MIMF

I recently spent an hour or two wasting time searching Amazon for luthier supplies, tools, parts. I was looking for archtop tailpieces today, and there are several hundred different offers, some at very low prices ($8 for a nice cast chrome one if you buy 10 at a time), or $50 for an ebony Benedetto style from Vietnam. Same with bridges, fretboards (some extravagantly inlaid) and so on. I am a sceptic, so I haven't ordered any yet, but I did order a couple of tools as a try-and-see. Anyone have experiences good or bad?

Brian

I've ordered lots of stuff (tools, parts, books, etc.), mostly from China, through Amazon. Very occasionally, something is not as advertised, or doesn't arrive, or is broken, missing parts, or I just don't like it. The reason I order through Amazon is that they stand behind all my purchases, and basically I can return anything for any reason for a replacement or a refund, and if I need to ship something back to them, they pay the shipping.

The only downside is waiting for things to arrive - sometimes it's a few weeks from Asia.

Living in the Canadian sub-arctic, I live off of Amazon.ca..... But, I don't buy pre-made wood instrument parts, so can't help there, and I don't buy off-brand tools. As Michael Lewis suggested once, a good tool only hurts once(when you have to pay for it). A poorly made tool hurts every time you use it.... But for mixing cups, sandpaper, lights, etc...., they're my go-to place..

I agree with Mario. Our options north of the border are a little limited. My approach to amazon has been to be pretty selective, look for things that ship either from amazon or at least in North America. Having said that I was looking for a particular size dremel bit for inlay recently. Ordered a set from a Chinese supplier and they took a little longer but arrived as advertised and did the job.

I tend to buy very small, experimental quantities and have had some luck and had a couple of cases where "you get what you pay for" was in play.

Sometimes, you get a great deal.

In my case, I bought an open box mitutoyo thickness caliper off ebay, and it was fulfilled by Amazon.
The caliper was flawless and still wrapped....and 80% off.

My first Amazon purchase came in yesterday. Made in China, shipped from Germany, four sets of abalone and mother of pearl fret marker blocks for around $6, free shipping. Nice colour on the abalone, nice lustre on the MoP, I don't have a Canadian supplier that I can even try to buy from for this sort of thing, and USA won't ship sea shell products to Canada for some restrictive law reason. So far so good. Next to come is a flush cut fret nipper pliers...

Brian

I never looked for shell inlays on amazon; thanks for the heads-up!

AliExpress is a great source for smalls and odd ball stuff at incredible prices. All Chinese and takes forever(2 to 3 months!) to arrive, but there are things available there that you'll not find anywhere else.