Showcase vs Build to Order

[Jcurl02]

This is probably more venting than a question but why does Warmoth need to charge more for a Build to Order than they do if it was a Showcase (Body or Neck?
:dontknow:

I understand they can because if you want something special you are probably willing to pay for it.  The old supply and demand theory.  But it really does not cost them any more to procduce.  Actually an arguement could be made that it should cost less as this finish part does not stay on the books or in inventory as it is sold before the wood hits the floor.  With a showcase, they have to carry the costs until and if it finally sells.

The reason I'm asking (venting) is I saw one in the show case I really liked.  Just can't pull the trigger until next month.  Now it's gone.  This is obviously not the first time it happened as demonstrated by the thread of "The Ones that Got Away".  I'm sure most of you have had this same problem.  So many nice options.

So I decided to start planning my Build to Order body but to build the same one it's in the area of $100 more.  They even show you the difference on the description. 

Sorry just venting............  Upset about the one that got away.

 

[Steve_Karl]

I think you have it backwards.
The showcase prices are discounted bargains.

Also, I can't imagine that there are any costs to carry with a showcase item, even if it's listed for years.
Put it in a box with a label on it and keep it filed in the computer system. No big deal.

 

[Wyliee]

Showcase items do cost less to produce.  Showcase builds are inserted in the production stream when advantageous to keep production on an even keel and to take advantage of quantity efficiencies.  Think of it as space available production.  The flip side to this is new Showcase goods show up at varying rates.

There are certainly "carrying costs" to parts (WIP or finished goods), but those are often mitigated by other benefits.  No offense to any number crunchers on the forums but....  What's the definition of accounting??  Lying with numbers..... :evil4:  (ducking and running before I become responsible for a thread gone astray....)

 

[Red Rocks]

Here is the deal on our showcase pricing. It is much more expensive in labor cost and machine time to run a one off than it is to batch a group of similar items together and push them through production. The other part of the equation is that we can work on showcase as time permits. Custom orders on the other hand have top priority in every stage of production. I'm sorry your item was gone but keep watching most likely another one, or one very similar, will eventually show up on the showcase in the future. ccasion14:

 

[Cagey]

I know from my own work in the woodshop that setup is the time sink, and time is money. You can often make several of the same thing for not much more than the material cost, depending on what you're doing. For instance, cabinetry that requires setting up a dovetail jig can drive you nuts for the first acceptable cut, but once it's set up you can cut part after part pretty fast. So, if somebody orders one, you make three or four and you can either discount the dupes or make more money on them, whichever makes more sense. In Warmoth's case, it appears they discount the dupes. Makes sense, because otherwise stock would stack up and then they'd have a material/labor investment that moved more slowly than it could.

 

[Last Triumph]

Note to Warmoth...

Just keep doing what you are doing.

Can't wait for my custom build to arrive.

:rock-on:

 

[Updown]

Note to Warmoth...

Just keep doing what you are doing.

Can't wait for my custom build to arrive.

:icon_thumright:
Make that 2 of us  :icon_biggrin:

 

[Jcurl02]

Guys,

First, I didn't mean to piss any one off.  I'f I did, a big "SORRY" is in order.  As I stated in the first post, I was just venting about the one that got away.  I'm very pleased with the first custom I ordered from Warmoth.  It turned out great.  And it was a unique build.  Double bindings, unique wood, select top, strat rear route on a tele body.  I understand the cost for the extra set ups etc. on this guitar and was glad to pay for it.  Again very very pleased.  As a few post stated, keep dpoing what your doing. :blob7: :blob7: :blob7:

What I don't understand is that if a pick a surf green adler strat with standaard route out of showcase it's $285 and if I order a surf green adler strat with standard route on an order form it's $360.  I use this only as the example.  If you are saying you are just building these to take up space (time) in the the production facility, then we can talk.  I'll get in to that later.

I had my eye on a much more expenisve and a little more unique showcase body.  It was a rear rout standard strat, (no pickup routing or bridge route yet, read as no unique setups yet).  Birdseye maple top with clear to brown burst.  The only kind of unique item it had was white binding.  I think we all can agree to recreate this would not take unique setups.  It would just be run the next time strats were run.  I did not write down the price but to recreate it was about $100 more.

On the other side, there are some VERY unique bodies on the Showcase that require huge amounts of setups and personal skilled time to create.  (I have my eye on what looks like a four pc indian rosewood body with indian rose wood lams top and bottom with white pinstriping between each pc of wood, super pretty).  The Showcase price is $960 finished.  Man I'd hate to know what that would cost if I special ordered it with all those required set ups. ???

