From deke@dekethegeek.com Wed Mar 19 21:10:07 2003
Subject:B4 controllers (was - clone costs)

> I watched the
> recent discussions about a B4 control keyboard with interest,
> because I contemplated building and offering a similar product
> over a year ago. $500 (US) tops? You might be able to cobble
> together a low-grade keyboard and controller solution for
> something around that price, but you're not going to offer good
> quality waterfall keys and authentic-feeling drawbars for that
> money. For one thing, suppliers like Fatar and GEM are not all
> that interested in your business, because they know that you're
> only going to sell hundreds -- maybe even TENS -- of these
> keyboard setups. Translated into business terms: you can't
> get the parts for the cost that Roland, Korg, Voce, and even
> Fatar (Studiologic) themselves depend on to make a profit. If I
> can buy the parts for say, $475 and sell them for $500, is that a
> great deal? Only if I can sell hundreds of them a week. If I
> sell 50 of them, total, over 6-12 months, it becomes a slightly
> profitable "hobby." (Do the math: That's $1250 total profit,
> for probably 2 months development and marketing effort, plus
> support time.) The alternative is to sell them at niche-product
> prices ($800?), but according to the discussions I've heard here,
> the current market isn't interested at that price.

That was _exactly_ the impression I got when we were talking about it. If I
were making the cabinets by hand and hand soldering the things together... I
had damn well better make $300-400 dollars out of each one if I were to do
it. I sometimes build computers for people, PC clones... When I build one of
these I usually add 15-20% to the cost of the parts, plus around $100-150 in
labor. I spend several hours (mostly watching the progress meters on the
various installs) getting one of these ready, so I expect that my time is
worth something. And warranty? I would have to go into debt just to build
them, not to mention that most people buying them would be pretty serious
organ fanatics, and likely gigging musicians... so I would need more than
just a warranty... I would need a warranty with a quick turnaround. So I
have decided to bite the bullet and make exactly one (1) of these things and
enjoy it for myself. When I get finished I'll post pictures and instructions
on my site, but trying to sell the completed product is too big of a
potential risk financially for me. I wish I could get a single manual dual
drawbar set keyboard for $500... I'd just buy two and be done with it! And
someone else would be handling the warranty... ;-)

FWIW

Deke The Geek
-economist-