Josh Rippingale Federal Strings
Forum Replies Created
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At least for me, there’s relatively few variables to consider – it’s the cost of obtaining the part, factoring in shipping costs and taxes, and adding my desired margin. Factors that influence the margin could be how long it takes you to sit down and do your regular parts ordering, the volume you sell etc.
When it comes to hardware, consider that by you supplying the parts, your customer is receiving several benefits vs them supplying the parts:
– They gain the benefit of your expertise in knowing what parts will fit and what won’t. This reduces the risk of them wasting money on the wrong part, and saves them the time and effort of doing the research and working out what they need.
– If there’s some issue with the part, generally the supplier (you) will take the lead in contacting the vendor/manufacturer and arranging a replacement.
– The supplier (you) handles chasing up shipping delays, lost packages etc
You deserve some compensation for providing these benefits, so don’t short change yourself!
I generally find I can maintain a margin of at least 30% on parts and still keep the price fair for the customer. For parts I can obtain wholesale, this means I can generally supply them at MSRP.
In terms of strings, I charge MSRP. I’m not going to try and compete on retail price with some online megastore that relies on volume and is making margin of 0.5% per set. I’ve never had a customer object to the price I charge for strings – my workshop is not near any retail music stores, so it’s a major convenience for them to not have to make a separate trip or detour to grab strings. The margin for strings varies based on the manufacturers wholesale price structure.
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Yes, there’s four or five braces to reglue but it’s all regulation stuff.
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Thanks Ian, yes the lacquer on the neck is super weird. It’s by far the flakiest part of the finish and I may try and see how much I can encourage to fall off on its own. The peghead has its own issues, with the peghead veneer loose in the center, but still stuck down at the edges and some unusual decals to replicate. Guess I’ll be bidding this one pretty high.
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I realise this is an older thread but thought I’d just add a few thoughts from my experience working with a local shop in case it was helpful to anyone considering cutting a deal with a local store.
I run an independent home-based shop. Early in my business’ life, a local music store contacted me and asked if I was interested in an arrangement where I handled their repair work.
My original deal with the store was just a handshake, and was that I’d visit the store weekly, pick up instruments and drop off repaired instruments. I would bill the shop for the repair and they would charge the customer. In theory this made my relationship with the store that of an independent contractor and they would tell everyone who it was who they were sending the repairs to, which helped get word out about my shop.
At first the relationship was very good – they sent me 100% of their repair volume, even tiny stuff like restrings. They would pay me for all the repairs I’d completed in a lump sum once a month, and were never late paying. They’d charge customers a straight percentage markup on whatever my bill for the job was, and supply parts in most cases.
It didn’t take too long before they started to try and do the ‘easy’ jobs themselves – first restrings, then setups and finally pickup swaps and electronics repairs. As the volume of ‘easy’ jobs dropped it became less worthwhile for me to take the time to drive to the shop and pick up work vs just staying in my shop and letting things come to me. Eventually I was only visiting the music store monthly or when there was at a reasonable number of instruments piled up. As these were big / difficult jobs, they usually required an evaluation/estimate and not all customers would proceed, so in generally they were a little less profitable.
Things ended in a hurry – after an angry phone call from some guy about a guitar I’d never seen, I realised that any time a customer was unhappy with an in-house repair, the store would just blame it on me! After ending the relationship it was very difficult to get them to pay me for the outstanding final month of repairs, although they eventually coughed up.
If I was to enter an arrangement with a shop again I would insist on these minimum conditions:
1. I take 100% of the repair volume.
2. The shop pays a bench fee or deposit for each instrument prior to me picking it up, and the balance of the bill prior to me dropping it back to the store.
3. I handle either all communication with the customer, and they know their instrument is being repaired in my shop OR I handle none of the communication with the customer and operate as a ‘ghost repairer’ whose existence is completely concealed from the customer.
These three points would solve all of the downsides of the business relationship from my perspective.
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Hi Corey, American Lutherie (GAL’s mag) ran a two-part article by John Greven called “How I Build 48 Guitars A Year With Almost No Tooling” a while ago. It’s been a long time since I read it but I recall it contained photos and descriptions of the whole build process and probably has some information on the neck joint and maybe photos too. It may be available on luth.org to members if you can’t find a physical copy.
I believe John may be retired now but if you haven’t already tried, you could also attempt to reach out directly.
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And more:
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More pics:
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Hey Ian, sorry we haven’t crossed paths – have had a run of hectic mornings that prevented me from hopping on until a little later in the day. So don’t be staying up late on my account, I have no idea what each day will bring at the moment!
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Yeah it would be 7:30 or 8:00 for you I think. Could also try to pop on late one evening my time, which would be your morning.
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Only just saw this, sorry Ian. Happy to chat on the loothalong if you like, let me know what time you’re around.
