A; Real fast, compared to other makers of tapping instruments, because we use what we call the ‘Almost Ready’ Inventory System.
Though ideally we would like to offer ‘same day shipping’ like Amazon Books, in practice it’s not always that way. Because our instruments are ‘semi-custom’, although we generally have plenty of stock, we cannot apply the final ‘assembly and setup’ nor install the Feiten Intonation System until we know what the order says. This means that, in practice, we will generally require one to three weeks to custom-assemble and ship an instrument from the factory shop. (However, on our EBay Megatar Store, we list ‘ready-to-play’ and ‘ready-to-ship’ instruments normally shipped to you within 1-3 days!).
The reason we can do it this fast is because of our Almost-Ready inventory system. It works like this … Because of our modular design, bodies and pickup arrays are the same few shapes. So we can, ahead of time, build bodies with frets and finish, and build the most common pickup arrays. So we always try to have some of each kind on hand.
Then, when we have an order, we can start with a ready-to-use instrument body, and a ready-to-use pickups array, and this means that 3/4 of the work (and several weeks of the work time) have already been done. So for most orders, we need only install the pickups array into the body, and then we add bridgeplates and tuners, string it up, and then do the set up and install the Buzz Feiten Intonation System (twice). This is way quicker than getting the wood, cutting out your instrument, finishing it, building the pickups array, etc.
Custom orders can take longer, especially custom colors or custom wood combinations, for they’re all built to order. But generally it’s just a first-come, first-served system, which is fair … and fast.
And what if we get a whole bunch of factory orders at the same time? Well, that’s great for us, but if your order came in behind the others, maybe it will take a little longer. (So place your order right now, before all those other orders come in!) However, even when we have other orders, because of our ‘Almost Ready’ inventory system, usually we can respond quickly, and over time we will continue to refine and expand our assembly process to keep the wait as short as possible. Because when you’re ready to rock, you’re ready now!
