with easy-to-acquire parts, companies to
do your artwork for you, or do your
shipping and fulfillment, and more.
These days, there is a company out
there that will do any part of the process
for you—for a cost—and if you have the
means to farm it out then anyone can
get in the pedal game regardless of
skill level. That has been great for a lot
of people to have a pedal of their own,
and bad for an industry if you intend to
make a living manufacturing effects
pedals at scale.
In contrast, 20 years ago it was hard and
expensive to be in electronics
manufacturing on any level, and you had
to have all kinds of heavy skills just to
get in the game and play. I started
designing my circuit boards with ink on
paper in the mid-‘90s and manufactured
my own boards in house through the
aughts but those technical skill
boundaries no longer exist to anyone
wanting to have a start up and make
electronics today. It’s cheap, quick, and
easy now on all levels by comparison.
Not that that’s the way I do it! We still
hand paint, hand screen, and hand
assemble, and I design everything
myself, but most everyone today can go
the easy route to a product, and many
do. Whether any of that is cool or not,
that’s another thing.
Culturally however the industry is much
the same as always. I have talked pretty
honestly about that part of it recently
and received some kickback, but also a
great deal of support and I think on the
22
INTERVIEW //
whole a recognition that the industry
needs to get out of the locker room and
invite diversity. I think that opening up
the music manufacturing industry to
designers and entrepreneurs who are
not “a white guy” will mean a much
different future and much more varied
product designs, more original ideas,
and ultimately new kinds of equipment
and music, but in that regard much still
has to change.
TR: You disappeared for a while and
your pedals started to fetch ridiculous
prices on the secondhand market.
What was the catalyst for leaving the
industry for a while, and what spurred
this comeback?
FB: That too is a long story that I have
spoken about at length recently, but the
short story there is that I got outed on
the guitar forums as trans and pretty
much became a laughingstock, and,
virtually overnight, no one took me
seriously anymore. My dealers clammed
up, and sales stopped. Adding to that
serendipity was the rise of a whole new
army of startups and big companies
alike getting into the pedal game all at
the same time. Frantone just got washed
away in the mire and I had to move on
and do other things to make a living.
It was actually my friend Zack Vex that
gave me some advice back then. When
the crap hit the fan, he told me that the
best option was for me to go out of
business. He said just go out of
business, wait five years, then come
back. Zack was confident that after
The Return of Real Boutique: A Chat with Fran Blanche of Frantone