F*ck me runnin!

[leftykingv2]

Complete agreement.

+1 That's what I said 10 posts before Brandenburg.

[pianoguyy]

I just took 2 in to someone new on Thursday after my HD500 and Ibanez was delivered.
I think I may end up getting a rather large bill from him. He's such a perfectionist, I can only imagine every fret being removed and cleaned and all that other good stuff.

But my other guy is so stinkin far away.

dude just called.

while I find his prices fair for the work he said they needed, I think he is finding work that doesn't need done.
if i wanted a total restoration done, yes, some of the work would be needed. but i do not need 2 sets of frets. or six floyd rose saddles.

it was unbelievable the nitpicking the guy was doing on - it needs this, it needs that.


I should just order up a couple Custom Shops and throw these other two in the fireplace.

[Brandenburg]

+1 That's what I said 10 posts before Brandenburg.

had to look back.. indeed you did.. LOL


nothing magical about wiring shit up.. and I REFUSE to pay someone else to do this..

draw up a wiring diagram if its something special I had in mine..print it out or search the web and dl the appropriate drawing.. get my work desk ready and my tools/parts laid out.. warmed up the soldering iron .. start wiring.. replacing a part is even easier as you dont even need a wiring diagram

that shit doesnt take too long to do and shouldnt cost that much..anyone that has had little practice with a soldering iron and has the ability to read a diagram/follow instructions.. can do it..ohh yea... sometimes a large dose of patience helps

I replaced 3 25k pots on my SG and took maby 30 to 45 min.. wasnt keeping track of the time nor was I in a hurry.. just a 2 AM.." You know what. fuck it.. i wanna replace these pots now"

no idea how much techs charge as I have never used one.. LOL 50 to 75 just seemed right though

[leftykingv2]

had to look back.. indeed you did.. LOL


nothing magical about wiring shit up.. and I REFUSE to pay someone else to do this..

draw up a wiring diagram if its something special I had in mine..print it out or search the web and dl the appropriate drawing.. get my work desk ready and my tools/parts laid out.. warmed up the soldering iron .. start wiring.. replacing a part is even easier as you dont even need a wiring diagram

that shit doesnt take too long to do and shouldnt cost that much..anyone that has had little practice with a soldering iron and has the ability to read a diagram/follow instructions.. can do it..ohh yea... sometimes a large dose of patience helps

I replaced 3 25k pots on my SG and took maby 30 to 45 min.. wasnt keeping track of the time nor was I in a hurry.. just a 2 AM.." You know what. fuck it.. i wanna replace these pots now"

no idea how much techs charge as I have never used one.. LOL 50 to 75 just seemed right though

That's because you know what is entailed with the work and the amount of time it should take. Your estimate was spot on because I do usually have my tech do wiring. I know how to do it and I can do it at a good enough level to make shit work but I am not a pro by any means. His prices are out of line in my opinion but this isn't what bothers me the most about what he's doing to Vector. What bothers me is the estimated 2.5 to 3 hours he's charging him for. Like you and I both said there is NO WAY this job should take more than an hour at the very most for a "Master Luthier." EDIT; In Pittsburgh it's a $40 dollar an hour bench charge at the most expensive shops for this kind of work.

[Brandenburg]

That's because you know what is entailed with the work and the amount of time it should take. Your estimate was spot on because I do usually have my tech do wiring. I know how to do it and I can do it at a good enough level to make shit work but I am not a pro by any means. His prices are out of line in my opinion but this isn't what bothers me the most about what he's doing to Vector. What bothers me is the estimated 2.5 to 3 hours he's charging him for. Like you and I both said there is NO WAY this job should take more than an hour at the very most for a "Master Luthier." EDIT; In Pittsburgh it's a $40 dollar an hour bench charge at the most expensive shops for this kind of work.

wonder what he does that takes him 2 to 3 hours to replace 2 components..? I told a net friend on another forum this and he was in disbelief..at the price and the time it took..He is no guitarist but does repair work on circuit boards..electronics gadgets..etc..on the side.. He said" its not like its a multilayer PCB board.. "

[VitaminG]

I have no issue with the guy charging whatever hourly rate he wants. It sucks that he didn't disclose that at the outset.

The issue is the amount of time he is claiming this simple job took. And now apparently all the additional work.

