grouping of makers & doers into categories (bodywork/finishers/pickups/effects) for quick reference?

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  • NPPNPP Frets: 236
    do continue to post @TheGuitarWeasel I love reading your build and repair threads but they are too infrequent to keep checking your blog for so I usually only find out when you post on here. 

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  • FunkfingersFunkfingers Frets: 14323
    TTony said:
    Funkfingers doesn't speak for the forum, nor for anyone other than himself.
    The dunces are in confederacy against him. ;)

    Then I'm correct not to continue posting them here. I've been posting them of late on my own Oil City blog and that will suffice. 
    By definition, visitors to your web site and blog ARE interested in pickups in general and yours in particular. They are a self-selecting bunch.

    The argument for posting on a public Interweb forum is that you might attract the occasional browser who had not previously been aware of you and your products. 


    Be seeing you.
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  • OilCityPickupsOilCityPickups Frets: 9986
    tFB Trader
    TTony said:
    Funkfingers doesn't speak for the forum, nor for anyone other than himself.
    The dunces are in confederacy against him. ;)

    Then I'm correct not to continue posting them here. I've been posting them of late on my own Oil City blog and that will suffice. 
    By definition, visitors to your web site and blog ARE interested in pickups in general and yours in particular. They are a self-selecting bunch.

    The argument for posting on a public Interweb forum is that you might attract the occasional browser who had not previously been aware of you and your products. 


    That would assume that post pickup restoration 'stories' as advertising. Actually I make a tiny fraction of my turnover out of restorations., and they soak up way more time than can be justified by what I can charge. I have no real need to tout for restoration business ... it usually finds its way to me.
    As my father and grandfather were both engineers I have a built in interest in how things work, and as a lover of all things classic and old, I love getting dead kit up and doing what it was built for.

    My original motivation for putting up restoration threads was to help generate content for the then 'new' forum: as we had to hit the ground running after the demise of 'the previous place' ... sure I might have gained a few sales since those days through the rebuilds, but the intent was to entertain and inform. To show the work that goes on behind the scenes when you send a pickup away to get fixed.
    Professional pickup winder, horse-testpilot and recovering Chocolate Hobnob addict.
    Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups  ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message  

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  • normula1normula1 Frets: 639
    I look at M&M pretty much every visit and Made in UK every other as I'm fascinated with the skills posters have that in my heart of hearts I know I'm unlikely to ever have.
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  • valevale Frets: 1052
    edited August 2018
    Roland said:
    The up side is that it builds credibility.

    What we find in Made in the UK, and in Making and Modding, is that many people follow a thread but don’t comment. It’s not like Off Topic where lots of people make smart arse comments. I would not normally comment on one of @TheGuitarWeasel ‘s rebuild threads because I have nothing useful to add. I’m fascinated by his knowledge, and the questionable quality of many historic pickups.   The same goes for one of @WezV ‘s build threads. 
    same as. i usually go into mute wows and wisdoms because apart from saying 'it's wonderful, keep going' i often can't think of anything i could add to those threads that wouldn't be more distraction than contribution. but the view count should give a fuller picture of genuine depth of interest.
    hofner hussie & hayman harpie. what she said...
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  • valevale Frets: 1052
    edited August 2018
    lonestar said:
    @vale not at all. The way businesses here get real exposure is by posting a link in the guitar section which takes you to the made in the uk section. You tend to find the same people commenting and following the same threads. It means that there is little (new) interaction and in some of the threads the only poster is whoever owns the business.
    i appreciate that's the status quo, and it clearly works well for some. but can it be improved upon?
    it's also maker-doer active, potential customer passive. which may suit those maker-doers who are good at putting themselves out there, but they may only be the tip of the iceberg.

    but if a potential customer wants to find out who all the finishers on the forum are, check out examples of their work, then make contact, it's not so easy.
    if you have been here years, then you will know a few names, but everyone arrives here new.

    obviously the easiest way is to put out a shout in a comment, but that requires a different shout for each person who wants something done (allowing for repeat business), and relies on someone who can recommend the right finisher for them to notice their appeal and respond to that. hit and miss and quite contingent.

    whereas with a simple list of names, services and links, they would instantly know who does what on the fourm, and how to get in touch with them, so they could go from thinking about doing something to initiating contact themselves, without recourse to apublic appeals or luck.

