Bachelder's work continues to be stellar
 

This is recent work from Bachelder's team. I'm quite pleased.

What a beauty!

Good to see. I stopped in last month, first time since Brad passed. A few new faces but Parker and Lori seem to have a firm handle on the business. They are definitely busy, but that’s a positive. No one else I would trust with one of my firearms.

JDG

Good to hear. I have a set of barrels I am eagerly awaiting the return of.

Well...glad to see some Bachelder projects are progressing to completion. My Damascus barrels have been there for 2.5 years with nothing but excuses for the little amount of work that had been been done. Hopefully, per Parker recently, they are now on track with their completion but I’m still looking at 6 months away before I get the barrels back. Ugh.

Unacceptable IMO.






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What work were you having done to them? Thats a long time for refinish or even having ribs relayed, but if there was some major restoration work having to be done it is believable. I know Brads sudden passing got them behind, but they would have been there with Brad for over a year?

I only ask because that hasn't been my experience or the experiences I have seen from others. My previous set I sent them took 6 months instead of 4 because Brad said he didn't like how they came out and rebrowned them again.

Im going through the same thing two sets of my barrels are with someone else now for over 3 years sent from my PO 8/8/15 I feel your pain !

Wow!
Brad did several things for me and the turn around was within a few months. One job was fitting and re coloring a set of Damascus barrels to the VH Sherman Bell had his way with.

We know when we send a gun out for work that we are not the only customer they have and should never expect to be put ahead of others, no matter who we are or how much work we have had done there in the past.
That said, and that being something we accept when we send our guns, we should also expect that other jobs, no matter how big or small, should not be placed before ours.

There’s some idioms I learned early in my business life a long time ago...

LIFO - FIFO - FISH all refer to inventory control and they also should pertain to how a business takes care of it’s clients. Ideally, FIFO should pertain to gunsmiths.

LIFO = Last In First Out - not how a business retains it’s customers.
FIFO = First In First Out - the fairest way to treat customers.
FISH = First In Still Here - your business will soon be dead because of word of mouth of the poor way you treat your customers.

The owners of a business who work on the FISH principal have taken in far more work than they can ever hope to complete in a reasonable amount of time and this appears to be about where we are in the case of the shop we are discussing.

I am delighted with the quality of work Brad has done for me but Brad is, sadly, gone - though he did have a set of barrels of mine for about 2 1/2 years.

Once a gun is taken from the ‘holding pen’ and goes to a worker’s bench, and then on to another bench and so on, it shouldn’t take more than a few weeks before it is ready for rust blueing or color case hardening. Those two processes, in an efficently and economically run shop, will necessarily take the longest, waiting for other barrels, frames and small parts to also be ready for those processes and to make it an economically feasible process. Over a year to wait is unacceptable and indicates to me that, not only have they taken in too much work but they are also working on guns out of sequence or using the LIFO principal.






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I have a Parker Reproduction in for case coloring. They have had it over a year and when talking to Lori recently she thought sometime in the next 3-4 months. I don't have any problem waiting a little longer if it turns out looking like the colors of William's gun at the top of the post. They do very good work.

As a customer having decided who I wanted to do my work all I want to know is how much and when roughly it will be completed...those are both reasonable requests. It really is that simple....then do what you promised....you must be accurate in your determination of when work will be completed and the gun returned...if it's 2 or 3 years then dam it say so.... anything else is not good business no matter how good your work is.....

Going through that right now with a D grade. Delay after delay followed by the excuses then finally to be delivered at the last fall Tulsa show. Now I hope to have it by the Spring show but I ain't holding my breath.

Bachelders under Brad's leadership was very responsive and timely with all the work I sent them. I know from talking with Parker on a number of occasions that they have been working hard to clear a large backlog of work. The last project they did for me was a thorough work effort on my DHE. It took longer than the original estimate and I stayed on them until completion. They should by now have cleaned up their backlog. I will still consider Bachelders to be my first choice. Just remember that Brad was the driving force in their business. Quite suddenly Parker has been thrust into the position of leading their shop. No small challenge for anyone in a highly specialized business without the many years of experience of his father to be there to guide him.

I should have clarified that this gun is NOT with the Bachelders.

I've had two barrels done by Parker and they are outstanding!!! They were their almost 9 months but was caused by Brad passing. I recently sent them two more barrels and was told they'd be here by summer. Quality work is a slow process!!!

The barrels I had Brad do two years ago took almost nine months, but were worth the wait, as I posted on here shows. Unfortunately in Brad's passing they lost their leader and someone who also had great talent, a void very hard to fill.

Most of us are too old to wait three years for anything.

Forgive a simple detached opinion, But...

