The Zinky Superfly blog

An unprecendented number of emails were exchanged on 16 April 2008, this one being far from the last.

I requested costs for the unknown areas and mentioned my willingness to pay for the most straightforward shipping. Back, finally, came some of those costs - see part 22.

Finally some costs for the amp shell...

However there's a little doubt there as to whether there is one available quite as easily as I'd expected, considering that the Superfly was/is still advertised as being in production.

Also, I shouldn't need another reverb pan - I've already got two which work as well as each other!

Finally some thoughts on biasing that rather went over my head. $60 for a new set of power tubes should sort things out though. I hastened to respond - see part 23.

We finally seemed to be getting somewhere after 7 days of exchanging emails.

I pointed out I shouldn't need a new reverb pan and tried to summarise the known costs.

Bruce's reply was still on track, fortunately - see part 24.

Bruce confirmed that I should send one of the reverb pans and some gave useful information about likely shipping time.

I still wasn't sure about the power tube explanation, but if Zinky could supply some tested tubes (especially having my amp to test them with), that should be fine?

I never did get the shipping cost, so after a few days I made my own enquiries and let Bruce know - see part 25.

Not hearing from Bruce with a shipping estimate from his end, I figured I couldn't establish a shipping cost myself until the amp was fully packed, so I proceeded with that.

Several layers of heavy cardboard, foam packing and parcel wrap later, it was fit to send (see picture). The cost was tolerable for an amp of that value, as long as it got there OK.

Figuring I didn't want to get stuck with import duty when the amp was shipped back to me, I checked with Bruce. His reply was initially of some concern - see part 26.

The start of Bruce's reply was frankly bewildering - I'd told him the amp was all packed ready to ship and he's now suggesting I pay someone to hack out the transformers?!?

The email did however conclude with an address for shipping the amp to. So I did just that - see part 27.

There did not seem to be any point in re-thinking the costs some more so I got the amp sent off and let Bruce know.

I earnestly hoped that once it was at his shop its mere presence would command attention and I could get it back within a matter of weeks.

Early indications supported this (see part 28) but in the long term, how wrong I was.

Within a week - some good news. My amp had arrived safely and Bruce "recognised" it - at least by reputation.

The date was 29 April 2008 and Bruce could finally get his hands on it and do the work that we'd been discussing - in effect - for a year and three months.

I had one or two questions that I thought Bruce could answer now the amp was with him so I fired them off - see part 29.

I indulged my curiosity with a couple of questions to Bruce, not that the answers were that important now he had the amp.

The missing serial number is something of a mystery to this day, though.

Bruce's response was plenty encouraging though - see part 30.

Here's the first expression of dissatisfaction with the ill-fated reverb transformer, but why worry? Bruce is working on the amp that very day.

Naively perhaps I took this as an indication that the work could be done in the sort of timescale I'd previously imagined.

So I left it a couple of weeks before wondering how they were getting on - see part 31.

With my naivety still in effect, I had been expecting to hear of some progress, so thought I'd give them a nudge after a couple of weeks.

The reply took some days to come back, but it was at least positive - see part 32.

This looked OK, "we should be able to ship it this week, or early next" - wow!

Glad they're able to fit the work in, long may that continue.

I wasted no time in expressing my appreciation - see part 33.

I wasn't quite sure if an actual fix had been done for the reverb so I asked again.

This time I didn't get a reply, so chased them up after another month.

There was no answer in June, so I tried again in July.

Weeks are going by and I'm getting very used to my backup amp, which not surprisingly is giving me no problems at all.

A week after my July email I get a reply - see part 34.

Well, you can't hurry a perfectionist...

At least that's what I put the delays down to at this stage, so my response was consistently appreciative - see part 35.

I acknowledged Bruce's previous email... and then another month went by with no indication of completion.

So I fired off another upbeat enquiry. The reply was - at the time - equally upbeat - see part 36.

Hmm... so everything's done and the new case is ready to install the chassis for shipping back?

I wasn't sure whether everything really had been covered (no pun intended) so I asked for confirmation - see part 37.

So here's a short but complete list of what I'm expecting - again.

Bruce has had the amp for three and a half months, so none of this should be a surprise, right?

We should really be on the homeward straight, yes? Sadly not - Bruce did not reply to this email at all so a month later I was in a less optimistic mood - see part 38.

So as of 19 August the amp was all but ready, but more weeks have gone by with no news.

Well suddenly it looks like we're into a slightly different problem - see part 39.

Has Bruce identified an old problem more precisely, or is there a new problem. Whatever, it means more work, hence the delays.

At least the rest of it works "perfectly" now.

However, no info on the other aspects of the work that I mentioned in my previous email. A reminder is required yet again - see part 40.

Still trying to be polite and understanding here.

So what about the other stuff? Well, there was no reply to my last email of September so another month later I tried again.

See how I actually think the amp is within days of being ready to ship back!

But there was no reply to that mid-October email, so I tried a third time at the end of October.

Finally I get a response, and it's somewhat self-critical - see part 41.