    lonestar said:

    This is a forum, people can interact if they want to but in the made in the uk section they don’t for some reason. One click takes you into the section and people are free to browse. What more can be done? 

    but (to someone like me who hasn't been here years and doesn't just know) it's a bit like looking for a shop you don't know the name of in a town you've never been to before.
    i can scroll through for a while and get a general impression of what is going on. but it's wandering around, optimistic but hit and miss.

    if you were going to paris, berlin, bcn for the weekend, would you wander around (hopefully but aimlessly) all weekend in an area you heard there was a music shop, or would you look in yellow pages for a list so you could get going and in there asap?

    it could be a list, or an x/y axis spreadsheet, or chart. maybe it's a bad idea and maybe it can't be done.
    it was basically me thinking out aloud about how things could be made simpler or more direct.
    hofner hussie & hayman harpie. what she said...
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  • TTonyTTony Frets: 27345
    TTony said:
    Funkfingers doesn't speak for the forum, nor for anyone other than himself.
    The dunces are in confederacy against him. ;)

    Apologies @FunkFingers - I probably read meaning into your comment - and Ash's @theGuitarWesel reply - which wasn't there, but led me to think that he was going to stop his posts here on the basis of your comment.  Being a long-term supporter of his work (verbally and financially), that made me uncomfortable.

    That would assume that post pickup restoration 'stories' as advertising. 
    It's not the old "look at this, buy this, it'll make your clothes whiter" advertising.  It's far more effective in that it demonstrates - in detail - your expertise and capabilities.  That establishes your credibility far more effectively than any of that old "advertising" ever could.  And posts like that persuaded me to trust you with my ££s all those years ago, and probably many others too.  Keep those posts coming Ash.
    :)

    vale said:
    but (to someone like me who hasn't been here years and doesn't just know) it's a bit like looking for a shop you don't know the name of in a town you've never been to before.
    i can scroll through for a while and get a general impression of what is going on. but it's wandering around, optimistic but hit and miss.

    And that's why I think we can do better.  Just haven't worked out how to do it better without creating a load more work for ourselves yet!
    Having trouble posting images here?  This might help.
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  • FunkfingersFunkfingers Frets: 14323
    TTony said:
    Funkfingers - I probably read meaning into your comment - and Ash's reply - which wasn't there, but led me to think that he was going to stop his posts here on the basis of your comment.  Being a long-term supporter of his work (verbally and financially), that made me uncomfortable.
    My comment came after Ash's post in which he wondering aloud whether it was worth his time and trouble to make *inside* information about his pickup rewinding available to the general guitar buying public. 

    I like to think that I have some understanding of how much work is involved in taking photographs whilst doing the job and, then, composing text to describe/explain what is visible in the photographs without resorting to jargon any more than absolutely necessary.

    Don't take my word for anything, folks. Gauge the level of interest in the inner workings of guitar pickups by getting technical with the average end user. Watch their eyes glaze over. Fifteen seconds could be enough.

    Some self-employed friends of mine run an ecologically-friendly website design business. Margins have always been tight. Any activity that does not bring in money is unceremoniously dropped - including not replying to voicemail messages unless they contain firm orders.

    The extent my support of Ash's work is confined to one pair of pickups that I purchased through this forum approximately a year ago. Unless or until I crack open my wallet, I do not expect Ash to take the slightest notice of me - maybe, not even then.
    Be seeing you.
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  • RolandRoland Frets: 8591
    lonestar said:
    @vale not at all. The way businesses here get real exposure is by posting a link in the guitar section which takes you to the made in the uk section. You tend to find the same people commenting and following the same threads. It means that there is little (new) interaction and in some of the threads the only poster is whoever owns the business. 

    This is a forum, people can interact if they want to but in the made in the uk section they don’t for some reason. One click takes you into the section and people are free to browse. What more can be done? 
    I’m not sure that the “like” and “click through” models works here. If you’re selling volume products to a mass market then “click through” is an easy metric to measure page hits. In itself it doesn’t tell you how interested someone was. Even dwell time doesn’t tell you whether they will buy.

    The marketing value of the forum works in two ways. It opens up interest. I’ve always modded my guitars, but without this forum I wouldn’t have started building them from scratch, with all the purchases that ensue. The forum also gives credibility, both in someone’s abilities, and their trustworthiness. I know who I’ll turn to if I want a neck made, a body painted, or a pickup wound. Without this forum I wouldn’t have known that you guys were in business.

