Slightly peeved about Gallery workshop prices

[Sibob]

So I call up the gallery to get a price for the routing of a Jazz pickup into my Precision bass, it goes something, although not word-for-word like this:

Me: So I'm interested in [what I've explained above], I notice that on the website it says from £30...
Gallery: [politely cuts me off] ah well a jazz pickup rout will probably be more like £70-£80
Me: Oh right....so If I supply the pickup, knob and pot would you be able to put it all together for me?
Gallery: Your talking about £100-£110 for all that
Me: ok thanks!

Now I understand that they've covered themselves by saying "From £30" on the website, but what are they routing for that amount of money?.....1/3 of a Jazz pickup?. I can understand if someone phoned up and wanted three darkstars put in, thats a lot of work....but one jazz pickup?. It's basically double what I thought the whole process might cost.

I THEN asked about a refret for my 1973 jazz, I wanted to ask about binding:
Me: I see that a bound refret is £130.... (and it doesn't say "from" this time)
Gallery: Is it rosewood or maple?
Me: Rosewood
Gallery: Yeah your talking £180-£200 for that
Me: Uh-huh, and does that retain the original binding?
Gallery: Yes it would do

I'm no luthier, but an extra £70 because (and this is down to real basic deduction, please tell me otherwise) it's a rosewood fingerboard as opposed to maple??

I know people are gonna say they're justified because they're the best....just think their website could perhaps have some better indications/examples of prices!

Si

[BarnacleBob]

The £30 will be just to look at it initially!!!!! Like a call out fee for your washing machine

BB

[xilddx]

Mmm, interesting, I got charged £75 at the Gallery very recently for routing for a soapbar and providing all new electronics with pull push pots. Thought that was very good value.

[geilerbass]

I have to agree that is a little misleading, as I would have thought that a Jazz rout would be by far the simplest and quickest task. But then again, I'm not a luthier.

Perhaps the £30 is for routing a soapbar into the space of Jazz?

Edited August 19, 2009 by geilerbass

[waynepunkdude]

My Luther would have done that for £50, I think that's a little excessive.

[steve-soar]

There is a lot of time, effort and skill involved.
Getting the body set up with centre lines, jigs fitted, set up on the table, cost of disassembley, cost of making jigs in the first place, it all adds up.
But I understand what you mean about the from £30 stuff.

[xilddx]

[quote name='geilerbass' post='574679' date='Aug 19 2009, 08:25 PM']I would have thought that a Jazz rout would be by far the simplest and quickest task. But then again, I'm not a luthier.[/quote]
Not necessarily, there are four screw mount routs which a soap doesn't have.

[Sibob]

[quote name='silddx' post='574669' date='Aug 19 2009, 08:18 PM']Mmm, interesting, I got charged £75 at the Gallery very recently for routing for a soapbar and providing all new electronics with pull push pots. Thought that was very good value.[/quote]

Yeah exactly, so why is it costing me £100 and I'm supplying all the junk? haha. Just to clarify, they supplied the electronics?

[quote name='geilerbass' post='574679' date='Aug 19 2009, 08:25 PM']Perhaps the £30 is for routing a soapbar into the space of Jazz?[/quote]

Precisely, if it is something specific like "routing a larger pickup into a smaller existing rout", it really should say.
I too would have thought that a single Jazz pickup would be on the cheaper side of the various combinations available.

Si

[Dodge]

[quote name='Sibob' post='574653' date='Aug 19 2009, 08:07 PM']I'm no luthier, but an extra £70 because (and this is down to real basic deduction, please tell me otherwise) it's a rosewood fingerboard as opposed to maple??[/quote]

It's usually the other way around - maple necks tend to be lacquered and need the fingerboard refinishing after a refret.

[Sibob]

My qualm isn't necessarily with the price itself (although it is more than I wanted to pay), I know it's a skilled job, but rather with the slightly mis-leading website prices!
Especially the re-fret example

Si

[xilddx]

[quote name='Sibob' post='574687' date='Aug 19 2009, 08:29 PM']Yeah exactly, so why is it costing me £100 and I'm supplying all the junk? haha. Just to clarify, they supplied the electronics?[/quote]
I supplied the pup, they supplied the tronics.

[budget bassist]

[quote name='Dodge' post='574688' date='Aug 19 2009, 08:29 PM']It's usually the other way around - maple necks tend to be lacquered and need the fingerboard refinishing after a refret.[/quote]
i would have thought that too...

