A critical time to buy a saber?

[Spirax]

With the '(Early) Summer Sale! Ends June 26th ' end date approaching, AND the emergence of 'Ultra Sabers Custom Saber Operations' I believe now would be a good time to purchase an UltraSaber.

The saber [staff] I have in mind is:

Item Name:    Dark Standard Issue Battle Staff
Item Price:    $137.50
Options:
Blade LED Color: Guardian Blue
Blade 2 Color: Guardian Blue
Blade Length: X-Long 36"
Blade Option: UltraEdge Heavy Grade
Tip:: Pointed Tip (INCREASED Lead Time)
Install Batteries: Sure, Alkaline Please
Include Retention Screw Wrench: Sure!

Also:

'And for a limited time only we are offering these at an Obsidian Order Inductee price of $75 INSTALLED in one of our Ultra Sabers.' - If this statement holds true, then my staff will cost 212.5 USD without shipping.

The only issues at the moment are:

1)  I want a 'fade in' and 'fade out' LED effect when the staff is switched on and off, from what I've seen, the obsidian sound board will fade in and out, but the LED will just switch off instantly. Will this customisation be possible before the summer sale ends?

2)  [Stupid question] Can the obsidian soundboard be muted?

3) Can the obsidian soundboard be installed onto a Dark Standard Issue Battle Staff? In the event of splitting the staff into two individual sabers, this would mean one will have no sound 

4)  Will there be any import duty/extra fees/issues relating to the shipping of an ~8 foot saber just under 300 USD to my doorstep?

I live in west coast Australia and I've read that the aussie customers here haven't had many shipping issues.

[Rash]

I think the only way to get a fade in/out is if they lined your blade with LED's but I don't know much sorry. But a mute or at least a volume function in the software would be great. I just got a consular with the Obsidian and my moms not to happy about how loud the ignition sound is

[Master Nero Attoru]

Ok so I'll try to answer as much as I can.  First off, good choice on the dark standard issue staff - it's discounted pretty nicely and I just received the one I ordered as a matter of fact, so I can tell you from personal experience it's awesome.  The blue should look amazing with it too.

Second, the Custom Saber Operations isn't up and running yet, Ultra is still trying to get it going.  I'm sure he has a bunch to do in anticipation of everybody sending in their saber for custom work.  This means you won't be able to get Obsidian sound or any sound for that matter in the dark standard issue staff - it's not standard at least.  Also, I don't think the whole "fade in and out" effect is currently possible with the Obsidian board, you may have to get a more fancy board for that kinda stuff.  Then again, for all I know Ultra could be working on developing that capability as we speak.

Finally, I don't know about duties or taxes for shipping - there are people from Australia here who will probably answer this thread concerning that kinda stuff.  However, not to tell you what to do, but I recommend getting the 32" blades as they are much more balanced as a staff (and for dual wielding too!).  Just my opinion though, to give you an idea I find them very adequate and I'm like 6'2".  It's up to you though.

Hope I helped!

[Spirax]

Thanks heaps, I tend to ask a zillion questions and then ask more in preceding replies 

I guess I will indeed wait for the compendium of customizations Ultra has to offer, instead of forking out over 80 bucks in shipping, then probably twice more for a few customizations.

If only the sale was extended so that we could get fully customized sabers, but I'd expect this new feature of UltraSabers to be a big project requiring heaps of time.

[Master Nero Attoru]

Yeah I guess if you're really looking for Obsidian sound in the staff you may as well wait.  The shipping costs outweigh whatever you'll save through the sale, it wouldn't be worth it to send it back in to get sound installed.

Oh and since the staff is actually just made with two separate sabers, you could have sound in both (in theory).

[Spirax]

Lol I could even wait until next year for another summer sale with the CSO division fully up and running.

@Rash My electronics theory is really rusty but if I can remember light fading can be achieved simply using some low capacitance capacitors to slowly dissipate volts/amps going through LED's. Mute would be great wouldn't it? Silence is golden

The key aesthetic features which got me hooked with the dark standard issue were its angled emitter and great contrast between matte black and aluminium finish [probably not the right color descriptions].

I guess going back to the title of the thread, for my own circumstances waiting may indeed be the best option  

[Master Nero Attoru]

The key aesthetic features which got me hooked with the dark standard issue were its angled emitter and great contrast between matte black and aluminium finish [probably not the right color descriptions].

Yeah that's two of my favorite features too.  Nice simple hilt, not too much to get in the way, awesome contrast with the badass angled emitter.  Here's my review:

http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=1634.0