New message on Axe FX II home page....

legitimate question....what type of experience do you have manufacturing and shipping a product?

I know you were mr. mom for many years...and your wife was supposed to start making REALLY good money and you were going to buy 2 or 3 axes to play with, but I don't remember you doing any kind of producing/shipping products.

I am just going off memory here so I may be off a little.....but not much.
 
gittarzann said:
legitimate question....what type of experience do you have manufacturing and shipping a product?

I know you were mr. mom for many years...and your wife was supposed to start making REALLY good money and you were going to buy 2 or 3 axes to play with, but I don't remember you doing any kind of producing/shipping products.

I am just going off memory here so I may be off a little.....but not much.
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It's funny, you mention one thing you have done with your life and people think they know your resume!

I hate to be vague, but the fact is that this is a music website dedicated to Fractal Audio, not to my resume, so you'll just have to believe me when I say, "I have experience," or don't believe me. I don't really care either way, because it's not my problem, and it's not my place to force you into believing me.

Also, the reason I didn't buy an ULTRA, had nothing to do with money, I bought something else instead, for reasons that are my own.
 
See, that’s the problem. Instead of simply responding with useful, interesting, or entertaining information, one resorts to personal attacks. In an attempt to lower the perceived status of the presumed foe and lift ones own perceived status, the smallness of the attacker is revealed. Such is the result of the inward turning of the mind to ones on self importance. The result, as seen, provides 6th grade banter at best and a type moral insanity at worst; only in insanity would such childish prods be thought to have weight. Does this piss you off? Well then, prove my point. Or grow up.
 
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Shoot, someone would pay $3,500? That's insane, dude. I don't think someone would pay that much. If someone wants to pay that much, they can buy mine, lol.
 
The adult in me said, "You really shouldn't post anything else in this thread!" but the kid in me subdued him, and threw him in a closet!!!!

J/K

I seriously do stand by my original statement. Fractal is a very small company, with very few people to handle all of the orders that have been thrown at them. I don't remember if Cliff stated the exact number he sold, but he did say for a fact, that on the first day the Axe-II went on sale, he sold out of the amount that he could physically process in one day, with the staff he currently has, IN 90 SECONDS!!!

So I say, with all sorts of generous gratitude to Cliff, for being as calm as he's been able, unless you are willing to drive to his facility and give the man a hand for free, then give him some slack, and be patient.

And no, I'm not fishing for and Axe-II, I just happen to understand where he's coming from.
 
How small is FAS? It was posted a while back that there are over 40 people in the company now--anyone know if that is even in the ballpark? I didn't think they were that large.

When I think about boutique companies I imagine two guys hand wiring guitar amps, which is pretty labor intensive. OTOH, final assembly for the Axe 2 seems like it would take a lot less time. I don't know if FAS builds any subassemblies in-house, or what portion of the production is sold via the website.

Still, I was expecting more than five a day; and who knew that 90 seconds on Tuesday would turn into 10 on Friday?
 
LMO said:
Still, I was expecting more than five a day; and who knew that 90 seconds on Tuesday would turn into 10 on Friday?
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I'm kind of curious as to where these number are coming from? I've been keeping up as best as I can, but I've never seen a solid number of AxeII's sold per day. I gathered from Cliffs vagueness (yes, it's a real word!) that he had sold quite a larger number than 5. I would hazard guess 50, or 60ish, maybe more in the first day. Don't quote me, it's just a guess, I have no idea, as I can't find where any Fractal employees have confirmed a number, so it may be less. I don't know.

As far as the number of employees, I don't know, but I personally didn't think it was anywhere near 40, but it may very well be, it's not something I have actively cared to searched for. 40's not very many, though, as I've seen far more employees do much less, in more time! lol

I don't know the finer details of how Cliff "creates" an Axe-II, but I gather there is a lot of "off site" work done, simply because of necessity. I know for a fact that Cliff is all about made in the USA, so as much as it can be, it is made stateside. From the many posts made by Cliff I gather that it is mostly assembly, programing, and burn in done in house, the rest is done by specialty houses. For example, Cliff doesn't do the actual metal fab, and board fabrication, which is smart, as tooling, and setting up for this type of work can actually cost more than it is worth, for a small business.

