Club Alleva-Coppolo (Part 13)

[Vic]

Jason and Kirk,
Nobody is even remotely being critical of Jimmy's intentions or work ethic. All of my criticism is specifically related to timing, and the way in which he's trying to expand. I just think he put the cart before the horse, and got himself a bit upside down in the process.

Growing a small business organically (without large injections of VC money) is VERY tricky... if you don't do it right, you don't enjoy, you suffer.

 

[svtb15]

Like i said before----

So many armchair entrepreneurs around here... maybe people need to go into business building basses and bass parts from scratch for themselves since they have so much knowledge regarding the subject.
Seems like Pick on Jimmy week...

 

[Baccomang]

A bit of a different topic. I've noticed in a few of the "other" builder threads lately a lot of discussion about single coils vs. hum cancelling etc.

I notice very little to no hum with either of my ACs until I get to ridiculous volumes. Does everyone else have similar results?

Peter with my LM5 i experience some hum if both pickups were fully open
and i turn back the volume of the neck pickup with 30% more. Talked to Jimmy
about that (maybe groundstrip) but
he said all his basses are already grounded and shielded.
Anyone experience with Fralin or Joe Barden pickups regarding hum?

 

[svtb15]

You have to remember.. Although he and other builders are very grateful for the support that TB members and guests give to them,TB is only a tiny fraction of the people that buy their basses. For which they are thankful.... I dont speak for others but I think I can say that in good conscience.
If he or Sadwowky relied on the 15 -20 people that frequent their threads here on TB, they could not feed the family dog.

Yes I am Jimmy's friend, and as with all my friends I will defend them ...
I also defend Roger Sadowsky when someone makes a remark that that needs a comment from me.
A general example, there are numerous times that i have defended Roger. He's a total stand up guy.

Many of you don't know Roger form 30 years ago when he was starting out..And he took flak about what he was doing in the community of players at times.. still does... BUT he also received many many praises.. But many here come in at the tail end of that story, after everything is running smoothly.
DO you think that happened overnight?

Roger worked his tail off to be as good as he is. Just as Jimmy is now.. And Jimmy has been in the bizz for 20 odd years since he was a kid... not the the extent the past few years though. Obviously..

But the two basses are completely different things.
PS.. I am an equal opportunity defender.

Jason and Kirk,
Nobody is even remotely being critical of Jimmy's intentions or work ethic. All of my criticism is specifically related to timing, and the way in which he's trying to expand. I just think he put the cart before the horse, and got himself a bit upside down in the process.

Growing a small business organically (without large injections of VC money) is VERY tricky... if you don't do it right, you don't enjoy, you suffer.

 

[svtb15]

Now can we go back to talking about basses.. or is #13 just going to be ugly throughout?

 

[svtb15]

To the deleted post by vision.. I dont think i am. I refer to Post #61 as my response earlier...
peace man

 

[tieftonservices]

Haha real inventive.
I use the same Aguilar cabs but i just stach them horizontally
a la TC Electronic ( saves your back from bending down too much )

i always stacked them that way. i never touch the knobs on my amp anyway, once i soundchecked. the cabs are a little higher this way and i can hear myself better. sometimes i use a third cab on top of it, 3x12" kills!

anyway, the allevas rock!

 

[Baccomang]

+1 Jason
I almost feel guilty only mentioning
the pics of the CNC Facebook without
judging the use of the device.

Peace

Hey guys ... i took this pic of "our hero" yesterday as he was trying to get a new belt on the sander ... it's a little blurry, but none the less, it's Jimmy, hard at work.
After reading this new thread, i have to say that all of the negative posts about the CNC sound ridiculously selfish ... Most of you have absolutely no idea the volume that Jimmy is trying to handle by himself. Presently, there are 44 basses in production and another 100 on order. What is the problem with a small business owner trying to keep all of his production self contained? or for that matter, a small business owner trying to grow his business into something bigger. Funny, i don't see any posts praising Jimmy about trying to cut down the wait time for the basses. I, personally, don't want to wait a year the next time I want a new AC and I'm excited for the possibilities that the CNC will allow him to do. Anybody who has gotten to know Jimmy knows that he's a freak for quality control and I can't imagine that that will change when the machine is up and running. Change is inevitable fellas, regardless of who the builder is. I know that this is an open forum with all opinions welcome, but I'm convinced that too many people on here just want something to complain about and that bums me out.
Enjoy the basses that you've got ... if you don't like the changes that Jimmy is making, simply don't buy a new AC ... plain & simple ...
Have a nice day ...

 

[lx_night]

In.

This is exactly what i plan on ordering not to far from now!
What is the wood on the body?
and is that a tobacco burst?

A clear PG would look great as well.

 

[svtb15]

It may be spalted Alder... Very Lightweight IIRC... Airy and resonant..

