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Hammersmith K waitlist club

#41
lowendmafia said:
Custom basses take time and luthiers don't always respond to every little question you have. That's how it is. I guarantee I put my $ down way before you on one and I dont even consider this late. I've waited 9,10,12,18 and 21 months for basses before, basses where I wasn't out a lot more money than here... it sucks, but it's just the nature of it.
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Yes.....custom basses DO take time and no, luthiers don't always respond to every little question.....

However, my previous visits to custom land have never involved the seemingly complete disappearance of the builder.....

Hey....You seem happy with the situation?.....Fine....I'll join Marko and disappear for the time being.....

Lets see what happens.....
 
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#42
I've seen a lot of posts lately on the Hammersmith Facebook page, with a good amount of completed basses being shipped to "patient buyers". It just sounds like either shipments from overseas were delayed and held up orders, or they were overloaded with demand, or both! I Believe that Marko's intentions are good and that Hammersmith will make a lot of people happy. I had a concern about my HS bass, and while it took a bit longer than I'd hoped, Marko came through and was very accommodating.
 
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#43
bigsnack said:
I've seen a lot of posts lately on the Hammersmith Facebook page, with a good amount of completed basses being shipped to "patient buyers". It just sounds like either shipments from overseas were delayed and held up orders, or they were overloaded with demand, or both! I Believe that Marko's intentions are good and that Hammersmith will make a lot of people happy. I had a concern about my HS bass, and while it took a bit longer than I'd hoped, Marko came through and was very accommodating.
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Tis me!

IMG956943.png
 
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#44
lowendmafia said:
The bodies and necks come from overseas and then they are assembled in Canada. Don't really see what the problem is, the last update was that they were having a delay from the OEM manufacturer. What do you expect the guy to do, come on here everyday and tell you that there is no update? do you know how much time it would take a small company to reply to every request for an update? This is custom bass ordering 101.
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Custom bass ordering sounds like it's working just fine. Custom bass customer satisfaction is looking a bit risky now and there is no valid excuse other than catastrophic to ignore your customers inquiries.

Just look at the differences in responses on this thread versus those that come up on Mesa or Bass String Online Threads. Seems like they are doing just fine by the company reps watching out for customer log jams for whatever reason.

We are lucky here. And as a result, any type of appearance from a business owner, especially affiliated with this site in any way, who sends out an implication or appearance of "I don't have the time" or ignoring it's customer base, weather it is intentional or not, potentially gets unwanted results that become this sites permanent history for the benefit of it's users, positive or negative.

People come here and do product searches. Merchants must always choose wisely.
 
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#45
I understand the frustration, I'm currently dealing with a bass that is over a year past due with no progress and the luthier moved to Spain. I've been in multiple spats with him and people he knows that makes me believe he is personally making me wait because he's pissed at me. The 1st bass he built me was a complete disaster and he tried to fix it and made it worse. At this point I don't even want the bass anymore but I can't get my deposit (1/2) back. That said, I never came onto a public forum and started tossing around accusations for the world to see.
 
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#46
lowendmafia said:
I understand the frustration, I'm currently dealing with a bass that is over a year past due with no progress and the luthier moved to Spain. I've been in multiple spats with him and people he knows that makes me believe he is personally making me wait because he's pissed at me. The 1st bass he built me was a complete disaster and he tried to fix it and made it worse. At this point I don't even want the bass anymore but I can't get my deposit (1/2) back. That said, I never came onto a public forum and started tossing around accusations for the world to see.
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:rollno:
 
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#47
lowendmafia said:
I understand the frustration, I'm currently dealing with a bass that is over a year past due with no progress and the luthier moved to Spain. I've been in multiple spats with him and people he knows that makes me believe he is personally making me wait because he's pissed at me. The 1st bass he built me was a complete disaster and he tried to fix it and made it worse. At this point I don't even want the bass anymore but I can't get my deposit (1/2) back. That said, I never came onto a public forum and started tossing around accusations for the world to see.
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I think I speak for the community here when I say that you should tell that story. That is completely unacceptable behaviour and it should be called out. If anything, you are doing us all a disservice by not warning us about this crazy lutheir. Somebody else may end up doing business with them and have the same experience as you did.
 
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#53
FROM FACEBOOK:

We won't be exhibiting at summer NAMM this year. We discussed maybe doing a special event away from the show, but even that isn't going to happen as we won't be able to travel there during the show dates. Making plans for some Hammersmith Roadshow events in the fall, possibly. Stay tuned.




Any updates on the Ks?

Still with the OEM. Fingers crossed for updates every day, but still waiting. Can't fly overseas with my back issues, can't change course with a different factory, just have to wait things out.
 
#54
wintremute said:
FROM FACEBOOK:

We won't be exhibiting at summer NAMM this year. We discussed maybe doing a special event away from the show, but even that isn't going to happen as we won't be able to travel there during the show dates. Making plans for some Hammersmith Roadshow events in the fall, possibly. Stay tuned.




Any updates on the Ks?

Still with the OEM. Fingers crossed for updates every day, but still waiting. Can't fly overseas with my back issues, can't change course with a different factory, just have to wait things out.
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The latter part sounds exactly like what happened with my bass. Although I'm sure this issue won't last as long. Marko had ordered a TON of stuff from them by now so he is on the hot list. I think those other companies who order from the same OEM are large enough that they have months worth of bodies and necks to work with until their orders come in. Marko will have to do two things.

