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Club Sadowsky!!!

#3,801
BassSlave said:
It is obvious that you have never dealt with Mike Tobias. Those who have know what I'm talking about. Hey why not start a new thread on your favorite merchant?
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Hey.... I will pass on starting a new thread on my favorite merchant but thanks for asking. Feel free to start a Tobias one though.

No I haven't dealt with Mike but I am sure he is a great guy. Why is this obvious though? Would Mike have got in his car with my pickup and drove it to Toronto for me from New York? I will ask Roger for personal delivery next time.:)

My comment in the "Club" Sadowsky thread builds on Dave Hill's previous comment. Please advise if I am out of line in any way.:rolleyes:

I mentioned my comment was "IMO". which means this is my opinion only. Of course others may have different opinions which is cool....
 
#3,802
The original statement was that there was no other company with better service and nothing was mentioned about personality traits. Even so, I have never experienced orneriness from Mike Tobias in my 10+ years of dealing with him. With respect to customer service I know he is the best out there. Case in point, I wanted to have a modification done to my MTD 636 and he offered to do it for free and the turn around took just over a week. He always responds to my calls, of course, and he always answers my inquiries with complete honesty. My experience with Roger Sadowsky is almost the same, however he loses oe point with me in that I asked him about doing a custom pickguard for my UV70 5 string and he told me there are no custom options for that model. He also informed me that Yoshi handles those basses in Japan and he basically "has nothing to do with that model". The part that got me was when someone posted on this forum that Roger made them a custom clear pickguard for that very bass. Other than that, Roger has helped me on other issues with "that model" and I appreciated the information. However I don't judge customer service on personality alone, but more points go to honesty and integrity. Both guys are about as honest and stand up guys so we would be better to call it a tie when voting customer service points.
 
#3,803
BassSlave said:
...My experience with Roger Sadowsky is almost the same, however he loses oe point with me in that I asked him about doing a custom pickguard for my UV70 5 string and he told me there are no custom options for that model...The part that got me was when someone posted on this forum that Roger made them a custom clear pickguard for that very bass
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Maybe Roger is/was offering that service at one point before/after you asked for it. Examples from the top of my head: Nitro finish on bodies were an option and it's not available anymore...the ebony accent line on exotic topped basses was an option, them there were some issues that they needed to fix so they stopped offering it for some time and it's also an option now...
 
#3,804
For a long time now I have been going to the "In Stock" section and clicking on "NYC Basses"

It was not until yesterday that the light bulb clicked...The bass pictured on the link to the "NYC Basses" is MY bass. I've been clicking on it all this time and never noticed. Pretty cool...maybe I should ask for a discount on my next one as a royalty fee. ;)
 
#3,805
#153 here
IMGP5053.jpg


IMGP5055.jpg
 
#3,807
Vic said:
To be fair, he did not say that. He said "Very few owners of bass companies".
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Doesn't matter.

This is a Sadowsky thread and Roger took care of me and went above and beyond. Thought I would share and this kind of info might help someone looking at their first Sadowsky.

I have 2 Metros, a NYC and a SA410 cabinet and I am very happy with all of my gear and the way Roger and the others at Sadowsky have treated me. End of story.:spit::D

I'm sure Mike Lull, Ritter, Fodera and many of the other high end manufacturers would do the same and I'm sure there is a lot of love in various other forums stating this.

No point getting into a scrap about what manufacturer gives better service. Especially in a Sadowsky specific thread.:)
 
#3,809
To be totally fair and honest....I was actually referring to this comment he made..."I have never dealt with a bass company that offers better service. Ernie Ball is 2nd, but Sadowsky is by far #1 IMO.". As for receptionists, Mike Tobias also answers his own phone and whenever I call, he will turn off his lathe machine and stop working while he tends to his phone call. Not only is he the receptionist, but still operates the company with little help

Vic said:
To be fair, he did not say that. He said "Very few owners of bass companies".
Click to expand...
 
