Cases

[Hesh1956]

I hope that I am not known for posting information that is unfavorable toward anyone or any organization. In fact I really try to avoid being negative on the forums... Some folks believe that when an organization has not performed as billed or expected that they appreciate hearing about it so as to avoid having bad things happen to them.

Recently I went through the process of selecting cases for my own guitars. What I wanted was a high quality case that was produced by a company that would be dependable for me going forward.

Even though I was aware of Bob's experience with Ameritage and how his cases had to live in my basement until he picked them up in the states because shipping them to OZ was going to cost something like $700 each I ignored this info and started my case quest at Ameritage... My mistake.

My experience with Ameritage as an organization was not good I am very sorry to say. Even though the one Ameritage case that I did receive is a great case and the customer likes it fine what I had to go through in my dealings with Ameritage really turned me off. In fact it was the only bad experience that I have ever had dealing with the vendors that service the Luthier community.

Folks that know me well know that I am not one to ever let anything slip through the cracks... If there is a single weed in my lawn I am out there pulling it... If the ball is in my court and I am expected to do something I drop what ever else I am doing and get the tasks done as quickly and as well as I can. In fact this is probably why I am not married...

Anyway in my dealings with Ameritage the disconnect seems to be, in my opinion, between me and the point person for Ameritage.

It started with a call to get the ball rolling for me and what I encountered was an individual who answered the phone and did not speak English well enough for me to understand them. I have traveled many places in my life and lived abroad for over 5 years and I usually can find some common language to communicate with someone but this was not the case, pardon the pun here. What I was able to understand was that someone was on vacation and I could call back in a week. This was how I lost the first week.

Next I emailed Ameritage twice hoping to have my emails at the top of the stack for the vacationing person to address upon their return. My two emails were never replied to. This is how I lost the second week...

My persistence in calling Ameritage finally paid off and I got to speak with the person who deals with us directly. She was very pleasant and was always very pleasant when I spoke with her - this was not a problem.

What happened next is after I completed the very complicated measurements form as was requested of me and sent electronic copies to Ameritage time passed and I didn't hear from them until I called Ameritage once again. I was assured that my order was being processed and that everything was fine. Then one day I received three emails all at once to various email addresses that are for me personally, my web site, and the convention used in the past for mac.com members.

It was the old hurry up and wait game and the emails were asking me for additional information. I had thought that all that I was asked to provide had been provided so I was kind of pissed that the additional requests (for a tracing) should have been made to me up front so as to not waste time...

So as always I drop what I am doing and make tracings and take them personally to the post office and ship them express mail (2-3) days to the cryptic post office box that Ameritage uses in Miami. My understanding is that the cases are made in Costa Rica and this drop box in the US gets emptied and sent to Costa Rica.

Also all along the way I had been saying to the representative at Ameritage that my L-OO is from the same plans as another Luthier who uses their cases and that if they just used his sizing for me it would be perfect. I had suggested this 4-5 times on various calls. I had also suggested that my OM is an OM and that Ameritage's standard OM case would be fine for me too... Someone was not listening....

To make a long story short I lost 5-6 weeks in dealing with Ameritage, received one off-the-shelf case but no custom cases, and ended up having to nearly scream at them that in no way did I want them to proceed with my order. Since I felt like they had not listened to me at all in our conversations I had a fear that they would in their own sweet time not cancel my order as requested verbally and in writing.

The pattern here was that on nearly every occasion what was promised to me just never happened... Even the ship date that they provided to me for the off the shelf case didn't happen as promised either...

The person who I dealt with maintains that they never received my tracings. Now I can understand that the forwarded mail from Miami to Costa Rica may be the problem here but if this is going to make it so that clients lose time and have to resend requested things to Ameritage I think that Ameritage needs to find a better was to do business. A customer's expectation is going to be that they are dealing with a professional organization and anything short of this is going to create issues for all concerned...

Anyway I was not thrilled that the cases weigh 18ish pounds anyway and perhaps this was a good thing after all. But I did lose a lot of time in the fruitless process and I cannot begin to tell you how irritated it made me too. To date every organization that I have ever dealt with during the Lutherie journey has been top notch for customer service.

So... taking Bob's advice I called Dennis Reamy at Cedar Creek and in one call I had a list of things that I needed to provide, I understood the pricing, and Dennis was a pleasure to deal with. The next day, one day mind you, my cases were on order and what Cedar Creek needed from me had been provided. The pricing was actually better IMHO too and the cases are not 18 pounds either.

