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DAVE THE NEON GUY

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Posts posted by DAVE THE NEON GUY

  1. I need to do this....wonder why the ISA not use the Orlando World Center Marriott just outside the Gates of Disney? It's self contained...more reasonable than the hotels listed and just outside Disney. I was just there for a week in December at the Athletic Director Conference and it was the second time they have hosted it in the last five years.....but what do I know. LOL.

    Eric....there is A LOT to do down there. Lotta fun. Great Food and Drink....Trust me. It ain't Vegas, but what is?

  2. Good read. Don't post much. Read a lot. I've been doing neon for a long time. It started as a hobby and evolved into a full time endeavor. I stay as busy as I want to be I guess, While I have observed the insurgence of LED and other products that have tried to replace neon, it's amazing to me that the neon dudes, including myself, have sat on our ass and let the other applications come into our own backyard and literally take over. I am from south Georgia and we have a fish in local rivers and ponds called a Crappie. It's a great tasting fish to eat, but not fun to catch. The fish literally will take the bait and not put up a fight at all......all the way to the frying pan. Hell, if it could jump into your cooler it would. LOL. Neon is going to DIE if we don't put up a fight and try and reverse the trend. In my own town, it's dead. The biggest sign shop in my community is done selling or promoting it and it once was a big line item on their financial spreadsheet. Why LED? It's faster, easier and an easy sell to the customer. Our local governments have become sign experts as well, and the business owners, who pay and collect the most tax, have set on their ass and allowed their local elected officials to destroy their ability to recruit new business with the use of signs.

    Neon folks and maybe me included have become Crappies. Maybe we need to get off our ass and do something....maybe not...........My dad died four year ago. I was with him when he drew his last breath. He left the house in his underwear and a T shirt.....and nothing esle. He took no money, his house or his car...My kids have NO interest in what I do...so I guess I am going to take what I have learned about Neon to the grave with the Grim Reaper. Let's start the process of resurrecting our profession. Just my thoughts.

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  3. Hi George,

    Thanks for the response. I have purchased glass from both places and appreciate your comments.My only hang up is their samples are computer generated and I don't want to buy the wrong kind. Based on the samples provided, would you feel comfortable making a suggestion as to which yellow the glass is?

    David

  4. Hi All,

    Looking for some neon to match this small repair for a friend of mine. If any of you know where I might get a small quantity of the glass in the picture. Please message me.

    Thanks and stay warm.

    David

    post-513-0-87699700-1424568773_thumb.jpg

  5. Thanks for sharing. I have a deep appreciation of the signs you shared in the video. At some point in time, some business owner is going to also embrace the past and do something about it. I would love to help breath life into one of these signs as a donation. :neon:

  6. This kind of advertising bull crap has being going on since the invention of AC and DC current by Tesla and Edison. Edison, backed by JP Morgan and Tesla, backed by George Westinghouse got in a cut throat battle in the late 1800's that is still practiced today. Rather than focus on the good each design could offer the customer, each became engrossed in befaming the other.....in fact, it's exactly what the LED folks have spent most of their advertising dollars on in their war against neon, even though each has a valid place in our industry.

    I am all for each man having the opportunity to make a living in a non monopolized economy. Price wars will always exist, but the slander and below the belt casturation tactics some business employ makes me want to puke. Nevertheless, it is what it is.

    BTW Mark, your post about the battle with the Historic Preservation Committee was a great read....I think we have all dealt with this in our small towns who still can't figure out why the businesses have moved out of their downtown area into malls and to places that have no such limitations on business being able to spend money on signs and advertising. Their deep rooted hsitorical brains can't adjust to the 21st Century and will likely hold on to their unrealistic views until they return to dust.

  7. Interesting results Eric......I am a simple man with a simple plan....not much overhead and not much debt. The recession has not had an impact on my business model. Folks order neon signs everyday and I ship them everywhere. Early on, I was like most sign guys....I wanted to do it all....paint billboards, letter race cars, hand paint signs, bend neon, sell rental signs, service signs, sandblast signs, form faces, stretch flex faces, fleet graphics, awnings.....are you catching my drift????? I wanted to be "your one stop shop" sign man....Like most sign guys, it exposed me to the potential of enormous debt, clock punching employees and customers who never even considered the importance of a sign when they went into business. In fact, in most cases, there was NO MONEY left for the sign, but they wanted a cadillac job yesterday, for as little a money as they could get by with.

    I walked that road for many years before I realized that this pace was way to fast for my pea sized brain to survive. My dad and I had a talk one afternoon after I finished installing a sign over a mall parking lot and he asked me "Son....why in the hell are still trying to be everything to everybody?".......I sat there and just said.....WTF........ He added..."I know you love the sign business, but is there one element you love more than the rest?" Without hesitation, I said NEON.....then he replied, "wouldn't your business, time and energy be better served if you turned all your focus toward being the best you can be doing just NEON?"

    The answer was obvious....I sold EVERYTHING I had related to all elements of the sign business except my equipment used to produce neon signs. From that point forward, I have had work to do everyday and tilts in the economy have had little impact on my success. I have managed to get a good days pay for a good days work. I have learned to tell folks that want something for nothing to shop elsewhere....or sometimes I use my favorite response....."mam, not everyone can afford a neon sign" LOL

    Seriously, I have learned over time that my dad was right....big is not necessarily better and keeping it simple solves most problems. You guys have a great summer.

