Bad News: LMII is closing down.....

[rudy4444]

Who will be a good source for truss rods after they're gone?

I'll probably go with Allied Luthiery's rods.

 

[bobdabilder]

This is bad news for sure. They were predictably timely and never failed me.

 

[Auspuff]

sucks to have to close shop, but if they wanna retire, thats ok too....maybe people can get deals on the stuff they liquidate....or maybe a different company will pickup there inventory, it happens sometimes.

Love your, Avatar.

 

[Brad_Pearson]

My buddy Jeremy Kirsch (Freekmagnet) and I talked for a while this afternoon about whether we should go into offering fingerboard radiusing and slotting as a service to other small Luthiers. Over the years, I've done many individual fingerboards for Luthiers I know. I already have the special machines. I could do a few upgrades to the fixtures to make them more efficient at holding blank fingerboards. And bring in Jeremy to help with the labor of doing the jobs. We could offer any scale length, any radius, even fanned frets. Mostly working by mail order. And our prices would be in the range of what LMI has been charging.

We haven't decided for sure, but agreed that it could work as a long term side business for us.

Great news! I'll be keeping an eye out! It would feel real good to support another small business

 

[NKBassman]

My buddy Jeremy Kirsch (Freekmagnet) and I talked for a while this afternoon about whether we should go into offering fingerboard radiusing and slotting as a service to other small Luthiers. Over the years, I've done many individual fingerboards for Luthiers I know. I already have the special machines. I could do a few upgrades to the fixtures to make them more efficient at holding blank fingerboards. And bring in Jeremy to help with the labor of doing the jobs. We could offer any scale length, any radius, even fanned frets. Mostly working by mail order. And our prices would be in the range of what LMI has been charging.

We haven't decided for sure, but agreed that it could work as a long term side business for us.

It's certainly a niche that needs filling. From my looking around this year for my first build, LMII was the only obviously viable option I found. I'd be happy to order a fingerboard from the Secret Underground Laboratory in the future. Heck, why stop at slots? I'd pay you to fret it for me, too.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Having radiused a couple boards by hand, and kind of botched it once, that’s one job I’d rather sub out. I found it surprisingly difficult to to do evenly across the board length, even with a hard maple radius sanding beam. I don’t know if it’s hard to avoid applying slightly more pressure at the middle of the stroke, my technique, or what, but I’m not good at it. I could build a radius jig, but at an output of one bass/2-4 years, hard to justify the time and parts. I’d like to support somebody who dispenses so much free advice on TB, if he’s willing to take on more work.

 

[Deleted member 271037]

That's a real shame. I guess this means StewMac prices may skyrocket again... after their recent price cut that lowered the prices of many products from hideously expensive to just expensive.

At least Thomann have some good quality luthier tools from their Harley Benton brand. Stuff like notched straight edges for half the price compared to StewMac, even after StewMac lowered their prices!

 

[LHbassist]

I really am not happy hearing this. In my own situation, our 15 year residence is now threatened by a sinister development company that uses some truly evil practices to acquire homes and force people out.. I was saying to my wife yesterday, the only thing guaranteed in life, other than mortality- is change. EVERYTHING changes. It's usually a surprise, too. LMII was a great resource, even for me, a single person repair shop... I'm going to buy some things from them, that only they make.
Good Luck to the owners in their retirement.

 

[tjclem]

I am also surprised and saddened to hear of this. Over the years I have bought several hundred truss rods from them as well as bone nuts and Ebony fingerboards. I can offer one positive note. I was told over the phone just 30 minutes ago that one of the last things they are going to do is share their supplier list.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

By the way, for this potential fingerboard radius & slotting business that Jeremy and I were talking about, we're thinking only bass fingerboards, and only small Luthiers. Not looking to get into guitars or quantities. Just to support the bass Luthier community, not to try to build it up into a real business. We both have lots of other work going on. We also talked about getting the machines tuned up, and then pulling in someone else to do the work. Another young Luthier that I've been working with recently is a possibility.

 

[NKBassman]

By the way, for this potential fingerboard radius & slotting business that Jeremy and I were talking about, we're thinking only bass fingerboards, and only small Luthiers. Not looking to get into guitars or quantities. Just to support the bass Luthier community, not to try to build it up into a real business. We both have lots of other work going on. We also talked about getting the machines tuned up, and then pulling in someone else to do the work. Another young Luthier that I've been working with recently is a possibility.

But would you consider doing a 25.5" scale length bass fingerboard??

 

[T_Bone_TL]

But would you consider doing a 25.5" scale length bass fingerboard??

Smallmouth or Bigmouth...?

 

[Bruce Johnson]

But would you consider doing a 25.5" scale length bass fingerboard??

Hah! Well, okay......I've radiused and slotted at least a thousand guitar fingerboards over the years. The market for guitar fingerboards is big, and someone else will immediately step up and fill the void from LMI closing. But custom scale length bass fingerboards are a very small market. I'm concerned that it won't make sense financially for them to tool up to do all those custom scale lengths. I'm already tooled up. My concern is for small bass builders.

 

[NKBassman]

Hah! Well, okay......I've radiused and slotted at least a thousand guitar fingerboards over the years. The market for guitar fingerboards is big, and someone else will immediately step up and fill the void from LMI closing. But custom scale length bass fingerboards are a very small market. I'm concerned that it won't make sense financially for them to tool up to do all those custom scale lengths. I'm already tooled up. My concern is for small bass builders.

I’ll touch base when it’s time to start my next build.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

I gotta stock up on their instrument makers glue. Anyone know who makes that for them?

Yes, I just ordered a couple of bottles from them last night, along with some ebony fingerboards.
They are saying that they are going to release info about their suppliers. I'm hoping that whoever is making the Yellow Instrument Maker's Glue for them will offer it for sale under their own brand.

 

[basspraiser]

I don't know how many of you got the e-mail today, but Luthier's Mercantile has announced that they are closing down, going out of business, selling off all their inventory. Apparently the owners are retiring, and were unable to sell the company.

Sad news for us small Luthiers. I've been completely dependent on them for all my ebony fingerboards for 27 years. I'm kind of stunned. I assumed that they would be around forever, or at least for the rest of my working years.

We need to get our sources and resources together and figure out who else will be a reliable source.

Shame that that can't find a successor.

No one seems to want to do the " hard work" these days and businesses like this suffer for it....

 

[mikewalker]

LMII has been in my good books for a long time! They were one of my go-to suppliers all through the 00s (when I was running the custom shop in Moscow)

 

[BunchyMutt]

damn

 

[skycruiser]

Only bought a couple of boards from them but sad to see them shutting down. We'll miss these little shops.

 

[ardgedee]

Shame that that can't find a successor.

No one seems to want to do the " hard work" these days and businesses like this suffer for it....

That old gripe has nothing to do with this. They're looking for a new owner, not workers.

Right now is a bad time to get into a specialist business of this sort, even if it has a fairly established customer base. It would require loans, interest rates are high, and the margins are going to be really tight trying to cover the loans, suppliers, staff, rent, etc. while still making enough of a profit to justify the effort.

It sucks that LMII's owners are getting out of the business, but it's also understandable. It sucks that they couldn't find a buyer, but that's understandable too.