Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: MOTM

Hi all,

Since Paul S. just posted an update, I thought I might do the same.

Today I started work on the new Stooge website. The new website
will include an e-store with a shopping cart to make ordering
easier.

You will be able to visit the site by either going to
www.stoogeindustries.com or www.synthsystems.com. Please note there
is nothing there yet. In addition you will be able to order by fax
anytime or by phone during our regular business hours. The new
website will have lots of pictures and info.

We presently have in stock all of the bracket products with the
exception of the 3 hole short brackets. We have a new metal vendor
who is making up several hundred of these and should have them soon.

We also have some flat rail stock, but not a lot. We will be
ordering more of those soon.

We are completely out of endcaps. We will be making more of these
when we do the next panel run.

We are going to stock a number of stooge cables. You will be able
to order custom sizes and colors as in the past, but you may have to
wait several months until we have enough orders to meet certain
pricing breaks. Or you will be able to order from stock. We still
have to make the decision as to which sizes and colors we will keep
on hand. The idea is that if you are willing to take stock cables
you won't have to wait to get them.

That brings us to panels. We will be doing a panel run sometime
soon. We ask you to be patient. As we have posted before, we
intend to find a better way of doing this. At this point it looks
like we will build two dies and punch all 1U and 2U panels out in
house. That does not mean that all 1U and 2U panels will come with
all the holes punched out. What it means is that we will have the
option of doing that as long as the layout of the panel falls within
certain standards. Otherwise we will still offer a drilling or
milling service. Please note that we cannot stock blank panels with
the holes punched. But we will stock blank unmarked panels to speed
up the process.

Panels will still be available with the Synth Tech standard Polan
finish. We may also offer anodized panels. That has yet to be
decided.

We are going to run tests to see if we can make 100% Synth Tech
compatible panels using a laser engraver and some kind of wiping
process to fill the letters. If this works out we will be able to
offer 100% SynthTech compatible panels at a lower price than
previously possible and with much faster turnaround. If it doesn't
work out we will still offer SynthTech compatible panels but the
price will remain relatively high because we will still have to use
silkscreening.

We also do intend to offer some sort of custom panel service for
those who are willing to try something different. We will keep you
posted on what the options will be as we further develop this idea.

Several of you have asked about SKB backs. We have not yet decided
whether to continue with this as a stooge product. We need to
certify our new metal vendor in terms of quality and reliability.
If that happens we will examine the issue of SKB products.

Dave and I have a lot of ideas for expanding the stooge product
line. We will start looking further ahead once we are no longer
looking back.

We are still trying to tie up some loose ends from the passing of
our friend Larry. For those people who were having Larry do custom
work, please be assured that Dave and I will see to your
satisfaction at the earliest possible time.

Finally, I want to say a little about doing order fulfillment for
Paul S.

It has been a little over a year since my company started doing this
and we are still working some bugs out. We still run out of parts
occasionally, and as I think everyone knows we especially have
problems getting sheet metal work in a timely fashion. Paul and I
are pretty much in daily communication. We are still improving how
we do this. In the last few months we have been able to ship over
95% of the module kits we handle from stock. We hope to improve on
that in 2006.

I want to thank Paul for giving me the opportunity to help. It has
given me a great deal of personal satisfaction to be able to
contribute.

I also want to thank Dave Bradley and Jim and Marcus Hendry for the
opportunity to get more involved in the DIY community and for
allowing me to become a stooge.

And lastly thank you for your continuing patience. I promise it
will be worth it.

Paul Haneberg