New Custom Order product - Draft for feedback

[adam]

We've got a draft Custom Order product ready for testing if anyone wants to take a look and provide comment (on this thread).

Here's the Test Product:

http://www.pitbullguitars.com/shop/guitars/custom-lp-1-electric-guitar-kit/

Feel free to put some test orders through, using Cheque as the payment method. Don't worry, I won't be chasing for you for the cash... any orders coming through for this product will be considered a test and deleted.

Let us know about the:


ease of use
options included
options missing
checkout experience


Any feedback will be appreciated.

Once we have this one product nailed, we will have one of these for every body shape we do.

[pablopepper]

This is what I get when I click on the link...
http://i.imgur.com/rWfAGE4.png

[Andy40]

Same here Adam

[dave.king1]

404 error here too

[stan]

404 error for me too

[adam]

Apologies, I forgot to take it off Private.

Should be ok now.

[Tweaky]

I'm not 100% sure, but I think the pickup routing might be different for P90 pickups depending if they have soapbar covers or Dog Ear ones.
With the soapbar ones need to be routed deeper.
Not such a biggy with a solid body, but if wanting P90's with a ES-1 KIT for instance, it would mean routing the neck tounge, or making it thinner, so the the neck pickup would fit under the strings....I've had to take around 7mm off mine.

But then again, I don't know if you intend to offer that option with semi kits like the ES-1

Apart from that, all options I can think of are covered in the choices give.
I was going to ask for a option to have head stock binding, then remembered that on the vast majority of kits, that is left up to the builder.

[Simon Barden]

Looks good in principle. Issues I've found are:

1. Body Routing - if left blank (as the wording implies it selects the default option), it creates an error message when proceeding to checkout and you need to type something in.

2. Some items have asterisks against them. though there is no indication of why. By a process of leaving the options unselected, it was clear that the items with an asterisk needed to be selected or you got an error message. But for the other items, had they been left as 'select an option', there would be no indication as to what you were getting by default. On the Cart page, it then only lists out the items specially selected, and does not list the default items. So I'd suggest either making it necessary for all the options to have been selected (as every selection would be user driven there could be no comeback), or else on the non-asterisk ones, to show the default option instead of 'select an option' and also make sure that the default selections are listed on the cart page.

3. A trickier one, but there is an option for a Floyd Rose routing, a locking nut, but no actual FR trem. Is this an oversight or isn't one available? If not available, then a note to say the customer is required to purchase their own FR style trem would be useful. If it is available, then there needs to be an option for this. This would also need to take into account that even 6 and 7 string FR copies are probably different prices, and that if a 12 string neck had been selected, then selecting a FR nut would cause an error message. Also, selecting a 12 string neck and a FR routing should flag up an error too.

4. Pickups. If 'other' is selected, it's fine adding notes on the checkout page but there's no way to add the different pickups into the cost of the guitar. Not sure how different Australian consumer laws are to the UK, but if I'd put 'Entwistle Bridge and neck HV58s' in the notes box, and the payment system had taken my money, I'd have a strong case on the basis of offer and acceptance, for expecting those to turn up. Wouldn't it be simpler to say "Other (order separately)".

5. Near the top of the checkout page. there's a tick box where it says 'returning customer'. Having bought a kit and was therefore a returning customer), I ticked this, but I obviously didn't create an account the previous time (though I thought I might have) and was told my email address wasn't recognised. Maybe change the wording to 'Existing Pitt Bull account holder' or similar? Stops any confusion (which is never nice after you've taken some time to pick your guitar options).

That's it for now.

[bobby_boy]

A quick one with the fret options. If you pick the option to have a zero fret, then you cannot pick 22 or 24 frets. If you option for a zero fret can you still get 24 frets?

[Simon Barden]

I'm not 100% sure, but I think the pickup routing might be different for P90 pickups depending if they have soapbar covers or Dog Ear ones.
With the soapbar ones need to be routed deeper.
Not such a biggy with a solid body, but if wanting P90's with a ES-1 KIT for instance, it would mean routing the neck tounge, or making it thinner, so the the neck pickup would fit under the strings....I've had to take around 7mm off mine.


All true, and P-90 dog-ear routing on a semi- or hollow-body guitar would a be nice option (though not sure how far away this would leave the pups away from the strings on some of the kits, on an ES-3 you might need some shims as well). But for me this leads on to the question of whether P90 routing is available at all on this particular body? So if there are options for P90 soapbars and P90 dog-ears, then it would be best to list them, rather than add a note and assume it can be done. Is there also a mini-humbucker routing option if you wanted to do a LP Deluxe style guitar for your Thin Lizzy tribute band? (Not sure if this is different from a P90 rout or whether they are compatible).



And thoughts of P90s then led me to the bridge routing option. If you wanted to fit a wrap-over bridge, then you wouldn't want any stop-bar holes drilled and ruining your nice veneered top. Is this an option?

[adam]

Thanks for the great feedback, I'll collate all of this and work on Draft 2 when I have some spare time.

Keep the comments coming..

[wazkelly]

Seems easy enough to use.

Only thing missing that may be more relevant on F styles is more choices for scratch plate colour as well as colour choices for control knobs. In fact a selection of control knobs could be handy rather than factory defaults that come with the kits.

[andrewdosborne]

Hey Adam, I've just put through a test order. Maybe have an option for wrap-around bridge as previously mentioned by Simon. Dropdown for pickups would be nice but not sure how many combinations you would need. The checkout seems to work okay no issue

9mm for tuners option, is this for vintage sized machine heads? They usually require 8.75mm holes. I think 8mm maybe more suitable as an option then the buyer can enlarge if required with a reamer