'd just do it to a regular cover if they ask for it. One of my bandmates does painting and relic'ing for people, and aging hardware is one of his tricks. I'm not sure how he does it exactly, but it involves a small tub of some kind of toxic acid and he suspends the hardware in the fumes. A few minutes later, boom, aged hardware. It looks great. Very authentic.

Yeh, Ive done it and done it in a few ways, I'm just not convinced that the demand is there yet with the target outlets we have identified and the levels of stock we can commit to holding finished. These things will be off the shelf next day delivered hopefully... Its definitely in my plans for later down the road but to start we have to focus some where.. I may change my mind...

Over to you guys...How many here would consider a relic'd PAF cover as choice?

[Greg_L]

Over to you guys...How many here would consider a relic'd PAF cover as choice?

I'm not really into the relic thing myself, but if I was replacing a worn in pickup in a worn in guitar, I absolutely would go the relic route with a new pickup just for continuity of looks. A shiny new pickup on a faded and checked guitar with grungy hardware looks odd. In that instance the relic thing would look better IMO.

As for stickers, people still love stickers. I don't get it, personally. I'd rock MuttPups stickers everywhere because you're a bro and all, but plastering my shit with stickers from huge corporate products that I actually paid for generally makes no sense to me. Why would I pay for something and then do their advertising too? Lol. I give all of my stickers to the kids. I don't think my youngest knows what Ernie Ball means, but she's got the sticker on her closet door.

Now if companies gave me stuff, that'd be different.

[muttley]

Yeh, I hear what you are saying.... and stickers will prolly happen.

[rayc]

Packaging...why not clean, green as standard?
There is strong appeal in the branded wooden box and it's reusable, renewable as well as recyclable.
It does require ordering, storage and at stocking levels that may be self defeating.
The plastic box is, at least reusable and may be recyclable so if a version that def. was stamped with the appropriate recycle level OR included a pick or two and was labelled pick storage.
Stamped paper/cardboard/etc packaging would be optimal.
A stamp of the brand logo on everything used for packing would be nice.
I keep all boxes and packaging for a couple of months in case of returns but then re-use the boxes/padded bags - for postage, for storage etc.

[Armistice]

Muffbuckers... just throwin' it out there.

[muttley]

Packaging...why not clean, green as standard?
There is strong appeal in the branded wooden box and it's reusable, renewable as well as recyclable.
It does require ordering, storage and at stocking levels that may be self defeating.
The plastic box is, at least reusable and may be recyclable so if a version that def. was stamped with the appropriate recycle level OR included a pick or two and was labelled pick storage.
Stamped paper/cardboard/etc packaging would be optimal.
A stamp of the brand logo on everything used for packing would be nice.
I keep all boxes and packaging for a couple of months in case of returns but then re-use the boxes/padded bags - for postage, for storage etc.

Stamped card and paper is kind of where we are headed and I had it in mind to make sure its recyclable... so all good points and noted.

[muttley]

Muffbuckers... just throwin' it out there.

Noted... but I wouldnt want confusion with the Big Muff label...

[JD01]

Wood would be handy. I need kindling for my hipster log burner

[Greg_L]

I'd want my packaging made of south african baby seal hide and contraband ebony.