Finally, all the Jam Kats are here!

Though we have been selling for awhile, I just wanted to let everyone know that we are officially selling all sizes of the Jam Kat, for both Righties and Lefties. That's 10 total sizes!

If you don't know what size you are you can download our sizing template here.

Just a quick shut out to everyone who helped to make this happen. Remind your friends to add us on Facebook and Twitter!

Testimonial Feed

Some of you might have heard a number of us talk about this fine gentleman Billy Reasons. We met him in Nashville at Namm in July and he really showed us a great part of the business we're in. In 2002 Billy was electrocuted and almost died. Though doctors thought they would have to amputate his hand, they saved it and he has since gone through a number of surgeries to rehabilitate it and regain full function. At the moment he glues a pick to his thumb and finger with pine tar and tends to play so hard he leaves blood on the guitar. Still with all this adversity he's creating the best music of his career. We're hoping the Jam Kat design will help him overcome all current and future obstacles. Billy is an extraordinarily talented musician and we want to make sure the sky is the limit. Lisa is designing him a FLiP! and he sent her this lovely note that we wanted to share with you all:

Thank you so much Lisa for being such a big part of what will allow me to do what I know I was born to do. Sometimes when tragedy strikes it makes us want to give up and sometimes it pushes us to persevere, in my case that perseverance led me to you, pat and your entire wonderful group. It's another piece of a divine puzzle. You know how when your sitting there putting a puzzle together and you're looking for that one special piece and sometimes it seems to take forever to find? You guy's are that piece for me. Thank you so much for what you have accomplished, it will enable me to accomplish what I am meant to do as well. As my story continues I can't wait to share with the world what a big part of this story you have become. I thank God for leading me to you, I love you guys.

~Billy Reasons

So this is one of the many reasons that making the Jam Kat is so worthwhile. I can't even tell you how excited we are at the moment. On this edge of infinite possibilities. Starting a company is hard work, the type of thing you don't understand unless you've done it. Thankfully we frequently get to have moments like meeting Billy to keep us going. You can check out his story here.

We Give You:

The first Jam Kat production model!

So. Cool.

NAMM Summer 09 Preview

Here's some pictures from this summer's NAMM show. More info on all the crazy happenings from there soon, but in the meantime take a look at the pics!

Pick-Smith, Inc. on Facebook

For You Harmony Central People...

Just wanted to mention quickly that we got featured on Harmony Central's best of NAMM videos, check it out here and scroll about 2/3 of the way down to watch Lisa talk about the Jam Kat!

Good Morning Nashville

Just wanted to give you a quick heads up that Al has been uploading some pictures from NAMM in Nashville, TN. Much of the Pick-Smith Team is there to introduce the Jam Kat to the world.

For pictures and updates make sure to check out or Facebook Page, but here's a sneak peak of our booth setup today:

wish them luck! And remember, the Jam Kat doesn't just work; it works very, very well.

:)

Update 6-24-9

Just a quickie this time. We have 1/2 page ads hitting nationally in Guitar World ( and aforementioned videos) and Music Trade (thanks Lisa!, and thanks to West Word Vision for their pro bono effort in creating a top flight display ad...) as well as a full page ad in Music Connection. On the latter, we are considered 'family' thanks to Al and Kylie Fischer. Kylie's father is buds with Michael Dolan who runs the mag. Needless to say, this is HUGE; furthermore, I've been in close contact with Bill McBee, Senior Account Manager thereof. I sent him a Jam Kat for review last week, and he loves it. How cool is that? He is also very enthused, is extremely well connected and hopes to attend NAMM to introduce is to key players (literal and figurative). He wants to help. Music Connection is an insiders mag for artists, producers, studios, agents, etc.- the 'Bible' of the industry. They are offering a free 3 month subscription for newbees http://musicconnection.com/store/subscriptions/
Al is our Technical Media Director and is in our NAMM posse. Thanks to the Fischer's for everything!
We are shooting parts next week. Robin (R5) and I have become quite adept with tooling design and fabrication, and the entire process is now 'in-house'. It's been a steep learning curve and months without a day off but it is worth it (thanks Robin!).

Our Shares offering withdrawel is expected to coincide with our NAMM departure, July 16.

Short and sweet, thanks to everyone for everything- we will rock the house with our unique product, a positive revolution!

Insert [Our] Ad Here

We have a new Jam Kat commercial/video that will be distributed with Guitar World Magazine's NAMM issue next month, and it is being featured on various magazine websites. Thanks to John, Kevin and Pat for working so hard on this. As always, thanks to Jeff for rocking out with our Jam Kat in the video.

