*Note
about parts / spares sales
* Our "parts units", parts / spares
and related reference information are primarily archived for the purpose of
restoration / repair of "Oak Tree Vintage" units first. Only if we do not have a
"viable" unit in yet, either already in process or in line to be processed, that
may potentially need parts from a "parts unit", will we release available parts
for sale (even though they may appear as available for sale to the public). As
many of you know, the restoration of a unit can be a long, time consuming
process. We may "lock up" parts that we may potentially need in the restoration
of a unit (and not necessarily get it marked 'Hold' or 'Sold' on the site
right away). Parts are priced according to the "potential value" of the unit
they can be applicable to (meaning the amount WE would be willing to pay for
the part if that was all that was standing between us having a "shelved unit" or
a valuable / sellable unit), time to extract, their rarity & their condition
to name a few criteria and likely will be completely unrelated to the original
cost / price of a part when it was currently available from the manufacturer.
Parts Photos; We get a number of requests for 'photos' of a
specific part. Unfortunately, in most cases that is not practical as the amount
of time involved in posting that exceeds the value of the 'unique' part. We will
sometimes post photos of less 'unique' parts, if there is a greater chance of
them being available in multiple quantities, or on a more 'repeat' basis.
Parts, general condition / circuit board condition; Most of
our parts are from 'salvage / donor' units. While we don't sell parts that
are 'known' to be bad, occasionally parts will need further adjustment,
cleaning, 'tweaking', or in the case of circuit boards, may need old,
conductive glue / epoxy further cleaned, and some 'common' parts /
components such as, aging / leaky capacitors, parts whose values have
drifted, and some epoxy transistors may need to be replaced due to 'green / black / furry' legs, or because those
parts were marked as 'sold separately'. Some circuit boards may have 'tired'
"landing / solder pads", or severed traces, or cold / bad solder
joints which can require solder re-flow or 'jumpers'. Unless noted, circuit
boards will be 'crack / split / break' free.
Parts pricing; Most of our parts price / value will be based
on a few things. Firstly, we are in the restoration / refurb business, so we
consider what we would be willing to pay for the part if we needed it (which
again, is what the parts are listed for in the first place, "our units").
Secondly, the rarity / value of the unit the part(s) fit. The 'Tuning Knob'
for a receiver that has a final value of $350 will likely be much less than
the "Tuning Knob" for a unit with a final value of $1500 or more (a set of
tires for a typical sedan will be $400 to $600. A set for a Lamborghini can
be $16,000). Thirdly, the 'rarity' of the part. Forth, the 'condition' of
the part. Fifth, the difficulty to extract the part, or success rate for
extracting certain parts. Sixth; frankly it's a LOT of work and time to part
out a unit. Most take 1 to 3 days of shop time to process. Not only the
disassembly, but the 4-15 hours of pre-testing / servicing and just as time
consuming can be the amount of time it takes to do all of the research we do
and the info we list on many parts for cross-referrencing to other units
that my use the same parts by scouring service manuals. On many circuit
boards we will list every 'semi-conductor' which is also very time
consuming. Lastly, every call or email for a part can require 20 minutes to
sometimes over an hour of 'phone support', often (about 70% of the time)
with me convincing the potential purchaser that they don't need the part I
have to solve their problem.
Sorry to sound like a "whiner" about selling
parts, but "time is money".
Shipping: Shipping on most 'small' parts if typically via Postal
first class or Postal Priority for both domestic (USA) and international orders.
Larger parts such as transformers and drivers (speakers) are typically via FedEx
gnd.
Some parts sales such as those for empty 'speaker cabinets', empty 'component
cabinets / covers / bonnets' and 'speaker grills' and most are 'doomed'
from the start. Due to their size and required packing supplies, the cost of
'packing for safe transit' and shipping are commonly 'disproportionate' to their
cost, typically nearly equal to and
sometimes greater than the cost of the part. Think about it. An empty
speaker cabinet or stereo receiver case is essentially the same size as a
complete one. Yes the weight will be less, but most of items that size are
calculated on 'dimensional weight', not actual weight so are commonly just as
expensive as shipping a 'complete unit'. Secondly empty component
cabinets have to be packed to disallow breakage, typically requiring nearly as
much packing materials as an entire unit. Speaker grills have to be 'sandwiched'
between foam sheets in large, custom ordered boxes (all relatively expensive).
It is what it is....
A non-response to an email of phone call /
voice message request for a part that we don't show on one or our
pages, or is already marked "SOLD" will be typical. We simply don't have the
time / man-power resources to respond to every query we get for items we
don't show as avail. Most folks get that. Having said that, I / we may
respond if we have information on a substitution or other useful information
relating to it.
A non-response to an email of phone call /
voice message request for a part (we may appear to
have, but typically 'highlighted in
Orange or Yellow'), likely means that we are still determining which parts we are going to
need for the restoration or repair of one of our units. Again, the parts
are first for the restoration of our units and secondarily for the public
market. Since we list the parts available for ourselves, it is not much effort
to modify the menu's for web publication, which in turn makes the reference
information and occasionally the part available to the public. Frankly,
publishing them to the web, in many instances, makes it easier for us to
determine if we have the part for our needs as well. The alternative to all of
the above would be to not offer them at all to the public, however most parts
are available to the public for sale. Also, parts requests can
occasionally take time for us to respond to. While we may have a part
listed, and we like to keep the website 100% accurate, occasionally a part
will be 'used by us' or 'previously sold' and we by oversight, and we did
not get the web listing marked "SOLD", or the part gets 'mis-placed'
or 'lost' (laid down somewhere in the warehouse(s) and then it get's lost
track of (that happens to our coffee cups all the time, then we find it
months later with 'a good batch of 'penicillin' growing in it), so we like
to 'lay eyes on it' prior to responding. Sometimes we just can't figure out
which cabinet or drawer parts were assigned to (and we're working on a
system for that one).
Some folks email / call and want us to respond either way / whether we
have the part or not. Again, we simply do not have the time resources to do
that. Our time must be utilized on the requests we can fulfill.
Sorry for all the excuses, but that's how the 'system'
(or lack thereof) works.
And, if
you don't see it, we likely don't have it.
Thank you for your understanding.
$20.
MINIMUM ORDER
