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They're great strings, no doubt - but it's the lack of communication that bothers me. If there was an email or something sent out with "we are swamped with backorders" or "moving took longer than expected" or "we are out for NAMM" I'd be cool with it! All I need is communication! But when the communication I get is "we are moving and all orders will be shipped January 2nd," and I don't have a set of strings on January 11th - in fact, I don't even know when they will be shipped despite it being nearly week and a half later - that's frustrating to me as a consumer and I don't think that's unreasonable of me.
This is definitely my first and last order with Kalium. Hope those strings have a lot of life in them.
Going to order from Bass Strings Online in the meantime, they'll arrive sooner. The Kaliums can just be backups or something.
Going to order from Bass Strings Online in the meantime, they'll arrive sooner. The Kaliums can just be backups or something.
I think their communication that orders will go out Jan 2nd straight after their move might have been rather optimistic. Skip is moving state and their busiest ever NAMM is coming up where they are launching new amps and production Quake basses (which need to be finished in time). On top of this the discount probably caused a spike in orders. They probably should have said back to normal business after NAMM, not Jan 2nd.
A while back on FB Chris admitted their communication 'sucks'.
Have you guys tried emailing the new customer service guy?
Obese Chess Octave4Plus sell custom ERB strings of any gauge or length, like Kalium it's 1 guy (Garry Goodman) but O4P wind to order so there's a stated delivery time of up to 9 weeks. From reviews i've seen the quality isn't as high as Kaliums (but those were old reviews i may be wrong). octave4plus.com
I've heard of long and big custom strings from Rotosound. Pyramid of Germany make strings up to .175 and are apparently happy to make custom strings. Kalium are the only non-custom strings of the type you need.
SIT make .165 ERB strings for Conklin Guitars but only for normal scales, but maybe they might be able to make some longer ones for you?
A while back on FB Chris admitted their communication 'sucks'.
Have you guys tried emailing the new customer service guy?
Obese Chess Octave4Plus sell custom ERB strings of any gauge or length, like Kalium it's 1 guy (Garry Goodman) but O4P wind to order so there's a stated delivery time of up to 9 weeks. From reviews i've seen the quality isn't as high as Kaliums (but those were old reviews i may be wrong). octave4plus.com
I've heard of long and big custom strings from Rotosound. Pyramid of Germany make strings up to .175 and are apparently happy to make custom strings. Kalium are the only non-custom strings of the type you need.
SIT make .165 ERB strings for Conklin Guitars but only for normal scales, but maybe they might be able to make some longer ones for you?
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I have not tried emailing the new CS guy yet. But like I said earlier, that's all understandable and fine, but, you know, just don't tell people stuff is going to be shipped out by Jan 2nd if it isn't, and if there are delays, send out a mass email or make a FB post or something. Just a bummer. I love their strings but I need to be able to consistently get them, you know? Hope they get this all sorted out and back to normal.
I suppose you're aware of D'Addario single superlongs, and have determined their 38" full winding length is too short for your needs, but just in case:
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(.160, .165 and .170, all tapered.)
Maybe even less useful to you specifically, but maybe of interest to others, Richard Cocco Strings too make single extra-fat (up to .175), but I'm not sure if extra-long, nickel-plated and stainless strings, available in Europe here:
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Sadly those D'Addario's only fit up to 36" scale basses according to their page on D'Addario's page. I'll double check with their customer service, though.
I don't have a Dingwall, but eyeballing it from a pic there doesn't seem to be too much distance between the (average position of the) saddle and the ball-end anchor of the bridge monorail: if it's not more than an inch, a 38" SL D'Addario might (or might not) fit juuust right at the nut side.
(It may be a very close fit. Once I was able to make a similar sitch work by keeping the string lifted from the nut slot during installation, with something taller than the nut put under the string between nut and 1st fret, so that the end of the larger winding wasn't caught at the fretboard side of the slot before putting the string under tension until it stretched just enough to have said end of winding extend beyond the slot entrance; then I just removed the lifting object, whatever it was, and dropped the string into the slot: worked like a charm.)
Have you measured the distance between the ball-end anchor and the nut, just to remove part of the guesswork? (The other is how precise D'Addario is in winding the strings to the declared length...)
