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Post by ulriggribbons on May 30, 2019 8:13:36 GMT -6
I concur with EMRR it's a tough gig.
I've done ribbon repair for more than a decade, with a 2-3 day turnaround time. I keep that tight window because I don't want things playing pile on. It can get overwhelming when you are 15+ mics deep.
I've had to narrow the focus of work that I will take on to keep my sanity. I used to do studio calls for console repair. I used to take on repair for studio equipment, and non ribbon microphones. Narrowing my focus to what I do best keeps things straight, although I feel guilty turning down repair work for things I know I could fix.
Hat's off to those who can keep the run going while they can.
I've been on the customer side of gear repair coin, so am sympathetic to people who just want their stuff fixed/back.
I hope all parties get things straightened out!
Regards
Jon
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Post by bowie on May 30, 2019 22:48:43 GMT -6
I don't understand this. What about repair people? I've met my fair share of unscrupulous car repair people or inflated pricing with camera repair or whatever, but they all had the ability to answer the phone and deliver when promised. However, the actual ability to pick up the phone or respond timely or follow an email thread to a conclusion or the out and out bald faced liar, seems to be an specific to audio repair. From the local numbskull who fixes amps to people with national reputations. And quite frankly, the people who act as apologists for unprofessional behavior should do better. I get label people and musicians being dicks, but people who make their bread and butter off service? That's mystifying. I didn't call them dicks. I can only speculate that dealing with creatives as clients, from a service perspective, makes them vulnerable. A car repair guy deals with regular people, about definable things. Musicians don't live in that universe. I've never seen a local music store repair guy last more than a few years before they lose their minds or burn out. Musicians like their half-broken things, then they break all the way, then they get fixed and work correctly, and the musician complains about the half-broken thing that was lost. There's a pretty high percentage of that. No car/toilet repair guy has to contend with a big list of subjective requests, theirs is purely objective. As a repair guy who specializes in obscure antique tube audio, I frequently have large amounts of mission creep to contend with, people who say they are sending one thing to restore and then send three, etc. There's a lot of communication fatigue that goes with it, and a large percentage of inquiries that are not pursued which take you away from actual labor time. There's a percentage of people who say they are sending something who never do, and it's left hanging as a possible schedule item. No one asks the moon with a refrigerator repair, audio almost always has a large fantasy factor to contend with. I sometimes work on things that take years to complete, given that they happen around my audio engineering schedule, in spare time. Sometimes you send updates, sometimes there's nothin to report because nothing has happened. I frequently tell people I'm 6 months to a year out on availability, and this isn't even a pursuit I attempt to advertise. Good post, strong insight. I'm taking a 10 minute break from what has been an overwhelming day, in a busy week, at the end of a hectic month, within the craziest year I've had in a while. I've considered taking a month off to heal up from a lingering injury but I just can't do it. When I leave this page I will be staring at parts orders that need to be packed before tomorrow, several builds awaiting completion, mics I've been asked to repair because the original builder ghosted, not to mention a dozen personal projects that are distant dreams at this point. I'm sure most guys successfully working in parts and/or repairs face similar things every day. But, I believe one thing we gotta do is keep up communication. It's so easy to get buried in work and we can't always prioritize on a first come/first serve basis. Some things eat up hours you didn't anticipate and create a log jam, others leave you mentally fatigued to the point that you have to step away until you can hit it with a refreshed mind. I am frequently hit with delays that affect everyone who is waiting on me, but I've found that people will be very understanding if we just let them know what's going on. Musicians are 'unique', but they're generally warm folks and my customers are the reason I love my job. The biggest mistake I can make is to not keep up communication with them because that breaks that personal bond and trust. That's no judgement on anyone or how they do business. I just know I wouldn't make it without communication and when I hear customers complain about others in the biz, 90% of it is communication related.