#3,810
BassSlave said:
To be totally fair and honest....I was actually referring to this comment he made..."I have never dealt with a bass company that offers better service. Ernie Ball is 2nd, but Sadowsky is by far #1 IMO."
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Yes, but that was auto-qualified by who he's dealt with. He never said he dealt with Mike and had a bad experience. He never made a blanket statement there were none.

Don't get me wrong, I'm also a huge Mike Tobias fan (obviously), as well as a huge Roger Sadowsky fan, but I'm also pretty sure Mike and Roger would not appreciate being "pitted against each other", and this off-topic side-thread seems to be getting close to that, which is what was bugging me about it.

Anyway, moving on... :)
 
#3,811
I see this forum is biased so I will keep my opinions to myself. I see that in this thread it IS a Sadowsky topic so I suppose Roger does have the best customer support, which is what was stated earlier. No one is "pitting" anyone against each Roger. So I won't comment on your thread anymore since people take offense here and get defensive very easily. By the way, I know Mike and Roger are good friends and are probably getting a kick out of this.
 
#3,813
BassSlave said:
I see this forum is biased so I will keep my opinions to myself. I see that in this thread it IS a Sadowsky topic so I suppose Roger does have the best customer support, which is what was stated earlier. No one is "pitting" anyone against each Roger. So I won't comment on your thread anymore since people take offense here and get defensive very easily. By the way, I know Mike and Roger are good friends and are probably getting a kick out of this.
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I think you're reading way too much into this, but I think we can come to an agreement. I'm PM'ing ya.
 
#3,814
BassSlave said:
I see this forum is biased so I will keep my opinions to myself. I see that in this thread it IS a Sadowsky topic so I suppose Roger does have the best customer support, which is what was stated earlier. No one is "pitting" anyone against each Roger. So I won't comment on your thread anymore since people take offense here and get defensive very easily. By the way, I know Mike and Roger are good friends and are probably getting a kick out of this.
Click to expand...

Well of course this thread is biased!!!
It's a Sadowsky Club thread!!! ;)

I've never delt with Mike Tobias. Had a few with Sadowsky & Co.- Roger personally a few times.
Everytime it was beyond what I thought would happen.
Stellar.
So IMO, they're #1 in my book.
Tobias, can't say, again, never had the pleasure of talking with him, so, by default, Tobias is left off my list.
Not saying he's better or worse, I don't know.
Just like with Lull, Pedulla, Lakland.....don't know how they are, so, I don't comment about them.
They could be stellar as well.
Just don't know. I would expect no less than great customer service from them given their great products.

So, loving my new Sadowsky!!!!:D
 
#3,815
BassSlave said:
The original statement was that there was no other company with better service and nothing was mentioned about personality traits. Even so, I have never experienced orneriness from Mike Tobias in my 10+ years of dealing with him. With respect to customer service I know he is the best out there. Case in point, I wanted to have a modification done to my MTD 636 and he offered to do it for free and the turn around took just over a week. He always responds to my calls, of course, and he always answers my inquiries with complete honesty. My experience with Roger Sadowsky is almost the same, however he loses oe point with me in that I asked him about doing a custom pickguard for my UV70 5 string and he told me there are no custom options for that model. He also informed me that Yoshi handles those basses in Japan and he basically "has nothing to do with that model". The part that got me was when someone posted on this forum that Roger made them a custom clear pickguard for that very bass. Other than that, Roger has helped me on other issues with "that model" and I appreciated the information. However I don't judge customer service on personality alone, but more points go to honesty and integrity. Both guys are about as honest and stand up guys so we would be better to call it a tie when voting customer service points.
Click to expand...

I will comment here since I have had a clear guard done for mine. I have bought 26 Sadowskys (and see more in my future) and I sent my UV70 to the shop to have some work done to it. I initially ordered a Tort guard for it but it did not fit correctly and I sent it back with the bass for some other work. I asked Kevin to have the guys in the shop take a look at it and see if the finish warranted a clear guard as I thought it was the nicest grain I had ever seen on a UV70. I got a call a few days later from Kevin saying that it was lovely and they had a clear guard for it if I wanted to do that. I agreed and PAID him (I have never gotten nor asked for any preferential treatment or discounts on anything I have bought from Sadowsky) and that was that. THey did not make me a guard for my bass. IT was something that was already done as far as I know. I am not sure what exactly you wanted to have done but I could recommend Jeannies for any custom Guard work you need...I only jump in because I wanted to clarify that Roger did not do anything special for me. It was something that was already done.