[Mokl]

One thing worth noting is that I don't think that page of the website has been changed or updated for as long as I can remember so I expect prices have gone up. I am also considering using them for some fretwork that needs doing on one of my basses and it would be useful to have a realistic price guide. I imagine that on the whole they tend to quote when people walk in with instruments, or over the phone (as they did with you). Once they have more specific details I guess they can more easily give an accurate price.

[Sibob]

I should point out that it is a mere suggestion that rosewood is more expensive to refret than maple. In this particular example, where a bound refret is quoted on the website as £130, I reply with rosewood after Alex's question of "rosewood or maple", and I'm given a quote of £50-£70 more than the website. So i'm only deducing.
It wouldn't surprise me if Maple is more expensive still, for the reasons mentioned above......but then where does the £130 come into it?

Si

[Sibob]

[quote name='Mokl' post='574717' date='Aug 19 2009, 08:47 PM']One thing worth noting is that I don't think that page of the website has been changed or updated for as long as I can remember so I expect prices have gone up. I am also considering using them for some fretwork that needs doing on one of my basses and it would be useful to have a realistic price guide. I imagine that on the whole they tend to quote when people walk in with instruments, or over the phone (as they did with you). Once they have more specific details I guess they can more easily give an accurate price.[/quote]

I'd tend to agree with you, but giving your customers some out-dated quotes, and then quoting more over the phone/to your face isn't exactly going to create a positive vibe.
They seem to update their stock fairly regularly, surely it's not too much trouble to change some setup prices

Si

[budget bassist]

i dunno, i remember them saying that they weren't going to be changing the website after someone suggested the layout was a bit out of date, although how that translates to updating prices etc i'm not sure.
I'll tell you what though, if they're interested in keeping their good rep, i'm sure they'd explain it to you if you asked them about it. They sound like an approachable bunch of guys from what i've heard. Just ring them up and ask, can't hurt.

[Sibob]

No absolutely!
I'm certainly not trying to taint their good rep, perhaps something got lost over the phone. I'll probably just go in and get some quotes, perhaps using Silddx's work as a haggling point .

But yes, an up-to-date website is kind of a must in todays e-business orientated world

Si

[Delberthot]

I got quoted £250 to route a musicman pickup in my gold bass from Jimmy Moon in Glasgow

[Sibob]

[quote name='Delberthot' post='574757' date='Aug 19 2009, 09:22 PM']I got quoted £250 to route a musicman pickup in my gold bass from Jimmy Moon in Glasgow[/quote]

Thanks mate, I feel much better now

Si

[fusionbassist1]

I'll second/third the thing about maple being mroe than rosewood.

I got a solid maple neck (lacquered) on my jazz and I asked generally to my local guys what i should expect the longevity of the frets to be in comparison to the neck as I like the idea of having a bass for a good while so it looks battered and really is MY bass.

He brought up the point about how tricky it is to re-fret lacquered necks due to them needing refinishing after the job's done which obviously should point to the fact that it'd cost far mroe to have a maple neck done than rosewood.

I'm with you on this on, they're jobs worth paying decent money for but missleading/incorrect prices aren't going to help how prepared you are to give work to a company.

[Clarky]

FYI, the Gallery quoted me £120 to rout a J pick-up into a Precision and replace the P pickup (to make it P/J) with me supplying the pickup set. So the all-in cost would have been ~£200 with a Wizard P/J set.

[leschirons]

I don't know, but I imagine there's a good chance at least one of the staff there is a member of BC so maybe they'll see the thread and take the hint that they obviously need to clarify their pricing.

[Kiwi]

Alex is. I'll drop him a link.

[JTUK]

Not saying this justifies things, but they probably don't need work like this sometimes.. ther fact that they don't update the website is a good indicator of that...altho I don't think that is helpful at all...

I'd get a price that you like elsewhere..maybe someone can point you in the right direction..

But, as with a lot of things it may be kudos... as in 'fitted by the gallery'..which you can pay for..

[Golchen]

I have no objection to anyone charging what they like for any given job, it's then up to the punter as to whether they want to bite. However, I think that it's pretty poor to stick the wrong prices on the web. If you are using the internet for any kind of sales then I really think that you should keep stuff like that up to date, it's not like it needs changing every day, and you could always just put 'call for prices'.