3/29/08

The latest on our backlogged prewired assembly processing...

Well, we're still behind, and if you have a prewired assembly order waiting, then you know it. We thought we had it licked 6 weeks ago, but we got caught by unforeseen circumstances, and made some promises we weren't able to keep. We apologize if you've been affected by this.

We're anticipating shipment of the following orders over the next two weeks. If this changes, we'll update this section of the site daily to reflect our progress. Some customers have been promised dates previously that we haven't kept, but we have every reason to believe that we'll be able to keep this schedule now, or very nearly so. Again, we'll update the site daily to reflect our progress. Our apologies again to those customers affected by the delays.

2/17/08

New Callaham Stuff!

We've added a few new items from Callaham, including the various trem arms he sells. These come in several styles and lengths, so now you can get an arm just like you want. Also, we've added his clay dot inlay material, and American Deluxe trem blocks. You can find all of the cool Callaham products here.

2/15/08

Acme Guitar Works relocation

For those of you who may not know, Acme relocated from Bear, Delaware to Vero Beach, Florida at the beginning of January. It's been a bumpy ride for us, and we regret that unforeseen delays associated with the move precluded a speedy and efficient return to normal operations. This has caused delays in shipping orders, and has made it impossible for us to keep up with recent correspondence.

The distance involved with the relocation dictated a complete shutdown of the business while it was moved. We naively thought that we'd be operational again by 1/7/08, but because of delays in obtaining permits for the buildout of our new space, and consequent delays in obtaining a certificate of occupancy, on 1/7/08 we weren't even allowed to occupy the new space yet. Luckily, an adjacent warehouse was vacant and we were allowed to unload Acme from the moving truck into it.

Once we were in the new space, on 1/9/08, there was much to do. The first order of business was to get the warehouse prepared, shelving erected, and inventory unpacked. At the same time we were working with contractors to install power, lighting, compressed air, and Ethernet cabling in the warehouse, which had not been included in the initial buildout. This was chaotic, as we worked around each other, and around piles of boxes (actually about 15 pallets of cartons). We began shipping orders soon after we moved in, but the process was inefficient at best, being compromised by the fact that we kept discovering that we needed things that were still packed, somewhere, in one of the boxes in our warehouse, or in the adjacent warehouse where we still had many items stored. Every day was like Christmas, as we would open a box and exclaim something like "oh, there's the extra bag of shelf clips I've been looking for!".

The most difficult part of this, perhaps, has been dealing with correspondence, and communicating with customers affected by our delays. In retrospect we've handled this poorly, and we apologize to those customers who were affected. We were so inundated with correspondence, both email and voicemail, and we were already so overwhelmed with just getting Acme set up again, and getting on top of orders, that we've been unable to keep up with the correspondence. It has all been logged, and all will be replied to, but our focus has been on getting Acme operational and shipping orders, to the exclusion of all else. If you've been affected by our lack of correspondence, then please accept our apologies.

One result of our lack of correspondence has been that a few people have been speculating on the Internet as to whether we've gone out of business, and perhaps even absconded with customers' payments. Rest assured that this isn't the case. In fact, at this time we're 98% back on our feet, and we've shipped roughly 300 orders since the move. We're looking forward to a productive future in our new location, which, despite the initial teething problems, we're confident will allow us to be more productive and customer-service oriented than ever before.

Where we are now

At this time, we're caught up on orders with the exception of prewired assemblies, and orders that had backordered items. One consequence of being completely shut down for several weeks was that when we turned on the computers, there were several hundred orders waiting. This is nothing for an Amazon or Walmart.com, of course, but for a small company like Acme it was a formidable stack of work, and much compounded by the fact that for the first week or two after we re-opened, we were unable to work efficiently, and of course new orders were coming in every day. During the initial picking of these orders, about one order in two had to be set aside to wait until something was located, or set up, before the order could ship.

But that's behind us now, and we're operating at nearly 100% efficiency at this time. We've got a backlog of prewired assemblies, but expect to be fully caught up with them within the next week or so. There were a couple of systems that weren't operational that precluded the processing of these orders initially, so they were picked and set aside to await the completion of these systems, but they are now our main focus and will be dealt with expediently.

9/21/07

Suhr's Fletcher-Landau pickups arrive in "Classic" flavor!

For those of you who were thinking you wanted a set of the new FLs, but who worried that they might be just a tad too strong, Suhr introduces the vintage-flavored Classic model.

Haven't heard about these pickups yet? A little background: The new flagship of Suhr's highly-touted single-coil pickup line, the FL incorporates the best qualities of various vintage pickups in a single design. Designed by John Suhr in conjunction with input from LA studio legend Mike Landau and blues great Kirk Fletcher of the Fabulous Thunderbirds, the FL sounds big and full while retaining the detailed high-end sparkle and the big tight lows of the best vintage pickups.

Available in two versions – the vintage-flavored Classic, and the slightly hotter Standard.

7/25/07

Finally, we've added humbucker mounting rings and covers to the site.
About time, as we've had them in stock for months, but it was our little secret! Anyway, these genuine Gibson parts are now available here.

