Glow labels

jdosher

jdosher

Inspired
Maybe it's the uber-bright LEDs on the MFC, maybe it's the white-text-on-black label tape I'm using (vs the standard black text oh white tape I used on my g-system) but I'm finding it hard to read the labels I've put on my MFC. I'm pondering a couple options, one of which is getting labels that glow. I may even just get some glowing gaffer tape and either write on it with a black sharpie, or print out labels with clear label tape and black text.

My question is, how many of you have used glowing labels and how well do find them to work? Are they bright enough to stand out on a half-lit stage or rehearsal room? I've seen photos posted of glow labels in pitch dark, but that doesn't really tell me much. I just want to get a basic consensus before I pursue it. My other route is to just get a clip-on stage light (reading light, music stand light) and clip it to my pedal board case.
 
I found the glowing gaffer's tape far superior to any labels you can currently buy. I am running non-glow-in-the-dark labels from gigwrx now, really like them (super durable, super easy to see) but they do NOT glow in the dark. If you have to have it, I'd suggest the gaffer's tape. I bought mine at Markertek.
 
Our gigwrx fx-labels have large text boxes which do make it easier to read.
But one thing I would recommend are the led dimmers.
http://www.lightdims.com/free.htm

I also find that the led makes the labels harder to read. Especially when the green is lit up.
They are very inexpensive as well.

Edit: just FYI, I am not affiliated with lightdims at all. I just think they are very useful and inexpensive.
 
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I also recommend LightDims and you get a ton of them for cheap, so you'll find yourself sticking them on everything that have bright leds especially cell phones, tablets & laptops.
 
It's an interesting question my friend, and something I've been asked a lot about over the past few years. To answer it as best I can though, it's worth explaining how this stuff works...

There are fundamentally two types of Glow In The Dark materials you can get for commercial use. One is the the older fashioned Zinc Sulphide based material, which is what was generally around when I originally launched KickTags in 2011. However, I went with a newer material which is Strontium Aluminate based, gives a stronger initial glow and a pretty good 'afterglow' (the amount of time it take the label to 'fade to zero').

This is good stuff and safe to use, and my original labels worked as intended: The idea has been that for real stage use, where stage lighting is going on and off, the labels 'charge up' while the lights are on so that when the stage goes dark, the labels will shine.

For people expecting these to be some magical material that glows as though it's battery powered, they're going to be disappointed. For actual live use (that I consider to be 'normal' where stage lights go on and off as part of a show and the stage is lit for the most part), glow labels are cool to have and constantly absorb the UV from the stage lights so that when things go dark, they're visible. Personally, I wouldn't be without them. I've personally seen these work for, and be highly beneficial for, Steve Vai and his rig, Dave Weiner and his rig and Stef Carpenter (Deftones) and his rig, in a live setting, and they work just great. In fact, when I caught up with Dave Weiner when Vai and the crew came into London a year or so ago, he commented on how useful he finds the glow labels as, in his words, "I come out on the stage in darkness and the first thing I clearly see are the labels on my board - they're invaluable!"

Now, 4 years from when I launched, there are better materials out there and I'm about to relaunch my little label business with a new Strontium Aluminate based material, which glows stronger initially than my original labels and also glows longer. However, these still are not some magical material that glow like they're battery powered! If you're realistic in what you want glow labels to achieve for you, I think they're fantastic. Even in normal light, or ambient light, they're clearer to see than normal labels, IMHO.

Also, the more 'glowing' surface area you have, the more glow you get. Think of a 5cm light shining on its own or 20 x 5cm lights shining at the same time - same principle. So Scott's experience of getting 'more glow' from gaffer tape is right, most probably because it was a larger 'piece' of tape than a standard glow label, rather than the ability of the material to absorb UV and then emit light.

I'm not entirely sure this has answered your question mate - but what I'd suggest first (cheapest to do as well) is try what Scott has suggested and get some glow gaffer tape or something similar and try it on your board. You'll get good bang for your buck and can easily remove it if it isn't for you. Hopefully that'll work out for you. If not, then you still have great options available to you for labels from the various manufacturers here in label land.

