Does anyone need some work?

[jdumars]

I got a request to do a couple of Euphonium bells with a coat of arms, pictures of a couple of kids, text, various Jewish symbols etc. I just can't do it. Maybe one of you might be interested in the job? Budget is $900. I have all the information in an email format I can send to you if interested. It seems like a lot of very detailed work for not very much money, but maybe someone has the time to do it.

 

[Ken Hurst]

Sounds to me as if they almost asked you to do it free. I wouldn't touch it for that kind of money. Ken

 

[Ray Cover]

Ya, The sad thing is that most people have no idea how long it takes to do a quality job that involved.

Ray

 

[jdumars]

Yeah, it's all done by machines, right?

The email has a particularly funny set of instructions:

I sent photos of the work I wanted done on the bells. To my surprise, the engraver in Queens, NY refused the job. It seems as though he usually engraves drinking cups. The kind of engraving I required was apparently beyond the scope of his practice. So now I am searching for a qualified engraver for brass instruments.

Please find photos of the horn attached

a) double-bell euphonium, small bell back (3 views)

b) double-bell euphonium, large bell front [This is the part to be engraved with the ROSENBLOOM family coat of arms] (1)

banner – “Excellence is the Result of Caring More Than One May Think is Wiseâ€￾

Star of David, Crown of the Torah, connection rope

on shield: long shofar (Jewish ram’s horn)

rose

lion supporters on both sides, Family name: ROSENBLOOM

[I believe I read something on your website saying that you generally prefer not to do lettering. I hope you will make an exception in my case because the horn is already disassembled and because you can engrave directly onto the raw brass.]

c) double-bell euphonium, large-bell, back (1 view) – This is the photo of my two nieces Gabby and Lexi.

The photos were not taken in a professional studio. The lighting, therefore, was not optimal. There is a 1 MB cap on this email server so I cannot send you the 4 different exposures I would like to.

If you decide to take the job I will send you four different exposures with the hope that you will be able to make an excellent composite picture, showing the perfect amount of detail.

Please engrave their names, Gabby (on the left) and Lexi (on the right). Use a nice “girlishâ€￾ typeface.

Let us pretend the have already had their orthodontist work completed. In other words, make their teeth straight and without any gaps, please. The upper front two teeth are the most important.

When I mail you the two bells I will also mail you a large portfolio containing enlargements of the attachments on this email. You should have absolutely no problems being able to see all the detail necessary to do a masterful job.

Yikes!

 

[Mike Bissell]

Yikes may be an understatement !!

 

[FANCYGUN]

Hey. I'm Jewish and and even I think that amount of work for $900 takes BELLS

 

[Tira]

Yikes, yikes! I think we've all had one or more of these special request jobs that would require a week or more time for pennies. It would take you quite a bit of time just to block the euphonium bell so it didn't shift.

 

[Ray Cover]

Gee wiz

How do you even respond to that? This guy only wants to pay $300 per horn and one has two portraits on it.
And he wonders why no one wants the job.

Wouldn't it be nice if the world really worked that way? Can you see walking up to the kid at the gas station and saying I want a full tank of gas, my truck washed (and make sure you scrub the wheels and undercarriage), wash the windows, fill the washer fluid, check the oil, and rotate my tires and when your finished washing it I would like all the dings ans scuffs in that paint to be gone and the budget is $9.00.

Sad thing is, after being turned down by every engraver he ask, he is probably going to walk away thinking all the capable engravers are gone and no one has the ability to do the job now days. It will be one more notch on the "Engraving is a dying art" myth.

Ray

 

[mdengraver]

Tell the individual what it will really cost!

Tell the individual what it will really cost! Then see if theyre are still interested. Just a thought!

 

[beegee]

Ask him how he wants to handle the balance of say, $2700....

 

[Steve Adams]

Give the potential customer a link to this thread so he can really understand why the money offered is unreasonable. Any engraver taking this job at $900 would either have no concept of time, someone desperate for work or someone doing a favor.

 

[jdumars]

It's nice knowing I am not the only one who saw this in the same light. My response to him will be, "I have shared the specifications of this project with a number of talented engravers, all of whom agreed the complexity and detail required on such a job vastly exceeded the projected budget."

 

[pilkguns]

yeah, you wonder if this guy is worth trying to educate. Some people have no clue of the work involved, and if they are explained the time involved, then the see the value and are willing to spend the money to create something that rightlfully will become a great family heirloom. Then of course, there are those that just don't get it and will always think you are trying to rip them off.

But what really got me was "make the teeth straight without the braces". I'm pretty good, but I'm not sure I would want to be involved with that aspect of it, But then, I hate doing people portraits anyway, which is maybe why I charge so much for them, cause I hate doing them.

 

[PAUL LANTUCH]

Try to do engraving for Tony Galazan, Conn. Shotgun Manuf.Co.. He pays even less for the time you spending on his guns. However many engravers considering that as a great honor to work for him.

 

[Christopher Malouf]

...and if the realization that the job breaks down to a buck an hour ain't enough ... customers still find something to biatche' about no matter how perfect you get it.

 

[PAUL LANTUCH]

Well, some times we are working for money, some times for honor, on some lucky occasions for combination of both. And for free if it is for friends and relatives.

 

[KCSteve]

Might be some folks who want to do it once so they can list it on their credits. Depends on what having that credit might be worth down the road compared to what you could have made during the time you're doing his job.

 

[monk]

i'll do the dental work, just the dental work for $250.00 ! without anesthetic ! thats $40.00 xtra !

 

[monk]

yeah, you wonder if this guy is worth trying to educate. Some people have no clue of the work involved, and if they are explained the time involved, then the see the value and are willing to spend the money to create something that rightlfully will become a great family heirloom. Then of course, there are those that just don't get it and will always think you are trying to rip them off.

But what really got me was "make the teeth straight without the braces". I'm pretty good, but I'm not sure I would want to be involved with that aspect of it, But then, I hate doing people portraits anyway, which is maybe why I charge so much for them, cause I hate doing them.

hey scott, maybe that's cause you only get the good lookin ones !

 

[Doc Mark]

Hey Monk,

Now your invading my space! I want to see your Dental License and your Board Examination results! We never charge extra for the anesthetic here in Virginia, unless it's Nitrous Oxide. Tell this customer that each individual aspect of the engraving job will be farmed out to different expert engravers on the Forum, according to their preferences and particular talents, and each will take $900.00 for their effort. That should come out about right. Except, maybe, for the bulino portraits.

Have fun holding that thing in your lap and carving away!

Y'all have fun now, ya' hear!


Doc Mark