Those jobs that never get any easier

[The Dude]

......Sometimes it ends up being a battle of wills; man against machine, pride against defeat. Not a sensible economic model.

Guilty! I often find myself in the maze trying to find a way out. I, also, hate to admit defeat to any machine. It's a tricky balance. Sometimes you learn something invaluable and you see returns down the road from the knowledge you gain. Other times, it's just a waste of time and loss of income. It can be difficult to decide which side of that fence you are on.

[Drewline]

It is all a matter of learning to use your time efficiently. In my longer career as a camera repairman I learned well that there were 2 types of technicians: the one who could fix anything & the one who supported his family. When I got back into electronics repair 10 years ago I remembered that lesson.

[rjb]

...I too had a B52 AT100 show up on my bench with some nasty cat pee baked into the preamp board....There is no easy way to ever fix a problem like that one and the whole process could not have been good for my health.

If it ever happens again, you might find this useful.
How To Remove Urine Odor Smell Urine Destroyer Stain & Residue Eliminator - Nature's Miracle
A bit pricey, but really works (usually).

[DrGonz78]

So do tell. When the moggy did the deed...



...was it on at the time?

The cat pee must have sat and dried before they tried to power it up again. Either that or it was one hell of a zap on that cat. The thing is that it did not smell at first. The metal on top of the amp chassis was corroded and stained. The pee had been burnt and integrated into each solder joint on the board. It was de-soldering and heating up the solder joints that almost killed me. Nasty stuff!! Charge a good chunk of cash for jobs like that one and better off to just not take that job.

[Leo_Gnardo]

It's kind of strange when you get that enjoyment out of fixing things that are beyond most people, you like the challenge but realize it's kind of a crappy gig.

Indeed, one of my friends had souvenir guitar picks printed "AMP JANITOR".

And a guy who's made a success out of himself, Doug Hoffman, when he was still in Florida "Practice Limited To Point-to-point Wired Fenders & Marshalls Only". That sure kept out the rabble. I'd do the same if I was sure I could make a living on it.

[Leo_Gnardo]

The cat pee must have sat and dried before they tried to power it up again. Either that or it was one hell of a zap on that cat. The thing is that it did not smell at first.

That's how it works, takes a few hours for bacteria to break down cat pee so it develops its distinktive smell. And even more time for the chemicals in it to corrode metal.

From wikipedia "cat communication:" The urine of mature male cats in particular contains the amino acid known as felinine which is a precursor to 3-mercapto-3-methylbutan-1-ol (MMB), the sulfur-containing compound that gives cat urine its characteristically strong odor. Felinine is produced in the urine from 3-methylbutanol-cysteinylglycine (3-MBCG) by the excreted peptidase cauxin. It then slowly degrades via bacterial lyase into the more-volatile chemical MMB. Felinine is a possible cat pheromone.

[Grice]

Lol! Me and the guy I work with were just talking about how we needed to learn to say no to repairs. I am beginning to realize that it is a learned skill over time. We are both young guys, and try to do everything we can for our customers. We take pride in what we do, and we are always willing to do whatever we can to help, but sadly some repairs that come through our doors are just not worth repairing, and become time hogs.

[Enzo]

learning to say no is a skill, indeed, but learning HOW to say no is an additional skill. They'll try to convince you, "Oh, come on, you can fix ANYTHING." So I tell them, I don't feel I can do a good job for them at a reasonable cost. And in some cases I tell them I can probably fix it, but would not be confident it would stay reliable. I won't put my name on a repair I don't trust.

people used to occasionally bring me amps all disassembled. We called them "kits". And when someone does that, I tell them, "take it home and put it back together first." Some guys try to tell me they are saving me the time to disassemble it, and thinking that will reduce their labor bill. Wrong. I explain to them that if nothing else, when it is together, I can sit it on the floor or move it around whenever I want. When it is all apart, it takes up a lot of space, and in any shop, horizontal surfaces are really at a premium.

[Richard]

Is that what they were getting high on in South Park?

[Richard]

Truer words were never spoken. As a pro you have to make sure all the work you put out is the best. A challenge can be fun or educational but business first.

I heard PRS got started repairing the guitars nobody else would touch. I don't think hell be working on my busted and poorly repaired guitar any more.

[Mick Bailey]

Repairing stuff that nobody else will touch?

Anyone want a line in home organ repairs? The walnut is beautiful. Probably just a wire off. You can get a furniture removal company to deliver them right to your door.

[Drewline]

One of our big dealers would always send us amps they took apart to see if it was anything simple. We often saw customer "science projects" where they tried to mod their amp with help from Dr. Internet. One of the best one of those I've ever seen was a Hot Rod Deluxe where the customer replaced the caps with old 50's caps he bought somewhwere. He was told those old caps would improve the sound! Wasn't hard to say no to him.
Time management is a learned skill as is having that line in the sand. It is all part of business skills you need to survive. The only place I've not seen it was in a manufacturer's subsidized shop where the staff was on salary. The object there was to fix everything to keep the Pros working.
We would always give the customer the name & phone number of the company they needed to contact when we would not work on a piece of equipment in-house. Same when it was a warranty issue. This seemed to satisfy most of them because we gave them a solution instead of just turning them away.

[Leo_Gnardo]

Is that what they were getting high on in South Park?

What, fermented cat pizzle? Those krazy kidz... but I must admit, getting a good whiff of MMB puts me in an alternate state of mind. Not a good one, makes me want to hunt down & destroy the perpetrator.

I'm ordinarily kind to cats, but those that are not kind to me, grrrrrrr. There's a neighborhood stray that has good aim, the bastid squirts into the crevice between back door & frame, then the odor permeates the stairwell. Sort of wrecks that early morning hour before the day gains momentum. Faster Pussycat - kill kill kill! So far no cats have been damaged, let's keep it that way.

[rjb]

There's a neighborhood stray that has good aim, the bastid squirts into the crevice between back door & frame, then the odor permeates the stairwell.

I'm tellin' ya man, get yourself a UV flashlight and a spray bottle of the NM Urine Destroyer.
It'll make your life a lot more pleasant.
Or, at least less unpleasant.

-rb

PS- No, I'm not a shill or flack.

[Leo_Gnardo]

No, I'm not a shill or flack.

No worries about that, I think you've proven your bona fides around here.

I was thinking about setting up a little hi voltage surprise... otoh this particular stray, a long hair orange & white I've named "Creamsicle", is aging out & in the last half year seldom seen. For his health, he'd better stay scarce.