Frantone will soon be no more

James · Post by **James** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 2:43 am

Hello Everyone,

It is my deepest regret to hereby announce that due to many circumstances beyond my control that it is necessary for me to close the doors at Frantone Electronics for good. By April 1, 2009 I will cease all manufacturing of the Frantone line of effects and will retire from the pedal making business. I wish to thank all of you who have supported me and my work for the past 15 years, and believe me I know that without all of you I could not have made this fantastic line of effects of which I have been so proud to have born.

I will be selling my remaining inventory on the Frantone website but will no longer be able to offer product for wholesale. Good luck to you all and I wish all my dealers and supporters the best. Again, I do thank you all so very much.

With kind regards,

Fran

GearPage thread
TalkBass thread

Will · Post by **Will** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 3:03 am

April 1st? I smell a trick.

Sloan · Post by **Sloan** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 3:03 am

damn. internet's fault.

Sloan · Post by **Sloan** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 3:04 am

DuoSonicBoy wrote:April 1st? I smell a trick.

william · Post by **william** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 3:53 am

does this mean i should get a creampuff now before they get ridiculous?

Sloan · Post by **Sloan** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 4:01 am

william wrote:does this mean i should get a creampuff now before they get ridiculous?

They're not already ridiculous?

william · Post by **william** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 4:11 am

Sloan wrote:
william wrote:does this mean i should get a creampuff now before they get ridiculous?
They're not already ridiculous?

touche.

Will · Post by **Will** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 4:37 am

william wrote:
Sloan wrote:
william wrote:does this mean i should get a creampuff now before they get ridiculous?
They're not already ridiculous?
touche.

$30 - same circuit

Reece · Post by **Reece** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 4:38 am

i thought that was the peach fuzz?

Will · Post by **Will** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 4:51 am

Reece wrote:i thought that was the peach fuzz?

Ahhj, I think yr right.

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 7:23 am

well that was an easy out on that one for danelectro.

I almost want to buy something to help her out. shit's expensive though.

kim · Post by **kim** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 9:40 am

sad news.

peach of is kinda affordable they had one here at the guitarshop for something like 160eur, maybe it was secondhand ?

Post by **Mike** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 11:55 am

It's probably a joke, but if it's not I have to say I'm unsurprised. Their prices are fucking ridiculous.

That's what happens when you fuck up your pricing structure by a massive degree.

James · Post by **James** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 12:03 pm

DuoSonicBoy wrote:April 1st? I smell a trick.

If it is that she deserves to fold as a result of it.

Her recent price hikes seem to have led to a bit of an increase in sales with people who were undecided jumping on the old prices before the increases took effect. If this is a reaction to the fact nobody is buying at the new, higher prices and either an April Fools prank or just a temporary thing and she plans to be back in 6 months, it's incredibly bad form and I hope no-one sticks by her.

It could also be a reaction to the Dano copy. As far as I'm aware no-one has copied Frantone stuff before, at least not to that sort of scale. It will certainly draw attention to the copies again. Now in the discussion people will talk about them being able to put small builders out of business, even if this isn't for serious.

I wish more small buidlers were like Subdecay. The quality is superb, and it's backed up with a healthy amount of integrity. I think this story aside, there's not much integrity in selling true bypass boxes at the Frantone sort of price.

James · Post by **James** » Sat Apr 10, 2010 12:41 pm

http://www.frantone.com/

It's back in business with no mention of previously stopping. I had a quick browse and it doesn't say anything about having closed before. It seems now to be more along the lines of a made-to-order place.

benecol · Post by **benecol** » Sat Apr 10, 2010 12:46 pm

I thought this was fairly common knowledge: she stopped largescale production in favour of insanely expensive custom work.

The first fuzz I really wanted in my pedal reawakening was a Peach Fuzz, facts about me fans.

James · Post by **James** » Sat Apr 10, 2010 12:56 pm

I hadn't heard about it, but then this is the only guitar nerd forum I read. I just remembered the original tone of her closing being along the closed forever lines.

It is my deepest regret to hereby announce that due to many circumstances beyond my control that it is necessary for me to close the doors at Frantone Electronics for good.

ultratwin · Post by **ultratwin** » Sat Apr 10, 2010 1:49 pm

I might be all wrong about this, but the re-hashed presentation as a one-off pedal builder superficially seems more "expensive" to my eyes, and I'm going to guess that Fran will be making fewer pedals while focusing on custom requests and the like.

And look at the Cream Puff Plus! Both are monstrous as it is, with such different voicings I could imagine a very useful toggle but the thought of one cascading into the other already is giving my skull a hairline fracture.

less_cunning · Post by **less_cunning** » Sat Apr 10, 2010 3:02 pm

Frantone is da bomb.

aen · Post by **aen** » Sat Apr 10, 2010 3:39 pm

Mike wrote:It's probably a joke, but if it's not I have to say I'm unsurprised. Their prices are fucking ridiculous.

That's what happens when you fuck up your pricing structure by a massive degree.

seriously. Fran even wrote this diatribe on harmony central about why her stuff is so absurdly priced. My reaction was "you're doing it wrong."
there are plenty of peopleout there making a living off pedals without ripping people off.