When we decided to open our business, we were the only folks around offering boro glass in color. We were determined to make the best slides we could, in popular sizes of glass and lengths. We made prototypes and sold them, and the color was the big advantage. But a few months before we opened, I changed the way our guitar slides were to be made. It was all sort of by accident.
Thinking back to the event, I was day dreaming- torch in hand- fire polishing a rack of slides for a store. I suddenly realized that instead of making a nicely finished rim on the slide, I had over-polished the slide to the point where the rim began to slump into the center of the slide! I moved on, doing the rest of the slides on the tray properly, with attention.
When they had cooled I picked up the slide with the irregular end, and slipping it on a finger, found that the silly thing had a firm grip on me. Not too tight or uncomfortable, just tight enough to make it feel secure on my finger. "Wow", I thought, "It looks kind of ugly, but if I could make slides like this that look good, and if I can control the ends to match a ring size, they'd be way better than 'standard' slides..."
I loaded the tray again and proceeded to polish slides in various colors with varying ring sizes; different on either end but about a ring size apart: a green 8 and 9; a pink 6 and 7; a blue 9.5 and 10.5... and practicing, I got to the point where the slides looked good with these 'unusual' end sizes.
When I delivered the order of slides to the store I included a few with the multiple sizes.The multi-end sized slides sold right away. Supplying more, these sold quickly too. I commented on it and the store manager said she thought it was because each slide fits two different customers! You could've knocked me over with a feather! She was right! There ARE two customers for every multi-sized slide!
I started calling them "Double-Fit" guitar slides. Since a store has no idea what a customer's ring-size might be, or their color preference, a store's collection of slides is necessarily a mix of best-selling colors and Double Fit size combinations. They sell best when musicians can try-on and test them for fit and sound, in-store.
That's how making and selling guitar slides with multiple known ring sizes became a driving force in our company, and how the concept of "Custom: The New Standard" was born- entirely by accident!
But that was (surprise!) not the only good thing that "Double Fit" slides had in store for us. When we built the website and began selling slides on-line, we offered to make slides with any available size on either end. What followed was a phone call from a satisfied customer who had a simple question. He asked, "I love my size 9 slide and most of the time it fits perfect. But when I went outside it was cold (snow on the ground) and I still had my slide on. After a minute or two it fell off my finger! I was surprised. I picked it up and it was like it changed size and it didn't fit so well all of a sudden. What's up with that?"
We had to tell him we'd look into it, and we did. It turns out that the slide didn't change size, he did. Ring makers have long known that hand and fingers grow larger when warm, and smaller when cold! We got back to him and recommended using a slide 1/2 ring size smaller on one end, because when people's hands cool down, their fingers shrink! Who would have thought it! So we made one like this for him to try, and he likes it; 1/2 size difference between ends solved the problem.
Now we offer Double Fit sizes for people who want a slide that fits in either hot OR cold sets (custom, close sizes); or slides made for stores where Double Fit collections offer slides with two top-selling ring sizes each: to fit two customers.
*BOOM*
RockyButte Guitar Slide Company
Custom: The New Standard
When they had cooled I picked up the slide with the irregular end, and slipping it on a finger, found that the silly thing had a firm grip on me. Not too tight or uncomfortable, just tight enough to make it feel secure on my finger. "Wow", I thought, "It looks kind of ugly, but if I could make slides like this that look good, and if I can control the ends to match a ring size, they'd be way better than 'standard' slides..."
I loaded the tray again and proceeded to polish slides in various colors with varying ring sizes; different on either end but about a ring size apart: a green 8 and 9; a pink 6 and 7; a blue 9.5 and 10.5... and practicing, I got to the point where the slides looked good with these 'unusual' end sizes.
When I delivered the order of slides to the store I included a few with the multiple sizes.The multi-end sized slides sold right away. Supplying more, these sold quickly too. I commented on it and the store manager said she thought it was because each slide fits two different customers! You could've knocked me over with a feather! She was right! There ARE two customers for every multi-sized slide!
I started calling them "Double-Fit" guitar slides. Since a store has no idea what a customer's ring-size might be, or their color preference, a store's collection of slides is necessarily a mix of best-selling colors and Double Fit size combinations. They sell best when musicians can try-on and test them for fit and sound, in-store.
That's how making and selling guitar slides with multiple known ring sizes became a driving force in our company, and how the concept of "Custom: The New Standard" was born- entirely by accident!
But that was (surprise!) not the only good thing that "Double Fit" slides had in store for us. When we built the website and began selling slides on-line, we offered to make slides with any available size on either end. What followed was a phone call from a satisfied customer who had a simple question. He asked, "I love my size 9 slide and most of the time it fits perfect. But when I went outside it was cold (snow on the ground) and I still had my slide on. After a minute or two it fell off my finger! I was surprised. I picked it up and it was like it changed size and it didn't fit so well all of a sudden. What's up with that?"
We had to tell him we'd look into it, and we did. It turns out that the slide didn't change size, he did. Ring makers have long known that hand and fingers grow larger when warm, and smaller when cold! We got back to him and recommended using a slide 1/2 ring size smaller on one end, because when people's hands cool down, their fingers shrink! Who would have thought it! So we made one like this for him to try, and he likes it; 1/2 size difference between ends solved the problem.
Now we offer Double Fit sizes for people who want a slide that fits in either hot OR cold sets (custom, close sizes); or slides made for stores where Double Fit collections offer slides with two top-selling ring sizes each: to fit two customers.
*BOOM*
RockyButte Guitar Slide Company
Custom: The New Standard