Marc
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Beiträge: 592
Dabei seit: 14.06.2005
Wohnort: Reeßum
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Betreff: Re: Wo ist eigentlich der ....
Hier mein heutiges Statement im COW:
Zitat:Ok, let's see... What is the same on the AB and the AB-Dlx. is the brand, the fanatism of the maker :lol:, the ribbon and on the CS Fedoras the block.
What's different... well pretty much the rest :wink:
Ok, lazy answer. Perhaps I should sum it up and then I can refer to this thread next time I'm asked (tomorrow probably).
Let's start with the rawbodies. Steve purchases pure beaver dress rawbodies in the color of his choice from his felter and if he desires, he can buy as little as a single rawbody - which is a great advantage! When I started looking into the few felt suppliers left, I picked the one I'm still using, as he was able to deal with the list of specs. I threw at him ("worst customer ever" were his exact words). I wanted a particular colored pure beaver felt with a particular crown hight, brim width, weight, thickness, stiffness in the crown, stiffness in the brim, water repellent cooked into the felt, extra dense (30% denser than standard - which is the max. they can do) etc. etc. etc. - you get the idea. Though willing to do as requested, I was asked to buy a min. of 50 rawbodies a time if I wanted them to be made THAT specific and of course the price went up, up, up with every new idea that crossed my crazy mind on my way to THE rawbody So, have to shell out several grands whenever I need new rawbodies. While the price has gone up a bit over the years, the Dollar has become weaker and weaker making the rawbodies even more expensive for those of you earning Dollars.
Ok, what's next... the pouncing. I spent LONG hours pouncing, going up to a 2000 grit to get a SUPER smooth surface, that is almost like silk or velvet. This doesn't make the hat more or less durable, however it adds a very luxus' appearence and feel to it (hence AB-Dlx.).
Cutting the brim is done equally not matter if Steve does so or me.
Sweatbands: the sweatbands I use come from traditionally tanned roo hides, tanned at a small family owned tannery in Australia to match my specs. (color, thinkness, surface) Then they're shipped to me, forwarded to my sweatband maker and cut before the reading tape (made to my specs.) is added as requested (curve, stitches, "lip length") etc. etc. etc. While a standard sweatband is round about 5 bucks, mine cost round about 45 bucks a piece. With 100 sweatbands min. per order, that puts me back with 4.5 grand each time. Just for sweatbands. The advantage of the roo hide is that it is a very dense and tough hide (which is why bullwhips are made from it :wink: ) and it hardly shrinks - which Steve found quite amazing after soaking his AB-Dlx. completely in sweat two days in a row without any ill effects. The disadvantage: you could get a decent blend rawbody for less. Every little thing on the AB-Dlx. is custom made and the price reflects that.
Liners: Both of us are using white satin liners. So the difference here is only the two color logo that I have put on mine and the smoother and denser bridal satin that I use (which again means 240 pieces min. requirement). Both are sewn in by hand in opposite to using hot glue or similar.
Blocks: using an English block maker for my Raiders blocks and the blocks used for the CS hats and having them made of heavy mahagony, I had to spend 300 Euro (450$) per block! This is plain said outrageous, which is why I had the last blocks made in the US from poplar.
All this summed together and added the German rip off taxes (I think anyone over here can attest to that) plus more than 70$ for the shipping, makes the AB-Dlx cost what it does. The weak Dollar does the rest. When I purchased my Optimos back then, I had to spend 1.2 Euro for one Dollar. Now it's 1.48 Dollar for a single Euro :shock: Or in other words: if the Dollar would still be 1.2 Euro, my hats would cost 330$ incl. shipping to the US. This would be less than a reg. AB WITHOUT shipping :shock: But alas, this is something I have no influence on.
I hope this helps, otherwise feel free to ask.
Regards,
Marc
Wer sich das ganze inkl. Kommentare durchlesen möchte, hier ist der Link: http://www.indygear.com/...c&start=50
Zitat:Dann stellt sich jetzt die Frage: Welche Modelle trägt Herr Jones im neuen Film? Die Kitter oder die Delk Modelle? Oder sogar mal von jedem ein Modell?
Oh! DAS beantworte ich gerne, denn hier waren wir richtig trickreich Steve und ich hatten abgemacht, dass wenn einer von uns den Deal bekommt, darf der andere trotzdem die Hälfte der Hüte machen. Als wir dann BEIDE den Auftrag bekamen, haben wir folgendes gemacht:
Steve hat mir eine Ladung von seinen Rohkörpern und Schweißbänder zugeschickt und ich tat das gleiche. Und dann haben wir ORDENTLICH gemischt. Steve hat einige AB-Dlx. (also mein Filz und meine Schweißbänder) hergestellt und einige "Misch-ABs" (mein Schweißband, seinen Filz oder umgekehrt) und natürlich ein paar die reine reg. AB waren. Ich tat das gleiche: habe einige Hüte ausschließlich mit Steve's Materialien hergestellt, andere gemischt und wieder andere als reine AB-Dlx. Da die Blöcke für die CS Hüte IDENTISCH waren, konnten wir am Ende nicht einmal selber mehr die Hüte auseinander halten Wir wollten nicht dass hinterher diskutiert wird, welcher Hut nun in welcher Scene verwendet wurde, welcher am meisten Minuten auf der Leinwand war etc. etc. etc. Daher haben wir schön freundschaftlich alles dermaßen durcheinandergewürfelt, dass selbst wir während wir den Film im Kino sehen keine Ahnung welchen Hut er da gerade trägt. Insgesammt habe wir um und bei 50 Stück geliefert (inkl. Prototypen).
Gruß,
Marc
Marc Kitter
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