Also, I may have missed a post somewhere, but I gathered that building the units was not the source of the hold up. I thought it was because they can only process so many units a day through their shipping and such.
 
I still think they're finishing more than 5-6 a day because they have to supply their distributors as well. Maybe its 10-15 a day and that may even be a tiny stretch. I wouldn't be surprised if it goes up to almost 20 a day once they get their flow going. I know how that kind of stuff goes and it feels like you can be all thumbs when its something new, but once you get the flow down, it's not too bad and you go a lot faster.

My reasoning for the close to 20 a day is just looking at how the ULTRA would get stocked in the past. It was usually around 15-20 at a time when it was in stock those last few weeks.
 
"NOTE: Quantities are limited. As units are built they are added to the store inventory. As demand far exceeds supply at this time, the store sells out quickly. We expect availability to improve over the coming weeks/months."


Whatever happened to "There will be plenty of units......Chillax!"?

Just curious!
 
I would guess that they have plenty of them but can only fill a limited number of orders per day

casketshrine said:
"NOTE: Quantities are limited. As units are built they are added to the store inventory. As demand far exceeds supply at this time, the store sells out quickly. We expect availability to improve over the coming weeks/months."


Whatever happened to "There will be plenty of units......Chillax!"?

Just curious!
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I'll repost this from a post I made concerning fractal a couple weeks ago.....
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If you guys have been around the Fractal world for any amount if time, you should know by now the actual release time frame and how it works.
I was one of the guys on the waiting list back 3 different BBS's ago.
I think Cliff gets excited about what he's working on ( which is a good thing) and then can't contain himself. So he spills the beans early on whatever the new box is.
It was the same with the ultra, atomic amps deal, and the MFC.
In a perfect world, sub-contractors who make the various parts for Fractal & the shipping companies etc., would always be "on time".
But we live in this imperfect world...
I knew from previous experience, when the first release estimate was given, that was at LEAST a month early.
I would guess were looking at another couple weeks minimally.
I mean it's not like the Chase's have a warehouse full of Chinese workers waiting on standby, to unload the chassis truck, and man an assembly line. I'm sure it's a much more humble operation.
So, considering that. How much time, realistically, do you guys think it would take to unload the chassis', install the boards, install software, test the new units & burn them in, box them up, process all the orders and ship them?
Then assuming, the high profile customers who haven't gotten an AFX II yet, get theirs first, that will leave plenty of wait time yet.
And I'm sure Cliff is spending any freetime, still working out the software end of the AFX II.
It's gonna be a while yet people. So its a double edged sword. Sell now and get the max dollar for your AFX, or Hang onto your AFX's until the thing is released and take what you can get...

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It's all just history repeating itself.
I think the stupidest thing they have done Is take away the waiting list system they used in the past......
Cliff expects his customers, who are just as PASSIONATE about his inventions as he is, to behave civilly in this chaotic environment HE has created.
It's the lesser of the evils Cliff. Offer your customers who get on the waiting list $100 off for the INCONVENIENCE of having to wait, like the old days and restore some civility to the forum. It's really that simple to fix....

-Chris
 
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Faith redeemed!! re-implementing a waiting list was the right move.
Now standby for the flood of cash Cliff! lol!
Happy Fathers Days & Thank you!!
:)

-Chris
 
ThatGuitarGuy said:
I have a feeling that we'll hate this more-so than before, but whatever..
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Quite possibly. I remember with the MFC waiting list, people were estimating progress based on the date folks got on the list. In this case, I'd be surprised if, in the foreseeable future, less than 75% of the list consists of people who signed up today. That'll make it pretty hard to gauge when one's number was going to come up.
 
We'll here we go again.
Jacking up the price $100, was just a bad move....
Hopefully that was just a typo, Fractal will correct...

:-(
 
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ChrisYoung said:
We'll here we go again.
Jacking up the price $100, was just a bad move....
Hopefully that was just a typo, Fractal will correct...

:-(
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sorry chris, i sure it's not a typo.
the MFC was listed for $649. FAS started a list and raised the price to $749 for "line jumpers".

though he honored the list at $649, the price for the MFC stayed at $749. this is smart business to get a sense of market value.

if enough people buy at $2599, the price will stay there.

my adivice... get on the list and wait. LOL
 
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