I am now a couple of weeks away from receiving my cases (3 for now) and looking forward to this very much.

It's funny how one person can make or break one's experience with an organization and it reminds me all to well that organizations are people and people need to communicate well with each other, care about what they do, and be truthful in their dealings at all times. If you make a promise keep it or die trying. And never, never, never try to hide your own incompetence by being untruthful to anyone especially a client or potential client. If you can't do something as requested say so - most folks will work with you and will appreciate the openness and honesty regardless of what inconvenience this may cause them. I would have worked with Ameritage regardless of the delays if I felt like they were honest with me and not trying to shift blame on me when I am the stinkin customer...

Sorry for the rant, again I have very rarely done this kind of a thing but I think that it's important to reward very good service and not tolerate substandard service.

Thanks.

PS: Two of the cases that Cedar Creek is making for me are like the cases that Bob got for Capt. Cook - very cool!!!

[WaddyT]

I haven't ordered much, but my dealings with Cedar Creek have been great too. Their current process, due to some problems they have had, includes a call to confirm that the CC information is correct, and get approval for the final charge as the case actually goes into production. Their turnaround is decent, and I have been very pleased with the cases I have bought. They fit really well, look nice, and work well. And, as Hesh said, their price is what I would call reasonable for a custom case.

[Allen]

When I was first looking for a case for my Size 5 I had contracted Ameritage via email, and my experiences were along yours Hesh. Eventually I was assured that everything would be right, but something just didn't sit right. I was especially concerned about the shipping costs, as the $40 shipping to Australia just seemed too good to be true.

Repeated inquiries about this fell by the way side, or were ignored. Over 2 months in all. Finally I received an email saying that they assured me that the shipping was correct, but the whole ordeal of dealing with them on such a simple matter of finding a case to fit and shipping it put me off from actually placing the order.

Then with Bob's experience, I'm so relieved that I did.

If a vendor provides great service, then I'm always recommending them, but when it's very poor, then I think there should be a heads up message as well.

[Bob Connor]

Interestingly my tracings went missing when I sent them to Ameritage Hesh.

I was just about to send another set when the originals turned up in Costa Rica.

Only took 3 months to get there!!!

My dealings with Dennis at Cedar Creek have been excellent.

I visited him at the factory in Virginia and he is a great guy to deal with, the cases are excellent and the prices are good too.

I'd recommend them in a flash,

That's why they are one of our recommended suppliers.

[Paul B]

Thanks for the heads up. I was thinking of buying from them, I won't bother now.

What are the shipping costs from Cedar Creek like? $700 is just stupid on top of the cost for a case. Shit, for that kind of money I'd probably have a go at making my own.

I feel your pain Hesh, I'm trying to buy some lab equipment for one of our post grads and I find myself having to chase these people with emails and phone calls so I can spend $10k with them.

[Allen]

The cases I've got from Cedar Creek have been $110 and $!15 USD each for the shipping Paul.

The first case for the Size 5 was a special order and took a bit of time to get, but they told me up front that it would. The next case was off the shelf, but they had just sold their entire stock at the NAMM show, so told me it would be about a month before they had stock again. Turned into 6 weeks, but that wasn't a big deal as at least they kept me informed.

Also each time when Dennis quoted shipping, the actual charges turned out less, so a pleasant surprise.

For the Size 5 I told them what I wanted, and they said that they were tooled up to make them, no tracing necessary. And when I received it, the case fits like a glove.

The 000 / 0M was off the shelf, and I built with the Ante's body shape. Fit is also spot on.

For the cost of these cases landed on your door, I don't think you're going to find much better in Australia. The people in the music shops where I've taken them into are really impressed too, wondering where I got them from.

[woodrat]

The cases I've got from Cedar Creek have been $110 and $!15 USD each for the shipping Paul.

The first case for the Size 5 was a special order and took a bit of time to get, but they told me up front that it would. The next case was off the shelf, but they had just sold their entire stock at the NAMM show, so told me it would be about a month before they had stock again. Turned into 6 weeks, but that wasn't a big deal as at least they kept me informed.

Also each time when Dennis quoted shipping, the actual charges turned out less, so a pleasant surprise.

