Flute Purchase Etiquette

[Casey Burns]

Hi Diane,

Usually, in my workshop, the flutes are made to order after the orders are received as the orders come in faster than I can keep up with them, most of the time. In the rare times when I run out of orders I then make inventory of the most likely things people will eventually order or just get the wood turned round and pilot bored so it is ready. Or work on rings, keys and tooling if I don't feel like working wood.

I have to do some of the wood prep ahead of time anyway and am setting aside a few days in the next few weeks to turn round a bunch of wood and pilot bore it so it can settle over the hot summer in the noninsulated side of my workshop and be ready to use from October onwards.

Minimally I like to at least have all the materials I will need for all flutes on order. No point in taking orders for a Mopane flute for instance, if I don't have it and can't get it. Fortunately I have layed in a multiyear supply and have a few sources for it still. Same with blackwood and boxwood. Silver I get when the price is down, then save all the scrap silver to recycle when the price is high.

I think all makers who have waiting lists handle things similarly.

By the way, your Folk Flute and Grey Larsen book are en route! See your emails.

Casey

[sbhikes]

That's what I suspected (that the orders come in faster than the inventory can be made.)

That's so exciting to hear about my flute, Casey! Now I'll never get any sleep. If only my partner would stay out of town a little longer so I can wail away on it in all my newbie splendor.

[Lowden]

So far, I don't have any problems about delivery with flute makers (Olwell and Burns, to be specific). They were very helpful to clarify the matter .

However, I am having trouble with a maker of string instruments.

I ordered 2 instruments in May 2006 and the estimated delivery was around the end of January 2007. As they were not delivered until the middle of March, I checked with the luthier. He said they will be completed in one month, but I had to wait until the end of May for one of them to be shipped. Another one is not yet completed.

Now I have been waiting for 13 months.

Another thing is that by mistake, this luthier installed rosewood fingerboard for the shipped instrument though I clearly ordered to apply ebony fingerboard at the time of order. He said he is using rosewood for another instrument, too .

For me, the delivery is very important as I am living in Japan and the currency rate is getting lower and lower. The currency in which the instruments were quoted is 37% higher than the time of order, and 17% higher than the estimated delivery date .

Of course the rise of the currency rate is not in his control, but the delivery date is. Reading Burns' comment, I do understand that luthier may have some unforseeable problems, but if the delivery is delayed again and again, I feel he is dishonest.

I do understand that we are ordering the handcraft instruments, and the luthier is paying great attention to make their instruments.

However, there should be terms of liquidated damage should be included to avoid the unjustifiable delay .

I hope this maker will complete my instruments as soon as possible...

[pancelticpiper]

I've ordered dozens of instruments from various makers over the last 30 years and I've come to the point where:
1) I never expect any instrument to be delivered in less than twice the time the maker estimates, and
2) I don't pester makers because it doesn't make the instruments come any faster, and the pestering is annoying.
Though one maker told me that the number of unexpected things that crop up to delay orders is endless and that therefore makers never have the need to create excuses for delays, some of the excuses I've got over the years strain crediblity. One particular maker, to myself and friends who were waiting, used the following in the same month:
1) a Canadian postal strike was to blame (the maker is in the UK, the customer is in the USA)
2) the "factory burned down"
3) a ship loaded with African blackwood sunk
There were more but I can't remember them now.
The most annoying personal experience with a USA maker was the guy who was nearly a year behind the estimate. As usual, I took the gentle path, and sent a friendly letter. A couple months later I got a reply assuring me that I would be notified as soon as the instrument was done. Six months later I called the guy, and he said "Oh, I was wondering what had happened to you! Your instrument has been done for nearly a year! It's sitting gathering dust in a drawer. Do you still want it?"
Then, when I got the thing, I discovered that he had changed several of the fingerhole locations vis a vis several of his instruments that I had tried, even though I had discussed with him the problem of makers using customers' orders for experimentation and had been assured that he was quite settled on his design and never changed anything. Set side-by-side with a number of his other instruments, the one he made for me had clearly different fingerhole locations, and was rather out of tune as a result. I ended up selling the thing on Ebay for somewhat less than I paid.

[Cathy Wilde]

...I always like when people send me food.

Here you go, Cat!

YUM! Thanks, Dow! Warming me up for those Augusta steam tables, eh?

[Cathy Wilde]

One of my well-hidden (pet) peeves is to hear people say things like " Go ahead and give ____ ____ a call, what a swell guy, he and I spent over an hour on the phone chatting about wood, etc etc etc...."
A-hem, but did you ever stop to think that you might be using up his flute-making time doing that?!?!?!?!??!?!?!!?
Then wondering why they have such a long list and why they don't have flutes ready "on time", possibly because others are busy calling to chat about flutes, too....

AAAAAAAY-MEN! (so much for that peeve being hidden anymore)

I'm a freelance writer, and it's a similar scenario -- if I promise you a date, I'll get it to you on that date. I've been doing this for 20 years and I'll get it to you as promised. I wouldn't be making a living at it if I didn't, so trust me! (And how I use the rest of my time is up to me, OK?)

Just because something might be your life calling or even your life's passion doesn't mean it can BE your life (even if you might wish it could sometimes) -- there are things like families, friends, zoning-board meetings, volunteer work, kid's activities, doctor's appointments, vacations, health emergencies, you name it -- even sleep once in a while!

[michael c]

That's exactly right, as far as I see it. Having a job producing things which lots of people want shouldn't mean that all those people own your every waking hour. I'm lucky enough to have no useful product to offer but I have a friend who makes good flutes. No harm in inquiring during working hours on the progress of an order but maybe don't try to take 24/7 ownership of a person's life just because they don't have an office staff to see to it that you don't.

This thread has inspired me to order a flute. I'm going to divide the months quoted by 6, multiply the result by 4.075 and then phone for 12.98 minutes three times every 1.08 months during the wait.

[jemtheflute]

This thread has inspired me to order a flute. I'm going to divide the months quoted by 6, multiply the result by 4.075 and then phone for 12.98 minutes three times every 1.08 months during the wait.

So..... you are going to wait 7.937468 years and then have the flute surgically removed from whatever part of your anatomy the desperate and irate maker has forcibly inserted it in? Sounds like fun - especially if you/it can still play after!

[michael c]

At least the timber would be well seasoned.

[Whistlin'Dixie]

M

[jemtheflute]

Don't it jus' crack (craic?) you up.....or sumpin'?

[Cathy Wilde]

At least the timber would be well seasoned.

!!!!!