121811: We've completely changed our finish options .. well sorta.

Ok, since we've got the natural Aluma finish (no black lettering) process pretty well nailed by now, we're going to take a shot at offering that finish as our standard finish that is no extra charge and included with each pedal. We've also decided to offer our HEADSTONE finish again at the behest of some of our eco-aware customers that wanted a non-reflective finish that wasn't powdercoated. Headstone to the rescue! We also have a new enclosure size to deal with as well since the introduction of the X3. After having re-evaluated our lineup, our reasons for doing what we do, and our current in-house technology we've decided to place the emphasis on the more environmentally sound approach that the HEADSTONE finish and the new version of our ALUMA finish addresses. Also, after looking it over nearly all of our designs require the same amount of effort to backfill the handstamped lettering no matter which size the pedal is. So you'll find pleasent changes in this area. I am pretty sure I hitched the link to this page in all of our products. If I happened to have missed the unit you're interested in, just disregard the finish pricing info that may be erroneously posted and refer here (said another way .. unless otherwise stated, info on this page trumps whatever I may have overlooked in individual product pages). Thanks .. :)

We currently offer six finish options and two knob options:

• Headstone Finish (only available with our medium and large chassis designs).
• Aluma Finish.
• Aluma with black graphics.
• HotRod Black powdercoat.
• MilSpec Green powdercoat.
• Post Nuclear "relic" finish.
• (KNOB) Black anodized HiViz knob.
• (KNOB) Silver machined hiViz knob.

The ALUMA and HEADSTONE finishes are our most *green* and ecologically friendliest finishes that we offer. Headstone is absolutely our *most eco-considerate* that we've ever offered. Both the ALUMA and HEADSTONE finishes have NO FILLED-IN lettering. Their entire coverplates are void of any chemicals, paints, inks, silkscreens, decals, stickers, dyes, epoxies, glues, adhesives or any other petrochemical crud. Both of the finishes are 100% free of anything made from that nasty little dope habit we have called CRUDE OIL. (I wonder how many have died over Texas Tea and religion? Yet we still somehow manage to ~ratiionalize~ all of our abuses of both, our exploitive misdeeds righteously rationalized every Sunday in both church and mosque. I'd best shut up before this turns into a full-on rant.)

Headstone is the more *green* of the two. We use specialized (and rather expensive) abrasive products to achieve the look of the ALUMA finish (even without the filled-in lettering). The entire process is 100% hand done using no machines of any kind whatsoever. The special abrasives we use are made from materials that at most points in their manufacture either use petrochemical crud to actually make it, or use petro-chemo to power the equipment used to make the abrasives. So combining the actual material itself with it's manufacturing process and the C-footprint begins to climb. HEADSTONE requires the use of ZERO abrasives and it is not even offered with filled-in lettering .. so it is easily our *most green* finish that we offer. ALUMA comes in second only due to the necessary use of the abrasive products needed to remove the high amount of material that has to be taken off to achieve as flat a surface as absolutely possible by hand. Then and only then can we proceed with getting any kind of nice appearance from them. The castings these chassis we use are made of is tough to work with. It's like trying to polish a sponge with a shoe, or getting a good sheen from a serving of mashed potatoes.

Headstone Finish = no extra charge

Headstone finish has been extracted from cryogenic stasis and is now offered again as one of two standard finishes that are no extra charge. Every single FARNDURK pedal ever made starts off in the HEADSTONE finish, and we go *up* from there. It's essentially our basic standard finishing method that all other finishes start from. You've never paid me for "finishes" unless you've actually paid me for finishes. Said another way .. our prices reflect the materials we use and the usefulness of the device. They've never included finish work, that's always had an overt (not hidden) extra charge attached to it in some form or manner. You've always just paid us for the device itself unless you've opted to actually invest in finish work which we've always made quite clear was optional. We don't make you pay us for the "labor" involved with doing either ALUMA or HEADSTONE (we used to until I figured out that the basic finish is just part of the construction). I only charge extra for stuff that costs us extra (like powdercoatings, or backfilled lettering) ... the labor itself is just part of the device .. you get that "free" whether you want it or not! :)

For years we've offered two non-reflective powdercoated finishes for those that didn't want something so ~shiney~ and reflective as our ALUMA finish. We didn't have anything that offered low-reflective properties while addressing ecological concerns. If you wanted a flat-finish you were forced to go with powdercoating. I started to offer HEADSTONE for a little while but I felt it looked "lazy" of me to offer such a thing. Recently I realized that we didn't offer anything to appeal to the eco-minded player that needed a non-reflective and easy-to-maintane surface finish. So I've since got over myself and my ego that insisted that we offer only "high-zoot" finishes. So it was things like that combined with requests from people for a finish that is less conspicuous that lead to offering it again. Everyone loves our shiney stuff, partly because of it's *green appeal*. So we thought that we'd offer a finish that is simple looking, non-reflective, very durable, and still meets our *green* protocols around here. Just like our all-natural ALUMA finish (without the backfilled lettering) Headstone uses absolutely no paints, inks, dyes, decals, stickers, or otherwise yukky-stuff. It's just our forever-handstamped lettering and that's it Gomer!