For the Size 5 I told them what I wanted, and they said that they were tooled up to make them, no tracing necessary. And when I received it, the case fits like a glove.

The 000 / 0M was off the shelf, and I built with the Ante's body shape. Fit is also spot on.

For the cost of these cases landed on your door, I don't think you're going to find much better in Australia. The people in the music shops where I've taken them into are really impressed too, wondering where I got them from.

Allen, What was the actual cost of each of those cases?

[Allen]

There is a very generous Luthier pricing that they like to keep between them and the builder as it's better than what the music shops get, so I won't post it on the forum. If you contact Dennis at Cedar Creek he'll send you the current price list. Like I said, you'll be hard pressed at finding a case of better quality at a better price, even with the exchange rate, and shipping.

[HiString]

...........shipping them to OZ was going to cost something like $700 each............

That's ridiculous..............we've brought a number of guitars(with cases) in from the US and not one's shipping cost more than ~$300 with DHL, ie: 24 hours ground to ground.

[Bob Connor]

The price quoted from the company was $748 USD for both cases with Fedex.

Still ridiculous.

I opted to have a holiday in the States and pick the bloody things up.

I bought one back on the plane as a suitacase.

What really annoyed me was that Uncle Bob was able to get the second case sent via USPS for about $85 USD.

I also had the pleasure of an evening with Hesh and Uncle Bob, wining and dining at the Ann Arbor Yacht Club, one of the cities most exclusive establishments , bought a shit load of wood from Steve Roberson and Bob Cefalu, met lots of nice people and had a great 2 weeks.

So maybe I have to thank Ameritage for that.

[kiwigeo]

Ameritage cases...made in Costa Rica??? Riiiiiiight.

Thats like the Kiwi brand bread knife in my kitchen...all the way from China.

[Nick]

Ameritage cases...made in Costa Rica??? Riiiiiiight.

Thats like the Kiwi brand bread knife in my kitchen...all the way from China.

All Kiwi products are made in China........aren't they?

[Hesh1956]

Yesterday I received an email from Cedar Creek advising me of the scheduled production date for my 3 cases and asking me if it is OK for them to ding my credit card for the remaining balance.

Wow! It's nice to deal with organizations that communicate with you well and set your expectations correctly - what a concept...

I'll post pics when they arrive near the end of the month.

[Hesh1956]

My first shipment of cases from Cedar Creek arrived today! This is approx. 1 1/2 weeks earlier than the promised delivery date and I am very happy to say that everything looks great.

Take a peek and excuse me in advance for the not so great pics it's a very gloomy day here in Meechigan.... with poor natural light:(

This first order was for three cases: one OM, one L-OO and one dread*ought:



The L-OO case is the first proper case that I have had for this guitar which I use as a demonstrator and it frequently travels with me. Heretofore I have stuffed it in an OM case with some soft T-shirts taking up the spaces in the upper bout. I thought that the Tiger Myrtle would look killer encased in genuine imitation Florida swamp alligator...





Here is the OM case and it appears to be the same case as the L-OO except that the interior padding is fitted very nicely for each individual guitar:







I wasn't going to post this pic because I took no less than 5 of them and none of the pics came out. In person the brass plates look very classy and clean but I am afraid that my photographic abilities were not up to what it takes to capture this shot in a lifelike manner:



Here is the dread*ought case that is destined for a customer. I don't have a dread in the house at the moment so we will see how it fits when my customer stops over:



As you may imagine I am very pleased. Dealing with Cedar Creek and Dennis was super easy and understandable, the pricing is excellent, the cases are fantastic and IMHO do a great job of creating that ever so important first impression for my guitars, and every expectation that I had was met and then some.

Many thanks to Cedar Creek and Dennis!

[Hesh1956]

Update:

Well duuugh.... my mistake... The reason why I could not get a good shot of the brass plates on the cases is that they have a covering of plastic that peels right off.... Reminds me of the first time I ever purchased a black pickg*ard and spent an hour rubbing it with micro-mesh pads trying to get it shiny like they are in the pictures.... Turns out there was a plastic protective covering on it.... But hey even a broken clock is right twice a day...

Second I misspoke and the L-OO case is a different case entirely with different outside dimensions.

Third for weight freaks like me these weigh in the neighborhood of 15 pounds.

I'm thrilled with my Cedar Creek cases!