Plecter Labs Crystal Focus

[djobitwan7]

Forgive me everyone if this is in the wrong place to put this, but I was up late tonight and thought of something (this may have been brought up at some point) for Erv's wonderful board.

I know he makes his own board(s) and such, but no matter what saber site I go to...I always hear nothing but praises for the Crystal Focus. With that being said, wouldn't there be a way to mass produce this thing? If so, I'm wondering why Hasbro or some other big Star Wars company (that has deep pockets) just doesn't offer to buy the design, so-to-speak, then make the boards for Erv and give some kind of percentage for each saber sold.

I only say this, because even though Hasbro makes the FX line......I can't help, but wish that they'd go a step further and say, ya know...for the extreme Star Wars fan, we should make some better detailed and sturdier lightsabers and that would be the soundboard for them all and I think most fans would be happy with that. Plus make the blades detachable, but there's always the conversion.

Pick away at me now. LOL

[Jedi-Loreen]

Hasbro just want to make a quick, relatively cheap, user friendly saber that people can just put batteries in and have it light up.

If the CF boards were mass produced, they'd have more inherent problems and they wouldn't be as special if just any Joe Shmoe could get their hands on one.

I think Erv likes to keep more control and quality in his "baby".

I'm sure he gets asked these questions all the time. :rolleyes:

[Invisas1979]

I think you also need to think about cost. If one of Erv's boards cost $115 now, they would probably double in cost (at least).

The hasbro costs nothing to make because it's relatively simple. The CF is far more advanced. Then you have to consider the programming of the board and set up of the sounds.

Then if Erv's to have a slice of the profit you're adding more cost.

I'd rather have a rare and cheaper item that I know is good quality, than a mass produced rip off that may or may not have issues.

[Jedi-Loreen]

That's 115€, not USD. Which is about $170, depending on the exchange rate at the time.

[Barmic Rin]

The problem being, as we've all seen, some folks will buy a CF, then attempt to 'improve' on it with their own customizations (The Spaghetti incident anyone?)
It goes without saying that Erv's customer service is top notch, something you certainly wouldn't get from a large multi national company. They can afford to have one or two people moaning about their product, so they can be mass produced.

Should hasbro attempt to buy the design from him, then we will end up with one generic board that will be lower quality & higher priced than Erv models.

[Invisas1979]

That's 115€, not USD. Which is about $170, depending on the exchange rate at the time.


Wasn't sure on the price, was more of and example but you get my point.

Like Barmic said something generic and not so good is what we'd end up with.

I personally liked the spaghetti incident.......

Then I never heard the originals

[Jedi-Loreen]

I'm not sure you actually know what Barmic is referring to......

[$tarkiller]

Also, the fact that if there were any problems with the board, then there would be the issue of Erv' having to train the company that bought his CF on how to properly deal with the problem.

[Kal El Rah]

They would just toss em, not worth their time to fix.

[djobitwan7]

I do agree with all these things, but I was thinking more on the lines of the boards not going into the everyday, run-of-the-mill, sabers, but better constructed ones. Even then I can see the quality issues and such. Was just a thought though.

I only mentioned, because this seems to be growing an everybody wants one of these babies, including me.

[Alcfalath]

That would fall into the 'You have to catert to everybody' rule of business.. If you create something out of the price range of the general public, then it will be a flop due to not enough people buying it..

As for pricing, if you were to be wanting a saber with that quality soundboard, a mass production company wouldnt double the cost, they would triple/quadruple the cost, and it will still be inferior.

By the time that Erv manages to invent a way of (random examples) voice activation, 5.1 sound quality in the saber with inbuilt data transferral to a soundsystem (omnisaber) as well as personal greeting for powering up the saber, external programmable saber modification tweaking, and the CFs own dedicated computer programme;

Then you might see hasbro/some spin off company creating a board as good as the current (or predecessor) CF boards.. :P

[Lord Dottore Matto]

I do agree with all these things, but I was thinking more on the lines of the boards not going into the everyday, run-of-the-mill, sabers, but better constructed ones. Even then I can see the quality issues and such. Was just a thought though.

