The Calder Guitar Case - Review of a 2yr design process
Now we have the final design for the Ultra and are on the brink of production I wanted to review the design process so far. So here it is - starting with my first sketch and running through to the present design.
[This post will be work in progress for a while as I gather in images]
Dec 03 First sketch (that I can still find)- at this stage the look is organic with a ying-yang kinda line across the middle to break up the shape (this feature was to bug me later).
Dec 03 Cardboard model - knocked up one rainy day to prove to myself the idea worked in 3D.
March 04 My final sketch sent to Bart Haney at SuperHappyBunny. The title "See-thru Angry" refers to initial idea that the Calder case would be translucent. The 'angry' comes from wanting to drop the organic look in favour of something with a more rock n roll edge.
April 04 Bart Haney from SuperHappyBunny created this for me to show some heavy hitters in the music products industry at Frankfurt Musik Messe. This picture grabbed everyone's attention and really set the Calder machine rolling.
May 04 Hyper creative Bart generates lots of different profiles for the case - here's a couple we liked.
June 04 I settle on Bart's profile 29 for our prototype - pretty close to my original idea.
July 04 Nashville. Now working with UK designers Michael Mailling and John Wright.
John created these images ready for me to show prospective partners at NAMM Nashville.
I asked Michael to make the case sexy - he produced a heavily sculptured look that went down well at Nashville. The rear of the case was reconfigured so the case could stand upright easily.
September 05 Going 3D - foam models produced by Michael Mailling - this is a half size model we all thought looked very cool. One US guy said in its praise that it looked like an Italian sculpture...This worried me...I wanted a working case for rock musicians - not a piece of art.
Jan 05 Heathrow Airport - I get my first sight of the working prototype. Delivered to me by an anxious John Wright (M Mailling took the pic) an hour before I flew out the NAMM LA.
Here's the prototype in my LA hotel room. The prototype was well recieved in LA.
But the mid body line soon began to bug me - it served no purpose - too designery.
April 05 To simplify the design we airbrush out the mid body line.
This image was our flagship thru Spring 05 - garnering lots of comment when we went public on this blog in May 05.
Oct 05 I'm working with carbon fiber ace and product designer Barry Noble. New product concept the Ultra. This is a carbon fiber/kevlar shell covered with a skin of leather or Cordura.
I'm falling out of love with the curvy design - its too fancy and creates all kinds of engineering problems. I begin to follow my minimalist instincts and send Barry sketches of alternative profiles. Here's one -
Barry was not impressed with this and so we went back to the earlier design. But I kept thinking there must be a better design. One night I produced this...and at last I had the the sort of simplicity and strength I wanted.
Barry liked this version and we got together to polish up the lines - here's a lo rez mobile phone shot of Barry in drawing mode.
The test was to see the thing in 3D so Barry made up the wooden model ... and it was good.
categories: early development
Calder blog homepage
Calder website homepage
[This post will be work in progress for a while as I gather in images]
Dec 03 First sketch (that I can still find)- at this stage the look is organic with a ying-yang kinda line across the middle to break up the shape (this feature was to bug me later).
Dec 03 Cardboard model - knocked up one rainy day to prove to myself the idea worked in 3D.
March 04 My final sketch sent to Bart Haney at SuperHappyBunny. The title "See-thru Angry" refers to initial idea that the Calder case would be translucent. The 'angry' comes from wanting to drop the organic look in favour of something with a more rock n roll edge.
April 04 Bart Haney from SuperHappyBunny created this for me to show some heavy hitters in the music products industry at Frankfurt Musik Messe. This picture grabbed everyone's attention and really set the Calder machine rolling.
May 04 Hyper creative Bart generates lots of different profiles for the case - here's a couple we liked.
June 04 I settle on Bart's profile 29 for our prototype - pretty close to my original idea.
July 04 Nashville. Now working with UK designers Michael Mailling and John Wright.
John created these images ready for me to show prospective partners at NAMM Nashville.
I asked Michael to make the case sexy - he produced a heavily sculptured look that went down well at Nashville. The rear of the case was reconfigured so the case could stand upright easily.
September 05 Going 3D - foam models produced by Michael Mailling - this is a half size model we all thought looked very cool. One US guy said in its praise that it looked like an Italian sculpture...This worried me...I wanted a working case for rock musicians - not a piece of art.
Jan 05 Heathrow Airport - I get my first sight of the working prototype. Delivered to me by an anxious John Wright (M Mailling took the pic) an hour before I flew out the NAMM LA.
Here's the prototype in my LA hotel room. The prototype was well recieved in LA.
But the mid body line soon began to bug me - it served no purpose - too designery.
April 05 To simplify the design we airbrush out the mid body line.
This image was our flagship thru Spring 05 - garnering lots of comment when we went public on this blog in May 05.
Oct 05 I'm working with carbon fiber ace and product designer Barry Noble. New product concept the Ultra. This is a carbon fiber/kevlar shell covered with a skin of leather or Cordura.