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Post by jasontodd on May 31, 2019 12:24:32 GMT -6
You do a fantastic job, Christian. Your communication and service is always A+. I didn't call them dicks. I can only speculate that dealing with creatives as clients, from a service perspective, makes them vulnerable. A car repair guy deals with regular people, about definable things. Musicians don't live in that universe. I've never seen a local music store repair guy last more than a few years before they lose their minds or burn out. Musicians like their half-broken things, then they break all the way, then they get fixed and work correctly, and the musician complains about the half-broken thing that was lost. There's a pretty high percentage of that. No car/toilet repair guy has to contend with a big list of subjective requests, theirs is purely objective. As a repair guy who specializes in obscure antique tube audio, I frequently have large amounts of mission creep to contend with, people who say they are sending one thing to restore and then send three, etc. There's a lot of communication fatigue that goes with it, and a large percentage of inquiries that are not pursued which take you away from actual labor time. There's a percentage of people who say they are sending something who never do, and it's left hanging as a possible schedule item. No one asks the moon with a refrigerator repair, audio almost always has a large fantasy factor to contend with. I sometimes work on things that take years to complete, given that they happen around my audio engineering schedule, in spare time. Sometimes you send updates, sometimes there's nothin to report because nothing has happened. I frequently tell people I'm 6 months to a year out on availability, and this isn't even a pursuit I attempt to advertise. Good post, strong insight. I'm taking a 10 minute break from what has been an overwhelming day, in a busy week, at the end of a hectic month, within the craziest year I've had in a while. I've considered taking a month off to heal up from a lingering injury but I just can't do it. When I leave this page I will be staring at parts orders that need to be packed before tomorrow, several builds awaiting completion, mics I've been asked to repair because the original builder ghosted, not to mention a dozen personal projects that are distant dreams at this point. I'm sure most guys successfully working in parts and/or repairs faces similar things every day. But, I believe one thing we gotta do is keep up communication. It's so easy to get buried in work and we can't always prioritize on a first come/first serve basis. Some things eat up hours you didn't anticipate and create a log jam, others leave you mentally fatigued to the point that you have to step away until you can hit it with a refreshed mind. I am frequently hit with delays that affect everyone who is waiting on me, but I've found that people will be very understanding if we just let them know what's going on. Musicians are 'unique', but they're generally warm folks and my customers are the reason I love my job. The biggest mistake I can make is to not keep up communication with them because that breaks that personal bond and trust. That's no judgement on anyone or how they do business. I just know I wouldn't make it without communication and when I hear customers complain about others in the biz, 90% of it is communication related.
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Post by audioscape on May 31, 2019 17:02:21 GMT -6
I don't know Shannon but I have to feel for the guy, I had to face a family tragedy recently without taking a day off, when you own a business you don't have that luxury and you can also work yourself sick. It seems that he is a very nice guy and does great work but is probably swamped and dealing with a family tragedy makes it really hard to solder, concentrate and fix something. I guess a simple email to everybody would go a long way I am not trying to justify him but I can relate, been there many times. Hopefully there is a good resolution for everybody +1. Couldn't have said it better. The key is COMMUNICATION. Just let people know what's going on and most, if not all, will be sympathetic to this. If you don't have the time, mental will or energy (a direct result of the stress building up in your head) hire someone, ask a friend, to do so on your behalf. We too, hope that everything work out for everyone involved. Definitely sucks to see happen...
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Post by hadaja on May 31, 2019 18:38:54 GMT -6
+ 1 for Chad Kelly from Signal Art Electronics. It was surprisingly cheaper, faster and a better end result for me to send my 251 to Chad for Repairs then sending it in my home country of Australia to get done. That includes the poor AUS 66cent exchange rate against USA $1. I think the idea is to find someone you can work with and build a relationship with them. I have built a relationship with another UK Contact over the last half a decade for Repairs and he took a little longer to get the last lot of mics refurbished but he kept me informed all along the way and there was no problem with that. I guess if the expectations on both parties are realistic and upfront you know that trust is built and when delays happen you can actually adjust your levels of expectations. Thats not tosay you wont experience a little disappointment in delays but you develop a more healthy mindset about the end result. Now dont get me started on developing a healthy Mindset.....
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Post by yotonic on Jun 5, 2019 22:34:03 GMT -6
What a bummer to see someone go off the rails. The Mic Rehab Facebook page has a bunch of angry people. Unfortunately once that deposit money is gone it's even harder to get back than the mic, and any legal remedies become useless.
