Strange and Lazy repair !!!

[Alex R]

+1 on estimaters, too often an excuse for overcharging - yet customers do like them so I understand why many like to offer them. But don't you have to fix the amp before you fully know what's wrong with it? Anyway I do, ymmv.

The guys I am talking about fix the amp, offer a large estimate and if it is turned it down, take out the parts they fitted and do the coffee jar thing. I had a refused estimate in, over £250 estimated without a diagnosis offered for a transistor amp that cost only a little than that new. It was a rehearsal studio combo; the owner brought it in with the estimate and said he'd pay my bench fee for a second opinion. It took me a while to find the fault as one of the v-regs had been pulled out so neatly it looked like one of the blank non-fitted parts on a board with many other such. A new v-reg fixed the amp within the bench fee.

[Leo_Gnardo]

+1 on estimaters, - - - snip - - - don't you have to fix the amp before you fully know what's wrong with it? Anyway I do, ymmv.

That's what I 'splain to my crustomers when they ask for estimates. What we often do is set a DNX = Do Not eXceed price. Call customer for go-ahead if it looks like the bill will sail past $100, 125, 200, whatever. In case I find molten transformers, bad speakers, like that. Sometimes it IS a cheap fix & the customer & I both happy about that.

[tedmich]

fixing poorly modded amps is sometimes an impossibility...

[Ted]

Thats known round here as a "100A No-Blo"

[Tom Phillips]

Attached is a photo of an Ampeg SVT presented as "Someone started working on it but didn't have time to finish."

[DrGonz78]

Attached is a photo of an Ampeg SVT presented as "Someone started working on it but didn't have time to finish."

I wonder if the people doing these types of 'Strange and Lazy Repairs' realize that electricity is going to power up the appliance. It's almost like they are really trying to make some sort of abstract artistry out the circuit. I get mad at myself just for small things like damaging a trace on the board. These types of repairs seem not only 'Strange and Lazy', but dangerous as hell.

[bsco]

What about if you get in an amp all disassembled with all the parts and screws in an old coffee can or something, because the person brought it to another shop first and they refused to work on it because it was too difficult, not worth their time, too expensive, etc?? SURELY this has got to be one of the most strange and lazy repairs scenarios one must deal with!!

Actually I had somebody drop off a keyboard to me a few weeks back...It came in all taken apart...Apparently the owner did it trying to see if he could fix it....the screws are all different sizes and lengths...no way to really know which goes where.....once I get it working, my plan is to have them come in and see it in working order, then give it back to him and let him re-assemble it himself or charge him the time it is going to take to figure out where all these screws go...

[bsco]

I like the occasional fool who cuts 1/4" aluminum dowel to fuse lengths and inserts them in place of fuses.

WoW!!! ....I have actually never seen that before but I guess the 20 and 30A replacements for a 3 or 4A fuse are pretty much the same thing....I have seen a few of them....

[Enzo]

Just do it and charge him. It is part of the repair.


Around this shop we call those "kits". More often than not, the customer will claim, "I took it apart for you to save on labor." I usually explain that now it is in pieces, I can;t conveniently move it around the shop.

[gui_tarzan]

Wow. I still can't believe someone actually does that to a customer's item.

[bsco]

Wow. I still can't believe someone actually does that to a customer's item.

And don't forget the tin foil trick.....

[g1]

Those internal "back up" fuses a bit bigger for idiot proofing do seem quite a good idea. And I'm still trying to always remember to check for proper fuse before even plugging in a unit.

[bsco]

Those internal "back up" fuses a bit bigger for idiot proofing do seem quite a good idea. And I'm still trying to always remember to check for proper fuse before even plugging in a unit.

I was just thinking...if an amp has only one main fuse which is accessable by the owner, would it be a wise decision to go inside the amp and install another in line fuse of the proper rating or slightly larger say from a 4A to a 4.5A to offer protection when some idiot shoves a 20 or 30A fuse in the accessable fuse holder?? Just an idea that crossed my mind while reading these posts??

[jamesmafyew]

The Ampeg V-4 had a user-accessible 6A slow-blow fuse, and an internal backup fuse that was 10A fast-blow. Seems like going a little higher with the backup, but making it a fast-acting one, might cover a few situations beyond just user stupidity.

[bsco]

The Ampeg V-4 had a user-accessible 6A slow-blow fuse, and an internal backup fuse that was 10A fast-blow. Seems like going a little higher with the backup, but making it a fast-acting one, might cover a few situations beyond just user stupidity.

That would be something that I would have to figure out...how high to go with the internal fuse...say a 3A slow blow....to a 4 or 4.5 fast blow....I don't know if that would be a suitable range....and I would be afraid to go too high.......