Luthier Help - Ordering a New Bass

[shaktipat]

When accepting an order, is it customary to give a date when the instrument will be finished and then be one to two months late?

[Jake deVilliers]

Hah - yes! Same goes for major repairs... Its just not feasible to turn away regular clients who need crack repairs/bridges/soundposts or other adjustments and that makes an accurate completion date impossible to predict with any real certainty.

It can be just as frustrating for the luthier as for the client...

[Jsn]

The creation of any handmade object is its own unique journey. There's no way to anticipate with pinpoint accuracy what it'll take to get it right. And you want them to get it right.

Estimates on custom work are just that: estimates. Your patience is likely to be rewarded.

[Violen]

It is done, when it is done.

[Champagne]

Even repairs can go like this. Happened to me, but mine was weeks, not months. I can only imagine your anticipation. Hang in there!

[Mgaisbacher]

I don't have a lot of experience with this but I ordered an upton mid December and it is just finishing completion now.
They told me I would probably have it beginning of march and then it got pushed to mid march, I'll probably really get it beginning of April.
Honestly though I don't really care because I know it's a custom made instrument and I would rather someone take the time to do it right then screw something up trying to get it done in a certain time frame.
Honestly I don't even think I year would be out of the question for a bass to be made. So I'm happy and impressed that I'm getting mine this soon. They weren't months off of the time they told me but still even if they were I don't think it would have been a big deal.

On the other hand I just want my new bass and the waiting sucks but I know it's going to be well worth it.

[MaxJohnson]

Waiting a few months is nothing! People wait 6 years for a Bow from Sue Lipkins!

[drurb]

I agree with the other posts here. Jake gave you a valuable insider's point of view. I'm curious--one to two months late on a total anticipated build-time of what? Six months? One year? Two years? As Mgaisbacher points out, even a one month miss on a three-month estimated total is not out of the question. Did a luthier really give you a "date when the instrument will be finished" or did he/she give you an estimate?