Finally (sorry for the long post!) - I also found it was hard to see the board and labels due to the intensity of the LEDs on the MFC. LightDims are great, but I found they came off the MFC LEDs too easily due to the curved surface of the LED (I had 3 sets of LightDims - they are fantastic though and I use them on all sorts of other electronic equipment round the house) and I came up with something I think looks cooler. I developed my own (patent pending) and highly technical solution that reduces glare from the LEDs while creating a ridiculously cool 'halo' effect for each light. Ok, it's not patent pending and isn't highly technical - you just cut out black stickers using a hole punch and put the cut circles on each LED. Looks the dogs bollocks and I just saved you a fiver :)

Good luck with your label experiments!
Sukh (KickTags.com)
 
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Here's a pic of the DIY LED dimmers I mentioned :)

mfcledscopy_zpsf30f6d87.jpg
 
Thanks for the info! I ordered some gaffers tape, so I'll give that a shot for now. I think your new kicktags look really great. Really clean and professional. How soon before you start shipping? Will you have a standard "kit", or can you pick-and-choose from a large assortment of text? I'm still experimenting with my IA assignments and my "base" preset; I was using one amp and two drive blocks (light and medium drive) to get three different gain levels, but I may simplify and use x/y with one drive block, and amp x/y (clean/dirty amp). So hand-written labels are the way to go until I settle on a layout.

For a quick-fix I ran a strip of blue painters tape across the LEDs and that helped a bunch. I thought the cut out from a hole punch would be too large, and cover the entire LED, but I guess not! I may give that a shot. It might look better than strips of blue painters tape. lol.
 
Toadfish said:
It's an interesting question my friend, and something I've been asked a lot about over the past few years. To answer it as best I can though, it's worth explaining how this stuff works...

There are fundamentally two types of Glow In The Dark materials you can get for commercial use. One is the the older fashioned Zinc Sulphide based material, which is what was generally around when I originally launched KickTags in 2011. However, I went with a newer material which is Strontium Aluminate based, gives a stronger initial glow and a pretty good 'afterglow' (the amount of time it take the label to 'fade to zero').

This is good stuff and safe to use, and my original labels worked as intended: The idea has been that for real stage use, where stage lighting is going on and off, the labels 'charge up' while the lights are on so that when the stage goes dark, the labels will shine.

For people expecting these to be some magical material that glows as though it's battery powered, they're going to be disappointed. For actual live use (that I consider to be 'normal' where stage lights go on and off as part of a show and the stage is lit for the most part), glow labels are cool to have and constantly absorb the UV from the stage lights so that when things go dark, they're visible. Personally, I wouldn't be without them. I've personally seen these work for, and be highly beneficial for, Steve Vai and his rig, Dave Weiner and his rig and Stef Carpenter (Deftones) and his rig, in a live setting, and they work just great. In fact, when I caught up with Dave Weiner when Vai and the crew came into London a year or so ago, he commented on how useful he finds the glow labels as, in his words, "I come out on the stage in darkness and the first thing I clearly see are the labels on my board - they're invaluable!"

Now, 4 years from when I launched, there are better materials out there and I'm about to relaunch my little label business with a new Strontium Aluminate based material, which glows stronger initially than my original labels and also glows longer. However, these still are not some magical material that glow like they're battery powered! If you're realistic in what you want glow labels to achieve for you, I think they're fantastic. Even in normal light, or ambient light, they're clearer to see than normal labels, IMHO.

Also, the more 'glowing' surface area you have, the more glow you get. Think of a 5cm light shining on its own or 20 x 5cm lights shining at the same time - same principle. So Scott's experience of getting 'more glow' from gaffer tape is right, most probably because it was a larger 'piece' of tape than a standard glow label, rather than the ability of the material to absorb UV and then emit light.

