Chronically tardy luthier

[szuper_bojler]

I've gotten to know a luthier mid last year, and they seemed like a very nice person and charged good rates, so I started to work with them a lot. Be it consignment, crack repair or bridge replacement, they became my go-to luthier. 

That said, they are starting to be constantly and chronically tardy on their delivery dates. And not even like a day or two, but more like weeks and months. 

For example, I have a violin in for a minor restoration, ie. some crack repairs and a bit of touch-up varnishing. However, the initial promised delivery date was "around mid-December", but now it's almost February.... The latest communication with them promised this weekend, but nothing...

There have been similar instances --- I had to follow up with them couple times a week last time for another job, and they were similarly late by more than a month... 

Now, I'm usually a rather understanding person in this regard, but this is getting a little on my nerves honestly... Granted, they always had their reasons, such as child getting sick, losing shop time due to snow (we're in the southern part of the US, the snow was max 1 inch). Kinda reminds me of an endlessly procrastinating student at my school...

Is this the norm nowadays? Am I just being too soft on them and should have set hard deadlines? Maybe I should ask for some compensatory actions like asking for a discount based on this tardiness?

[martin swan]

I would suggest going somewhere else - it would probably be a relief to both of you.

[Jeffrey Holmes]

39 minutes ago, martin swan said:

I would suggest going somewhere else - it would probably be a relief to both of you.

I had a similar reaction.

[jacobsaunders]

I like to suggest "Christmas" as a scheduled delivery date, since it comes every year

[violinsRus]

Not trying to be judgmental, but I would also suggest that part of the dynamic is dependent on you as the paying customer.  Are you a pleasure to work with?  I know that it's very easy to procrastinate on a client's work if they:

Nickel and dime me on every job.

Have no appreciation for the amount of time the work takes.

Act like a know-it-all.  

[szuper_bojler]

1 hour ago, violinsRus said:

Not trying to be judgmental, but I would also suggest that part of the dynamic is dependent on you as the paying customer.  Are you a pleasure to work with?  I know that it's very easy to procrastinate on a client's work if they:

Nickel and dime me on every job.

Have no appreciation for the amount of time the work takes.

Act like a know-it-all.  

Damn, the first and third item on that list sounds like me...

I do tend to ask a lot of questions, and might be a bit overly curious sometimes. 

6 hours ago, martin swan said:

I would suggest going somewhere else - it would probably be a relief to both of you.

Kinda out of options - all the shops around me are a lot more expensive. 

[Shelbow]

Then it looks like you may have no choice but to be a bit more flexible regarding timescales and deal with the turnaround time of the current luthier. If you are happy with their work and the cost, then that is at least something... Very few arrangements are perfect...

I deal with a few different luthiers and don't really have any specific timescale expectations, I acknowledge they have lots of work on and lots of different client and therefore I trust them to plan their work schedule in a sensible manner. I believe they do the best that they can for all their clients.

However if we were to talk about guitar makers, that is a different story 

[Jeffrey Holmes]

33 minutes ago, szuper_bojler said:

Damn, the first and third item on that list sounds like me...

I do tend to ask a lot of questions, and might be a bit overly curious sometimes. 

Kinda out of options - all the shops around me are a lot more expensive. 

Curiosity never really bothers me, but if it extends to the know it all level it might be a problem (third thing on violinsrus' list).

The first and second thing are kind of related... and that behavior would most likely cause me to suggest to the client that looking for another luthier might be a good option... 

While it's on the luthier to make an effort to define scheduling, most of us tend to juggle several projects at once. Some are better about communicating that an unforeseen delay (for whatever reason) may effect the completion date of other projects when we take them on, but admittedly a majority of luthiers tend to err on the side of optimism (hence the need for ongoing communication).

... and Shelbow has it right

Cheers!

 

 

[deans]

Why do you have so many instruments that need work? Perhaps the luthier prioritizes player's instruments, esp emergencies, over collectors. Most collectors are understanding. But its always nice when this is communicated.

Are you flipping instruments? This can be a touchy situation, and maybe its best to find a luthier who's business model  involves doing a lot of work for dealers (there seems to be more people like this these days). 

Its poor form to be chronically late, but for some people this is a personality trait, if you like their work, and they seem happy to do it,  you just may have to factor it in.

[szuper_bojler]

34 minutes ago, deans said:

Why do you have so many instruments that need work?

I have two --- my old personal violin needed some open joins to be glued, and some badly mended old cracks that needs to be properly re-repaired(?).  And I got another violin from an auction that needed some work as well. Not to mention some bows as well haha.

I'm currently thinking about which one of the two to keep, since the auction violin turned out to be surprisingly nice after the restoration, so *might* want to sell a violin as well, but I'm by no means constantly flipping instruments as a stream of income. 

[A432]

Q & A

Q: How many fiddle-fixers does it take to change a lightbulb?

A: Good news and bad news.

The good news is, when he's done, only a real expert would ever suspect it's a replacement and not the original bulb.

The bad news is, he'll only work on it when he's in the right mood, so don't hold your breath waiting for it to be finished.