Topic: HYDRA customers who are unhappy w/the product

[jonicont]

ordered a cable on 3/11.  came today.  pretty as can be.  thanx Nick

[esteyes]

well i have consumed enuff liquid gold tonite to feel like chiming in here 

anyway as someone who has been building oddball custom things for 30+ years i feel for Nick. i don't think working with epoxy in this setting is easy - but at this price point i think it should be consistent cosmetically. (personnaly i don't think it is the right way to do it.) nevertheless it is a functional, cost effective solution and i think the customer has to understand that. he also needs to understand each piece is unique and will look that way - the same way he accepts that he can't change anything about his cable once the epoxy is poured.

That said, the builder must always strive to do his best EACH time while trying always trying to improve his technique or method. he must look at his work and if he is ashamed in any way of what he built, then he should sh*tcan it and do it over. then he must stand behind his sh*t for his customers (i think Nick does that, don't you??). if he does this then he has little to be ashamed about.

i think TS has a fairly large percentage of nontechy folks, part of its charm and much of its reason d'etre. to me, that likely means many of the TS vendors may see a higher percentage of unhappiness. ... especially when it comes to handwork like this kind of stuff. so that means Nick might mear more comments than more normal vendors...

unfortunately the usps issues and lost cables and "i want it this way but you made it that way" crap comes with the territory. and it is esp painful for the small business person financially. but just that's the way it is.

i do think that you need to find a way to do your work w/o the kiddies climbing your leg every day. if you are gonna make it a business, then you must treat it like a business. having said that and working from my home with 4 kids (i know the realities), i wish you and me both a bunch of luck.

so Nick,  i think the community here is very supportive of your efforts. are you ashamed of any thing you have done? likely not. so walk away from the table for a minute, have a cold one, take a deep breath, and go back and get yer *ss to work cause you do have good folks waiting on your stuff...

hope this is taken in good spirits, people willing to do good hand work (and stand behind it) these days are slowly disappearing
neil in san marcos

oh, and i've been married 25+ years now. so i'm gonna order a bunch o' cables cause i needs lots o' knobbers. i heard nick's gotta deal going on 

[Roving Sign]

just for the other curiosity seekers...

What are you doing with the epoxy?

[Nick's Picks]

using it as filler to hold things in place inside the chopped XLR chasis

[Brian]

excuse my ignorance but what's the point of these "chopped" xlrs never heard of them before this thread

as for the OP, i think a lot of good points have already been mentioned.  keep your head and keep striving to make great products.  you can't please everyone.  today it seems like more people demand absolute perfection than ever before.  that's a high expectation for a business where somebody is building something by hand

[OFOTD]

excuse my ignorance but what's the point of these "chopped" xlrs never heard of them before this thread

Here are two pictures of the HiHo Shorty XLR's for comparison.  The first picture is what I think one should look like quality wise.  The second picture is an example of how much space savings they afford.

As far as the cable quality in question in this thread the best way to make a judgment is to see the cables themselves.    Does the person that had a problem have any pictures for the thread?   

[illconditioned]

FWIW I have used Neutrix standard right angle connectors on the R4 without a problem.  I don't have photos, but I've built several nice pairs of interconnects using Mogami 3106 "siamese" XLR cable.  Looks like thick lamp cord, one part for each channel.  Not as compact as the shorties, and probably the connectors cost more, but I got them from cables I had already...

  Richard

[rowjimmytour]

FWIW I have used Neutrix standard right angle connectors on the R4 without a problem.  I don't have photos, but I've built several nice pairs of interconnects using Mogami 3106 "siamese" XLR cable.  Looks like thick lamp cord, one part for each channel.  Not as compact as the shorties, and probably the connectors cost more, but I got them from cables I had already...

  Richard

[waltmon]

Ok...

   I thought I was resolved and was content until I got called out in Nick's narrative. First of all I was polite in my complaint and would not even said anything had the connectors not been clearly "re-used stock"...one would assume ordering a custom cable that you would at least get new materials...the 2 chopped right angle XLR's did not match (1 gold, 1 silver)  1 looked decent and the other skewed off at a weird angle as well as there was epoxy all over the connectors.

    Laying them side by side with the Hi-Ho silvers was the problem as there is really no comparison when you are speaking of chopped shorties.  If this is such an obvious hassle, drop them from your product line. Your other cables look amazing.

 Being the Procurement Controller for a massive construction project in the West Indies, I deal with venders all over the world and like to think I treat them respectfully and just don't bitch to be a prick.  When you're in business, you are not going to please everyone 100% of the time.

   Personally, I think it was pretty un-professional to air your business frustration in a public forum such as this after we had come to resolution and I had apologized if I had been to picky in my complaint.

   I apologize for even chiming in on this thread but I felt the need to say my piece...