1) Order more stuff. That takes a HUGE financial commitment. But that way he will have tons of a lot of different necks and bodies laying around to build and ship while he waits for the next order.

2) Make more realistic promises when he launches new models. When I got in, he was literally launching his company so ALL the models were new.

If my bass is any indication, those of you who stick it out will be pleased.

I will start on the review tonight and hopefully have it posted in the next couple of days. I played it in church Sunday with the Mesa Walkabout and Epifani 4-10 and HOLY CRAP!!!! (pun intended) Clear and defined while still maintaining good old warm passive mojo. And the neck......man.....that neck.
 
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#56
Good intentions, excitement starting a company and getting some basses out in the flush of the excitement, nice basses for those who got theirs, over 40 customers who have coughed up a bunch of $.....and then comes the delays, the non-communication, then saying going on a frickin' Roadshow instead of working on his back-orders because he OWES people what they ordered--who is paying for that and he'll what?...get more orders to be back-ordered even worse or is the new money from Roadshow sale encouragement going to pay for the $ already received and used for something else and so the knot grows larger, says bad back precludes traveling overseas (why would he truly have to in the first place)....all very bad signs, the likes of which I've seen before.

Don't get me wrong, those signs are indeed worrisome because they are real and have happened before and often ended badly. but am not saying they are definitely the facts being undergone by Hammersmith customers. Perhaps (and I hope) all will just end up peachy keen.

I just hate seeing this sort of thread started because of the OP's stated concerns, signs we've seen before, and with all the "Don't worry about it" replies...and then too often if turns out not so good, even if it all started well.

Again, I make no accusations to the builder except to say the customer relations are evidently starting to make his ship list to starboard and needs addressing.
 
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#57
MEKer said:
Good intentions, excitement starting a company and getting some basses out in the flush of the excitement, nice basses for those who got theirs, over 40 customers who have coughed up a bunch of $.....and then comes the delays, the non-communication, then saying going on a frickin' Roadshow instead of working on his back-orders because he OWES people what they ordered--who is paying for that and he'll what?...get more orders to be back-ordered even worse or is the new money from Roadshow sale encouragement going to pay for the $ already received and used for something else and so the knot grows larger, says bad back precludes traveling overseas (why would he truly have to in the first place)....all very bad signs, the likes of which I've seen before.

Don't get me wrong, those signs are indeed worrisome because they are real and have happened before and often ended badly. but am not saying they are definitely the facts being undergone by Hammersmith customers. Perhaps (and I hope) all will just end up peachy keen.

I just hate seeing this sort of thread started because of the OP's stated concerns, signs we've seen before, and with all the "Don't worry about it" replies...and then too often if turns out not so good, even if it all started well.

Again, I make no accusations to the builder except to say the customer relations are evidently starting to make his ship list to starboard and needs addressing.
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What style did you order?
 
#58
MEKer said:
Good intentions, excitement starting a company and getting some basses out in the flush of the excitement, nice basses for those who got theirs, over 40 customers who have coughed up a bunch of $.....and then comes the delays, the non-communication, then saying going on a frickin' Roadshow instead of working on his back-orders because he OWES people what they ordered--who is paying for that and he'll what?...get more orders to be back-ordered even worse or is the new money from Roadshow sale encouragement going to pay for the $ already received and used for something else and so the knot grows larger, says bad back precludes traveling overseas (why would he truly have to in the first place)....all very bad signs, the likes of which I've seen before.

Don't get me wrong, those signs are indeed worrisome because they are real and have happened before and often ended badly. but am not saying they are definitely the facts being undergone by Hammersmith customers. Perhaps (and I hope) all will just end up peachy keen.

I just hate seeing this sort of thread started because of the OP's stated concerns, signs we've seen before, and with all the "Don't worry about it" replies...and then too often if turns out not so good, even if it all started well.

Again, I make no accusations to the builder except to say the customer relations are evidently starting to make his ship list to starboard and needs addressing.
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I understand the sentiment.

However, the problem, currently, isn't that they just don't feel like working on basses to get them out the door and instead are gonna say screw it and go party. They can't. The bodies and necks have not arrived from the manufacturer.

They have made mistakes. I'm not here to defend their every move. But they can't assemble and deliver basses when there are no bodies and necks.
 
#59
I'm wondering why you'd take money from people for a product when you don't already have the basic parts available to make the said product......

I'm also completely at a loss as to why Marko. or a company representative, find it too much trouble to let those of us who have invested money in an instrument, know what the hell is going on.....

Having said that, I've decided to hang in there for my bass come hell or high water.....

More fool me.....Probably.....
 
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#60
Interesting to see this thread. I looked seriously at getting a Hammersmith about a year ago -even had a brief exchange with Marko- but about that time I found a used local-built bass and went that way instead. The Hammersmiths still look great, but I'm glad I went the other way.

Custom work is a tough one. I waited almost 8 months for a bass that was initially going to be 4 months, but the luthier kept in touch just enough that I didn't feel abandoned and the wait was worth it.

As for Hammersmith's situation, with almost 50 basses in the queue, it would be hard to keep in touch with each individually, but it sounds like he's been a bit too out of touch.

As for taking money without having the parts available, that's kind of par for the course if you're dealing with bodies and necks that are done overseas in small -or custom- batches.

Out of curiosity, have you folks put down full money or a half-deposit?
 

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