Another custom maker using Oil City Masterwound Blackbirds

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  • OilCityPickupsOilCityPickups Frets: 9986
    tFB Trader
    Looking at the back views of the guitar in my original post it is clear from the back plate etc that it is a direct copy of the B6. This is not on, and I will not be supplying this maker again unless he radically changes his designs.

    Professional pickup winder, horse-testpilot and recovering Chocolate Hobnob addict.
    Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups  ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message  

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  • OilCityPickupsOilCityPickups Frets: 9986
    tFB Trader
    Casper777 said:

    Hello Ash! Great pickups indeed. Have them on my B6 (Thanks Jon at Feline) and love them.

    I also plan to put them in a new custom build. Is there any recap of covers available on the website? just curious, as I may go with the clear bobbins. :)

    As Blackbirds are 'Masterwounds' pretty much any cover you want is doable, as are most bobbin colours and combinations.
    Professional pickup winder, horse-testpilot and recovering Chocolate Hobnob addict.
    Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups  ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message  

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  • webrthomsonwebrthomson Frets: 1029
    edited September 2017
    I'll just leave these here for more perspective of the Frenzy Machine




    Yeah I saw that one on Facebook - its gratuitous IMHO - as if calling your guitar company 50% of the same name was not bad enough.

    On the waiting list thing - you should ask for a deposit - Ken Lawrence does that, non-refundable 20% down to even get on the list, I bet that would weed out the the time wasters


    I have a simple rule about limiting the number of guitars I build: the limit is set by how many guitars I am building where I actually care deeply about each one and how it comes out. 
    I need to feel passionate about each build, both for my own personal job satisfaction and for the fact that I think people want guitars that the builder has poured some love and passion into.

    Yes I know people say take on more staff, set up a production line, crank out more guitars.
    If I am going to be on a production line or simply a wage slave I may as well be working for somebody else and be able to hang up my apron at 5pm and not have to think about work until the next morning, and I'd probably be better off than I am now.
    No - I want to make each guitar be the best we can make them and know that the customer is getting something worth cherishing. 

    Having been lucky enough to have one of your B6's and a Lion I'd say keep doing what you are doing! Both of those guitars are amazing.

    And this guitar looks very nice too:



    If I had the spare cash I would totally buy that, of course I would then blaspheme by putting EMG's in it to compare the tone to my other B6 with Blackbirds in it

    Ross
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  • DefaultMDefaultM Frets: 7271
    edited September 2017
    DefaultM said:
    It doesn't particularly look like a black machine, other than the arm rest cutaway type thing on the bottom left, but as far as I'm aware that isn't a black machine original idea anyway?
    Other manufacturers blatantly rip off the design, even including the metal logo on the back. I don't agree with that at all.

    I'll just leave these here for more perspective of the Frenzy Machine



       

    ...Oh for fuck sake.
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  •  I think a lot of people were on a list and what people don't realise about these lists is the amount of correspondence that becomes involved when the list becomes too large. 

    I know because I have hundreds of people in a list but it's hard to tell how serious most of them are because of the calibre of their emails (almost just a text message from a phone with no personal info), and often on replying you don't get any info back - almost like they just want the bragging rights to being on a list. 
    It's hard to tell if it's a serious player with funds saved for a new guitar or a someone killing time during a school/work 
    I once spent what seemed like a month just answering emails and doing no guitar work at all and it became overwhelming, but in most cases no closer to a sale or deposit. The number of times I have been able to offer a guitar and had no reply or if I do it's "I can't afford one now."

    Now in the last 4 years, I have made 60 B6s on top of all the guitar repairs, and Feline builds, serving customers, answering the phone, dealing with all the paperwork and all that goes with running a business. That isn't too bad for such a small workshop.

    I have a simple rule about limiting the number of guitars I build: the limit is set by how many guitars I am building where I actually care deeply about each one and how it comes out. 
    I need to feel passionate about each build, both for my own personal job satisfaction and for the fact that I think people want guitars that the builder has poured some love and passion into.