  8. As long as I have been on this earth, I have tried to figure out what the deep seeded attraction to the ocean and it's beaches were to me. My folks never really carried me as a kid, but we lived just 60 miles from the Florida/Georgia coast lines so I got to visit them with my friends quite often.

    Since I became a father, I have never missed a summer carrying my wife and kids to beach for our annual family vacation.....I have never been able to afford it, but shit, I went anyway......in fact, I am here today...woke up on the shoreline of Daytona Beach. We are staying right in the middle of organized chaos.....the kids love it....I prefer it a little quieter, but we are making memories, so I am just along for the ride.

    Ok....if you haven't already tuned me out, let me get to the friggin point. I discovered last night again what I already knew. My attraction to beach and its night life is the NEON.....It's everywhere....Obviously they have as deep appreciation for it's beauty as I do, and that is refreshing. It is used in EVERY application both outside and inside.....All colors......all shapes......all sizes.

    I have been doing neon for a long time and though my local town has caved in to the less affordable LED alternatives, I have been able to make enough money doing neon over a 12 month period of time to always be able to take my family on a "money is no object" vacation to the beach.....free of the stress of everyday life and full of the art that I love so dearly.

    It's 10:00 am and I cant wait till the sun sets.....it will be NEON that lights the beaches and the storefronts....like it should be......NEON only please.

  9. Morning Friends,

    I posted this about a month ago, but got now responses....I might be shit out of luck, but I thought I would try it again and see if someone out there in the business could help a poor neon tube bender feed his family.

    Got a special request. Anyone know someone I can contact to find the metal sign brackets used as backings for beer signs? I generally use plastic and would prefer to continue using it, however, every once in a while, we all meet someone who knows more about what we do than we do....ever met that person ? :laughing1: I would like to find a supplier for these frames. I have a new idea for a neon project....actually, I stole it from someone else..... :neon:

  10. Hi Gang,

    First, let me wish you all a very Merry Christmas and ask for a favor....My sister's boy (Chase Brauda, 13 years old) my nephew, has just been diagnosed with AML Luekemia. He is a patient at Wolfson Children's Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida, and will likely remain there for the next 5-6 months. This is a very aggressive form of cancer and we are praying for a miralce. Please do the same......

    I am looking to purchase a used Ruoff Notcher....anybody got one?

    David Shields

  11. Hey Erik,

    Wanted to make sure you had your bag over your head when the Chargers and Jags hit the field. I have one for each of my family members. I didn't even cut eye holes in mine so I would have to watch them play. Damn we suck............... :mebe:

  12. Hi All,

    I am a frequint visitor to The Sign Syndicate. I do not post much, but I read all the time. Topics here have helped me tremendously and I salute Erik and his lovely bride for the time they invested in our future. First, let me say that I am 100% NEON....not half time......not part time.....not even a little.....I am a custom neon sign shop that has gotten fat on doing Channel letters and border tube for the normal everyday....I do everything....sign shop....which most of you guys are.... no problem with that....That stopped three years ago. The rest of my business is focused on custom neon signs. I have lost most of my cheese channel letter jobs to LED. No problem here. In my opinion, big sign companies are probably better off with LED than NEON on channel letters because of the jack asses they have working for them. They break the neon etc.......I do not want to write a long winded editorial, but I do want to say that Neon has been a staple in our economy for many decades.....It has a place and an application. There are some things that LED will not do and there are some things that Neon will not do....My beef comes with the angle the LED manufacurer have taken at me personally. I am living the American Dream. I buy my product from Americans....I build my product for Americans.....and I sell my product to Americans.... I pay taxes on every dime I collect....I can deal with change....change is good.....I have an ex-wife : ) but I want the LED and NEON dudes to call a truce and spend their time on how they can help me rather than how they can hurt each other. Perhaps EGL's announcement will lay the ground work for that to happen..

    David :usaflag:

    Dave the Neon Guy

    www.davidshieldsneon.com

    sales@davidshieldsneon.com

  13. Hi All,

    Can anyone please tell me another place to buy in bulk, the Hot Swap Neon Transformers? It is my understanding that the Zeon Corporation will no longer carry this transformer. I have used many over the years, but I have been pleased with the durability and performance of the Hot Swap Brand.

    If anyone else has a good supplier of 2-12,000v adjustable transformers, please post. Thanks in advance :cheers:

  14. Evening to all my neon friends. I need to buy a five gallon bucket of block out paint. The last two I got, I purchased from Polston Enterprises, L L C, but I can't seem to get them to return a phone call. I needed the stuff last week so I need your undivided attention. The product that I got from them was waterbased. Stazon works good, but the odor and cost just aren't really an option. Can someone turn me on to a new supplier? HELP. :neon:

  15. Any update on your friend Dave?

    Got a phone call just a few hours ago from Ed's daughter....... My fried Ed Waldrum passed away this afternoon. He was 83. Keep the prayers going up. He has a wife and children who need it. Pray for me today. I lost a father figure to me. :neon:

  16. Once again, I am in the boat with Gary. Come on Erik, let'r rip. The First Ammendment affords you that right and besides....I am against sugar coating anything. If you feel that strongly about something, then maybe we do too. I can assure you, that those of us who agree with you will support it and those of us who don't.....screw them. Opinions are like assholes....everybody has one and most of them stink.....Let's roll....Post it. :grd:

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