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Post by allbuttonmode on Jun 6, 2019 6:19:26 GMT -6
Looks like I dodged a bullet... So, who do we send our CV4s to now?
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Post by brenta on Jun 6, 2019 6:41:58 GMT -6
Just read some of the comments on the Mic Rehab facebook page. Yikes. Sounds like a drug or alcohol problem.
Not only is he not communicating or returning mics, but he has been reaching out to customers and asking for final payment in the thousands of dollars, telling them their mic is complete and will be shipped after payment, when in fact nothing has been done to it.
Obviously the whole business is built on reputation and his reputation has gone from one of the premier mic techs in the world to that of a thief. Pretty sad.
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Post by Johnkenn on Jun 6, 2019 7:24:04 GMT -6
Just read some of the comments on the Mic Rehab facebook page. Yikes. Sounds like a drug or alcohol problem. Not only is he not communicating or returning mics, but he has been reaching out to customers and asking for final payment in the thousands of dollars, telling them their mic is complete and will be shipped after payment, when in fact nothing has been done to it. Obviously the whole business is built on reputation and his reputation has gone from one of the premier mic techs in the world to that of a thief. Pretty sad. That is my guess, unfortunately. Whatever it is, no one wants to talk about it. I was hoping his sudden absence meant he was getting help...
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Post by jasontodd on Jun 6, 2019 7:28:16 GMT -6
What a bummer to see someone go off the rails. The Mic Rehab Facebook page has a bunch of angry people. Unfortunately once that deposit money is gone it's even harder to get back than the mic, and any legal remedies become useless. I was able to get my money back from Paypal. The tricky part was getting the mic back.
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Post by Johnkenn on Jun 6, 2019 7:44:28 GMT -6
Wow. Just read that stuff in the FB page. I’ve only had good experiences with Shannon...hate to see this.
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ericn
Temp
Balance Engineer
Posts: 14,934
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Post by ericn on Jun 6, 2019 7:55:49 GMT -6
This sucks, I like Shannon and have recommended him to many, his work and knowledge were always first rate. In the end I’m not sure if I’m more sad or disappointed, in the end I’ll still root for him because I genuinely like the guy and hope he gets the help he needs to get it together.
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Post by Ward on Jun 6, 2019 8:42:32 GMT -6
We can't afford to lose Shannon, not on any level.
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Post by svart on Jun 6, 2019 9:02:42 GMT -6
Yeah this is super sad. He's a great person and it's terrible to see this devolve into what it's looking like now. Hopefully he can get things straight with all his customers and eventually get his life and business back together and his customers will get back everything they're owed.
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Post by the other mark williams on Jun 6, 2019 14:41:22 GMT -6
I haven't read the FB page, but I hate to even hear about this stuff happening. I was a small witness to this kind of thing going down at Fat Sound a few years back, and it was terrible.
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Post by Bender on Jun 6, 2019 15:54:39 GMT -6
Not only is he not communicating or returning mics, but he has been reaching out to customers and asking for final payment in the thousands of dollars, telling them their mic is complete and will be shipped after payment, when in fact nothing has been done to it. I just bought a 1972 U87 that Shannon inspected in February-( seller included the email/summary with Shannon's letterhead etc) it was given a full and clean bill of health and does appear to be in immaculate shape & well taken care of. However it being serviced/looked over by a professional was an incentive for the purchase -but after reading everything that went down I do wonder if he actually inspected anything at all. It does pass the breath test and has the original capsule however; I told the man in Nashville I bought it from about the shannon news and that he was lucky to get it back/not experience any hangups due to the recent AWOL activity.
Makes me 2nd guess though, hopefully everything gets straightened out for everyone else!
On another note, 1st vintage u87, she sure is a little quieter than I was expecting when it comes to gain on a vp26- can't wait to lay down something with it!
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Post by yotonic on Jun 6, 2019 21:27:18 GMT -6
I've owned 4 or 5 vintage U87. When you get a gem of one nothing can touch it on vocals in my opinion. It is the sound of records to me. I have one from an old New York studio owner, one of the last pieces he parted with and it's amazing. I use it with a Neve 1073, UREI 1178, and vintage LA2A and it is perfection for me. I pretty much ignore everything I ever see about new mics or gear, LOL.