Adventures on Facebook

Just a quick heads-up to all of you on the ever-reaching Facebook network that we now have a Pick-Smith, Inc. group that we'll also be updating regularly with videos, pictures and events. This way you can not only check our website and our blog, but you can have Jam Kat updates show up on your news feed as well :)

Facebook has surpassed MySpace in not only active members but legitimate network and advertising capabilities. It is a media hothouse for sharing, and though it does have its creepy 'stalker' attributes, we could think of no better way to reach the world. It has been an idea from the beginning to advertise and promote the Jam Kat here.

We invite you and anyone you'd like to invite to join our Pick-Smith family. Thanks to Al for setting the group up. If you have problems finding us on FB, please let myself or Pat know. We're up to 50 members, let's keep it growing! Thanks and have a rocking day!

Cartoon by Dave Walker.

Booth #1537

Hey y'all, just a quick update to let you know how excited we are because we got our NAMM certificate in the mail today and our booth # for the summer show! What a trip, let me say, to have all this coming together. We're putting together our NAMM team and finalizing all the details to get Pick-Smith rocking out in Nashville this July. I can't even describe how excited I was today when I found our booth on the interactive floor plan. Surreal.

Tim at Poremba Productions is still working hard on our booth display, make sure to check out the fly-by video below to experience our booth in it's thirty seconds of glory.

If you'd like more information about our appearance at the summer show, feel free to e-mail us anytime. We're banking on Jeff Poremba, the same fine lad who did our tutorial videos/face of Pick-Smith, to give a few demonstrations at the show. Displaying the awesome functionality of the Jam Kat and his mad guitar skills.

Thanks for everyone's help/support/love in this venture. We have big dreams and you're helping to make them happen!

Peace out for now ;)

Santana at the Hard Rock

Whew!

No, we were not able to meet with don Carlos; however, I did talk to Ron the sound guy, exchange messages w/ Skip the tour manager (busy guy) and deliver the new FLiP! for Santana. The show was phenomenal, and will run for two years. It is THE show in Vegas right now, and overall it was worth the drive home after the concert to get a little further in the door (thanks Janelle!). An interesting dynamic is that don Carlos is using the Vegas platform as a way to reach the widest audience possible- delivering fabulous music as well as a powerful spiritual message. Lisa and I are both students of an obscure text that he quoted, as well as the Toltec tradition. If we can talk with don Carlos I am certain we will connect...

Lisa was able to enlist the help of West Word Vision to help with our Tuesday ad deadline for Guitar World, which is attached herein (thanks Lisa and Paula Schaper, WWV!) Pick-Smith intends to use WWV for all it's campaign needs once we are in the black.

The team is working hard to prepare for our NAMM debut, and the only real issue that we have is the additional cost of funding the advertising campaign and the NAMM show prior to production revenue. Greg Ray and Al Fischer have volunteered to generate an investor specific video and presentation to that end. In Greg's words, "it's time to pony up". Raising capital is not my strength, and I appreciate their enthusiasm and support tremendously (thanks boys!).

Gotta run, more to follow. Pura Vida!