As to potential problems arising from the (bridge-side) taper extending too far from the saddle...I have no idea, and will defer to more knowledgeable folks. Nah, scratch the "more": I've got zero experience with tapered strings myself...
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The Kaliums are here! They arrive in the mail after I stop thinking about them, figures!
Time to try them out and then act as if none of this ever happened!
Time to try them out and then act as if none of this ever happened!
Mine arrived today, would have been Monday but for the holiday and inclement weather. Took barely a day to get to me once they were actually shipped! Ha!
I recently bought my first set of strings and it's pretty unacceptable that it's been over 11 days and they haven't been shipped yet, nor have I gotten a reply from customer service. I'm not sure if I'm going to cancel my order yet since I really need the strings, but I will definitely be avoiding their company in the future and actively telling others. Never felt so unvalued as a customer.
Welcome to world of Kalium service. Or lack of service.
Are the rest of you getting your strings? I'm at 19 days without them actually being shipped yet (just a tracking number that says the item wasn't received for shipment yet). I've contacted them via email (the only way visible) and have gotten no response. Is there a phone number?
Have you tried [email protected] ? Apparently their new customer service guy will also be on the phones once they're set up in their new location in CA. There is a telephone number in the most recent e-newsletter they sent out.
They've been very busy due to their move and NAMM, i think they have been over-optimistic about how service will continue unaffected through this period.
They've been very busy due to their move and NAMM, i think they have been over-optimistic about how service will continue unaffected through this period.
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Their site has [email protected] under contact us which is what I used. I'll try that other email as well; thanks!
I don't get the newsletter. I'm doubtful I'll use their strings again even if I ever get my order at this point. What's the phone number? You can PM me if you prefer.
I don't get the newsletter. I'm doubtful I'll use their strings again even if I ever get my order at this point. What's the phone number? You can PM me if you prefer.
They have been over-optimistic about delivering since they decided to sell strings to the public. It doesn't matter whether they are moving, their dog died, it's NAMM, there was a blizzard, etc. Their service sucks and has pretty much sucked since the beginning. I had delays several times even when everything was "normal" i.e. nobody's dog died and certainly had a terrible lack of communication. It's one thing for a company to be proactive and tell you upfront what the issue is but to have to try numerous times to get in touch with people only to finally get cocky responses when they are clearly dropping the ball. Again, the product once received was excellent but they need to show more respect for their customers. In this day and age, you can't just go live on the internet selling things and then expect people not to call you on your BS when you can't deliver on time.
Having the same experience. Been over 3 weeks and no responses to emails to either address. I have ordered from them years ago and didn't have this issue. I also assume it was the move and Namm but they gotta at least write back.
Some stuff from FB for those not signed up to the black hole:
Some stirrings of communication from customer service, confirming what i suspected:
"Thom > The move and the NAMM show crunch has got us more than a little backed up, Pete. We apologize for the delays but we are most definitely getting on the backlog."
But obviously they should communicate and notify when they're overwhelmed.
A post by Chris:
"So a lot of people have been complaining about delayed or missing orders, we know it sucks big time when an order is late or goes missing, so I was on with usps customer service yesterday and was lovingly informed that 2 day flat rate shipping is only an estimate and not a guarantee, in fact the usps considers 14 days the acceptable time table. Even a simple google search shows us that (see image below) so my question to all of you is would you pay $2-$4 more for shipping to actually guarantee o n time delivery? Should we be using FedEx instead? At least they give a refund on shipping if it's late. Thoughts?"
They are seriously considering changing their shipper to FedEx.
Some stirrings of communication from customer service, confirming what i suspected:
"Thom > The move and the NAMM show crunch has got us more than a little backed up, Pete. We apologize for the delays but we are most definitely getting on the backlog."
But obviously they should communicate and notify when they're overwhelmed.
A post by Chris:
"So a lot of people have been complaining about delayed or missing orders, we know it sucks big time when an order is late or goes missing, so I was on with usps customer service yesterday and was lovingly informed that 2 day flat rate shipping is only an estimate and not a guarantee, in fact the usps considers 14 days the acceptable time table. Even a simple google search shows us that (see image below) so my question to all of you is would you pay $2-$4 more for shipping to actually guarantee o n time delivery? Should we be using FedEx instead? At least they give a refund on shipping if it's late. Thoughts?"
They are seriously considering changing their shipper to FedEx.