I only mentioned, because this seems to be growing an everybody wants one of these babies, including me.

Here is the thing that seems to elude most people. Erv' does not do this for the money. These boards are created for the love of the hobby, the genuine sacrifice of self for the good of the community and an inherent passion to create. This is Erv' and this is also why the CF will never be mass produced, sorry.

[Invisas1979]

I'm not sure you actually know what Barmic is referring to......

Have a read of his post and you'll get my drift.....

[Invisas1979]

Here is the thing that seems to elude most people. Erv' does not do this for the money. These boards are created for the love of the hobby, the genuine sacrifice of self for the good of the community and an inherent passion to create. This is Erv' and this is also why the CF will never be mass produced, sorry.

Yeah we get this, some of us were just giving reasons to why this would be impractical even if it were a possibility, but anyone who's read enough info on this site will know it's not.

[Lord Dottore Matto]

Yeah we get this, some of us were just giving reasons to why this would be impractical even if it were a possibility, but anyone who's read enough info on this site will know it's not.

That post was for the new guy's benefit. I was simply explaining what I know to be a fact in direct response to a question posed. And, you are correct in that anyone who has read enough would be able to figure it out.;) Problem is, I get this question all the time so this was an excellent opportunity to clearly explain for all to see.

[Jay-gon Jinn]

Guys, erv already looked into mass production before, almost 2 years ago:
http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com/showthread.php?t=3770&highlight=mass+production&page=1

It didn't work out then, and I'm sure it still wouldn't now.

[djobitwan7]

Wow lots of work Erv does that I didn't realize. Too bad about the manufacturing deal not going through. My thought was that more boards would be made, but not in all mass produced sabers. Just enough to let people get a hold of one.

Since that cannot work, I always wonder that...even though it has been a first come first serve deal....since his CF's now get gobbled up in less than 5 minutes, it would just be nice to be on a waiting list were someone could acquire just 1 of them, even if they had to wait for Erv to make it.

This is not me complaining either, I try almost every time I heard about them going on sale and never snagged one yet. He answered many of my questions and he is a great guy to talk to. On one attempt though I thought I did get a CF and his site said so and money was exchanged, but then I received an e-mail that his counter (I believe it was) wasn't counting right and it said there were more than what he had made and even though he did give the money back right away......I couldn't help but wish since it was his site/store's problem that the people who had the same thing happen to them, could have received one (guaranteed). In a span of 1 hour my face went from elation to deep sadness.

I do not hold that against Erv and glad he is around. Keep up the good work and looking forward to your next batch.

[astromech_kuhns]

that next batch will be coming very soon;)

the 24th if im not mistaken.

[Lord Dottore Matto]

8 PM paris time on THIS Saturday.;)

[mihunai]

Really? howcome i havent gotten the News-email about that... darn..
I really want one, but i just, cant, afford it...
Dilemma...

mTm

[Jedi-Loreen]

A lot of people didn't seem to get their newsletters this time, me included.

Erv did announce it on the FX-Sabers forum a couple weeks ago, though.

[Shadar Al'Niende]

Hmm, yeah...no newsletter. :sad:

[JamoUp]

Apparently he is still having some problems with the sql server of his provider. This is the same issue that gave most of us several copies of the newsletter last time. Hopefully this will get worked out in the future. Best thing to do is constantly check his site for updates... "crystal ficus" .... lolz

[Kal El Rah]

CFSC 4.3 on sale Saturday Oct 24th, 8 pm France time (GMT+1) PST 11 a.m., EST 2 p.m.:cool:;)


http://www.plecterlabs.com/catalog/ news and info 2nd section

[Jedi Ranger]

Hmmm..........I JUST got my Plecterlab newsletter. Only 5 days too late. I used to have no problem getting it. I didn't care that I got multiple copies; at least they were on time. I decided to create a second account with a gmail, rather than my ISP email. I may even create a THIRD account using my hotmail.

[Kal El Rah]

same here, o well:(, next batch of cfsc 5.0 I hope.:!:

[Jedi Ranger]

next batch of cfsc 5.0 I hope.:!:

Ditto.