If you take your car to a mechanic to change an oil filter and they find other issues that they feel should be repaired, they will generally contact you to discuss it. Not wait until you pickup your car and charge you $1,500 when you were expecting to pay $80, just because they just went ahead and fixed these other things without your permission

[Brandenburg]

I have no issue with the guy charging whatever hourly rate he wants. It sucks that he didn't disclose that at the outset.

The issue is the amount of time he is claiming this simple job took. And now apparently all the additional work.

If you take your car to a mechanic to change an oil filter and they find other issues that they feel should be repaired, they will generally contact you to discuss it. Not wait until you pickup your car and charge you $1,500 when you were expecting to pay $80, just because they just went ahead and fixed these other things without your permission

yea.. that IMO book that is pretty shady.. doesnt seem right someone should have to pay for unauthorized work.. is this even legal?

[leftykingv2]

I have no issue with the guy charging whatever hourly rate he wants. It sucks that he didn't disclose that at the outset.

The issue is the amount of time he is claiming this simple job took. And now apparently all the additional work.

If you take your car to a mechanic to change an oil filter and they find other issues that they feel should be repaired, they will generally contact you to discuss it. Not wait until you pickup your car and charge you $1,500 when you were expecting to pay $80, just because they just went ahead and fixed these other things without your permission

+1 While I think his rates are out of line he is free to charge whatever he wants. My problem is the same as what you just said. The time he's claiming this very minuscule job took.

[vector]

The upshot of this is, after meeting with him to pick up all 3 guitars, of which, he finished one (albeit 2 weeks later than promised), I got to read his very detailed spec sheet of work done. And in fairness to him, there were things on the original job description sheet that we had discussed needing work that I, quite frankly, had forgotten about. Items like: the existing soldering and wiring needing to be cleaned up, the Floyd saddles needing to be reordered and radius-ed properly. 2 bench hours to replace two components (one of which was faulty and had to be re-replaced with another), rewire/solder the controls, take apart the trem and reassemble and intonate it sounds reasonable. $125.00 an hour + parts to do it? Not so much.

Leftykingv2- I get your point about doing a lot of that work myself. My buddy and co-guitarist in the band razzes me about it all the time. But I had 3 guitars needing some work and a gig coming up fast and I needed it done right the first time.
However, if it's any consolation, after that debacle, I tackled my Godzilla Cali pickup swap project and did a fairly decent job, so far as I know. in other words- it works, the surrounding wires and cavity edges aren't burnt too badly and there aren't gobs of excess solder all over the place. Next, I'm going to install a new 81/SA-X set in a recently acquired Cali LE, swap out a toggle for the blade style switch and put in a brass big block on, and intonate the OFR.

I'll freely admit that there are limits to my expertise (or lack thereof) and that I'm sometimes intimidated by the scope and unfamiliarity of the work needing to be done, and especially if it's on one of my more prized axes, I prefer sometimes to let a pro handle it.

[leftykingv2]

I am just glad you got your stuff back in working order bro. And I KNOW you'll never drop a guitar off to anybody again without asking for a quote. Also is your buddy busts your balls all the time about it tell him to come over and do the tech work for you and tell him you'll supply the beers!

[leftykingv2]

Intonating an OFR is way easier than it looks bro. Especially if you own a strobe tuner.

[vector]

Oh, I've intonated a few Floyds in my time It's just that they're a PITA to do. Time consuming and not well-suited for someone like me who can run out of patience in a hurry sometimes.

As for my comrade-in-axes, he's much more hands-on than I. Dude built his own professional recording studio in his basement. I know- I helped schlep the lumber, the sheet rock and homasote down into his basement, as well as hefting up the ceiling portion of the frame. Short of listing all the features and specs, suffice it to say it was modeled after a pro facility we used to cut tracks for a demo a few years back. He's BIG into DIY and has the mad skillz to back it up. Me? Not so much. I'm only now learning my way around a soldering iron.

[Shawn Lutz]

Intonating an OFR is way easier than it looks bro. Especially if you own a strobe tuner.

and the handy dandy Floyd key

[leftykingv2]

and the handy dandy Floyd key

+1 Yeah that helps for sure. It's in the top five of the best $20 bucks I've ever spent.

[vector]

+1 Yeah that helps for sure. It's in the top five of the best $20 bucks I've ever spent.

But absolutely worthless if you are intonating a Schaller Lic'd Floyd which accounts for 2/3d's of my trems...