Peace,

T
 
#3,816
Gravity Strings in St. Louis also does guards for Sadowsky basses. They have a very nice 'half guard' template for Metro's. Contact TBer Maconbass for more info. His tort half guard came out GREAT.

Regarding service support by high end luthiers, IMO it's much easier to talk about the very few who don't provide amazing service than arguing about and splitting hairs between two of the vast majority who are excellent. Trying to parse the difference between the amazing service of a Sadowsky, Lull, Stambaugh, MTD, Skjold, Alleva-Coppolo, etc., etc., etc. is kind of silly. They are all great.

I can think of only two luthier's who seem to not provide the type of service I would expect, given the price of their basses, and they aren't even that bad!
 
#3,817
I simply said that I asked for a clear guard. My reasoning being the same as yours as I have a beautiful natural grain finish. I since have found a perfect company for my pickguards and have a clear as well as a black and mirror pickguards. I simply stated that Roger told me that there were no custom pickguards for the UV model and that those basses have only the stock colors being tort, black, white and I don't recall the others so please don't misquote me. It's no big deal, I am simply saying that I was told the custom shop in NY does not provide custom pickguards for the UV models. He did inform me that the UV models have a unique shape and that the pickguard would have to be made custom as no other pickguard that he knows of would fit it and I am very appreciative for that bit of info as it saved me time and money in my search.
 
#3,818
BassSlave said:
The original statement was that there was no other company with better service and nothing was mentioned about personality traits. Even so, I have never experienced orneriness from Mike Tobias in my 10+ years of dealing with him. With respect to customer service I know he is the best out there. Case in point, I wanted to have a modification done to my MTD 636 and he offered to do it for free and the turn around took just over a week. He always responds to my calls, of course, and he always answers my inquiries with complete honesty. My experience with Roger Sadowsky is almost the same, however he loses oe point with me in that I asked him about doing a custom pickguard for my UV70 5 string and he told me there are no custom options for that model. He also informed me that Yoshi handles those basses in Japan and he basically "has nothing to do with that model". The part that got me was when someone posted on this forum that Roger made them a custom clear pickguard for that very bass. Other than that, Roger has helped me on other issues with "that model" and I appreciated the information. However I don't judge customer service on personality alone, but more points go to honesty and integrity. Both guys are about as honest and stand up guys so we would be better to call it a tie when voting customer service points.
Click to expand...

hmm...

one point, eh? i dunno. it feels like you were pretty much doing what's akin to "ordering off the menu", so i dunno how that's *bad* customer service perse.

the NYC models are as custom as they get, just like the USA MTD line. but the Metro line is definitely something more standardized, just like mike's kingston line. it'd be like myself asking mike to respray a Z model for me.

funny, but arent custom pickguards now an option? could be wrong tho.

again, i might be dragging this out, but again, there are VERY few people in the biz like the sadowsky and yes, tobias name.
 
#3,820
jokerjkny said:
hmm...

one point, eh? i dunno. it feels like you were pretty much doing what's akin to "ordering off the menu", so i dunno how that's *bad* customer service perse.

the NYC models are as custom as they get, just like the USA MTD line. but the Metro line is definitely something more standardized, just like mike's kingston line. it'd be like myself asking mike to respray a Z model for me.

funny, but arent custom pickguards now an option? could be wrong tho.

again, i might be dragging this out, but again, there are VERY few people in the biz like the sadowsky and yes, tobias name.
Click to expand...


I believe you can order 'replacement' pickguards for the Metro's on the website (i.e., to swap a tort for a white, etc.). However, there are no custom guards available that I know of (e.g., clear half guards for standards, etc.). I assume there are so few that want them, and along with the many shops that do custom guard work, I assume it wasn't worth Roger's time to set up a supply chain for them.
 

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