As mentioned previously.. don't get the Prefamac, as it is just the Dedy guitar cutter with a Prefamac branded plate on it. They also force you to buy four cutting frames, whereas with Dedy, I think you can buy individual cutting frames. Go for the Dedy.. lovely bit of kit.
Which one is recommended:
Prefamac Guitar Cutter, Bakon USA, Martellato, Dedy, JKV ?
For caramels I have a wonderful steel rolling pin with adjustable wheels, does a great job, but it is not for chocolate. I love my equipment and machines, I get the best quality I can, I feel in the long run it is the only why to go. The Dety for instance, is made like a fine musical instrument.
I have a Dedy with 4 frames also, it is a beautiful piece of equipment. Tom at tcf sales is great to work with. I thought the cart was a bit expensive so I put together my own stainless steel one. Cost about $ 120.00 and it is just as nice. Buy 2 stainless steel carts at Sam's Club, Costco or other such store. They come with top, a self and a basket, plus heavy duty wheels.You will have an extra set of legs, wheels and a basket, put aside. Assemble, 4 shelves on the legs, basket on the bottom, presto, prefect guitar stand. Plus the basket on the bottom is great for accessories. I will try and put up photo later. But it is really simple, let me know if you have any questions on this set up.
There are no cheap guitar cutters. If they are too expensive, like we think they are, you can DIY one with a lot of elbow grease or do hacked solutions, like we do, with a caramel cutter and then a warm knife. It's not as chop-chop quick as a guitar but it doesn't cost much either.
i see plastic guitar cutters everywhere.. any example of steel one?
is the base of steel in this ?
http://www.tcfsales.com/products/59-Chocolate-Guitar-Cutters/282-Confectionery-Guitar-Cutter-075mm-base-3-Frames/
This states - High qualityaluminum alloy Base delivers precision
tcflsales.com guitar cutters are expensive ones... Further they offer only domestic shipping
Don't bother buying a Prefamac guitar cutter - it is just a Dedy guitar cutter which they put their logo on.. they didn't even bother repackaging mine.. all they had done was cut a hole in the bubble wrap to afix their logo plate..
Don't get me wrong I love the guitar cutter, but just buy it direct from Dedy and not Prefamac. 
Totally agree with George. Any money you save on the plastic guitars you'll spend buying replacement wires for them...
For what it's worth, the sizesI use are 15mm x 30mm for rectangular chocolates and 22.5mm x 22.5mm for sqaure chocolates.
If you go to tcfsales.com you can see the Dedy products. We have one and like it a lot. Not cheap but good.
Pete
I have a Pavoni double guitar I purchased from ChefRubber.com I don't think the cart is necessary. I would recommend getting a steel one and not one of the cheaper plastic ones.
I have a Dedy and it works well. It is on a stand with wheels and I have 4 frames. I mostly use the 22.5 frame.
Can anyone recommend a Good Guitar Cutter to purchase?
Should i purchase with stand / Without Stand?
How many frames do we need?
Looking for urgent revert from Seniors..
Thanks
From the press release:
The best tasting chocolates in the world are poised for extinction. As growers continue to remove or replace fine flavor cacao trees with less flavorful, high-yield, disease-resistant cacao hybrids and clones, a world of ordinary flavor dominates the chocolate universe. Connecting genetics to flavor offers an important new way to protect and preserve the finest flavors for future generations. Alas, no genetic initiative has ever focused on flavor first. Until now.
Enter the Heirloom Cacao Preservation Initiative , a partnership between the Fine Chocolate Industry Association ( FCIA ) and the USDAs Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) to create the first-ever genotype map with a focus on flavor cacao trees.
The HCP welcomes any beans to be submitted and evaluated for their flavor, but not every bean will be identified as heirloom. First of all, it has got to taste good, says Dan Pearson, chief executive officer of Maran Chocolate and FCIA board member, who helped develop the HCP. Can taste be objective like genetics? No. But genetics alone say nothing about flavor. Strong genetic origin may have the potential to yield the best flavor, but genetic identification itself simply reveals what a bean is, not whether it is really yummy. Thats about classification. Thats the second step. If it doesnt taste good, we are not going to proceed with the genetics.
In other words, flavor comes first, which is why the FCIA chose the word heirloom and its basic Websters definitiona cultivar of a vegetable or fruit that is open-pollinated and is not grown widely for commercial purposes [and] often exhibits a distinctive characteristic such as superior flavor or unusual colorationto frame the HCP.
To read the entire press release click the following link:the Heirloom Cacao Preservation Initiative .
