matta
Well-known member
Hi Guys,
Just looking for some input/advise/help.
As many of you know I closed my studio down last month and have been making a living (if you can call it that) this month from doing tech jobs, mainly servicing amps, pedals and the like. 90% of the time I am able to to completely diagnosis and fix the problems... but there are times I can't or it is beyond the realm of knowledge/control (i.e digital devices/proprietary parts etc).
Case in point... Today I had a client bring me a digital pedal. I checked out all the voltages, followed it from the DC/AC jack thought the didoes/recifiers and IC's, all the voltages checked out fine... that took an hour, to disassemble the pedal, take the readings, do some basic trouble shooting and write up a report.
So while my diagonis did not lead to a fix it did enable the Line 6 agents to make an assement based on my report that the problem doesn't lie in the PSU where 90% of the problems do and they may well just replace the whole PCB as they won't expend the time tracing down the problem on the digital domain (it is all SMD).
Now my question is how do you deal with that? I feel bad charging since I didn't repair the unit, but I did give an evaluation and write up on the process I followed and then stopped because they was little more I could do at the point, which took time.
In the end I charged the client half my hourly bench time to be compensated for the hour + I worked on the pedal.
Just wondering how those that do this for a living deal with these issues? I often get phone calls from guys saying X or Y is broken, how much to fix it? It is hard to make that assessment without SEEING the unit, and then what, do you charge for an initial assessment, because it still take time, even if you don't fix it.
Would love any thoughts or input on the issue.
Thanks
Matt
Just looking for some input/advise/help.
As many of you know I closed my studio down last month and have been making a living (if you can call it that) this month from doing tech jobs, mainly servicing amps, pedals and the like. 90% of the time I am able to to completely diagnosis and fix the problems... but there are times I can't or it is beyond the realm of knowledge/control (i.e digital devices/proprietary parts etc).
Case in point... Today I had a client bring me a digital pedal. I checked out all the voltages, followed it from the DC/AC jack thought the didoes/recifiers and IC's, all the voltages checked out fine... that took an hour, to disassemble the pedal, take the readings, do some basic trouble shooting and write up a report.
So while my diagonis did not lead to a fix it did enable the Line 6 agents to make an assement based on my report that the problem doesn't lie in the PSU where 90% of the problems do and they may well just replace the whole PCB as they won't expend the time tracing down the problem on the digital domain (it is all SMD).
Now my question is how do you deal with that? I feel bad charging since I didn't repair the unit, but I did give an evaluation and write up on the process I followed and then stopped because they was little more I could do at the point, which took time.
In the end I charged the client half my hourly bench time to be compensated for the hour + I worked on the pedal.
Just wondering how those that do this for a living deal with these issues? I often get phone calls from guys saying X or Y is broken, how much to fix it? It is hard to make that assessment without SEEING the unit, and then what, do you charge for an initial assessment, because it still take time, even if you don't fix it.
Would love any thoughts or input on the issue.
Thanks
Matt