Adventuredbilt Deluxe vs. Adventurebilt?

[Chewie Louie]

Ok, excuse me for being the newbie around here, but could someone please clarify something for me. What's the difference between the Adventurebilt Deluxe and Adventurebilt links on their web site. I clicked on the Adventurebilt link and saw the Indiana Jones ad. After a few really nice email exchanges with Steve, I placed my order.

Before I bother Steve again, I was wondering . . . did I order the wrong hat? I wanted to order one like the one we will see in Crystal Skull.

[IndyFrench]

You have the right hat. Both AB and AB Deluxe are the same hatters who worked on IndyIV - Fear not.

Deluxe is the name of Marc's European operation.

[agent5]

I wanted to order one like the one we will see in Crystal Skull.

Don't you know that the hat below is the official hat of Indy 4?

[Mulceber]

Seriously, read Marc's latest post two threads down from this one:

Lemme make a comparisson and hope that it's understood as intended. I get a LOT of e-mails and pm's asking the difference between the AB and AB-Dlx. and perhaps I can answer this as well to a certain degree.

Ok, the goal with the AB was to make a high end and 100% screen accurate Indy Fedora completely by hand and thereby keeping it available for the average Indyfan. This mission was accomplished and the success speaks for itself.

The goal with the AB-Dlx. was simply to make the best Indy Fedora possible and then the costs would determine the price. I think I succeeded as well, if I'm allowed to say so without sounding arrogant.

Now, what IS an Indy Fedora? - To us (Steve and me) an Indy Fedora is a hat that can take a good beatin' and then some more and still be worn at the restaurant at night. Pretty much what we see on screen.

The AB is like a Hummer. Built to last with a cool attitude to it and able to climb the hills and make it's way through the mudd.

The AB-Dlx. is like a Hummer with a few extras incl. leather seats, an aircondition and an extra layer of polished paint coat.

Now, even if you'd add 30" wheels, a stereo and some extra lights on the roof it would STILL be a Hummer, no? And it would still do it's job in the dirt just as good as always. Just because YOU (no-one particular, so please don't see any puns comming from me) don't feel like mudracing with your Hummer due to the polished surface and the noise that would ruin the pleassure of you 4k Watt stereo, doesn't take away any of it's abilities to do so, right? - But for some it's just good to know that you COULD and a few ones (like my good friend G-Mann) actually DO just that, because they actually PREFER "mudracing in leather seats" with the "stereo turned up". Is it worth the extra money? - Heck, to some it is, or I wouldn't be that far behind. And to others it's a bloody waste on a "piece of clothing" / car / leather jacket whatsoever.

The choice is yours, but PLEASE don't let the polished surface "blind" you

:junior: -M

[Marc]

Not sure if it wouldn't be better to keep the discussion in the "Why is it taking so long"-thread... (Mods?)

However here is the post I just made at the other topic:

Ok, let's see... What is the same on the AB and the AB-Dlx. is the brand, the fanatism of the maker , the ribbon and on the CS Fedoras the block.

What's different... well pretty much the rest

Ok, lazy answer. Perhaps I should sum it up and then I can refer to this thread next time I'm asked (tomorrow probably).

Let's start with the rawbodies. Steve purchases pure beaver dress rawbodies in the color of his choice from his felter and if he desires, he can buy as little as a single rawbody - which is a great advantage! When I started looking into the few felt suppliers left, I picked the one I'm still using, as he was able to deal with the list of specs. I threw at him ("worst customer ever" were his exact words). I wanted a particular colored pure beaver felt with a particular crown hight, brim width, weight, thickness, stiffness in the crown, stiffness in the brim, water repellent cooked into the felt, extra dense (30% denser than standard - which is the max. they can do) etc. etc. etc. - you get the idea. Though willing to do as requested, I was asked to buy a min. of 50 rawbodies a time if I wanted them to be made THAT specific and of course the price went up, up, up with every new idea that crossed my crazy mind on my way to THE rawbody So, have to shell out several grands whenever I need new rawbodies. While the price has gone up a bit over the years, the Dollar has become weaker and weaker making the rawbodies even more expensive for those of you earning Dollars.

Ok, what's next... the pouncing. I spent LONG hours pouncing, going up to a 2000 grit to get a SUPER smooth surface, that is almost like silk or velvet. This doesn't make the hat more or less durable, however it adds a very luxus' appearence and feel to it (hence AB-Dlx.).

Cutting the brim is done equally not matter if Steve does so or me.

Sweatbands: the sweatbands I use come from traditionally tanned roo hides, tanned at a small family owned tannery in Australia to match my specs. (color, thinkness, surface) Then they're shipped to me, forwarded to my sweatband maker and cut before the reading tape (made to my specs.) is added as requested (curve, stitches, "lip length") etc. etc. etc. While a standard sweatband is round about 5 bucks, mine cost round about 45 bucks a piece. With 100 sweatbands min. per order, that puts me back with 4.5 grand each time. Just for sweatbands. The advantage of the roo hide is that it is a very dense and tough hide (which is why bullwhips are made from it ) and it hardly shrinks - which Steve found quite amazing after soaking his AB-Dlx. completely in sweat two days in a row without any ill effects. The disadvantage: you could get a decent blend rawbody for less. Every little thing on the AB-Dlx. is custom made and the price reflects that.

Liners: Both of us are using white satin liners. So the difference here is only the two color logo that I have put on mine and the smoother and denser bridal satin that I use (which again means 240 pieces min. requirement). Both are sewn in by hand in opposite to using hot glue or similar.

Blocks: using an English block maker for my Raiders blocks and the blocks used for the CS hats and having them made of heavy mahagony, I had to spend 300 Euro (450$) per block! This is plain said outrageous, which is why I had the last blocks made in the US from poplar.

All this summed together and added the German rip off taxes (I think anyone over here can attest to that) plus more than 70$ for the shipping, makes the AB-Dlx cost what it does. The weak Dollar does the rest. When I purchased my Optimos back then, I had to spend 1.2 Euro for one Dollar. Now it's 1.48 Dollar for a single Euro Or in other words: if the Dollar would still be 1.2 Euro, my hats would cost 330$ incl. shipping to the US. This would be less than a reg. AB WITHOUT shipping But alas, this is something I have no influence on.

I hope this helps, otherwise feel free to ask.

Regards,

Marc

[binkmeisterRick]

And since you posted the same in that thread viewtopic.php?t=22381 I'll go ahead and lock this one down, especially since that one is a bit more specific a thread.