customers who don't understand how a guitar works

[Orpheo]

Sorry but I have to rant a bit

one of my clients has an ibanez RG550, one of the older ones with an EDGE trem, built in Japan. Nice and fine guitar. He paid 300$ for it (no case) and added a pair of evo's. He came to me with the following wish list

keep the evo's
add a blackout modular preamp
add an EMG Afterburner
add a texas special in the middle
add a passive/active switch
add a kill switch
make it playable because the frets are kinda dull and worn out.

I'm supposed to fix all of that in less than 5 hours. Sure, I'll do my best, but the thing is, for an active/passive switch I need
1: an 8pole switch (!)
2: a BIGGER cavity and since there's a limit due to the eff'n pickguard, no way that can fit. the battery for the afterburner and blackout modular already needs some routing...

The frets are completely worn out. You can use the frets as a bloody comb, that's how much they are dented. I kinda leveled them and polished them so he has a better playing instrument but c'mon...

but the top comment was: build in a push knob as a kill switch, like buckethead's, underneath the neck pickup.

Uhm... how?! That request was put in this friday, I work on saturday in the store for 11 hours straight and when I get off all stores are closed to buy the switch (cause I don't have it stock). Not to mention the extra work of having to route the guitar and pickguard to accomodate that switch.

Am I the loser here, or is the wish list just too extensive?

 

[dudesweet157]

I would never have accepted the job under the premises you listed.  I would have told him it couldn't be done correctly in the time frame specified.  Also, anyone who wants all that crap on the same guitar doesn't know what they're talking about.  I don't need that kind of anxiety.  I would've told him to take a hike.

 

[Wana_make_a_guitar]

Wow, that's ridiculous. Several months ago I went to a tech before a gig for a mod simply wishing for a push pull on the neck pup for single/'bucker control. The guy had about three guitars in line and quoted me one week and $75. Ended up doing it myself in the parking lot at jaycar in 30 minutes for under $20, which included buying a soldering iron and wire.

What i'm saying is, either that dude is a complete douchebag, or head from someone that you're a killer tech. If you did that all that in 11 hours, you impress me. 

 

[Wolfie351]

Never say no to your customers.  I always give them options when I get unreasonable demands.  First quote would be for everything they ask for with a similarly extravagant price tag.  Second quote would be something far more reasonable in both services and price.  Either way, you win.

 

[greywolf]

I'm with Wolfie ,  get a statement of work that is agreed upon and signed , with a charge for labor on each item.  Until that is finished , no more updates . Then quote for any changes .  Outline as many problem areas as possible and the charge for supplementary repairs .

 

[Cagey]

Never say no to your customers.  I always give them options when I get unreasonable demands.  First quote would be for everything they ask for with a similarly extravagant price tag.  Second quote would be something far more reasonable in both services and price.  Either way, you win.

That makes the most sense. If the player knew what was involved, he wouldn't make such demands. But, he doesn't. He's simply got a wish list and is depending on a pro to tell him what can be done in what time frame at what cost. That way, he has options and he can prioritize the work. Maybe some now and more later, or pare down the scope of work, or find somebody foolish enough to do a hack job that nobody's happy with.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

1:  I would have advised him of a longer lead time.

2:  I would have upcharged him as a deterrent, considering the extensive labor time, not to mention the time it would take to scheme out all of that just to troubleshoot it on paper first.

 

[stubhead]

He's got a shopping list of things that he thinks will be improvements, but I don't see how they work together - 2 different preamps, and another (passive) pickup? Even if you cram it all in, it's not going to be a "better" instrument. I would try and point him towards areas he can educate himself in, because he doesn't seem like he could be happy with anything, given his current ideas of what a good instrument is.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

I can't imagine the battery consumption and the the potential noise too!

 

[DaveT]

The customer is not always right!
An explanation of what is possible, what might sound good, and how much the options would cost is the next thing to do.

 

[Orpheo]

He's got a shopping list of things that he thinks will be improvements, but I don't see how they work together - 2 different preamps, and another (passive) pickup? Even if you cram it all in, it's not going to be a "better" instrument. I would try and point him towards areas he can educate himself in, because he doesn't seem like he could be happy with anything, given his current ideas of what a good instrument is.

actually, the blackout modular isn't a preamp perse. it turns a passive pickup into an active one via a differential preamp. the afterburner is just a boost. it works and it works well. not really that much noise, if I may say so

 

[Jumble Jumble]

The BMP-1 is the preamp from a Blackout, mounted on a pot. That's all it is.

 

[Wolfie351]

The customer is not always right!