I am a newbie to the chocolate industry and am very thankful to have discovered this site and read the wonderful articles/comments/questions posted on the forum section by the contributors & experts on this field.
I am looking to buy a franchise chocolate retail store in the southwest region of US. Can someone guide me on how to go about evaluating the worth of the storeand how to price it so that I can make a reasonable offer?
Thank you in advance for your help & guidance.
Mahesh
Hi Paul,
I have just posted that I think that part of the problem may be over filling too. I very much apprecviate your confirmation of the shellac back-to-back possibility too. I changed both of those variables (filling & shellac residue) and have a far improved result.
I don't use a shellac powder - I use a liquid (Capol 425M). I didn't know there was a powder and I'll keep that in mind. If you don't use shellac how do you seal the surfaces?
The chocolate is 62%. I use Sicao (sometime Barry Callebaut) 70% and also 55% and combine them to get it "just right" for the balance for coffee beans, which is what I mostly do. For simplicity I tend to stay with the same mix for all dark chcolare work. I had wondered if the mixture was a problem too but for now it remains a "possibility" to ponder next time.
You mention your environment. I have been over your various pictures and saved them for inspiration as I need to re-do my room. You have a very similar set-up to me as far as I can see but your wall surfaces and some of your equipment is better. Your pan seems about the same as mine - a bit smaller I think. You look really well organized! You have two pans?
In one of the pics you have two pipes leading into your pan - one will be cold air. What is the other one please (the flexible pipe).
Thanks again!
Colin
Hi Colin,
I like your theory that there is a thin coat of shellac in the pan. The two surfaces collide. I've always panned with dark chocolate then reset and used ribs for polishing and shellac. It never occurred to me to shellac back to back. The weight and velocity impact with residual shellac theory feels right.
I'm not the best at polishing. Mostly due to limits in RH and environmental temp. I get breaking from over polishing a rather heavy center. I have not used a shellac powder.
What percent is the dark chocolate?
Cheers,
Paul
I tried your thought Jeremy, and reduced the amount in the pan - re-did in two batches. I got a far better result.
So maybe over-filling is the problem. I was careful to stay within the 15Kg limit but maybe it needs to be 12Kg (or so) for this line.
Thanks for your insight!
Colin 
Hi Paul,
If I rub the product it polishes up reasonably. It SEEMS that the dark chocolate is so hard that there is pretty much no flexibility and as such the shellac powders but does not really create "stars" or kiss marks.
It's seemingly not coming up from below - that could have indicated water seeping through and interacting with the shellac but I don't think so. Have looked at this.
I don't have the problem to the same degree with choclate covered coffee beans but then they are much smaller and don't hit the side of the pan with the same velocity. The Capol rep experimented with speeding up the pan substantially (I run it at around 20rpm - he took it to about 40rpm) but the product started to break up and then the debris went through the batch making it worse. So he put more gum arabic on and we started again.
I THINK that part of the issue now may be that I already did a batch so there is a thin coating shellac in the pan and when the product hits that shellac coating the two surfaces together fracture.
I just feel that it's to do with the hardness and bittleness of the dark chocolate and then the shellac being harder again (isn't it??) exacerbating the problem until it simply won't work.
That said, I cannot believe that I am unique in the world with this silly problem!
Thanks again Paul
Colin
Hi Colin,
That's cool that the rep from Capol stopped by to have a look. Dissapointing not to have an answer. I was going to guess that the RH might be off. 43% seems pretty good.
Are the dots kiss marks or does it look like something migrating from the under layer?
Thanks so much for your interest Paul. The RH is around 43% and the temp around 17-18 Celsius. I am not using ribs as I have one pan that has to both build and polish with. I line the pan with chocolate. I did manage to get a batch reasonably polished but as soon as I introduced the shellac it all went to pieces - from a reasonable polish to many milky dots. I don't believe it is water related as I am really careful about that.
The rep from Capol was here on Friday and is as perplexed as I am. I think I am going to have to trash a whole load of chocolate covered raspberry jellies - lots of money and lots of time. It's very worrying and I don't seem to be winning at all.
Can you tell me the temp and relative humidity of your environment? Are you using ribs during polishing?
I don't think so Jeremy. I have loaded it up to 15Kg but it IS a thought in that some things are lighter than others.
With the freeze dried strawberries I had to reduce substantially. But these are heavier things - raspberry jellies, razzcherries etc.
