Saturday

Hey All,
Small update, a few more pictures...and some babbling, cause that's what kind of mood I'm in today.

Survey: 
Don't worry, you didn't miss anything, I have not sent out the survey yet. After much deliberation, I am planning to hold off on sending the surveys until half-way through production to minimize complications caused by changes to shipping addresses etc.  When I do send out the surveys, they will include drop-downs that will let you select the color options for each of the EpicGrips that you ordered. The anodization is added as a free bonus to all you Kickstarter supporters for blowing past our stretch goals so darn fast. :)

I am continuing to offering the EpicGrips (still pre-order for now) through the EpicGrip.com site, but on epicgrip.com, going forward, since it is an extra step, anodized coloring will be an added charge for new buyers.

"So when should I expect my survey," you ask... Good question, keep reading.

Production:
Production is ~25 days from the point when I approve the samples.  I haven't done so yet because I am currently in dialog with the foundry regarding the sample thickness. There was a tolerance issue with the samples, and upon clarification, the foundry confirmed that if we continued as planned, a significant percentage of the final picks would be too thin. I am currently exploring options with the foundry to assure that all the EpicGrips are consistently awesome.  I should know more in a few days, and when I do, I'll post another blog update with details.

On the "boring details" front, the card-stock packaging tops have been ordered, and are on their way, and the EpicGrip plastic baggies are here. I'll post a picture of a 'final package' when the tops get here (scheduled for next Saturday.)

Photos:
Here are some better pictures of the gold-ish, silver-ish and gradient finishes. Sorry about the fingerprints... :)

 

And totally off-topic:  
If you're one of the supporters who wants to learn to play the guitar, read on... I was talking to a co-worker about the new 2014 version of Rocksmith (a game by Ubisoft that lets you plug any real (electric) guitar into a PC or console, and play songs Guitar Hero style.) I do like the game, but it is not particularly cheap when you add in the cost of a proprietary $30 cable, and the DLC songs. If you have the money, I do recommend Rocksmith.  It does what it says on the box, and if nothing else, it's a fun excuse to pick up the guitar more often, but...
In the course of the conversation, I also learned about an app similar to Rocksmith called guitarbots.com. It's (mostly) free, it runs in your browser, and you can use it with ANY guitar including acoustic with no extra hardware required.  I played around with the guitarbots app this afternoon for about 15 minutes, and I must say that it looks like an amazing learning tool if you're just starting to play.  After installing the required Unity3D plug-in, it worked flawlessly, and on a technical level it's also just an amazing example of the kinds of applications you can build into a website these days.  BTW: I'm not affiliated with either of the above companies, I just like them both and think they are worth sharing.

Regardless of your playing level, I'd also heartily recommend checking out Andrew Wasson's Creative Guitar Studio channel on YouTube. Andrew does an amazing job of thoroughly explaining complex musical concepts in nice digestible chunks. Let me know in the comments below if you know of any other great resources like this for beefing your playing skills.