But HEADSTONE isn't just about ~being green~. It's v.e.r.y durable .... it really is. And it's totally low-hassle to keep looking nice, too. The two examples in the pictures above are an old M7 that is actually mine (it's the only one ever produced and not for sale) and the Raven7 is one of my early attempts to use the middle-sized chassis through our metalworking process, it obviously failed (the big crack by the "K" in Farndurk .. I got this problem figured out now btw .. see the all new X3 for proof!). Headstone is uber-durable and mondo-easy to care for. The M7 is about three and a half years old by now and has seen a lot of combat. It's cleaner in this picture than it has been for at least two years. I only cleaned it up for the picture (these two pics were taken on February 15th, 2012) .. just wiped it down with a dry cloth, a dry q-tip, and an old toothbrush to get the dust out of the crannies. It looks nearly like the day I built it, even after having had the hell used out of it for over three years. So as you can see the Headstone finish really "keeps it's look" and isn't offended by manhandling. It also doesn't fingerprint at all. It is a ZERO MAINTENANCE finish too. No glare from harsh stage lighting either. The graphics, logo, legends etc. don't show up too well, but they'll never ever fall off or wear off either. In any case you can see what the Headstone finish looks like here. And you can also see exactly why I call it "headstone" too! So if you have a need for a non-reflective understated finish, or if you just prefer a less pretentious look on your gear, we got ya covered.

HEADSTONE Finish is only available on our medium and large sized chassis. The small chassis we use with pedals like the CARMA, CARMA2 and such are made from a different type of aluminum casting that does NOT work well in the HEADSTONE finish. So I'm afraid that if you're thinking of getting one of our small-chassis units HEADSTONE is not accessable to you. Sorry about that.

HEADSTONE is also NOT AVAILABLE with black lettering.

Aluma finish = no extra charge

ALUMA finish is our other "green" finish but it has a great deal of labor invested in it. We offer it at no extra charge so you aren't ~forced~ into paying extra for an ecologically sound finish that's not as plain as the HEADSTONE (you are quite welcome). Our standard ALUMA finish has no backfilled lettering. The obvious negative of this finish is that when done this way the graphics aren't as easy to see, and they don't ~pop~ off of the pedal like the backfilled graphics do. That said the lettering is treated to more detailed attention and finer focus on getting the facets of the characters to come out more. The whole process is pretty laborious and requires a lot of attention to detail to get it to look right, but when properly completed it always turns out a spectacular looking pedal. Simply Brilliant. Each pedal we do in Aluma turns out a little bit different. The aluminum castings these enclosures are made of have a type of "grain" in the aluminum that is created when the cast enclosure is cooling at the foundry. This "grain" comes out in the final surface grinding and polishing process and can be seen in certain lighting conditions ... sortof makes each one a bit unique. Like birthmarks or something.

Aluma with Black Graphics = $15 per pedal, all sizes.

This option is applicable to our standard Aluma finish only. We use a black epoxy filler that requires the use of a chemical etching primer in the lettering prior to application of the epoxy. No other colors are offered, black only.

HotRod Black powdercoat = $15 per pedal, all sizes.

A flat black finish that's tough and easily maintained that will last years. It's very high quality powder that we selected ourselves. We keep all of our own powers in stock so when we go to the powdercoating shop locally we're assured that only the powder that we select is used. And it also assures a dead match and consistancy from pedal to pedal.

MilSpec Green = $15 per pedal, all sizes.

The military green finish is a tough, easy to keep clean powdercoat that we developed ourselves we call MilSpec. As you can see the color is reminiscent of the older type "army green" (also known as olive drab). Kinda looks like one of those old ammo cans. The finish itself is very tough and durable, totally worthy of the Farndurk name.

POST NUCLEAR FINISH returns! = $30 per pedal, all sizes.

040713 - We've brought back our POST NUCLEAR finish. "Post Nuke" is based on the idea that the pedal has survived a nuclear exchange between superpower nations. In essence it's like the "relic" finish treatments that are so popular on guitars and pedals. We offered POST NUCLEAR for years and pulled it from our finish options for a while, but we've brought it back due to very high demand. It looks kinda like this (below), but each one comes out a little different. This one was done to a customer's spec, but I think the knobs look too ~pretty~ (hey, this is what he wanted!). One time I did it by actually strapping a MilSpec Green powdercoated module behind my pickup truck and I dragged it around on the street for a few miles letting it bounce, scrape, and tumble behind the truck at varying speeds. It looked friggin awesome when it was done! This type of finish can take a while to do. There are some variations so if this interests you, get with me and we can go over what I can and can't do with it.

Knob Options:

We custom machine all of our own knobs to suit our useage. These are our current offerings, no extra charge no matter which you choose.

• Black Knurled HiViz Aluminum Knobs = no extra charge. These are our standard knob and are included in every build we do. Solid aluminum with 2 set screws per knob. And they're anodized black, not just painted. We machine a high visibilty marker on the top of the knobs to make them easier to use in low light settings.

• Silver Machined HiViz Aluminum Knobs = no extra charge. As seen in some of the above pics. Solid aluminum, 2 set screws, and fully machined "jeweling" process gives them a nicely tricked out look. We machine in a high visibility marker on the top of the knob to make it easier to see the settings.

To any of our customers that have the unmarked style of knob we offer free replacements for them. Just contact us and we'll make it happen. We also don't mind selling a few to customers that need some to make some other brand of pedal easier to use.

If you're a small pedalbuilder like us (or even a guitar builder) we can also provide custom knobs for you. Contact us.

Price

To be announced.