Aging / Business Updates
We're winding down 2024, and it's been a great first year! I want to thank you so much for your support, your patience, and for helping to grow our business and the community around RR. The year has gone by quite smoothly with the only struggle being keeping up with the pace of orders and figuring out ways to improve our day to day. We've learned a lot, and we have some ideas that will benefit everyone going forward.
The first step is to update our Aging Tiers
We did 2 polls via our instagram and both times +90% of our followers voted to re-design our Aging Tiers.
As of now our Vintage Collection is split up into 2 categories, VOS or Aged, but there is a huge amount of options across the board. From VOS, Light, Heavy or Custom aging levels, to Custom Serial Numbers, multiple Font Color options for Knobs, Tanned or Natural finishes for Accessories, Truss Rod Notch options for some Pickguards, etc. Not to mention every part has it's own unique aging styles and methods.
One thing we haven't emphasized enough in the past (and what we think makes our products so special) is: The Material Processing we do to every piece.
Wether it's VOS or Aged, the material of every item is processed to look "old" before we even start the finishing and aging processes - the material is processed to give it a much more vintage correct sheen, and it's hand finishing in the same ways the originals were. See Video
Basically there's a lot of time and effort put into each and every piece lol. Nothing is a "quick job" finished in 10 minutes.
When there's 50+ orders in line and some orders have 10+ items in one, it can be many weeks worth of work to get through them all. Which means long wait times for customers regardless of what you ordered, and less consistency in terms of the exact finish because each piece is finished individually on different days/weeks.
How we're changing it:
To improve this going forward we will be updating the website merging the VOS & Aged categories onto one page. Light & Heavy aging will also be merged into one realistic and naturally "Aged" finish (Light/Medium).
For every product you can expect to see the options of VOS, Aged, or Custom, and some product specific options as well.
This way we can eventually start pre-finishing VOS & Aged items in batches, meaning reduced wait times, some items being ready to ship right away, and also improving the overall consistency of all finishes.
Custom Aging will always be available for anyone who wants something unique and finished *exactly how you want*. There's No Limits with Custom Aging - From Cloning Real Vintage Parts, to Super Heavy Aged pieces with Warping, Cracking, Extra Discoloration, etc.
Realistic Relics - Custom Aged 1962 Strat Pickguard in Mint
We hope this comes as welcomed news for everyone. Our aim is to offer a steady balance between Retail and a Boutique Quality. We appreciate your patience as we continue to grow and make improvements wherever possible. Thank you again for a great 2024!
Please see the next blog post Exploring What Makes Vintage Look "Old" to see the inspiration behind our future Aging updates.
-Q