    Tree recycler, and guitarist with  https://www.undercoversband.com/.
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  • OilCityPickupsOilCityPickups Frets: 9986
    edited August 2018 tFB Trader
    TTony said:
    Funkfingers - I probably read meaning into your comment - and Ash's reply - which wasn't there, but led me to think that he was going to stop his posts here on the basis of your comment.  Being a long-term supporter of his work (verbally and financially), that made me uncomfortable.
    My comment came after Ash's post in which he wondering aloud whether it was worth his time and trouble to make *inside* information about his pickup rewinding available to the general guitar buying public. 


    I like to think that I have some understanding of how much work is involved in taking photographs whilst doing the job and, then, composing text to describe/explain what is visible in the photographs without resorting to jargon any more than absolutely necessary.

    Don't take my word for anything, folks. Gauge the level of interest in the inner workings of guitar pickups by getting technical with the average end user. Watch their eyes glaze over. Fifteen seconds could be enough.

    Some self-employed friends of mine run an ecologically-friendly website design business. Margins have always been tight. Any activity that does not bring in money is unceremoniously dropped - including not replying to voicemail messages unless they contain firm orders.

    The extent my support of Ash's work is confined to one pair of pickups that I purchased through this forum approximately a year ago. Unless or until I crack open my wallet, I do not expect Ash to take the slightest notice of me - maybe, not even then.
    "My comment came after Ash's post in which he wondering aloud whether it was worth his time and trouble to make *inside* information about his pickup rewinding available to the general guitar buying public."

    Not correct, look back up the thread. 

    "Don't take my word for anything, folks. Gauge the level of interest in the inner workings of guitar pickups by getting technical with the average end user. Watch their eyes glaze over. Fifteen seconds could be enough."

    Not true: In some senses I wish it was, it would save me hours a week answering technical e mails, and being on the phone to customers for sometimes an hour plus each! The 'average customer' is far more technically savvy than say five years ago. 

    "Some self-employed friends of mine run an ecologically-friendly website design business. Margins have always been tight. Any activity that does not bring in money is unceremoniously dropped - including not replying to voicemail messages unless they contain firm orders."

    Since when is answering customer enquiries not going to bring in money? When you answer an potential customer's 
    enquiry your job in any business is to convert that interest into a sale. If you don't take that opportunity you are simply a shit businessman!  

    "The extent my support of Ash's work is confined to one pair of pickups that I purchased through this forum approximately a year ago. Unless or until I crack open my wallet, I do not expect Ash to take the slightest notice of me - maybe, not even then."

    I always take notice of public reaction to what I do, and especially to customer reaction. That's what running a business is all about. Acting on the more subjective aspects of some of those reactions is another matter. Lasting as long as we have in this (these days overcrowded) business takes a certain bull headedness (as well as a willingness to work seven days a week for next to bugger all) :-) 


    Professional pickup winder, horse-testpilot and recovering Chocolate Hobnob addict.
    Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups  ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message  

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  • TTonyTTony Frets: 27345
    Having trouble posting images here?  This might help.
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  • GoldenEraGuitarsGoldenEraGuitars Frets: 8820
    edited August 2018 tFB Trader
    @customkits for builders 
    @gavin_axecaster  for parts


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  • GoldenEraGuitarsGoldenEraGuitars Frets: 8820
    tFB Trader
    @sixstringsupplies  for prewired electrics 
    @streethawk  for parts

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  • FunkfingersFunkfingers Frets: 14323
    An issue I have here is regarding classic pickup restorations and rewinds. I've posted lots over the years, but less of late. They take a lot of work to photograph and write 'copy' for, but if few people will see them I'm somewhat demotivated. I see them as general interest ... seeing inside classic bits of kit that other folks seldom get a chance to.

    That degree of scrutiny is deeper than most people wish to go. You have a professional interest. A small number of geeky enthusiasts seek that level of detail. Most punters just want their instruments to work for them rather than against.

    Even those who think that they understand the significance of the innards of old pickups have no immediate need for information beyond satisfying their curiosity. Few will go to the trouble of attempting to build pickups themselves.

