Nearly five years after our first Kickstarter attempt, we think it may be time for another go at getting the Magnet manufactured!
The Magnet is that red camera mount you’ve probably seen clamped onto a guitar neck in our lessons and interviews. It’s an awesome tool for filming your technique, and it works with any smartphone.
We designed and prototyped it ourselves, and have had DIY instructions available for a while, but it’s expensive and time-consuming to make. We want to make an affordable version that anyone can buy and use as a tool to learn more about your playing.
As part of preparing for a possible manufacturing run, right now we’re taking a look at some small design tweaks. We’d love your feedback!
Twin Tweaks
One design tweak we’re making is to reverse the orientation of the Magnet, so it faces the bridge instead of the headstock. This way, when the Magnet expands, even with large phones, you won’t lose any more space on the fretboard.
If those upper-fret arpeggios get out of control, our next design enhancement has you covered. Sometimes the phone shifts around during aggressive playing, or the Magnet gets bumped, and we wanted to address this possibility. So we’re adding a strap! With one simple drawstring, you can lock the phone in the Magnet, and the Magnet on the guitar neck, at the same time.
These two tweaks work together — we’ve been doing a lot of testing, and it turns out reversing the orientation is also what helps make it possible for the strap to better secure the Magnet.
Five years on, we’re amazed this design still works so well. The dual-expansion nature is uniquely functional and has proven itself time and again. And the goal is for the mass produced version to work even better — better tolerances, smoother operation, and just overall nicer to use.
Magnet Feedback
Right now we’re polishing our prototype and looking into getting some new quotes from factories. If all goes well, we’ll aim to do a new Kickstarter next year. For now, a couple quick questions for you!
If you have a DIY Magnet:
Anything you’ve noticed about the Magnet design and how it’s been working? Let us know if you have any suggestions or issues we may want to address. We probably can’t make any huge changes, but we’ll see what we can do!
If you don’t have a Magnet:
What do you think…excited by the prospect of a mass-manufactured Magnet? Other thoughts / feedback welcome! We’ve gathered feedback in the past but it’s been a while, and we’d love any thoughts and impressions you may want to share.
Please share your comments in the forum discussion, linked below!
We’re making some final design tweaks to the Magnet, in anticipation of finally getting it manufactured!
See the linked post above for some preview photos — short story, we’ve got a couple modifications in the works, and are looking for any additional feedback, particularly if you’ve made the DIY Magnet already.
It’s been several years since we first prototyped the Magnet and so far it’s served us remarkably well so far. We don’t anticipate too many more changes but we want to make sure it’s as good as we can make it before potentially making thousands of these things. The two tweaks we’ve come up with so far:
Have you made a DIY Magnet?
How’s it been working? We’d appreciate any feedback about the design, or suggestions for potential issues to address.
Don’t have a Magnet?
Want one? Any other thoughts / feedback / impressions welcome — we’re excited about the prospect of more Magnet users and we’d love to hear what you think!
I’ll be watching this and go in on the Kickstarter - I’d definitely like to grab one of these rather than trying to wrap one of those bendable phone tripods around the upper horn of my Strat.
I’d invest in one. Please make it work on left handed guitars though.
I bought the plans but didn’t even try to build it. I would buy one if the price was good. I hope you can make it happen with some manufacturer!
I am excited to here that one day the Magnet will be available. As the old proverb says, “A picture is worth more than a thousand words”. I have made huge improvements on my play thanks to your many videos, but a chance to see my own technique up close will help me refine it even more. I will be waiting for the Magnets release to the public!