414 B-ULS Repair Quote

bmg

Member
I have an AKG 414 B-ULS that was damaged in a flood a few years ago.
It's badly corroded and rusted.
I was quoted a price of $2,000 to repair it, which is about $500 more than they can be had on the used market.
Is this usual - for a repair to be more costly than a functioning one?
 
Absolutely, your repair is not uncommon as many people prize them, so you have the cost of the parts and the cost of the time to do the job. The price of spare parts has always been far more expensive than the 'whole'. For the price of a second hand one, that might easily be not even the labour. Workshop time here could easily be £50 an hour- about $70. A couple of days work plus the parts cost? That 2 grand seems pretty accurate, I'd have thought.
 
Makes me wonder if it's at all worth it.
All new parts, all new framing - is it the same mic I originally bought?

Also makes me think if these mics are in such demand, why doesn't AKG reissue them (and others?)
 
I have an AKG 414 B-ULS that was damaged in a flood a few years ago.
It's badly corroded and rusted.
I was quoted a price of $2,000 to repair it, which is about $500 more than they can be had on the used market.
Is this usual - for a repair to be more costly than a functioning one?
This mic probably needs everything replaced. Might as well just get another one.
 
Gee, given a choice of repairing it for $2000, or buying a used one for $1000-1300, I know which route I would take.

I've got an old Shure 55 mic (the kind with the 3 impedance switch) that was in my basement when it flooded. I tested it, and it was toasted. Some thought was given about trying to get a new capsule, but what's the sense in that. It wouldn't be the same mic, and a new one is only 200 bucks.
 
What struck me as odd was the bench fee was mentioned only after I declined to have it binned and sent back to me.
 
That's quite common these days. Figure $100/hr and then postage if they have to ship it. The fee is usually rolled into any repair cost. However, it should be stated upfront that estimates result in the bench fee if a repair is not done.
 
Don't think it was, or I would've had second thoughts about sending it.
(You know, bin it - right into their parts drawer.)
 
Be realistic guys! A watchmaker friend says he gets water damaged watches in all the time. Usually they’re personal items with deeper meaning. Most are in every sense, junk. Buy a new one or a second hand one. He hates it when people say no, I want it fixed. It always means at least a few screws need drilling out, re-tapping and replacing. Some parts are too far gone for repair and need replacing. Some of these parts have to be sourced from abroad, if available. Often he has to make new parts from scratch. Others need modifying from current parts making them fit. He calls it fettling.

Then you need to look at how much labour really costs. Plumbers and electricians, the guys at the main dealer who fix your car. I’m repairing a 55 year old radio for a customer. Sentimental value. She’s in no hurry, so I have agreed to do it in my down time at a lower than normal cost, but I have spent more than the radio currently fetches on ebay so far on the parts, and that’s just the audio section so far. A few things in the RF section are not available, or will be a real bodge to make fix. So far I think three full days have been wasted on it. I’m just looking at an invoice for three days work for a live event, £720 plus 20% VAT. I feel unable to invoice a little old lady at the real price. Hence a down time rate.

nobody should be emotionally attached to a microphone, so it’s simply a business decision. For me it would be junk it, although I have always wanted to replace a decent mic’s innards with a stage pyro and video it exploding for YouTube. “hey guys, I turned phantom on and this happened….”
 
Buyer beware - I was charged an $85 bench fee, which I was not aware of beforehand, but fool me once, etc.
On top of this, I was charged a $50 shipping fee to get it back - when this cost me all of $11 to send it.
(Mic repair is a lucrative business, I see.)
 
I think you are out of touch. Here in the UK I send quite a lot of expensive gear to customers. When I have a product that costs near a grand, I've just tried shipping from my house to my mums house, a 414 sized parcel with it's value filled in for insurance and its more than what AKG offered you - £47!!. I have a bricklayer here too, and he would do two hours work for what they charge?
 
You said it cost 11 dollars to ship to them and fifty to get it back. That is your choice. No way would I send an expensive mic belonging to somebody in the post without FULL insurance, because if it gets lost or damaged it’s my problem. You can send it to them and hope, that’s your choice. Theirs is safety! A grands worth of mic in the post on a wing and a prayer, and an careful/honest chain of people?? Really? Only this week I sent a 500 pound unit to and address in southern England. UPS delivered it …… to Scotland. Customer in England cross, and luckily I covered the item. Was your total 130 Dollars? That sounds good to me!
 
We do things differently here in America - USPS insures each item if you declare a value at shipping, which I did.
 
The question is about what they considered the safest? Was it USPS, or Fedex, UPS or the others, and based on UK prices, I see nothing unfair about this. You can send by any service you like, but they choose the return, based on their own experiences, and the hassle of losing somebodies prize mic makes not just money, the key. We have one in the UK - if they lose it, they pay - kinds of an insurance solution, but you'd rather have the item.
 
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