Original Thunderbird Pup Covers

[dadagoboi]

This is a very long shot but I'm exploring the possibility of manufacturing 60's repro covers off shore.

Does anyone know the gauge of the metal on the originals?  Or how the thickness compares to a Guitar Humbucker cover?  I'm thinking it would be about the same.  Right now I'm just in the rough cost estimating phase.  If it goes any farther I'll take a sample there to get it right.

The current price for a repro is understandable with them being made in the US but it's just too high when you consider the tooling and labor costs involved elsewhere.

Thanks!

[godofthunder]

Sweet ! I'm no good with micrometers but I bet someone here knows !

[sniper]

niche manufacturing is a very powerful tool. in the later days of the war, Germany disbursed the wartime production to many small/home sites (as did Russia almost from the start).

i am guilty of it with my little varitone plates. i invested a few hundred dollars initially and now all my equipment/blanks are paid for and i enjoy a few residual sales so i can take the g/f out occasionally or pay for a tank of gas now and then making my trips to Odessa (160 miles round trip) a bit easier to bare when i have to go to the clinic.

in fact it is a basic step in Guerrilla warfare. ever see a handmade Montagnard crossbow made out of an automobile spring that shoots a bamboo sliver? horrifyingly deadly to say the least! yeah i read 'Che' a long time ago.

i say go for it but do not get in over your sales potential or cut yourself short. ( a good trick if one can pull it off!). if it breaks wide open then enjoy. good luck.

[dadagoboi]

niche manufacturing is a very powerful tool. in the later days of the war, Germany disbursed the wartime production to many small/home sites (as did Russia almost from the start).

i am guilty of it with my little varitone plates. i invested a few hundred dollars initially and now all my equipment/blanks are paid for and i enjoy a few residual sales so i can take the g/f out occasionally or pay for a tank of gas now and then making my trips to Odessa (160 miles round trip) a bit easier to bare when i have to go to the clinic.

in fact it is a basic step in Guerrilla warfare. ever see a handmade Montagnard crossbow made out of an automobile spring that shoots a bamboo sliver? horrifyingly deadly to say the least! yeah i read 'Che' a long time ago.

i say go for it but do not get in over your sales potential or cut yourself short. ( a good trick if one can pull it off!). if it breaks wide open then enjoy. good luck.

Thanks for the encouragement Bill!  I feel pretty much the same way you do about potential sales, no great expectations.  I do have manufacturing connections with a long time Taiwanese partner and close friend who has the experience and resources to do things right.  So anything's possible.