Bottomline, I will order a special build, I will pay more for it and I understand that.  Will I be happy? With the results, absolutely, with the idea that I just spent $100 more than I need to, absolutely not but will do it anyway.  Supply and Dempand at work again.  Besides, where else can I get the quality and get what I want?

Now, I also want to explain one other thing....  I'm an engineer in a highly cost competitive market.  Been here for 25 years.  The last 10 or so have been taking costs out of production.  I've seen nearly every process known to man.  From making powdered paint, tanning leather hides, producing micro chip to cast transmissions housings and total vehicle assembly and everything in between.  I understand what it takes to make products and where the cost are (lots are hidden).  So if you are building showcase items (the sruf green strat mentioned above) just to take up space and time in production, you may want to rethink your production system.  There are lots of cost; WIP, Inventory Carry Costs, Floor Space, Labor (paying the same amount of labor to produce a part you are selling for less?).  I'd bet with rethikning you could get more custom build to orders out quicker with less capital then filling the line with surf green strats. 

Please keep building the likes of the Indian Rosewood on Indian Rosewood.  They serve for great inspiration.

Finally, I hope no one takes all this wrong....  As I stated over and over again I was venting over losing a nice showcase body.  I'm very pleased with the product.

 

[AutoBat]

On the other side, there are some VERY unique bodies on the Showcase that require huge amounts of setups and personal skilled time to create.
(I have my eye on what looks like a four pc indian rosewood body with indian rose wood lams top and bottom with white pinstriping between each pc of wood, super pretty).
The Showcase price is $960 finished.  Man I'd hate to know what that would cost if I special ordered it with all those required set ups. ???

Not all showcase items are discounted.  That is the price.
There are presently 3 of those bodies in the Tele showcase, almost like they would've been made at the same time...

The showcase items with a discount state the build-to-order price above the "Your showcase only" price.

 

[Jusatele]

watching a showcase body and having it get away is not something you are the only owner of. We have all done it I think.
Earlier this year there was a body I had been watching for a year get away, I was waiting to see if they would put it in the discount Isle and they did, one week after I had bought a body to start a build. So I had to let it go. No funds and it was at a very delicious price.
So anyway keep your chin up, after all if we got everything we wanted in life, we would be spoiled rats. We need goals if we want to achieve anything.

 

[Jcurl02]

Jusatele,

Thanks for the supporting words.  I know I'm not the first or the last to experience this.  Missery loves company.

Here is the one I was planning on that started the thread.

I was planning on a quilted maple neck with Pau Ferro Fingerboard.  Black hardware.  Black Tremolo.  Probably EMG pickups.  Rear route for no pickguard.  (trying to learn more abut mid boost etc. to see if I want to add some tricks to it).

I'll keep my eye open or order it in a month or two.

 

[JaySwear]

I realized the other day all my new Warmoth bodies (3) have been from the showcase. My next will be a custom order. A pricey one too, but I think it'll be worth it.

 

[DustyCat]

I realized the other day all my new Warmoth bodies (3) have been from the showcase. My next will be a custom order. A pricey one too, but I think it'll be worth it.

Mmmmm custom.....the one that's yours, and waiting for you.  :evil4:

-DC

 

[jay4321]

Yeah seeing a body you like in the Showcase and then watching it vanish is completely standard. That's a weekly thing.

 

[Cagey]

Yeah seeing a body you like in the Showcase and then watching it vanish is completely standard. That's a weekly thing.

I've been pretty lucky. There have only been a couple I seriously considered only to have them bought out from under me. Some others have patiently waited some time for somebody to fall in love with them, only to be snatched at the last moment from the jaws of victory by the likes of me <grin>

My arctic white Strat and the Tele body were that way, and I recently pulled the trigger on a pearl white Soloist...

I'm afraid something else is gonna have to go on the block to make room for it, though. I already have a white Strat, so this seems redundant. I'm thinking that's gonna have to go. Surely I'm not the only person who likes white fiddles...

 

[Alfang]

OMG cagey, a pearl white soloist? I'm starting to think we are more alike than diferent, no offense. My next W is gonna be pearl white, and in the soloist theme...ie... rear routed. I take back all the bad shite I said about you, you rock  arty07:

To the OP, I feel your pain and heres what many of us that have hung arround here for a while have figured out,
That perect body or neck that you want that gets away, there will be more like it or better, and they will probably get away too.

 

[AutoBat]

I just pulled the trigger on a Build to Order neck. I picked up extra at work, not so much as to fund it, but to pass the time while my wood gets harvested in the hills of Columbia by Juan Warmez.
Raw baby, Raw!  Mwahaha!  The only other necks with the same wood combination I chose was in the Bass showcase.
Gambling on Warmoth making something excellent is like betting on a sure thing.