[Frihed91]

I have tried this twice.  The first time, the project took forever (6 months).  The design was outstanding, but the physical build was very bad.  Over a period of three years, I "restored" it, bit by bit (I am a rank amateur), and now it sounds absolutely fantastic.  I feel vindicated.  Good things are worth waiting and working for.

The second time is in process.  After being very communicative for the first four months, the builder has gone silent and will not return my email.  When I have called previously, I get promises, but nothing happens. The latest calls go unanswered.  The builder has my expensive transformers, which are what I really want back if the project is, in fact, dead.

With the first builder, I ignored some warning signs.  With the second, I did some checking and heard nothing like this.  It could possibly be an "episodic" illness.

Are these common experiences?

Have you ever been in my current position.  How did you handle it -- other than by confrontation?

Misery loves company.


 

[Mariusz]

Preamp and 300b monos which are the latest addition to my system, sound absolutely fantastic. Yes, those are custom build by very skilled and fanatic like audiophile. Thank God I didn't have to wait for these (2nd owner) since it took "only" 2 years to finish (amps alone). The minimum wait time for his custom anything is minimum 8 months.
Keep in mind that those guys usually have a full time jobs.
But I feel and understand your frustration.
Been there, done that.

Hopefully it will be worth the wait.
     

[JoshK]

I can see both sides of the coin.  I have often dreamt of building custom amps for folks one day, but I understand how much frustration it would take as I am a slave to my free time.  I don't get much and that is when I get things done.

Communication is key.  Its hard to keep telling someone that it should be done by such and such and then things keep coming up and you have to make more excuses.

I say relax a bit.  It isn't going to help too much to put fire under his feet unless you truely think this person is ripping you off.  I'd ask around to people who may know this person to see if something is up or if this has happened before.

[Frihed91]

Thanks for your comments.

In fact, I have not said a word about deadlines, just the opposite.  Perhaps that was the problem, or sickness.  I know some of his audio friends, perhaps i should contact them and ask them politley if they have heard antyhing.  It's quite out of character for him to just cut off contact like that -- based on my contacts with over the previous 4 months.   Also, he had just put up a new web page, so it doesn't look like he planned to get out of the business any time soon or make any enemies. Word travels fast.