Why is gear so expensive and why not more vintage DIY?

[lobstman]

Or just offer no tech support.

That was long before the internot. Now days if that's tried, the wrath of pissed off bloggers with too much time on their hands can wreck a company's rep, whether deserved or not. "He sold me this crap and I can't fix it, what an a**hole!"

Who needs that?

True. What I don't understand is how Hamptone and SCA do it- I can imagine they get bogged down in the customer support morass, too.

In emrr's examples about Roger Foote and Elsen, those companies weren't offering customer support on their other product lines- it was something specific to the kits, which they found took up too much time. Hamptone and SCA already do that, though.

I guess the question is which is more of a pain in the ass, providing component level tech support of customer-soldered boards or supporting "snap together" kits for people who can barely hold a screwdriver. I'm guessing some of those people buy Hamptone and SCA kits anyway...

[joel hamilton]

Or just offer no tech support.

That was long before the internot. Now days if that's tried, the wrath of pissed off bloggers with too much time on their hands can wreck a company's rep, whether deserved or not. "He sold me this crap and I can't fix it, what an a**hole!"

Who needs that?

True. What I don't understand is how Hamptone and SCA do it- I can imagine they get bogged down in the customer support morass, too.

In emrr's examples about Roger Foote and Elsen, those companies weren't offering customer support on their other product lines- it was something specific to the kits, which they found took up too much time. Hamptone and SCA already do that, though.

I guess the question is which is more of a pain in the ass, providing component level tech support of customer-soldered boards or supporting "snap together" kits for people who can barely hold a screwdriver. I'm guessing some of those people buy Hamptone and SCA kits anyway...

Somehow Paia still makes it happen. Their stuff is actually pretty great, especially the modular synth stuff. It is totally fun sounding stuff.