I'm falling out of love with the curvy design - its too fancy and creates all kinds of engineering problems. I begin to follow my minimalist instincts and send Barry sketches of alternative profiles. Here's one -
Barry was not impressed with this and so we went back to the earlier design. But I kept thinking there must be a better design. One night I produced this...and at last I had the the sort of simplicity and strength I wanted.
Barry liked this version and we got together to polish up the lines - here's a lo rez mobile phone shot of Barry in drawing mode.
The test was to see the thing in 3D so Barry made up the wooden model ... and it was good.
categories: early development
Calder blog homepage
Calder website homepage
posted by Nick CC at
9:45 PM
1 Comments:
Hi Nick... Very cool case concept. Its got a sexy shape and an interesting interior. I'm a case maker in the U.S.
check out the link for my site. I design my cases in the traditional way basically (large briefcase). Although we do have a new product called the ultralite case. Which is a lightweight alternative to heavy ATA cases.
I like the design in the fact that its compact, and if its made with Kevlar it ought to be pretty durable as well. The foam interior is really neat, I like the crisscross pattern the lid foam is set in. Plus with less foam, it would make the case that much lighter.
Really the whole thing looks great.
Heres a few things I might be concerned with.
Firstly production cost.
Im not sure how much it costs to make a lid and base in a carbon fibre mould, But I can't imagine it would be very inexpensive. Being a distributor for both pelican and skb
(plastic moulded cases) I know that for them to bring in just a new size of their cases, it cost them about 1,000,000 and it takes a year to make the equipment. With carbon fibre I would guess its more like fibreglass than a plastic mould. So startup may not be as much.
Basically I would be concerned about cost versus saleability. If you can produce each case for 500-750 and sell them from 1000-1500 and expect to sell a lot of them you'll be fine. That is if your starting a business. If you can do these at home yourself you can probably turn a nice profit. But if you maintain a shop and employees and all the overhead that goes with it you better sell lots of them. Having distributors may or may not be beneficial. Same with trying to get in with guitar manufacturers. Even the custom ones.
Consider your market.
How many guitars over 5000.00 are sold worldwide each year. How many of those don't have cases? How many of those people who have bought instruments or already have and are in the market for a case them will be able to find you?
An average month for me is 2 guitar or bass cases. I've worked at 2 different case companies. And it was about the same.
Case dynamics...
Great design. If your covering everything with felt thats great. but it takes a long time. I can do a case in 1-2 hours for an electric or semi-hollowbody maybe a bit more for a hollowbody or something with a really odd shape. If your keeping the patterning on top thats going to take a while. I would also drop test a few to make sure the design of the foam will hold up, you'll also want to be aware of your foam density. Too soft and the guitar will squish through and bounce on the wall of the case. Too hard and you may as well have not put foam in.
Certain kinds of foam are abrasive to the finish of some instruments. If your covering with felt or velvet thats usually fine.
Lid and Base..
Your probably going to need a few different sizes. Most electrics are 42" or less and about 2 1/2 inches thick. with a 16" or less body..
but if your going to do custom stuff... or semi- or regular hollowbody guitars your going to have to set up your base to be deeper. Or if you have a crazy tilt on the headstock. Because the body will sit up higher in the case and you don't want the weight of the guitar to be on the body and head, you have to distribute the weight along the neck. So bear in mind setup, possible hardware changes, and production costs if you have to have a few different sizes.
Duribility and protective properties are also a major consideration. The shell being made of kevlar should be pretty sound. Heres a test I do for customers that comeinto our showroom. We have a case that I jump up and down on with an instrument in it. I weigh 200 pounds. Can I jump up and down on your case with a 5000-10000 dollar instrument in it?
Mines only $395.00 all buffed out with velvet and with a storage for your strings and pics and tuner. Its got a full aluminum surround for side impacts. Thats the kind of thing you'll be dealing with from 500 or more other case companies around the world.
for 1000.00 to 1500.00 per case your going to have a very specific clientele. I hope you already know how to reach them.
Marketing.
Good luck there. You can plan on paying big bucks on getting a top quality website, unless you can do it yourself which takes time away from other important things. The Namm show and other tradeshows are great for making contacts. But actually paying to set up a booth usually isnt that great. Your better off to go and make contacts. Theres so much to marketing I can't even begin to start.
Anyhow. I think the case is outstanding. And I hope you do well with it. The case business is a tough one. Especially the music portion of it. Great cases add to the persona of musicians. Everyone loves to see gear in cool cases, especially when the musicians and crew come in and set it up and do a great show. Anyone coming in with your case will look totally cool and professional. And if they can afford it, they probably are.
Looks like an awesome product. All the best..
check out my site.. all the contact info is there. Drop me a line if you'd like.
After two years Im sure you've probably thought of most of the above, just thought I'd tell you what I though, since cases is what I do for a living. And I love my job..
Peace..
Loren
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