7/15/07

Suhr's Doug Aldrich signature humbuckers in stock now!
Check 'em out, in stock in all colors here! For you Aldrich fans, get the goods and get the tone (er, assuming you can also get his hands). Seriously, Suhr makes great pickups, and when he collaborates with masters like Aldrich and Landau, you win!

7/3/07

Callaham hardware in stock now!
We have added a full complement of Callaham hardware to our product line, which is available here. You may know that Callaham makes beautifully-finished pieces for Strats and Teles from stainless steel. This line complements our line of Fender hardware, as customers can now have a choice between authentic Fender hardware, or the finest aftermarket upgraded hardware.

All Callaham hardware is at the photographer's, so we'll have nice, professional images very soon, hopefully within the next two weeks.

5/11/07

Luxe capacitors are here!
Luxe makes the coolest reproduction capacitors from the '50s -'70s that we've ever seen. If you want that old-school look then these can't be beat. Many of them are true paper-in-oil, as they should be given the era they're copping. So if you think paper-in-oil sounds best, then these give you paper-in-oil plus a killer look. So have your cake and eat it too! Images coming soon, but you can check out this page to get an idea of how cool these are.

For Fender®
For Gibson®

5/9/07

Lollar Charlie Christian pickup for humbucker replacement
Here is a cool new take on the Charlie Christian pickup thing - a drop-in replacement for humbucker-equipped guitars. Currently stocked for neck only, but Lollar will make sets if we get requests. Get that jazz-box vibe from your solidbody!

5/8/07

US Postal Service Shipping!
We have finally found a workable solution that allows us to offer USPS shipping, along with the UPS shipping we've been using all along. The USPS offers several advantages, such as Saturday delivery; shipment to P.O. Boxes; shipment to APO/FPO; etc. They will be cheaper in many instances than UPS, but certainly not always, so we'll continue to offer UPS options. Customers will be given both choices when they checkout on our website, and they can choose the option that best fits their needs.

Domestic (U.S.) customers will see these options now, international customers will need to wait another day or so while we get the international rate tables built, before USPS international options become available.

5/6/07

Les Paul assemblies without pickups!
We have now added Les Paul prewired assemblies without pickups to the website. We've had numerous requests for this product, but have been unable to get it added to the site until now. We've added two versions: one that incorporates the jack and switch (with an optional solderless option), and one that includes only the pots and capacitors, so you can upgrade just the components you need. We'll add photos of them as soon as we can.

4/26/07

New Lollar items added!
We have several new products from Lollar that you should know about. We now stock Imperial Humbuckers in gold here (sorry no image is available yet). Now you can get that great Lollar tone in a color that complements your upscale guitar!

We also now have the nickel Imperials in both a low-wind version and a high-wind version, in addition to the stock output. Now you'll be able to tailor the output to your situation (call us if you want some personalized input on this). We have added these pickups along with the stock nickel Imperials here, so just select the output you want from the drop-down menu. We'll have these different versions in other colors soon, but in the meantime we'll be happy to special-order you a set, just give us a call.

Finally, we now have dogear shims that will allow you to change the height of your dogear P-90 pickups, to position them at the optimum string height. As you probably know, these pickups are not height-adjustable, so the only way to adjust their height is to shim them. Our shims are made by Jason Lollar in black and cream to match your covers. We have the black shims in two thicknesses, and the cream shims in one thickness. Get them here!

3/24/2007

Acme founder to write column for Premier Guitar Mag
Acme founder George Ellison has signed on to write a monthly column for the national guitar publication Premier Guitar (formerly known as Musician's Hotline). The column will feature information about guitar electronics and wiring, and will begin in the June 2007 issue. The name of the column is still undecided, but you can bet that it'll be something snappy, so you won't want to miss it! We know, the suspense is hard to take.

So keep your eyeballs peeled, there will be lots of good info. Feel free to email in requests and suggestions for anything you'd like to see covered. Articles will also appear on the Acme website in PDF form.

Acme announces resurrection of monthly newsletter
Acme's monthly newsletter, published every few months in 2004, has been languishing (for like, three years). We have decided to begin the newsletter again, and are in the process of sketching out details, so please check back for an update soon. We'll be giving away free stuff to some lucky folks just for signing up, so you won't want to miss out!

Feel free to email us with suggestions for content that you would like to see added to the newsletter.

Acme negotiating with Callaham to stock hardware
Acme is currently negotiating with Callaham Guitars to begin stocking their line of superior hardware for Strats and Teles. We know that a lot of people think very highly of Callaham (as do we), so we're very excited to expand our coverage from Callaham's pickguards to their full lineup of hardware. We think this will be a nice compliment to the Fender hardware that we've added. Please check back for updates on this.

Acme adding Fender hardware to website
After an absence of more than a year, Acme has decided to begin stocking Fender hardware again, and has some items available immediately here. Much is backordered at Fender, but as it comes in we'll be adding it to the website, so keep checking back and you'll see this section of the site continuously expanded.