Talking with Domenic Mancini of Celestial Effects

I’ve been a fan of Celestial Effects for a long time. We’ve done a variety of give aways over the years. One thing that has always stood out to me about this company – their build quality. Awesome, awesome level of components and attention to detail. They recently contacted me about some changes that they’re doing with their company, and since I know a good few of you that read Effects Bay are professional builders, aspiring new builders trying to make a go of it or just DIY builders. Either way, you guys might be interested in the services Celestial Effects is offering.

Celestial Effects have discontinued their Zodiac series (sad to hear about this) and are integrating that business with their other business – Thermalogic which offers volume manufacturing and private labeling on a proprietary basis. I sent some questions to Domenic Mancini who manages the engineering and manufacturing side of things.

Talking with Domenic Mancini of Celestial Effects

– Do you work with small builders or short runs?

Yes

– Do you do PCB design work?

Yes

– Is all of your manufacturing/assembling done in the US?

Yes

– Where are you located?

22 Kane Industrial Drive Hudson MA 01749

– Can you explain the overall process from receiving a schematic design to the end user receiving assembled PCBs?

Celestial Effects and Thermalogic are an OEM manufacturing and engineering provider. All our customers are handled under propitiatory agreement meaning what information about your guitar effect and your company you disclose remains with us. In other words, we build for you and the Celestial Effects and Thermalogic trade names do not appear on any of our customer’s products nor do we share any aspect of our working relationship with other customers. This has been a high standard of doing business with our customers for nearly 50 years.

So, it all starts with a phone call. We will discuss the customer’s exact specifications and services they require and provide a quotation for these services before any work begins. Every customer is different and our company is very flexible to fill the customer’s exact production and engineering needs. Once pricing is agreed, an order is placed by the customer and we begin our magic. We offer all services the customer may need and quote the job on a case by case basis.

Lets say the customer has designed and bread boarded a guitar effect or made a few prototypes, but does not have any of the design “documented” for a full production run Step one will be to create a project file. We will then take the information the customer provides us begin building the manufacturing documents to bring the customer’s pedal to market. This may include schematic generation, creating a bill of materials specifying each part and possibly laying out the PC board, designing the case and the artwork as well. With our 50 years of electronic circuit assembly knowledge, 11 years building our own Zodiac series pedals and a large engineering staff, we can offer a lot of advise and help so the customer has the best information available to make critical decisions. We can help the customer avoid the pitfalls we have stumbled on in the past creating a smooth process for the customer.

Once complete, the next step will be the prototyping stage where we will build up a small quantity against a larger order for first article inspection by the customer. This way, if components or design changes need to be made, the customer has not invested quantity resources into the design. Before delivering first articles, we share all documents and prototype parts with the customer for approval. Both companies “check off” on each aspect of the design so there is no misunderstanding. Redundant checks along the way are a rule here, measure twice and cut once!

Next will be the decision for parts sourcing. Will Celestial Effects source the parts for the customer or will we stock components provided by the customer to fill the manufacturing needs. The benefits of having  Celestial Effects source the parts is that the customer can ride the coat tails of our large quantity component buying power to reduce costs and also these parts would be covered under warranty by Celestial Effects.

Once the project is released for manufacturing, we will decide how many units per month the customer requires and begin the manufacturing after all parts are received into our facility. Once the product is mature, we just receive orders and ship product. From time to time we will review the designs as there may be components approaching obsolesce, component pricing increases or component availability be comes a problem. At this point we may suggest a design make over to keep the pedals in production. In some cases, new components or technology will become available in which a re-design would be advantageous to the customer for product longevity or added features.

The sky is the limit here at Celestial Effects and we take great pride in our customer service and outstanding quality.

Learn more about Thermalogic