I'll put this in mind. Am trying to do it now and I have ripped out so much hair that the room looks as though the dog has been fighting
Thanks for your message
colin...
are you sure you pan is not overloaded? Just a thought.
-Jeremy
I am having some issues with panning dark chocolate and would really appreciate some help please.
I am using Sicao 62% (I blend 70% and 53% as that is all that my supplier can supply me). I have no real issue when I do coffee beans but when I pan razz cherries, raspberry jellies or freeze dried strawberries it's a different matter.
I can do any of these with milk or white chocolate simply by leaving the pan to run and bringing the atmospheric temperature up a bit towards the end of the panning process (to around 19 degrees C). This makes the chocolate plastic and it smooths beautifully so I can polish it.
But the dark gets hard and with products that "give" a bit, the chocolate tends to crack and/or the final shellac seal (Capol 425M) cracks and chips as the chocolate in the pan and the chocolate on the product are simply too hard. As I say, milk (36%) and white are no problem. Coffee beans, being hard themselves are OK too as the chocolate and seal does not need to flex. At least I THINK this is what is happening. (The strawberries are brittle so they can't "flex" either).
So, is there a way to make the dark chocolate more flexible and "plastic"? Or do I need a better technique? (Very possible!)
Forgot to mention that I am using the same stainless steel pan for both panning and polishing as it's all that I have. Many people have two pans but that's for another lifetime I think.
Thanks in advance if anyone can help!
Darial:
Welcome to TheChocolateLife!
If you're not already a member, you might want to join the group "Startup Central" which focuses on issues related to starting and growing chocolate businesses.
:: Clay
Hi, don't know if you tried this, but there are people who sell them on eBay. The two vendore I saw were both selling pods from Hawaii. Hope this helps - good luck!
I was wondering if anyone knew where I could buy
A couple freshly picked and fully ripped cocoa pods
I would pay for shipping and for the pods
[ Edited title to be more specific. OP is located in Oklahoma, USA. ]
I am having a logo designed for my start-up chocolate company. I would like some opinions as to what logo people prefer.
So, if you can spare a few minutes to vote in this poll I would really appreciate it.
Thanks Lea
you don't have chocolate but you could make a compound with acocoa butter replacement but it is not named chocolate it would be a "chocolatecompound" you would not need to temper it and in my opinion the taste would not be a match to chocolate the texter would bedifferentto
You can use other fats - they are called CBEs (cocoa butter equivalents) or CBRs (cocoa butter replacements) and cocoa powder to make what's called "compound" "chocolate" (or coating). Legally in most countries (US, Europe, etc.) you can't call it chocolate because you're not using cocoa butter, you're using other fats.
I see. thanks for the help.
No. Technically cocoa butter is the one ingredient that must exist in ALL chocolate - whether it's milk, dark, or white. Cocoa butter is the medium that suspends all of the little particles of solids, and has properties that other fats don't have.
Sorry. Without cocoa butter you don't have chocolate.
Thank you for the responses. That indeed does clear things up! I used butter because I could not get cocoa butter. I live in Zimbabwe, and I have done a little researching over the past few days and have found out that we actually do not make/ have cocoa butter in Zimbabwe at all.Are there any less complex fats I can substitute for cocoa butter?
what you have is a buttercream icing that will work nicely on a cake. It isn't even close to chocolate.
Chocolate is a suspension of tiny particles of cocoa solids, sugar, and vanilla in cocoa butter, not real butter. The emulsifiers listed on bar wrappers are actually NOT emulsifying anything. They are actually coating the solid particles and allowing them to slide easier through the fat. It's a manufacturer's way of making the chocolate less expensive to produce, as it makes it more fluid without adding cocoa butter. Having said that, forget about the so-called emusifiers as they won't help you anyway.
Hope that helps explain things a bit better.
You're not making chocolate, your making some sort of frosting at best, but it sounds more like chocolate flavored butter.
Chocolate contains CACAO butter, not milk butter
You're using butter which is soft and has a lower melting point, cacao butter is solid, so when it's room temperature it is naturally hard. You'll never get butter to turn hard.
Hi all,
I have tried to make milk chocolate about four times now using 2 different recipes. I am very happy with the taste of the chocolate, but the problem is- it will not become solid! I ahve placed batches in the fridge for hours ( even overnight) but when it come out, its still in a viscous liquid state.
For the ingredients I use: butter, icing sugar, cocoa powder, milk powder, and vanilla essence
I have studied chocolate wrappers and most contacin emulsifiers- could this be the missing link?
Any ideas what the problem might be?
Can Chocolate really benefit your health?
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