No more Tom Anderson....

[jim777]

Kudos to Tom Anderson for choosing his craft over his wallet.

Now that the Wallet is 8 inches thick! But you're still 100% correct; he could easily have sold the name to Samick for a boatload of cash and gone off to wherever.

[Tashtego]

For what it is worth I think he should be criticized for abandoning his people. It is probably true that the luthiers can go get positions elsewhere based on the work they have done with TA but they will almost certainly have to move and it is by no means a sure thing. Luthier jobs are few and far between. He could have come up with another arrangement that let him play with toys all day that didn't hang all his employees out to dry.

[jim777]

We don't know what kind of arrangements he's made, or the real reasons behind all of this. Having spoken to Tom on the phone about old Schecters once upon a time, I'm inclined to think he's done the absolute best he can for his people. I can't remember anyone ever saying a bad word about him anywhere, and I've seen MANY people say what a great guy he is. Target date is also over 4 months away, remember.

[Tashtego]

"We don't know what kind of arrangements he's made, or the real reasons behind all of this" -jim777

That's true, I don't know but I got the impression from what I read in the announcement that there were no particular arrangments made. I have that impression because of all the uncertainty about who is going to stick around for how long and how he will be getting the current orders built and delivered.

[danastas]

Jim, I've had my eye on that for months. LOL. Sorry.

[jim777]

I spoke to them yesterday about two others, but if I had seen this one I'd have grabbed it. I'm going to bite the bullet myself, I just need to decide if I want an older cool one or one of the new 2 screw neck joint ones to basically put under the bed (like that would ever last more than a day!) Did you deal with Andy or Randy?

[mattsmusiccenter]

Wow, I was just talking to them about becoming a dealer 2 weeks ago.

[shreddermon]

Suhr glad you didn't, eh Matt?

[Shawn]

Yeah, filling out all that paperwork for nothing Suhr would have sucked.......

[toejam]

Mike,
That was kinda an inside joke between Joe and I. I have the Dinky body he referenced that's been refinished, screwed up, and now has to be re-refinished again. Wasn't my fault either....it was the wacky weather!!

New Jersey weather wacky?!? Maybe up in the backwoods redneck area where you are now, but not here in central Jersey! :ROTF:

[danastas]

I spoke to Andy. That was the only used one they had.

I've been staying away from the two screws because one of them for sale on EBAY recently showed a crack in the wood.

I'll let others test this newfangled bolt on system before I take the plunge. I almot jumped on an ocean blue quilt over basswood a few weeks ago, so I was glad to see the koa still hanging around. The koa is supposed to give more of an edge to the basswood, make it more trebly than maple, which is just what I need in a semi-hollow.

[jim777]

They really do seem to be flying off the shelves everywhere. The used ones, anyway. You definitely got a gorgeous guitar, with great woods. Not too many with Floyds out there, either, it seems.

jim

[lerxstcat]

"We don't know what kind of arrangements he's made, or the real reasons behind all of this" -jim777

That's true, I don't know but I got the impression from what I read in the announcement that there were no particular arrangments made. I have that impression because of all the uncertainty about who is going to stick around for how long and how he will be getting the current orders built and delivered.

It looks to me like he's saying his guys are all great craftsmen, urging other companies to hire them. That doesn't sound like he's made arrangements. Also, when he says "if" the shop dissolves before March, that sounds too like he doesn't know when people will be leaving and how many, just that he'll keep them on until March if he has to.

If he really just wanted to go back to building, he could've hired a manager and gone into the workshop himself. By saying he's not as good a boss as he is a builder, I'd bet he has neglected some of the business or tax aspects of owning a business, and got tagged by some agency or other of the State of California or the feds. Liability and workers comp insurance, employement taxes, etc... It's a lot of paperwork to keep up with and he claims to not even have a secretary. That could be overwhelming.

A lot of those headaches go away if you're a 1-man business with no employees. But no matter how much he charges he'll have to take a financial hit scaling back like this.

[Chad]

I own a small to medium sized business and can relate. I'm wondering if he was at a point where he was big enough that it took a huge amount of resources/time to manage, but small enough that he couldn't hire specific secretarial/managerial/accounting people. That's the feeling I get. I've been meaning to tally the amount of tax documents I handle in a year's time....I know it's well over 100. It gets excruciatingly annoying and not so much paying the taxes, but just DEALING with all of the BS and deadlines. Going to a one man shop and not having employees and the tax/insurance related issues could definitely ease some things up.

[Guitardude86]

Speaking of Anderson.. Isn't Neal Schon playing one here? Thought I caught a glimpse of the logo on the headstock..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRIsq8B5CF0