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Post by Ward on Jun 7, 2019 10:52:21 GMT -6
I've owned 4 or 5 vintage U87. When you get a gem of one nothing can touch it on vocals in my opinion. It is the sound of records to me. I have one from an old New York studio owner, one of the last pieces he parted with and it's amazing. I use it with a Neve 1073, UREI 1178, and vintage LA2A and it is perfection for me. I pretty much ignore everything I ever see about new mics or gear, LOL. I'm pretty much able to be in the same boat . . . yet, I'm still a sucker for a new microphone!
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Post by guitfiddler on Jun 7, 2019 22:56:26 GMT -6
STAY FAR AWAY!!! DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH SHANNON RHODES AT MIC REHAB! HE DOES NOT SEND YOUR MIC BACK AFTER PAYMENT! YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!
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Post by Ward on Jun 8, 2019 14:52:44 GMT -6
I'm just going to remove this . . .
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wave
Full Member
Posts: 46
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Post by wave on Jun 8, 2019 15:06:18 GMT -6
Looks like I dodged a bullet... So, who do we send our CV4s to now? You can send them to me.
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ericn
Temp
Balance Engineer
Posts: 14,934
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Post by ericn on Jun 8, 2019 16:37:34 GMT -6
STAY FAR AWAY!!! DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH SHANNON RHODES AT MIC REHAB! HE DOES NOT SEND YOUR MIC BACK AFTER PAYMENT! YOU'VE BEEN WARNED! WE GET IT! . But seriously, Shannon may be in a tight spot right now or on walk-about . . . but Shannon has does mostly great work.
The vast majority of his work has been absolutely fantastic. His work at Blackbird has been legend. The work he has done for members here has been raved about.
Thw work he has done on my UM57, M582, C414s, C12a, U87s, and my God, so many more, has been absolutely amazing. The best stuff since Bill Bradley in his prime. So please don't completely throw the brother in the waste bin, he'll be back. I'm very hopeful all this wil just be a tough patch he went through. Part of what Ward here is talking about is what Shannon can do with a Capsule, don’t get me wrong we have plenty of guys who can bring a mic back to life but few can tune a capsule like Shannon no less translate what the average guy is saying to what you want!
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Post by chessparov on Jun 8, 2019 16:49:39 GMT -6
(Hopefully) Things will get better soon, for Shannon. He may at least, work for someone else, who "handles the money" reliably. I also hope he "makes good" on all the past things too. Chris
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Post by guitfiddler on Jun 8, 2019 17:37:18 GMT -6
I cannot reveal my situation right now, but I went by everything I heard about Shannon in this forum and the purple site. I chose to do business with him, so it’s my fault. To give you an idea of my patience and not wanting to even say anything bad about the guy, this situation has been nothing but a shit show since 2016. I get it, life is tough, and we all have our own rough situations. One day I will let you know what happened when this ordeal is over with. I’m just warning people to be careful! I’m hoping that he resolves this matter. It’s as easy as starting all over with my mic, or pay me back all my money that I purchased the mic for, or Shannon can pay to have a competent mic builder finish the job. Btw...I still don’t have the mic in my possession. I can’t get into the details yet.
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Post by drbill on Jun 8, 2019 19:13:40 GMT -6
I cannot reveal my situation right now, but I went by everything I heard about Shannon in this forum and the purple site. I chose to do business with him, so it’s my fault. To give you an idea of my patience and not wanting to even say anything bad about the guy, this situation has been nothing but a shit show since 2016. I get it, life is tough, and we all have our own rough situations. One day I will let you know what happened when this ordeal is over with. I’m just warning people to be careful! I’m hoping that he resolves this matter. It’s as easy as starting all over with my mic, or pay me back all my money that I purchased the mic for, or Shannon can pay to have a competent mic builder finish the job. Btw...I still don’t have the mic in my possession. I can’t get into the details yet. 3 years?? ?? Yeah. Personally, I don't care how good someone is or who they are. It doesn't allow for treatment like you have received. I hope the best for you, and I hope you get your mic back. Best of luck.
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