All Parts stuff, any good?

[kevinT]

from what i was told by one of the AP reps, they are awaiting a shipment of 10,000 baseplates from japan within the next couple/few weeks. I didn't ask about the bobbin situation.

[NightWinder]

Right on. Let nature take its coarse.....for some reason, I've been just making it man....Natures workin with me, for now. LOL, Possum says "Hord that shit when you can!!!.

[NightWinder]

Burnin Bridges!!

I sent them not a nasty email but not pleasant either about all the smaller winders in the world who would buy their parts as well as Wolfe and Jason etc...
Still waiting on a response.... Will post if and when I get a reply.

You know they don't care B! Its probably best to not be soo nasty, you may sizzle a bridge you may need latter, which reminds me about a bridge I need to burn right away....LOL seriously!

[WolfeMacleod]

FYI: Allparts only got a couple hundred of each color bobbin in one this shipment, and only 100 base plates. I bought all the cream, most of the black, and all the base-plates. I can't let them screw me again when they run out of parts like they keep doing. They put me at risk. They're barely able to keep up with my ordering. I've been waiting since November for them to fill my order.

Ken, 150,000 bobbins - or even pairs - woulnd't take up that much space. 1000 pairs, or even 2000 pairs fits in a box one person can easily carry. Judging by the space it takes up, 150,000 bobbins could easily fit in a medium bedroom closet.

ANd..if I every could buy 150,000 bobbins from AP, I'd just have the tooling made and tell Steve to screw off.

[NightWinder]

We are all waiting for that day dude! Why the fuk do they order so small?! WTF? Thats such bullshit! Theirs guys here waiting.......What an Asshole

[madialex]

We are all waiting for that day dude! Why the fuk do they order so small?! WTF? Thats such bullshit! Theirs guys here waiting.......What an Asshole

I didn't get real pissy with them just stated the obvious. I mentioned how a lot of you guys are waiting on stuff and about the few times I tried to order from them. This crap has been going on forever and I'm sure I am not the first to let them know about it, so yes, why the hell cant they get more parts when they know damn well they will sell out. It's not like they will be stuck with a lot of parts costing them money sitting on the shelves. Cant they see that pickup making is getting to be a pretty big thing compared to even just a few short years ago. Maybe if we all email them and let them know we want parts they will up the orders?? Any suggestions??

[ken]

If they know everybody wants their parts, they will simply order less parts and raise the prices - less supply + more demand = more $$$.

Ken

[Possum]

food chain....

I don't understand why Lollar and Wuffie buy from AllParts, they are middlemen, I know they know the Korean guys over there, they could buy direct and save even more money and get more reliable sourcing and shipping. the guy at GFS has his stuff made to order, he sells more pickups probably than any other company I bet and goes straight to the sources......

[kevinT]

In my analysis, out of all the parts of a humbucker pickup, baseplates, bobbins, and covers seem to be the most diffiicult to source mainly because of the expense of tooling and having them specially made. All other parts (wire, mags, screws) are reletively easy to obtain directly from the manufacture and are more affordable for smaller makers.

Between the plates, bobbins, and covers, baseplates come in next as being the least expensive and a more feasable component to have make yourself.

Having baseplates made is the next item on my list to eliminate sourcing problems. I would do it now if it weren't for the drain on funds to purchase my winder and tensioner and other supplies. I have discovered that its not all that much $$ either. In fact, from one of my quotes, I can get tooling created and have 250 baseplates made for around $1,800. In that amount, there is a $700 one-time tooling charge. The prices drop drastically for quantities of 500, 1,000 and especially 5000 where they drop to around $1.52 a piece per base plate.

The company where i received my quote use to make Gibson's humbucker covers. And there are tons of companies that do short run stamping listed on the net.

I guess, my point is, to eliminate these types of sourcing problems, you gotta have your own stuff made.

Bobbins are a little ways down the road for me. The cost for injection molds/tooling is probably around $3,000. The bobbins themselves can be had for cheap.

... just my perspective

[erikbojerik]

Jason, are you getting your cream P90 covers from Allparts as well?

Someone...I forget where...a long time ago, did an extensive comparision of cream plastic-ware on Les Pauls, and decided that Jason's P90 covers were the closest to vintage cream....most other creams being contaminated with the dreaded "pink".

[Possum]

pricing...

your costs go way down per piece if you get some to buy in with you, from my experience on this forum you need to tell people about a month or two ahead of time, tell them what you are making and take orders for a buy in. Then hold your breath and hope the stuff doesn't show up being total shit. Bobbins and covers aren't hard to get in Korea, they are swimming in that stuff, Andy C is making stuff but is damn hard to get via email, haven't gotten an answer from him in months now.....

[NightWinder]

+1 on the month notice. That is the best advice....On a dimes notice, is unlikely.....Preparation is best.

[kevinT]

Then hold your breath and hope the stuff doesn't show up being total shit.

I have quite a few companies I plan to contact to get the best price. I hope to avoid any problems by having a prototype made as well as having a machanical drawing of the baseplate.

From my preliminary inquiries, most companies will prototype the item for you for about $125 so you can take a looksy before it goes into production. Also, these companies can create drawings using CAD software for a nominal fee.

I hope to do this sometime this year. I'll let folks know ahead of time.

[NightWinder]

You can also download CAD software for free. 3d.

[David Schwab]

It's his $$$. IMHO at that kind of money he could have saved a sheetload of money simply by buying a used molder, hiring an operator, and buying the granulated plastic. With that kind of economies of scale, he would never have had to worry about running out of parts ever again.

Actually you could easily tool up for having parts injection molded for a lot less, and then the parts would cost very little after the initial tooling cost.