This thread is starting to smell a lot like another double gun site that requires disinfectant and a shower after visiting.

Sadly, Brad Bachelder died. His family is still doing great work, and trying to adjust the work load as best they can.

This thread was started as a tribute to their continued great work.

No jOke.

Thank you. The work Brad did isn't something that could be done by any gun smith, it required years of experience to develop and bringing new guys up to speed isn't something that can be rushed. He was a craftsman. We all appreciated his work, his attention to detail, and for those of us who actually spent time in his shop, he was a great guy.

Unfortunately, he died rather suddenly leaving Parker and Lori to take over everything Brad did along with dealing with their grief. The delays are not the result of being mislead, malfeasance or inattention to detail. I was in their shop last month and they are doing everything to clear the back log and get back on track. They deserve a break.

JDG

Then sell the gun and buy one that you don't have to wait to have restored.

I agree with others on this thread that this is getting ridiculous.

Brad did good work and was a perfectionist. That pursuit of perfection took time. The last time I had spoken with Brad he indicated Parker had taken over lead on the barrel refinishing and was an worse about the barrels being perfect then he ever was.

There are reasons guns take long a long time to be completed. The level of work required is a big part of that. I have a restoration project I will soon embark on with another talented individual and have been quoted 2-3 years for the total project. If you are having a barrel refinished it takes time, ribs relayed? more time, more than that.....even more time. Throw in Brad's sudden death and it gets even worse.

Dean you can't always go FIFO, Brad set up the process of doing the barrels in batches rather then doing barrels individually as they came in. He has said on this site the process works better that way for the barrels and for them from a business standpoint.

I am personally appreciative of the diligence involved, nothing would hack me off more then getting a nice set of barrels sent back to me only to see that after the 3 month intitial estimate there were issues with the refinish--as has happened with other barrel restorers....but heck you got your barrels back on time I guess.

I think the original intent of the OP, the member who was pleased with work he received from Bachelders, was simply to state just that. If other's felt the same way with work they have gotten from the current Bachelder organization, it wouldn't be inappropriate to say as much.
However, I find it in very poor taste to both use the OP's post to argue points which are the opposite of his, and to disparage the work of the organization the OP refers to.
I can speak first hand to being thrust into a position I thought would never come, and to be under the microscope of those expecting me to pick up precisely where my father left off, as though nothing happened within the company, nor any traumatic loss within my own family, and especially to me.
I worked for a man who was arguably one of the best in providing a technically challenging product, from drawing, to finished product. These weren't widgets, but high strength alloy, and stainless steel castings used in power generation, oil and gas drilling, and surface and submarine building. What everyone assumes, almost always incorrectly, is that the father teaches as well as he performs. That I was able to succeed was because I was paying attention. Some people learn by hearing a description of how it's done, and others learn by watching it being done.
As a businessman, and individual, who had experienced this, I had several long conversations with Parker about loosing a father, and being immediately expected to fill his shoes.
I think almost all of us have had a project worked on by a gunsmith. Many of us have had too many projects to even remember, worked on, and were glad there was someone out there to take those projects on. I wouldn't even begin to guess how many of us demanding customers are out here, and then guess how few good gunsmiths there are to service our needs.
Any organization worth going to, is going to be expected to do precisely what the customer wants, with zero defects; within an often unrealistic time-frame, and at a price they want, and often negotiated downward. Delivering one or two out of the three features; price, quality and delivery, is as good as failure.
A lot of dust collects on the stack of guns in nearly all shops, and being a little guilty of what a lot of customers do, I have no right to bitch: Guilty of leaving a gun, saying 'no rush, when you get to it, tell me what you think" lots of those customers don't even know what they want, but expect the smith to read their mind.
I spoke with Brad about a project I wanted him to tackle. He was forthright in his time frame; 5-6 months. Then he died. It hasn't been a year, and both the company, and a customer visiting the company, have told me my project is nearly done.
I sent Brad a gun many years ago, to have barrels finished, and re-case harden frame, and ancillaries. I told Brad, over cocktails a few years ago, in Baltimore, How much I liked it, and he thanked me and pointed to his son, saying "He did the barrels.

Let me clarify something. My comment was meant to be a humorous acknowledgement of our age. Not a slap at any of the gun smiths mentioned here.
I have the utmost respect for the Bachelder's organization, appreciate their work, and plan to use them sometime down the road.
I'm actually more impatient with waiting for the money to DO my projects, than the time it takes the 'smiths to do their work.

The last time I was in Brad's shop, he lamented the fact that it was so hard to retain good craftsmen. Now, with his passing, there is one less set of hands in the shop, so I assume their capability has been reduced, unless Parker has been able to find others to fill his Dad's shoes, which ain't gonna happen.

