Opportunity Grade EIR from Allied

[Allen]

That sounds like the best solution to me Bob. I was thinking about that today at work, (it was a bit of a slow day ). I'll put my hand up to distribute for Qld.

[Kim]

I am going to procrastinate for a while, I'm up to 10 of those wood press things full of wood now but am still finding it very difficult to not go in for 10 sets of this EIR....

P.S. I think splitting out the order is very wise. I could cover WA distribution once I have had a few beers and can finally convince myself it's OK to order those 10 sets to add to my already obscene stash. Yeah sure I will regret it when it come time to part with the moolah but that only last until I crackanuddertinny in me shed and go and admire my wood, then I feel much better

Cheers

Kim

[Lillian]

Kim, think of it as an early Christmas shopping. All your WAS suffering friends would love some as a pressie. If there is any leftover after distribution, well then, a pressie or three for you. There should be no guilt in that.

[Dominic]

OK, It seems we will have enough to split the order up.

I will do the coordination for the NSW ACT if no one objects.

Why don't people from ACT/NSW pm me with your numbers so i have a record and we can then give Bob a total number for here.

Cheers
Dom

[Dominic]

Hey, just on a whim i emailed Scott Wise, a WA luthier wood supplier and told him what we were doing and asked him if he could do a deal like that.

Here is what he said.

Hi Dom,
I have it in stock, dry etc. Myself and Todd Taggart cleaned out all of the odd, narrow, weird and sometimes brilliant sets from out common supplier in India. We were both there at different times and selected personally. Having paid freight from India and GST already, I can’t match a USD $24.00 price but can do 100 sets at AUD $55 including GST. Road freight to say, Sydney would be about $150. See how that measures up when you consider U.S. shipping, customs expenses, GST etc. I tended to select stuff I would use myself so there is not much really ordinary wood.

Best regards,

Scott/

It is the same wood and already in Aust. With postage, exchange rate etc it might be cheaper to use Scott.
Lets see how this stacks up against Allied for final per unit cost.
Dom

[Craig]

G'day Dom ,
Thanks for putting your hand up , and also exploring an alternative. I'll P.M you my order so you can keep a regional tally.

Cheers Dom, you're a real mate.

Craig

[Dominic]

No worries guys.
I have 5 from both Steve and Craig plus 20 for me so far.

NSW/ACT =30


Cheers
Dom

[Dominic]

And another 3 from Joel.

That's

NSW/ACT = 33

Cheers
Dom

[Richard]

I'd be very interested in 5 sets myself. I'm in Brisbane.

[Bob Connor]

We might let this run for a few more days to see if there's any more interest but we are up to 96 sets without an order from Kiwigeo.

I know you've already got a heap Martin and you may not need any more so let us know what you want to do. We're already up around the magical 100 number anyway.

Here's what I have so far. Can you please check that this is accurate.

I intend to get in touch with Allied and ask for either a better wholesale price or maybe an upgrade in quality for the same price.

Queensland
Allen McFarlen 10
Richard 5
Ozziebluesman 4

Total 19

New South Wales

Joel 3
SteveF 5
Dominic 20
CraigL 5

Total 33

Victoria
Bob 10
Private Buyer 20
Kim Strode 4

Total 34

Western Australia

Kim 10

Total 10

Grand Total 96

Bob

[kiwigeo]

Bob, I'll still take 20 sets if thats ok.

The more I spend on wood the less I spend on alcohol.

Cheers Martiin

[Bob Connor]

Update

Queensland
Allen McFarlen 10
Richard 5
Ozziebluesman 4

Total 19

------------------------------------------------------------

New South Wales

Joel 3
SteveF 5
Dominic 20
CraigL 5

Total 33

------------------------------------------------------------

Victoria
Bob 10
Private Buyer 20
Kim Strode 4

Total 34

------------------------------------------------------------

Western Australia

Kim 10

Total 10

------------------------------------------------------------

South Australia

Martin 20

Total 20
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------



Grand Total 116

[Craig]

The more I spend on wood the less I spend on alcohol.