    Yes I know people say take on more staff, set up a production line, crank out more guitars.
    If I am going to be on a production line or simply a wage slave I may as well be working for somebody else and be able to hang up my apron at 5pm and not have to think about work until the next morning, and I'd probably be better off than I am now.
    No - I want to make each guitar be the best we can make them and know that the customer is getting something worth cherishing. 

    I know that sounds like a bunch of hippy bullshit, and that I should get with the program, but I see no point in being self-employed and ending up hating your job.

    Some really interesting info there Jonathan.  

    Do customers of yours need to put on a deposit to be on your waiting list for a B6?  For the sole luthier guitars I have purchased I had to place a deposit of 25% of the final build and 10% - all non refundable.

    An impression I seem to get is the volume of messages/emails luthiers who build to order receive is huge and takes up an incredible amount of time.  On an acoustic guitar forum I frequent I read of a very highly esteemed guitar maker quitting taking custom orders as they'd had enough of customers cancelling orders after spending months and months of correspondence/requesting deposit being returned.  

    I can only ever admire those who seek to do their own thing in an industry which seems to be incredibly difficult to operate in at the best of times. 
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  • FelineGuitarsFelineGuitars Frets: 11497
    edited September 2017 tFB Trader
    Doug and I discussed the deposit thing and the pitfalls that he had found with the B6s

     Now I normally take deposits and payments in instalments on my own builds and am happy to do that with the B6s , but he found a strange phenomenon which previously had changed the way in which I did it: 
    The B6s were being bought by a younger generation of players, and it may have been that they were used to growing up where things are available 24/7/365 and if you order something you expect to get it the next day like it's Amazon Prime or suchlike. 

     He was getting players wanting explanations why when he had had their money for 6 weeks that they didn't have a guitar delivered yet, even though he had given them an expected lead time of however many months it would be. 

     It was like a living in a Dominos advert where if you don't get your pizza in 30 mins you get a refund scenario. The number of times Doug ended up returning deposits to unrealistically impatient players was disproportionate. 

     As the B6 has a standard spec I simply decided to not ask for any money up front when I started making them This was ok when I only had 20-30 people waiting but the queue grows exponentially and I think I need to review that plan , even if it's not having a queue and just putting them up on the site or on our Reverb.com page when they are ready. 

     Strangely enough some players have found that I respond much better to phonically than email or random text messages etc A few have phoned me and established a rapport and found themselves in line for a guitar quicker as a result.

    Many guitars have a re-sale value. Some you'll never want to sell.
    Stockist of: Earvana & Graphtech nuts, Faber Tonepros & Gotoh hardware, Fatcat bridges. Highwood Saddles.

    Pickups from BKP, Oil City & Monty's pickups.

      Expert guitar repairs and upgrades - fretwork our speciality! www.felineguitars.com.  Facebook too!

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  • The B6s were being bought by a younger generation of players, and it may have been that they were used to growing up where things are available 24/7/365 and if you order something you expect to get it the next day like it's Amazon Prime or suchlike. 
    Millenials.

    Pfft. 


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  • OilCityPickupsOilCityPickups Frets: 9986
    tFB Trader
    Doug and I discussed the deposit thing and the pitfalls that he had found with the B6s

     Now I normally take deposits and payments in instalments on my own builds and am happy to do that with the B6s , but he found a strange phenomenon which previously had changed the way in which I did it: 
    The B6s were being bought by a younger generation of players, and it may have been that they were used to growing up where things are available 24/7/365 and if you order something you expect to get it the next day like it's Amazon Prime or suchlike. 

     He was getting players wanting explanations why when he had had their money for 6 weeks that they didn't have a guitar delivered yet, even though he had given them an expected lead time of however many months it would be. 