    The curse of any specialist interest is that few others care enough to wish to share in it. :(
    Oops. On the version of this thread displayed on my computer screen, I appear to have succeeded in quoting something that was supposedly posted AFTER my comment. (There ought to be a log of the posting times somewhere. This will confirm my version of events, should any interested parties care to check.) 

    This cannot possibly be an error by a member of long standing. It must be the relative newcomer. 

    Be seeing you.
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  • TTonyTTony Frets: 27345
    Funkfingers said:

    (There ought to be a log of the posting times somewhere. This will confirm my version of events, should any interested parties care to check.) 

    At the risk of dragging this discussion further away from the original topic, there is a log of the posting times @funkfingers - it's shown on every post that's ever posted, along with a separate timestamp if a post is edited after the initial post.

    For example. your post above was posted at  6.43pm, that's shown on the post title bar directly under your userID.  Hover over that time and a little pop-up shows  August 12, 2018 6.43pm.  If you look back at a post in previous days, the displayed timestamp just shows the date.  But, hover over it and you get the full date/time stamp displayed again.

    :)
    Having trouble posting images here?  This might help.
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  • BridgehouseBridgehouse Frets: 24579
    TTony said:
    Funkfingers said:

    (There ought to be a log of the posting times somewhere. This will confirm my version of events, should any interested parties care to check.) 

    At the risk of dragging this discussion further away from the original topic, there is a log of the posting times @funkfingers - it's shown on every post that's ever posted, along with a separate timestamp if a post is edited after the initial post.

    For example. your post above was posted at  6.43pm, that's shown on the post title bar directly under your userID.  Hover over that time and a little pop-up shows  August 12, 2018 6.43pm.  If you look back at a post in previous days, the displayed timestamp just shows the date.  But, hover over it and you get the full date/time stamp displayed again.

    :)
    I didn’t know that!
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  • FunkfingersFunkfingers Frets: 14323
    TTony said:
    At the risk of dragging this discussion further away from the original topic ...
    I have said my piece. I shall leave other people to believe what they prefer to believe. 
    Be seeing you.
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  • valevale Frets: 1052
    edited August 2018
    TTony said:
    stellar work @TTony ;; and much appreciated by me and hopefully many others to come.

    just on first sight if that initial list i've immediately doubled the number of builders i was aware of, and been able to quicklink to their work threads. so it works perfectly in a simple list format.

    hopefully it will get spread around the threads quickly from now on, and makers-doers and forum will become all the more the busier and more inter-connected for it. totally wired!
    hofner hussie & hayman harpie. what she said...
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  • rexterrexter Frets: 369
    edited August 2018 tFB Trader
    Thanks Tony for setting up the Directory and including me!

    Obviously because I have a business interest, I spend a lot of time in the Made in the UK thread and find it amazing seeing the work of the talented members who post there. 

    My previous experience with other forums has normally had the rule of 'no selling/promoting in discussion pages' and business members who do that often tend to get shot down, so I've always been a bit bashful of posting things work related in Making and Modding etc  - so as not to be seen as hawking for trade - but it's good to know that when I have something interesting to show I can do that there too. Cheers.
    Custom colours, vintage restorations, high end guitar finishing
    www.rexterguitars.co.uk
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  • OilCityPickupsOilCityPickups Frets: 9986
    edited August 2018 tFB Trader
    rexter said:
    Thanks Tony for setting up the Directory and including me!

    Obviously because I have a business interest, I spend a lot of time in the Made in the UK thread and find it amazing seeing the work of the talented members who post there. 

    My previous experience with other forums has normally had the rule of 'no selling/promoting in discussion pages' and business members who do that often tend to get shot down, so I've always been a bit bashful of posting things work related in Making and Modding etc  - so as not to be seen as hawking for trade - but it's good to know that when I have something interesting to show I can do that there too. Cheers.
    As trade members we all walk a bit of a fine line: my own policy is that I will provide technical assistance in other sections of the Forum, comment on the general science of pickup making, and contribute to discussions as an ordinary member, but I won't post links to my products or specifically mention them anywhere but 'Made in the UK'. (unless someone asks me a direct question about them).
    To me this is a safeguard not necessarily against moderator action, but against any 'hawking for trade' issues the general membership might have. 
    Professional pickup winder, horse-testpilot and recovering Chocolate Hobnob addict.
    Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups  ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message  

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