Cheers Martiin

[kiwigeo]

[Bob Connor]

I spoke with Todd Taggart this morning and, as I suspected, he doesn't have room to move at that price.

He said that orders for the opp grade EIR had gone through the roof in the last week.(due to a post on the OLF with a link to the Allied site.)

Add that to some large orders from Gibson and Fender they've got 3 people in the factory flat out matching EIR back and side sets!!!

I'll email through an order to him based on the figures we have and get a quote including postage.

As far as payment goes I'll get everyone to deposit into my bank account, pay it all in a lump sum and Todd is quite happy send it out in seperate shipments to the designated person in each State.

Cheers

Bob

[Dominic]

Thanks Bob, I hope we can still get some decent sets.
Dom

[Bob Connor]

Update

Ther have been a few changes in the orders and as there will be no further discount it's not as important that we have huge numbers.

Could you all have a check of your order and make sure the quantities are what you really want.

Just remember that this IS opportunity grade at $25USD + postage and the quality of the wood is reflected in the price.

An AAA set will generally cost you around $120.

Whichever way you look at at it the postage will become reasonable if there are more than 10 in a pack.

Cheers

Bob

Queensland
Allen McFarlen 10
Richard 5
Ozziebluesman 4

Total 19

------------------------------------------------------------

New South Wales

Joel 3
Dominic 20
CraigL 5

Total 28

------------------------------------------------------------

Victoria
Bob 10
Private Buyer 20
Kim Strode 2

Total 32


South Australia

Martin 20

Total 20
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------



Grand Total 99

[Dominic]

I have not bought wood from the US yet. Does anyone know what we would be looking at for postage for 10 or more sets?
Cheers
Dom

[Bob Connor]

I think ten sets would be around $100USD via USPS Dominic.

This would price the sets at about $34USD or $38AUD on current exchange rates.

Bearing that in mind could everyone have a rethink on their orders.

I'm thinking that, personally, I may be better off buying fewer sets of something of a higher grade than committing to something that may or may not be suitable for my current requirements.

For instance an AA set of classical size from Allied would cost me $58AUD landed.(if bought in greater than 13 sets) Another $20 admittedly, but I would be assured that I would be getting wood that I could build an instrument for resale.

For prototyping I can find plain Blackwood or Myrtle locally that will be costing around $20 bucks a set.

Food for thought!!!

Cheers

Bob

[Allen]

I'm still in for 10.

[Dominic]

Bob, I am kind of thinking along your lines there.
In my conversation with Scott Wise I asked what the quality would be like of his sets for $AUS55 if we bought 100.
He said this about the quality.

Dom, For small order lots of B grade wood such as I sent you, I try and meet colour, grain etc criteria you might have and also try to provide a good side match.. These larger consignments of wood are not quite so high grade and come without such selection. I can still select to a limited extent, e.g if a good proportion of you don’t need wide sets I can pull wood from the “narrowâ€

[kiwigeo]

I'm still in for 20 sets of Opp grade. Ive got Allied Lutherie IRW sets in my shop from a previous opp grade buy and for the price I paid its good value.

Cheers Martin

[joel]

Judging by the pics on the Allied Lutherie website, Opp grade stuff looks fine for my skill level. And I was planning on staining them anyway just like they mention in their little pic essay down the bottom of the page.

I'm still in for 3 sets.

[ozziebluesman]

Yep, for my skill level also the EIR opportunity grade is fine and i'm still in for 4 sets. I believe the rosewood, sounds good, is very easy to bend and work with so thats a bonus for me also.

Cheers

Alan

[Dominic]

I am sorry everyone if i have helped stall this deal.

If I think about it, it was when Bob mentioned that we would be competing with Gibson and a bunch of US luthiers for this stuff that got me wondering where an order from a bunch of antipodeans would be on the priority list. I was just worrying that we would be pretty low and we might not get what we thought.

If this is misguided I am happy to be corrected. I want this thing to happen but I want to be a bit careful if I'm going to get 20 sets.

Dom