luthiers are TARDY

[jeffshuniak]

ok, I just bought a mandolin last week, hanging on the guy's wall, a week later, he still has not shipped it...

what is he doing? looking at it?

seriously though, I am considering the $150 roundtrip ticket to NY to just go get the %$#@ thing myself.

[wsm]

I had the same thing happen with a instrument dealer in the mid-west who occasionally puts mandolins on the cafe. Gave him a call and worked out the details. He was waiting to miss a major snow-storm headed for the area.

[jeffshuniak]

well, I am unfortunately, a little impatient now.
last year, I commisioned a mandolin from Italy, the luthier told me it would be finished in about 12 weeks, which I thought was too fast.
well it has been almost seven months, and no mandolin.

so I decided to buy this one, hanging on the wall , at a luthier's shop in NY.
well, you cant order a mandolin with exra pickles.

I suppose it is my destiny to wait. or w---a---i----t would be a more proper way to spell that word.

[Lee]

It's not just Luthiers. Folk of the Woods still posts a wonderful ad with photos for a mandolin they shipped (immediately) to me last summer.

[steve V. johnson]

It's not just Luthiers. Folk of the Woods still posts a wonderful ad with photos for a mandolin they shipped (immediately) to me last summer.

I have tried to buy from FOTW a couple of times and each time ran into this (uncharitably called a "Bait & Switch swindle) situation. An instrument will be posted at a grand price and, woops, not available (since last year!). A friend waited six weeks to find that his order had not ever been written down.

I know others have had good experiences with them, and they are probably not really crooked, but I wish I'd had a better time with them. They'd have my $$ now!

Also... Luthier time is not of this earth. I have several custom instruments from well-known builders. No matter what they say, add three or six or eight months. Always. That's just the way it is. Ya gotta just keep loving them so they don't slip and screw up your instrument! <GGG>

stv

[Michael H Geimer]

He he he FOTW 'got me', too. Though I didn't mind so much. Here's the story ...

I looking to trade up my old Epi MM-50 (EC+) after I picked up the Weber. I figured I'd get a Mid-mo. FOTW had an M-11, and furthermore, they offered my more in trade than I ever thought I would get out of the Epi. So, I took the deal of the Epi+$ and promptly recv'd the Mid-Mo.

Of course, it was obvious that they shipped me the 'floor model', as I have never seen an M-11 that is completely devoid of binding, rosette, decals, anything. (It must be an earlier production run, or some such oddity.)

Like I said above, I didn't care. I love this Mid-mo, and FOTW sold that Epi within a week, so someone out there is enjoying it. (Not very loud, but it sure played great)

Caveat Emptor, I guess.

- Benignus

[doanepoole]

FOTW doesn't look too organized with their listings on their website. They're Use Instrument page shows it was last updated on 11/15/2003, but I have certainly seen things posted their since then. They have a Weber Sage OM listed, the pictures for it are that of a Morgan Monroe. I'm operating under the assumption that keeping their website up to date has not yet been identified as a high priority item on their plate.

That said, my one experience dealing with them was a good one.

[Lee]

I didn't want this to turn into a FOTW bashing thread. It's odd that they'd go to the extent of creating a glouriosly colorful and complicated website, and not keep it accurate. (The ad for the Phoenix #296 can be ignored.)

But back to the topic. I work for a manufacturing company and we're always late too. Yesterday my boss sends an email to a customer, "Your compressor system is finally almost complete." I walked the printout over to his desk and lightheartedly mentioned, "After we ship it, maybe they'll send us an email asking how soon we'd almost like to be paid." He was not amused...

[Tom C]

Personally, I would not take anything listed on the internet as the final say.
Them being prices, pics, availability, model, actual instrument or even opinions.
All of these change -just like the Gibson model where somebody thought they came with tuners with screws to easily interchange the buttons.

[happycamper]

I thought about buying from FOTW a couple of years ago. I had seen all their good advertisements on the Net of all the mandos thay supposedly had for sale. Drove over 4 hours to get there. Found all they had at the time were mostly cheap Kentuckys and such. Had signs all over them that they did not want you to touch them.

On a nice instrument, it seems to me they order from somewhere when you order, like Musicians Friends or somewhere else, do their thing when they get it in and then ship it to you.

I was sure not impressed with them.

[Dave Hanson]

We used to have a great instrument shop here in the UK, TAMCO ' The Acoustic Music Co. ' the owner Trevor was the only dealer I would buy from unseen.

Dave H

[Ray(T)]

…… and the previous post on this thread was barely two years after Trevor originally opened the shop! The great thing was that you always knew exactly when the item would be shipped and when it would arrive. I never found out who the shipping company was but things usually arrived in a nondescript van around breakfast time!

[Mark Gunter]

We used to have a great instrument shop here in the UK, TAMCO ' The Acoustic Music Co. ' the owner Trevor was the only dealer I would buy from unseen.

Dave H

man, I’ve always loved your music videos, Dave, but my mind is boggled by the resurrection of a 20-year-old thread to comment on TAMCO. Not complaining, mind you, just a little confused.

BTW, folks with even the slightest interest in O’Carolan tunes and other traditional tunes should check out David’s (multi-instrumentalist) YouTube channel for inspiration

https://youtu.be/vclZ7XYQ6ew

[Don Grieser]

Mark, that's David Hansen in the US and a member of the SAW group in the video, not Dave Hanson.

[Mark Gunter]

Ooops. My bad

[Mark Gunter]

No apologies for promoting David’s YouTube channel though, I really liked his playing when I was active in SAW and I follow his channel, great stuff. And hijacking a 20-year-old thread is fair IMHO . Sorry about the mix up, Mr. Hanson, I thought it was Mr. Hansen posting. I’m easily confused

[CES]

LOL, I spent a lot of time on FOTW back in the day before I discovered this site, but never bought anything from them. Micky's recs were the reason I got the Tortex 0.75 mm picks when I started playing mandolin. Played with them for a couple years (usually using the rounded shoulder rather than the point) until I grabbed a Fender Heavy one day. I've moved significantly up the pick food chain since then, lol.

They always responded to my emails fairly promptly, honestly, and courteously, but I didn't have the funds to buy several of the instruments I checked out on the web site and it was defunct before I got to the point in life that I could.

And, yes, TAMCO and Trevor seemed awesome. I wish I'd gotten over there to pay him and the shop a visit before he retired.

[HonketyHank]

Well now, THAT clears up something that has bugged me off and on. Like when I see a video and say "Now wait a minute, that doesn't look like Dave HansXn." Or, "Hang on, what is he doing here in the US -- I thought he lived over in the UK somewhere? [and/or vice versa]".

Thank you, OP [jeffsuniak], whereever you are [last post, 2008], for providing the vehicle that resolved my confusion; thank you, Mark, for sparking the big reveal, and my apologies to all the Dave HansXns with mandolin-family instruments for my confusion.

[Ray(T)]

-- I thought he lived over in the UK somewhere?

He lives in Yorkshire but I don’t think anyone would hold that against him!