First let me say, I think BYOC is an awesome company and had it not been for me buying on of their kits and having everything explained so perfectly, I would probably not be building the stuff I am now. Their kits and instructions are great and very easy to follow
I really like their Soaring Skillet (Ibanez Flying Pan Clone) and wanted to build one. Customer service was really helpful and sold me just the PCB for that, and a few other PCBs. So I began sourcing the parts recently and noticed that it takes (2) Dual Element Opto Couplers that says that they (BYOC) have custom made.
Now I am not a tech head yet like most of you guys so substitutions don't come naturally to me. I like to build things as closely as I can to make sure it comes out right. Hopefully one day I will have a better understanding of stuff and be comfortable with mods, substitutions, etc....
So anyway, they sold me the Dual Element Couplers for $15.00 each. I paid it because they went to the trouble to sell me stuff that's not currently on their website and, well, I want to build the pedal.
Can someone lie to me....ugh...or tell me that these are custom components and it's an ok price?
Yes that is fair.
BYOC are a good company, and do not go out of their way to actively rip people off.
VTL5C3's (a regular bread and butter production single element vactrol) regularly cost around $6 from a lot of places.
The price will be fair. They also need to make a little profit out of what they sell too don't forget (they aren't a charity).
They also need to cover in their costs support etc. which it sounds like they have given you.
I have no idea if they are truly custom (although I doubt they would lie about it), but the price doesn't seem out of line to me. Vactrols can easily run to $10 retail for standard parts.
Considering they don't normally sell them direct, it's a fair price, I think. You could probably find other vactrols that would work, but you would likely need to buy 2 or three different part numbers to get something that works. It's cheaper to pay $15/per and know they will work. ;)
great, I just wasn't sure.
Agree they are a great company