This is something I firmly believe in as well, especially when dealing with irate and irrational customers.  I always publicly side with my employees in these cases.  First, it's unfair to your good customers to spend so much time with the bad ones and thus no one gets good service.  Second, retaining good employees far outweighs the price of loosing a bad customer that you'd be better off without anyways.  And, I go back to my original posting...when a bad customer comes back, I quote very very high to make it worth my while in dealing with their BS.  If they accept the quote, I win.  If they go elsewhere, I win

 

[Orpheo]

the fret wire was so worn I had to do something with it. but a full on level job would have taken too much time and too much money and frankly, wasn't worth it. a refret is truly in order. but no, he didn't want it. But he did want to be able to play faster with less effort. The action was around 3 millimeters. Go figure. That's of course to compensate for the bad frets. I gave 'm a good polish, cleaned the fretboard and set up the guitar. Didn't do a thing to the action. Strangely enough, the action is a bit lower now (new strings, more tension of the springs I guess?!) and now it buzzes ever so slightly.

now he is unhappy again. it buzzes.

yes, but with the mandate I got, I can't make it play faster and not have it buzz. Besides... he's using that guitar to play SLAYER. as if those guys have super low action and no buzz. That buggs me too, you know. The idea that no guitar never buzzes. all guitars buzz. even the most expensive ones have a little buzz with super low action you can't have NO buzz and action around 1.3 millimeter if you're a cheap ass who doesn't want to have the frets replaced. But I'll wait it out. When he gouges his fretboard with the strings, we'll talk again.

That fretboard was also in need of a good deal of TLC. not even my favorite axe is that dirty.

 

[stubhead]

Obviously, I don't know the guy, or have any stake in whether he or his friends come back - which you may. But I do know there's a particular kind of person who is never happy, and every little thing you do for them just leads them on to find something more they want. They may even be encouraged in thinking that "they don't settle too easy", "mediocre isn't good enough." But in this case, he wants the wrong stuff first - to be a better guitar, a refret (or a new neck) would be the first, best investment. So he may just be a pain in the ass, and no matter what you do to his guitar, he's going to be displeased (and possibly badmouth you anyway).  Time will tell.

 

[mark1178]

There's a reason I stopped giving guitar lessons. Eventually, I want to choke a customer. I can't even remember how long it took me to wire up 3 on/off/on switches on a Motherbucker I installed on an Epi SG. Which was almost not worth it since I only found maybe 3 sounds I liked/could work with. I've done some guitar work/repairs and it always takes time. The guy is asking way too much. I remember asking this one tech at a Brook mays in Lewisville tx to do a neck adjustment in on a bass I had and run a setup, he said it was going to be two weeks. After learning how to do it myself, I wondered why, then I realized "oh I'm not the only one who matters in this world...this sucks!"

 

[line6man]

You don't need eight poles to do active/passive switching.

 

[Orpheo]

You don't need eight poles to do active/passive switching.

actually, you do with 2 pickups and the blackout modular preamp. Trust me on this one, ok? I spoke with the R&D department at Duncan's and they concur. There is no other way, or of course 2 4pole. what you have in the modular preamp is 2x4 inputs, one for each pickup lead (a humbucker has of course 4 leads). you want to rout those leads to either the preamp (active circuitry) or the passive. and using 2 toggles is very inconvenient. And in an Ibanez RG, it simply won't fit.



@Stubhead: thanks for your reply. I do think he can never be happy. He wants superlow action but zero buzzing. Those two simply won't go together. Even the nicest Nik Hubers, Hamers and PRSes have some buzzing with low action. and I pride myself at doing a rather good job at leveling and polishing etc etc (took me 20 necks to screw up, but still!  :cool01: haha!).

No, all kidding aside. He had a les paul that had some buzzing and I fixed that. He was seriously pissed off at some buzzing, so I took the guitar back and tweaked it. Or at least, I thought I should have. The buzzing he heard was the rattling of the string ends after the tuners! The string ends weren't clipped and that's what he heard. I mean, c'mon?! I did lower the nut (not the string height, just the nut itself, so the string slot would be more shallow) and I adjusted the trussrod, but it still buzzes and the strings don't resonate very well. but I mean, how far can you tweak a 1990s Korean built guitar? It sounds nice, it plays well, but the sustain is mediocre. Now, the guitar is like a souped up epiphone, but with better hardware! Hell, these guitars were made in the epiphone factory for all I know (it's a Fenix les paul, by the way. by no means a 'gibson killer').

Now, his Ibanez... whole different story. I made some mistakes on that one, I agree. I set up the floyd in a different manner than he does so that's why it buzzes a bit more than he's used to (he changes the strings one at a time but I had to take off all the strings in order to polish etc etc) and I mistakenly figured that the string balance would remain the same with the same strings etc etc. But helas, no. So, back to the bench.

the circuitry needs some tweaking, but that's not that bad I have to admit. There's a HUGE problem but that's because the electronics rub against the inner parts of the guitar. In other words: it shorts out against the shielding inside.

I effin' HATE PICKGUARDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There's NO WAY to work and troubleshoot with a PG. Never. EVER. My own line of guitars will NEVER get a PG. or at least: Pickguard mounted hardware. I'd rather chop off a ball.