Hi all,
I recently had a small accident that damaged my double bass, creating a ding in the lower bout about 2 inches long and half an inch wide--basically a small strip of wood was pushed into the bass about a millimeter. I took it to an experienced repairman and restorer, but my experience with him has been very frustrating. The upshot is that I wanted to ask others who do this sort of work what they think of this story, and of what I've been told by "my" repairman. Thanks in advance for any observations/advice/insights!
1. I took the bass in for repair on Mar. 20. I had purchased the bass from the same person who would repair it, and every time I spoke to him he told me how it is "one of his favorites". Accordingly, he told me he would give the bass high priority in his busy schedule.
2. One week later when I called, he had not yet looked at the bass.
3. Another week later, he told me he thought the best way to handle it would be to remove the top and repair it from the inside. He said he would need to have a good eight hours of uninterrupted time to do so, because time is critical after removing the top--the repair should be done quickly and the top replaced to avoid warping which will compromise how well the top fits back on. But he would get to it as quickly as possible.
4. Two weeks later, I called to check on it. I was lectured about how I "didn't understand the business", told that I was "stressing him out", and that he would be getting to it as soon as possible. I assured him I wasn't trying to stress him out, that I still wanted him to proceed and do his best work, etc. At this point it was clear that he's a prima donna about his work, but I believe he does do good work, and decided to just go with it. He told me that at the outside, it would be done in four more weeks.
5. Five weeks later, I called and couldn't get through. For the next week, I kept trying, though I only left 2 messages (I didn't want to seem like I was stalking him). After getting to the point that I thought I was going to have to go to his house and claim my bass, he finally called back. He was very nice, and said that he had had to take a short trip to take care of some unrelated business, and had been out of town for 1 1/2 weeks. He told me he almost had the top of the bass off, and would soon have the work completed. Since I had an upcoming vacation, we arranged for the work to be done by the time I returned from vacation, 3 1/2 weeks later.
6. One day before returning from my vacation, I called to check on the status. This time I was met with another lecture about "not understanding the business", how he couldn't get work done if I kept calling (keep in mind that this was my fifth time talking to him in well over two months), and on and on about his stress level. This time I didn't take it lying down, and told him that I thought in no business would a customer who checks back at an appointed time receive such a response, and that my call in fact was at the time we had arranged. The repair was done at this time, though, and only varnishing remained to be done, so we arranged to give it two more weeks.
At this point I have another week before I need to call him again to see if the bass is in fact ready. His manner of dealing with me has ensured that I will never be back, but before I speak with him again, I wonder whether those "in the business" can tell me whether I'm off base in my expectations, or the way that I've behaved. I'm a pretty calm guy, and except in the instance of the second "lecture", approached the repairman with all the patience I could muster. However, I believe that, having never received one phone call from the guy with an update, checking back every few weeks is reasonable, and that ten weeks for a bass repair, when initial estimates were about four weeks at the latest, is pretty remarkable. Thanks for your thoughts!
I recently had a small accident that damaged my double bass, creating a ding in the lower bout about 2 inches long and half an inch wide--basically a small strip of wood was pushed into the bass about a millimeter. I took it to an experienced repairman and restorer, but my experience with him has been very frustrating. The upshot is that I wanted to ask others who do this sort of work what they think of this story, and of what I've been told by "my" repairman. Thanks in advance for any observations/advice/insights!
1. I took the bass in for repair on Mar. 20. I had purchased the bass from the same person who would repair it, and every time I spoke to him he told me how it is "one of his favorites". Accordingly, he told me he would give the bass high priority in his busy schedule.
2. One week later when I called, he had not yet looked at the bass.
3. Another week later, he told me he thought the best way to handle it would be to remove the top and repair it from the inside. He said he would need to have a good eight hours of uninterrupted time to do so, because time is critical after removing the top--the repair should be done quickly and the top replaced to avoid warping which will compromise how well the top fits back on. But he would get to it as quickly as possible.
4. Two weeks later, I called to check on it. I was lectured about how I "didn't understand the business", told that I was "stressing him out", and that he would be getting to it as soon as possible. I assured him I wasn't trying to stress him out, that I still wanted him to proceed and do his best work, etc. At this point it was clear that he's a prima donna about his work, but I believe he does do good work, and decided to just go with it. He told me that at the outside, it would be done in four more weeks.
5. Five weeks later, I called and couldn't get through. For the next week, I kept trying, though I only left 2 messages (I didn't want to seem like I was stalking him). After getting to the point that I thought I was going to have to go to his house and claim my bass, he finally called back. He was very nice, and said that he had had to take a short trip to take care of some unrelated business, and had been out of town for 1 1/2 weeks. He told me he almost had the top of the bass off, and would soon have the work completed. Since I had an upcoming vacation, we arranged for the work to be done by the time I returned from vacation, 3 1/2 weeks later.
6. One day before returning from my vacation, I called to check on the status. This time I was met with another lecture about "not understanding the business", how he couldn't get work done if I kept calling (keep in mind that this was my fifth time talking to him in well over two months), and on and on about his stress level. This time I didn't take it lying down, and told him that I thought in no business would a customer who checks back at an appointed time receive such a response, and that my call in fact was at the time we had arranged. The repair was done at this time, though, and only varnishing remained to be done, so we arranged to give it two more weeks.
At this point I have another week before I need to call him again to see if the bass is in fact ready. His manner of dealing with me has ensured that I will never be back, but before I speak with him again, I wonder whether those "in the business" can tell me whether I'm off base in my expectations, or the way that I've behaved. I'm a pretty calm guy, and except in the instance of the second "lecture", approached the repairman with all the patience I could muster. However, I believe that, having never received one phone call from the guy with an update, checking back every few weeks is reasonable, and that ten weeks for a bass repair, when initial estimates were about four weeks at the latest, is pretty remarkable. Thanks for your thoughts!
