First un-named saber

[Firedrops]

I got my saber about 1 month ago(from Goodman, who built it for me), I went ahead being a little curious cat and unthreaded some parts(blade holder and the piece directly below it). and boom, one of the really thin wires snapped, so my saber was without-main-LED for quite awhile.
Few days ago i finally got around to getting it fixed, and I did. sadly all i could do was add some other wires,coil them together and electrical tape it.
(i know you guys are wondering about warranty right now, but its simply not worth $60 to fix it for "free", and since i unthreaded the top part, the warranty was probably voided)
Truth to be told I'm not that pleased with his work(which is why i'm posting it here where he won't see, shh). the wires that broke are of really low quality, and 2 weeks ago i realized he charged me twice for the blade and battery charger.
Its a TCSS-based saber, just some extra holes.
Specs(what i know of it anyways):

Seoul P4 blue main LED
Ultrasound 2.5
unknown number of probably NiMH batteries(since the charger was NiMH)
Some green accent LED for crystal

Here are the pics(just quick ones with handphone camera, if you guys would like to see specific parts of the hilt, just let me know and I'll take some)




Lights on:
Lights off:

just for comparisons sake, this is how the saber was intended to be. I know the parts are shorter than MHS, be he said he had the full workshop, with all the tools to do anything related to saber building yadayadayada

Its a pretty good saber, especially for a first. but i still kinda feel ripped off.
(it was about 500 USD)

[mihunai]

From what i heard, and seen, Goodman usually makes top-notch stuff.
I would ask him about the double-charging for the blade and such.

As for the price...
A: He is a well-known sabersmith.
B: He had to do some machining himself
C: He probably handled some sort of 'finder's fee' for the now discontinued US.
D: He had to do all the wiring.

All in all, custom commisioned sabers get real pricey, real fast.

mTm

[Rhyen Skytracker]

Being a Saber Smith myself I tell my customers NOT to take the saber apart. We have to use small guage wire to be able to get everything wired up and have enough flexibility for the wires to bend easily. When you unscrewed the parts you caused the wires to twist and that is what broke them. As for the price, it takes a lot of time to machine and wire sabers, plus you are paying for all the training and skills the Saber Smith has acquired to make the saber. Tim here at TCSS makes it very easy and reasonably priced to make sabers, but the down side is you have to learn how to do it yourself. Which for me was very fun to do.

[eastern57]

10 points to Rhyen for a right-on-the-nose assessment.

FD, I know what it's like to be curious about the saber guts... I do that too. Think about it this way: When I buy a stereo, the first thing I do is open up the back to see how it works... I have to snap, crackle, and pop my way through a bunch of wires and circuit boards to actually see everything... but when all is said and done, I'm out about $500 too... is it worth it?... not really.

IOW, you voided your waranty the second you unscrewed it... thus losing your voice to complain about anything.

[Goodman]

Larry,

Frankly I am quite surprised by your post, and a bit saddened by your effort to "hide" it from me by posting here on TCSS. I've been a member for over a year.

I am now compelled to address some facts about this case:

1) You received both pictures AND a video of the saber before it shipped to you, and you clearly approved of ALL the saber's custom design elements and functions.

2) Your last email to me was nearly one month ago, stating that you were "very pleased with the saber".

3) That email stated that you had dropped the saber.

4) That email also mentioned that the saber had been on for over an hour while you were fighting with it and that it would no longer turn on.

5) I gave you instructions on how to recharge the saber, and told you to contact me should you have further questions.

6) I NEVER heard from you again, until I read this post.

If you had further questions about your saber, you should have contacted me, as I often reminded you to do if you had any questions. Why did you not so? You remarked often --during the course of our 142 email correspondence during your build project-- how you were new to sabers, and new to the functions of the USv2.5 soundboard. Why disassemble the saber on your own without first asking for help? You were explicitly told not to disassemble the saber, which would void the warranty.

If you would like assistance with your saber, please email me. I'm ALWAYS happy to help my customers, warranty or not. No more "secret posts" on TCSS.

-John
ArkLight Arsenal



P.S. As for the wiring, 28ga wiring is the wiring TCSS sells here, and what almost all of us use...

[xl97]

umm.. ouch!?

I have never known anything but 'quality' from Goodman.. in both services and communication.

I also think its a bit rude of the OP to have this here..especially after the facts have come to light.

Im Goodman got to rebuttle.. it really puts this post in its place...and in persepctive.

[Arm on Fire]

Firedrops, complaining, like you did in an open forum without first trying to work things out with the sabersmith that made your saber will get you only one thing in this hobby............................................. .........your name on everyone's DO NOT SELL TO list.

Bad move for you, good sabersmiths are a close knit group around here.

[Jay-gon Jinn]

Firedrops, you need to resize those images....Tim has a maximum allowable size of 800 x 600 pixels.

[Rhyen Skytracker]

I have heard nothing but great comments on Goodman's work and customer service too. As a fellow saber smith, I would not even work on a saber unless you tried to get the issues resolved with the person that built the saber first. Most of us will bend over backwards to make our customers happy. This is a very distinct field and it takes very knowledgeable people to be able to understand all the different types of electronic components involved, know what power sources to use, know how to either machine or customize parts or how to match up MHS parts that work best and still fit all of the electronics into a very small area with the art form of Cram-Fu. Being a saber smith is not just throwing a few parts together and throwing a LED inside it. To be a true saber smith requires staying on top of new technologies that could benefit lightsabers, sharing that technology with other saber smiths to improve it and the most important part of being a saber smith is CUSTOMER SERVICE. You can ask every single saber smith here and they will tell you exactly the same thing.

Wow....where did that come from? LOL

[acerocket]

just for comparisons sake, this is how the saber was intended to be. I know the parts are shorter than MHS, be he said he had the full workshop, with all the tools to do anything related to saber building yadayadayada

Its a pretty good saber, especially for a first. but i still kinda feel ripped off.
(it was about 500 USD)

Well for starters, the drawing you made would be near impossible to build. You have the pommel threads interfering with the guarded switch. You cannot run the fluting that close to the edge near the choke. They will cut through and into the threading. The schamber part has male threads on both ends. You would never be able to get the male threads of it into the choke the way you have it. Likewise, with male threads on the end of the schamber, you cannot have a blade holder screw into it. Even if the schamber was female threaded your drawing is flawed. The threads from the blade holder and the choke would be visible throught the slots. Then there is is the pesky little problem about where the heatsink, LED and optic package will fit in that design. You blade holder is too short. Your blade would have less than 1/4" of blade on the shallow side and that is assuming you remove the blade stop to get it that deep. I would have turned you down immediately if that was what you sent me as being impossible to build with MHS parts.

You admit you took the saber apart. You admit you do not even have a soldering iron for doing small repairs. How do you know that Goodman's work is sub-par and the wires are low quality?

I think it was in very poor taste to come here and post your disastisfaction with the saber without first trying to rectify the situation with Goodman. If he charged you twice, I am sure he would have refunded you the difference. You voided your warranty by being a 'curious cat'. There is a reason why most saber smiths have adopted these seemingly 'mean-spirited' warranties. We need to cover our behinds when situations like this arise. You say it's just a TCSS MHS based saber. You are aware to go to the store website and purchase all the parts to build this saber yourself, you would be looking at almost $300.00 for all the parts (MHS parts, LED and associated, soundboard, charger and blade).