I'm not entirely sure this has answered your question mate - but what I'd suggest first (cheapest to do as well) is try what Scott has suggested and get some glow gaffer tape or something similar and try it on your board. You'll get good bang for your buck and can easily remove it if it isn't for you. Hopefully that'll work out for you. If not, then you still have great options available to you for labels from the various manufacturers here in label land.

Finally (sorry for the long post!) - I also found it was hard to see the board and labels due to the intensity of the LEDs on the MFC. LightDims are great, but I found they came off the MFC LEDs too easily due to the curved surface of the LED (I had 3 sets of LightDims - they are fantastic though and I use them on all sorts of other electronic equipment round the house) and I came up with something I think looks cooler. I developed my own (patent pending) and highly technical solution that reduces glare from the LEDs while creating a ridiculously cool 'halo' effect for each light. Ok, it's not patent pending and isn't highly technical - you just cut out black stickers using a hole punch and put the cut circles on each LED. Looks the dogs bollocks and I just saved you a fiver :)

Good luck with your label experiments!
Sukh (KickTags.com)
Click to expand...

Hey Sukh, I've been hitting kicktags.com every few days, but no changes yet. What's your ETA for the new KickTags?
 
Here comes a expample for some glow-STOMPLABELS-Tests

but at the Moment we dont offer them, because its fade to fast away.
and we searching again for some better Materials !

We only want to show this picture that you all can see that we work on this stuff !
Foto%2023.03.14%2002%2006%2028.jpg


For more Details : we will post it here when we are ready with the glow Stomplabels !
Many Thanks Chris & Sascha
 
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I just don't see the value in glow products if they only glow for 30 min. Also, the charge is better with a strong direct light. Random and minimal light in a fairly dark venue will not continuously recharge the glow product the same way.

I tried the glow product for myself and my charge was used up while in my pedalboard traveling to the gig. Hopefully there are better solutions out there.
 
I purchased some self adhesive glow-in-the-dark plastic sheets on eBay that I cut to size.
3"X8" Premium Luminous Glow In The Dark Tape Sheet
The adhesive sticks really well, but can be peeled off without doing damage to the finish on the board.

I recently posted some pictures of my board on the forum here. The labels are nothing fancy, but something large and simple enough to label with a Sharpie permanent marker.

I'm using a pseudo blacklight setup to enhance the visibility of the labels. I picked up a small booklight here and colored the plastic lenses with a dark blue Sharpie for the blacklight effect, which looks pretty cool, as shown in the last picture on the link above.
 
Scott Peterson said:
I found the glowing gaffer's tape far superior to any labels you can currently buy. I am running non-glow-in-the-dark labels from gigwrx now, really like them (super durable, super easy to see) but they do NOT glow in the dark. If you have to have it, I'd suggest the gaffer's tape. I bought mine at Markertek.
Click to expand...

Scott do you just write on the gaffers tape? 8)
 
Toadfish said:
Here's a pic of the DIY LED dimmers I mentioned :)

mfcledscopy_zpsf30f6d87.jpg
Click to expand...
That's funny.

I had my MFC for about 2 days before I just took some clear vinyl printer paper, a sharpee and a hole punch and did basically the exact same thing. I play in a room with the lights off most of the time and with the LED's I couldn't read the labels and the halo effect was killing me. Now I wouldn't go gigging on a world tour with it like this, but it is definitely more than good enough for regular home use and I can punch out a million of these things out of one sheet of vinyl and have them ready to go in a moments notice.
 
Well this thread got me thinking about doing something permanent about the brightness of the LED's. I ended up just cutting a hole in a piece of card stock to use as a stencil and ended up painting the LED's with some black spray paint. Sounds ridiculous, but after seeing how little the black coated vinyl did to reduce the levels I figured that it would just attenuate the intensity rather than block it all. Seems to be the ticket for me. Still pretty damn bright to be honest, but at least it's not blinding me and I can read the labels better.
 
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