This is exactly what i plan on ordering not to far from now!
What is the wood on the body?
and is that a tobacco burst?

A clear PG would look great as well.

 

[Gilsonite]

CNC's are very interesting to me

http://www.carvinchannel.com/

Taylor guitars talks about handmade VS. machine made, see below...

Invalid Link Removed

 

[esoxhntr]

This is exactly what i plan on ordering not to far from now!
What is the wood on the body?
and is that a tobacco burst?

A clear PG would look great as well.

It is spalted alder, and pretty light. The finish is a 2 tone "ice tea" burst.

 

[KJung]

It is spalted alder, and pretty light. The finish is a 2 tone "ice tea" burst.

That is a beauty!

 

[peterpalmieri]

Peter with my LM5 i experience some hum if both pickups were fully open
and i turn back the volume of the neck pickup with 30% more. Talked to Jimmy
about that (maybe groundstrip) but
he said all his basses are already grounded and shielded.
Anyone experience with Fralin or Joe Barden pickups regarding hum?

The fralins in my lakland jO were much noisier. It was easy to deal with as ken mentioned and I loved the tone I got from that bass.

 

[Toasted]

the pro and cons have been sorted out many times already regarding that in this thread and others...

So many armchair entrepreneurs around here... maybe people need to go into business building basses and bass parts for themselves since they have so much knowledge regarding the subject.

You've obviously not bothered to read what I wrote - and are happy to misinterpret what I was saying.

The argument isn't if CNC is better or worse for building basses, the argument is that it is a crazy use of operating capital and personal time to install a CNC machine in a shop with 100 basses on order and 40 in production. The CNC could cut those in a week - what's it going to do for the other 51?

FWIW I do run my own business and I do operate on those principles. I stick to what I'm good at an contract the rest.

 

[Vic]

Kirk and Jason,
Just so you know, I'm not just an armchair athlete on this. While I don't own my own small business, several of my friends do, and one in particular split off from a larger CNC-based fab shop to start his own. He's 4x the size he was when he started as a one man shop, and he never delayed an order due to expansion pains.

I'll just leave it at this. I love Jimmy and his work to death (HONESTLY, jeez, just read all my gushing!), but I stand by my criticism of his business timing choices.

Hopefully, 'nuff said.

 

[esoxhntr]

Now can we go back to talking about basses.. or is #13 just going to be ugly throughout?

Hey Kirk,

I'm sure we'll all be civil as long as you don't start showing pictures of your blue bass with the misaligned strings...

I'm not sure Jimmy really needs defending here... I am sure there are days that he looks at the CNC machine and truly believes that he wouldn't piss on it if it were on on fire. I'm also willing to bet that he is streets ahead of the rest of us in terms of weighing the upside and downside of having bought the CNC. In the meantime, probably best that we all realize that not many can relate to the trials and tribulations of manufacturing.

As consumers we often feel the right to air our opinions, and though we have every right to do just that we are often more than a little misinformed. Armchair "QB-ing" is a popular pastime, be it sport or music or business or whatever related, and honestly it keeps a buzz going about whatever topic. In this case, I think it's just interest in seeing Jimmy's basses get out faster, and as I said, Jimmy probably wishes for that way more than any of us.

I heartily agree with you though - you should never have sold that blue LG5 with the maple neck.

 

[esoxhntr]

the argument is that it is a crazy use of operating capital and personal time to install a CNC machine in a shop with 100 basses on order and 40 in production

Respectfully, I think thats difficult for you to judge - there could be a dozen different reasons for it to be advantageous to get the CNC machine; timing, opportunity, financial support, whatever. I think it's safer to assume that he understands his business goals better than we do, and if he is guilty of an error in judgment that's really his issue, not yours, not mine, yes?

By the way, if the CNC is set up properly, even if it only runs 4 weeks per year, does it not save enough time to produce at the very least 3 to 4 times the number of instruments? Or at the same number of instruments with vastly decreased production time and greater consistency?

 

[svtb15]

Cool that is just awesome all around...!

I love to hear good stuff... It all works out eventually

Kirk and Jason,
Just so you know, I'm not just an armchair athlete on this. While I don't own my own small business, several of my friends do, and one in particular split off from a larger CNC-based fab shop to start his own. He's 4x the size he was when he started as a one man shop, and he never delayed an order due to expansion pains.

I'll just leave it at this. I love Jimmy and his work to death (HONESTLY, jeez, just read all my gushing!), but I stand by my criticism of his business timing choices.

Hopefully, 'nuff said.

 

[Vic]

... It all works out eventually

Exactly... and I'm absolutely confident Jimmy is no exception to this rule. Seriously. Jeez tho... once he does have everything firing on all 8 cylinders... holy smokes... hold him back!