Memorial Day Weekend at KJD

Greetings from the Pick-Smith helm!
There are several developments that bear mentioning, as well as a resulting tack in way of launch strategy.
I was in Tucson last weekend for a new build and ad copy intensive with Lisa and John Krikawa. The latest FLiP! design features torsion springs in the ring instead of leaf springs, and we are thrilled with the improved functionality and ease of assembly. Lisa added six black diamonds for kicks. The picture does not do it justice! The FLiP! 'development' is complete. Woot woot!
In our spare time Lisa worked on the ad copy proof, John worked on a 'true' Jam Kat model/rendering and I worked on a tooling modification (I'll return to that). Lisa has since led our campaign, contacting and contracting the prominent magazines and insuring our placement for the NAMM issues. Concurrent with our 1/2 page ads, Guitar World and Music Trade will include a full media product launch program including product spotlights, reviews, etc. Guitar World alone reaches one million guitarists per month, more than all other mags combined, and they guarantee that Pick-Smith and Jam Kat will be household names in the industry by Labor Day (thank you Lisa and John, muah!).
Back at the ranch, we are sitting on first-run quantities of package inserts, Jam Kat stickers and custom picks; unfortunately, we discovered a flaw in the original harness tool design that set us back several weeks (thanks to Robin Blench of R-5 for his unwavering perseverance and fabulous attitude in the face of such a challenging project!).
Furthermore, our distribution guru Douglas Mason has infiltrated the retail/distributor dynamic in our industry and discovered that we are facing a catch-22 scenario... the independent resellers rely on the payment programs offered by the distributors, and the distributors only carry items that are in demand. Similarly, Guitar Center responds to public demand (thanks Doug!).
To that end, our strategy of product placement and short-sales to fund ad copy and the NAMM show requires re-tooling as well. Our tooling delays and marketing head-ways coincide conspicuously with the upcoming NAMM show (Nashville, July 17-19) and the pending launch of our e-commerce website (thanks Tasja, you rock!). We have an 800 number (1-888-4 Jam Kat) and all indicators point to Pick-Smith hitting the music industry like a meteor strike. Brilliant? Yeah, well...
Another HUGE development is in the ongoing effort to land prominent endorsements. Our 'inside networker' Janelle Curry has developed a working relationship with Carlos Santana's tour manager Skip. Perhaps you saw Carlos holding his pick between his first and second fingers while he played finger-style on American Idol? No word as yet, but Carlos is playing in Las Vegas and has both a metal FLiP! and production packaged Jam Kat to ponder.
Furthermore, Skip is of the opinion that we should be getting our product in the hands of the guitar techs of the most prominent and influential guitarists in the world. He happens to know some of them, including Edge of U2 and John Mayer. Yup, John Mayer (thanks Janelle!). We also have a separate thread to Jeff Beck. If you've seen Jeff play, you know he is a perfect candidate for our product...
So much for brevity. I really need to write shorter blogs more often.
As far as finances, thanks to everyone!!! We've come a long way in a short time, at a fraction of the cost of typical start-ups, funded by the Hearth Program and enthusiastic, talented team-members. We are now in a leveraged position to aquire alternative funding to cover the marketing and NAMM programs we planned on bankrolling with revenue. It is what it is, all good, yadayada... The big picture looks brighter than ever, and we will look back fondly on this time- the vitality, the enthusiasm, the team soul, and the balls it took to pull this off.
Pura Vida!

We Be Nammin'

Congratulations to us as we are now officially members of NAMM! They're slogan is 'believe in music' and we are definitely believers here at Pick-Smith, Inc. We are also excited to announce our attendance at the Summer Namm Show in Nashville, TN this July. It's a wonderful networking and promotion opportunity for us, especially as we begin production of the Jam Kat.

We are lucky to have known Tim at Poremba Productions for a long time, and he's been working on the layout/graphics of our 6'x8' booth for the summer show. Doesn't sound like much space? Well we're going to be packing a lot of 'awesome' in there, don't you worry.

If you're going to be attending the show as well, look for something along the lines of this in the Guitar Accessories section and make sure to stop by and say hello. We promise we don't scratch.

Also along the marketing front Lisa has also been working hard on AD copy for Guitar World, Guitar Player and Bass Player magazines. We'd like to roll those out as soon as possible and who knows maybe we'll even get a product launch feature. You never know what the universe will throw at you.

More posts soon to come with updates about the tooling, the FLiP! and some exciting endorsement possibilities. Stay tuned :)

Update 4-20-09, Tucson road-trip

I drove to Tucson last Thursday to help build the latest FLiP! iteration at Krikawa Jewelry Design (KJD). Thanks to John and Lisa for everything- too much to convey here. Very fruitful trip on several fronts...

We've been dinking with the leaf spring design that closes the ring around the finger, and we haven't been satisfied with both the amount of bench- work it takes to put it together and the marginal range of effectiveness. Overall, the efficacy of the design has not been good enough for release.

This build was far easier, the result is the best FLiP! ever, and it is absolutely drop-dead gorgeous; however, we are going to see if we can bury torsion springs in the 'ears' and get away from leaf springs all together. We recently found a new spring vendor (Ron at Spring Works Utah) and he has been incredibly helpful; moreover, he has been educating me in the subleties of spring physics and what can/can't be built- as well as the costs involved. With his help I hope to put the ring joint issue to bed and give Krikawa the green light. The next build is scheduled for May 8th.

With FLiP! in hand and samples of the packaged black Jam Kat rp's we felt confident that we could represent the products with integrity. The story about how Lisa and I ended up in a meeting with the guitar accessories manager at Guitar Center of Tucson is yet another bizarre and beautiful witness to Pick-Smith's destiny- overkill for me, but you can ask me about it if you enjoy such...