     It was like a living in a Dominos advert where if you don't get your pizza in 30 mins you get a refund scenario. The number of times Doug ended up returning deposits to unrealistically impatient players was disproportionate. 

     As the B6 has a standard spec I simply decided to not ask for any money up front when I started making them This was ok when I only had 20-30 people waiting but the queue grows exponentially and I think I need to review that plan , even if it's not having a queue and just putting them up on the site or on our Reverb.com page when they are ready. 

     Strangely enough some players have found that I respond much better to phonically than email or random text messages etc A few have phoned me and established a rapport and found themselves in line for a guitar quicker as a result.
    I find this all the time with pickups, again mostly with younger customers. I point out that their pickups will be built specifically for them, and that the lead time is going to be about a fortnight ... then two or three days later I get slightly hysterical e mails asking where their order is. There's even a hint of paranoia in some of their communication! I much prefer phone conversations as you can not only get to the root of what a customer wants without e mail ping pong, but I tend to find folks trust a person they can speak to more than an inbox. The down side is that nearly three hours over the past two days has been taken up with customer phone calls!
    Professional pickup winder, horse-testpilot and recovering Chocolate Hobnob addict.
    Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups  ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message  

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  •  I find this all the time with pickups, again mostly with younger customers. I point out that their pickups will be built specifically for them, and that the lead time is going to be about a fortnight ... then two or three days later I get slightly hysterical e mails asking where their order is. There's even a hint of paranoia in some of their communication! I much prefer phone conversations as you can not only get to the root of what a customer wants without e mail ping pong, but I tend to find folks trust a person they can speak to more than an inbox. The down side is that nearly three hours over the past two days has been taken up with customer phone calls!
    Pfft. Millennials. 

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  • Just entered my order for a Blackbird set! :) Don't worry Ash, I don't expect them next Monday haha!
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  • FelineGuitarsFelineGuitars Frets: 11497
    tFB Trader
    By the way - we are a stockist for the Oil City Masterwound Range - so we often have stock on the shelf ready to go.
    It varies from time to time though

    Many guitars have a re-sale value. Some you'll never want to sell.
    Stockist of: Earvana & Graphtech nuts, Faber Tonepros & Gotoh hardware, Fatcat bridges. Highwood Saddles.

    Pickups from BKP, Oil City & Monty's pickups.

      Expert guitar repairs and upgrades - fretwork our speciality! www.felineguitars.com.  Facebook too!

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  • By the way - we are a stockist for the Oil City Masterwound Range - so we often have stock on the shelf ready to go.
    It varies from time to time though

    Oh yes right... might be curious to try the Ceramic version of the Blackbird on some of my darkest guitars at one point. Must be quite brutal. Are both bridge AND neck ceramic on this set?
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  • FelineGuitarsFelineGuitars Frets: 11497
    tFB Trader
    yes - the ceramic variant is a relatively new one - we need to get a set sometime soon.

    Many guitars have a re-sale value. Some you'll never want to sell.
    Stockist of: Earvana & Graphtech nuts, Faber Tonepros & Gotoh hardware, Fatcat bridges. Highwood Saddles.

    Pickups from BKP, Oil City & Monty's pickups.

      Expert guitar repairs and upgrades - fretwork our speciality! www.felineguitars.com.  Facebook too!

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  • OilCityPickupsOilCityPickups Frets: 9986
    tFB Trader
    Casper777 said:
    By the way - we are a stockist for the Oil City Masterwound Range - so we often have stock on the shelf ready to go.
    It varies from time to time though

    Oh yes right... might be curious to try the Ceramic version of the Blackbird on some of my darkest guitars at one point. Must be quite brutal. Are both bridge AND neck ceramic on this set?
    Only the the bridge, to preserve the special 'magic' that happens when both pickups are on ... and indeed the low gain sounds of the alnico 4 neck when you dial back the dirt.
    Professional pickup winder, horse-testpilot and recovering Chocolate Hobnob addict.
    Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups  ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message  

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