No problem Todd, I wasn't meaning to imply I was responding specifically to you.

Last I communicated with him he said part of the bottleneck involved getting barrel etching redone at the breech on barrels. He has a guy who does good work but Parker isn't the only one he does work for.

You got that right Jay!

Bill, I alluded to that kind of back-up in the barrel refinishing and color case harbening processes.

And the first set of Damascus barrels I sent to him for refinishing were unacceptable and I had to send them back to him twice. My point - everyone has to go through a learning process. It can be long and arduous. I liked Brad a lot and held him in the highest esteem and I think he liked me too and he knew I was a perfectionist.

It is not my intent to trash Bachelder Master Gunmaker but I do hope Parker or Lori read this thread if for no other reason than to know we all hope they overcome the many complications before them and our ongoing wish that they succeed.





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My sense is they already feel a tremendous amount of stress because they understand their customers expectations and don’t want to disappoint or tarnish Brads reputation. They are doing the best they can under the circumstances. Personally, I hope they don’t read this thread. They know now much his work was appreciated and understand the obligations that are outstanding.

My two cents. I too experienced delays and had a number of conversations with Parker and others at Bachelder's regarding my gun. It took longer than I had expected but found Parker to be doing everything he could to estimate time appropriately and deliver accordingly. I consider him to be doing a very admirable job considering what he and his family have recently experienced.

I posted the pictures to demonstrate that the work is still top notch and for me well worth the wait. I too am a businessman and I understand the arguments, all well made and on target as regards timing and meeting expectations. It also seems to me that sometimes we should make allowances... Of course it's our choice, but if we don't and they don't succeed that's one fewer option for us when we have need of expert service. Just one man's opinion.

They have had my M21 for over a year now, to reattach lower rib and blue the barrels. I am told it will be '2 more months'. If the work is done right I will be happy, but I would like it back for the coming duck season. I feel their pain in trying to find true craftsmen today. Just finding an hvac guy, painter, or sheet metal person is almost impossible these days. Skilled labor seems to be a thing of the past.
C.G.B.

If you want ribs relayed and blued I can recommend Giacomo’s. They relayed and reblued a set of DHE barrels for me and it took them 6 weeks to get them back to me. And this was right after the Grand so they had plenty of work. Granted, the barrels are Perazzi blue rather than Parker blue but what the hey.... some of the wait times you guys describe are totally unacceptable regardless of the gunsmith.

Hello everyone, this is Parker Bachelder.
I visit this site quite often as I enjoy seeing the enthusiasm shared for these great guns.
I appreciate all your feedback, positive and critical. It is crucial for myself to understand the concerns that may be outstanding.
I understand the trust that is extended by the customer to a repair facility and patience that is required over the duration of the service being performed.
It is my continuing aim to deliver a service that exceeds expectations in quality of product and customer service.
It is obvious that we have a substantial backlog though things are progressing at a very good rate. It has been nearly a year to the day that we have been without Brad. The challenges this past year has presented have been beyond my expectations, though that would seem obvious to most as Brad was a man of immeasurable talent.
It is true that filling his role will be a substantial task, I have remained relatively quiet on this forum as I would prefer our work to speak for itself.
My hopes are to continue to be thoroughly involved in your community, and to be a valuable point of contact for your service needs.
I will ensure that any concerns that my clients have are met with a timely response and plan of resolution until we are firmly resolved of overstated delivery dates.
Thank you again for your understanding everyone, I cannot overstate how grateful we are for the continuing support extended by this group.
-Parker B

Thanks very much for responding Parker. I was hoping you had read this thread and as it turns out, you had. I'm sure it was a bit of a sting to read some of the comments made, mine included, and I would guess an immediate reaction may have been a strong defense - but that wouldn't have been necessary - the quality of work coming out of your shop is defense enough. It is still some of the very best in the business.

I still want to send you some work but I'll wait until the back log is mostly cleared up.

Best, Dean





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Thank you Dean,
Your responses are tactful, no shop is without critique and we will continue to make improvements to our operation.
Myself and my staff will do everything in our power to maintain a reputation as an accessible resource, practice clarity in communication and improve our restoration procedures.
As someone said earlier in the thread, Brad's presence in the firearms world couldn't be understated. We're going to do everything we can to keep his name in high regard.

Not mine, but Parker just posted this on their facebook page of a set of 1895 CHE Bernards :clap:

Very nice absolutly 1st class work!!!

Is that a weep hole in front of the forend loop?

(edited for accuracy)




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sure looks like one.

That is the color I'm trying to achieve. Absolutely beautiful.