We talked to Brannon Mamula for an hour or so. Here are the highlights and lowlights:

• Everything at every Guitar Center comes from their Distribution Center (DC) and there is one buyer for guitar accessories. We are in the process of getting hooked up with this person.
• They have a program and budget for new products which includes add copy in their magazine and sales tests at select locations. If it goes well, they stock all 300 stores and the online sales of Guitar Center, Musicians Friend and Music 123.
• Guitar Center and it's affiliates maintain a 38% market share of musical instruments and accessories. OMG.
• Guitar accessories do not have the dealer restrictions as do other musical products- for example they carry All-Parts products even though they sell on-line and at every guitar retailer. We like this.
• Brannon loves the Jam Kat and wants one. The only time he took it off was to show it to his employees, and they love it too- especially the acoustic player. He also likes girls, and it was WAY smart to have Lisa with me.
• He likes the packaging; however, he suggested we incorporate disposable pop-up containers to hold 6-12 units and showed us examples. The adhesive hook we have is fine for slat-wall display.
• There were no lowlights!
  

There are some questions we are frequently asked: 1) Have you talked to Guitar Center? 2) Have you sold any yet? 3) Do you have any other products?

1. It feels great to have opened the dialog box with Guitar Center. So you know, my good buddy Douglas Mason, a distribution mentor (and shareholder), has generously offered to assist with Guitar Center contract negotiations; furthermore, he is locating distributors for our industry and I sent him a packaged sample today to break the ice with them. (thanks Doug!)
   
2. We are a couple weeks from having parts, and are gearing up to run 2500 parts and get in the black. We have our seller's permit. Tasja is working on our E-commerce web-site. (thanks Tasja!) The tooling is almost complete, sans polishing and set-up. (thanks Robin Blench of R-5 for his perseverance in a very challenging tool assembly!) Al Fischer is locating a vendor to best accomplish our print and die-cut needs for the packaging insert. (thanks Al!) We've ordered 3000 custom picks and received a Summer NAMM invite (if we don't have our own booth, which we will) from Pick-World, and should have them by May 4th. (thanks again Tasja!) The picks have the longest lead time. I have a spreadsheet (available, just ask) that shows the costs involved in our first run, many one-time costs, and we do need capital to pull this off. Our Hearth program has raised less than 1/3 of the initial $100K limit; however, we are only $20-30 K short (depending on ad-copy saturation) of being self-reliant and shutting the share offering down. Now is the time!
3. On the drive back from Tucson I gleaned a very clever design for a guitar-strap mounted JamKat or FLiP! holder that also has a clear polycarbonate cover; moreover, it doubles as a hard case which can be tossed into a guitar case or the back of a Pinto without damaging anything except the Pinto. Currently we include a velvet drawstring pouch within the package insert for storage. I will have a product design and tooling design ready for Robin by the time he finishes the current tooling project. (he said with conviction) The 'strap rack' is mentioned in the business plan but I had not begun the design work. Also, my hockey bud and shareholder Greg Ray (who has had significant interest and constructive input, thanks Greg!) noted that the Jam Kat has an aggressive attack angle. He has not been the first to notice this, including myself. The balance between thumb ease in retrieval, tooling limitations re the hinge, and optimal pick placement netted us the current version. We will begin working on our own custom pick set which will include offset, twisted, and varied length plectrum. Seeing dollar signs? Yeah, the Jam Kat was designed to take standard picks, but...

Jeez, this is longer than I intended. Sorry about that. I'd like to apologize for not starting a blog sooner. Teary thanks to Tasja for setting this up and 900 other things. So you know, without Tasja and Lisa we would not be poised for launch and I would be very grumpy.

pura vida!
Pat Swartz
president

Boxed and ready to go...well, almost.

Over the weekend we finally committed to a number of packaging aspects for the Jam Kat. Trying to get it to look not only cool and eye-catching, but functional as well, has proven somewhat a task for the little pick-holster. We settled on the clear cube, and tried to implement some elements of a jewelry box for a ring.

From Jam Kat Packaging Prototype

From Jam Kat Packaging Prototype

From Jam Kat Packaging Prototype

There are still some things we're changing (like what exactly to put on the bricks,) to view the new packaging from a few more angles, click here.

Tooling!

The biggest hurdle these past couple months has been the tooling for the Jam Kat pieces. These are the actual steel molds for the nylon Jam Kat pieces. Pat and Robin (and Cornelius) have been knocking away since last year, fine tuning the CAD designs and the machined pieces. Almost all done, check out the pictures below of the newly formed tools:

From Jam Kat Tooling

From Jam Kat Tooling

From Jam Kat Tooling

From Jam Kat Tooling

If you can' tell they're super small and the room for error is non-existent. If you'd like to see the rest of the pictures from the tooling photo shoot, you can view them in a web album here.

Welcome!

Welcome to the Pick-Smith blog where we will be keeping you up-to-date on all the news with the Jam Kat Development. Come back soon and have a rockin day!