My thoughts (none to be taken seriously/to heart, just thoughts)
- OD designs are a dime a dozen, and basically nobody will care very much about an untested, low name-brand awareness design
- and if they did, posting the design here surely helps establish prior-art for the legal settlement
- Given the state of stompboxes today, would a unique circuit even _be_ something that could be protected or result in a settlement if monetized outside yourself? Seems like its a free-for-all on circuit use and re-use and posting of reverse-engineered circuits in the boutique world. Unless you are tucking notarized, dated, schematics in a safe deposit box, this seems like a total crapshoot.
- (if stolen) do you think most boutique buyers look for the low dollar clone, or the personality and brand relationship behind the product as the deciding factor? All things being equal, I buy on personality/design philosophy when I'm boutique shopping - it's why I have a lot of Caroline pedals, as an outside example; their choices and general design goals in tone resonate with me. Maybe I'm an outlier in this regard, but I don't think so - boutique builders very definitely have their individual fan/customer bases in my opinion/experience.
- this is a small, well policed forum, would there be that many trolls?
- if a troll post happened, and was removed via moderation, would it still bother you?
- did you want me to troll you to see how it goes?
A lot of it comes down to who your market is, your motivations for designing and building a pedal for that market, and your estimation of exactly how large you think that market is (your financial goals). Wampler certainly doesn't hurt for sales, and his mods and circuits are widely known and copied. JHS makes no secret about where his inspirations comes. Boss can't even make a fuzz pedal without outside help these days
(still bitter Boss, sorry not sorry)
-Scott