Bear Bottoms

[Donner]

Looking for some feedback on the bottoms of the BearFoot line.

To make them more velcro friendly I can either paint them all black , or leave them naked, is it worth making it optional or just do them all one way ?

[Johnson]

My vote was for the matching paint...but I was thinking...if you listed some "blank" bottoms for sale on the page, I am sure that people would buy them as well. It would give the owner the option of switching out. Heck, if it matched the bottoms of the BJF pedals, I'd buy a few from you right now

[cajone5]

I say powdercoated to match the text. In the case of the HBOD, black. Then you help define the brand a bit more by making a unique feature

[Joeleo]

I like the idea, but honestly even if you powdercoated the bottoms black i probably still wouldn't velcro it just because of the resale value hit that comes with velcroing. I don't know if the logistics of offering separate bare bottom plates on the website as an accessory make it feasible or not, but if that was an option i would buy one for every pedal!

[musicsoma]

My vote is to paint the same but offer additional blank bottom plates to switch out as noted above. The possibility of the paint coming off is one of the things that drives us all crazy but also drives us to cherish our beloved pedals.

[cajone5]

I think whichever way you choose to go will be fine (though, for the record, I voted for matching color with the top), but if it were me, I would definitely do them all only one way. Sure, options are nice for the customers, but, in a variety of ways (keeping track of who gets what, that you've got the right number of each variety, etc.), producing multiple varieties could end up being a huge hassle for you! Keep it simple for your own benefit as a manufacturer/distributor!

I agree about choosing one way and sticking to it -- options will just bog you down. The main reason I vote for powder coated to match the text is just to provide a more durable finish to velcro to. I WANT to velcro the bottom plates of my pedals and don't want the velcro/back paint left sitting on my board when I decide to switch things around. I guess I'm coming from a slightly different place of wanting the powder coated backplate for utility purposes and collectability be damned. If the top chips I'm OK with that but if I have to keep reapplying velcro until I get to bare metal, that I find frustrating.

Currently I do use replacement back plates or the diaper method on my BJFe pedals (with the exception of the old beat up DRD) but I think since the BF line is aimed more toward the budget/gigging musician (I think) they should have more durable back plates.

[Donner]

I also had an idea......

if you really wanted to velcro, couldnt you use a razor blade to score the area for the velcro, then put duct or gorilla tape on that piece and rip the paint up cleanly - then youd have bare metal to vecro to and still have matching color on the rest of it...

[thesjkexperience]

My vote was for the matching paint...but I was thinking...if you listed some "blank" bottoms for sale on the page, I am sure that people would buy them as well. It would give the owner the option of switching out. Heck, if it matched the bottoms of the BJF pedals, I'd buy a few from you right now

Selling blank bottoms is a great idea. I was the only one to vote blank for velcro removal reasons. But, I'd be up for anything if I could buy blank bottoms to velcro up.

[cajone5]

I also had an idea......

if you really wanted to velcro, couldnt you use a razor blade to score the area for the velcro, then put duct or gorilla tape on that piece and rip the paint up cleanly - then youd have bare metal to vecro to and still have matching color on the rest of it...

I like it!

[jdandry]

I say black...One other thought....If you produce models with trims (EGDM, HT..ect), drill a hole in the bottom plate for the trimmer. I've done this with replacement back on my EGDM and HT and its makes it much easier to adjust..at gigs have been the most useful!