Banjo Nirvana........G0766

[Ralph Lindberg]

S Balolia (Papa Griz) response is in-line with every on-line response I have seen from him through the years.
If there is a real problem, he wants it fixed

Two stores: I've related the story of my brief meeting with him before, where he told the staff to sell me the item at the advertised price, even though the sale started the next day (the flyer probably shouldn't have been down on the sales floor a day early)
The other, my wife ordered an "oak" tool box to store some sewing items in, she knew it would be oak veneer, but when it arrived some of the drawers insides (and only some) were not veneered. She sent it back and CS started waffling about it. We got a call from a CS rep where she started out a little belligerent about the return. I mentioned I was glad she had finally called back as I was about to call "PapaGrizz" and tell him CS wasn't returning our calls .... With the mention of the phrase PapaGrizz everything changed!

I would expect the 2nd generation banjo to fix these concerns.

[Roger Chandler]

I had never seen an online response that he has made before now.......there may have been some, but I was not personally aware of any. For him to come on this forum and address these issues tells me he is a stand up guy. That he cares about his customers. I think a word from him, sent down the chain to CS and tech would change the tone some of their responses have had.........just let everyone down the chain know, hey, we are going to work on this and get a new part produced, so give everyone who calls a positive response that when they are made, they will be shipped to every person who purchased the 0766, and send a correct height toolrest as well!

That would make this 100% on the banjo/rest issue. If they will tighten up on the QC inspections and shipping of loose parts, then their stock will rise in a hurry!

[Keith Outten]

Roger,

Shiraz Balolia has 391 posts here, as he said he doesn't visit the Turners Forum very often but he is frequently in the General Woodworking Forum.
.

[David C. Roseman]

I had never seen an online response that he has made before now.......there may have been some, but I was not personally aware of any. For him to come on this forum and address these issues tells me he is a stand up guy. That he cares about his customers.[snip]

Hey Roger, you need to get out more, over to the General Woodworking and Power Tools forum! As Keith says, Mr. Balolia has posted there many times, often to give input on the Grizzly machines he has the most personal experience with in his own hobbies. He is an outstanding guitar maker, and a very accomplished competitive marksman. So he especially knows bandsaws, planers, thickness sanders, and metalworking machines for gunsmithing, to name but a few. Don't know if he has an interest in taking up woodturning, but if he were to do it, he would no doubt be good at it.

[Roger Chandler]

Roger,

Shiraz Balolia has 391 posts here, as he said he doesn't visit the Turners Forum very often but he is frequently in the General Woodworking Forum.
.

Thanks Keith and David, as well. I had seen his guitars shown on the website and on their catalog. It is obvious the man knows his woodworking as being able to do high quality luthier work requires a lot of skill.

I am just glad he cares about his customers, and can put to rest feelings that some had they did not get what was advertised, so when he corrects these minor things, he will be all the more well thought of! Sometimes things get lost in translation with oversees manufacturers, I would imagine........I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt!

[Randy Red Bemont]

I'm glad the ball is "turning" in the right direction. It makes me feel much better.

Red

[hu lowery]

. . .

I am just glad he cares about his customers, and can put to rest feelings that some had they did not get what was advertised, so when he corrects these minor things, he will be all the more well thought of! Sometimes things get lost in translation with oversees manufacturers, I would imagine........I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt!

Roger,

None of us got what was represented. That is why you bought a new banjo. However, it seems that this was unintentional and will be corrected. I have been burned to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars several times. Once that has happened along with some lesser burns that were still in the thousands you get less willing to take chances on others' mistakes to your disadvantage being innocent accidents. I drove 3500 miles round trip to correct one burn and was going to drive around 1500 miles on two different occasions to correct a couple other burns. When the people realized they would be looking at me on their doorstep they corrected things themselves. I get my ducks in a row and cover my butt!

I wish I had my 766 sitting here and wasn't looking at two days of very hard work to put it back in place again. However, I don't regret covering my tail again. I have been disabled and on a fixed income for twenty-five years. $1500 isn't a small burn these days and unless Grizzly came through with the longer banjo I would have always had grave doubts about the safety of using a longer one.

I'm very glad for myself and everybody concerned including Grizzly that it is working out the way it is. They are going from a PR nightmare to a customer service homerun! I do think that is because of customer's raising enough noise that Mr. Balolia intervened. This is a win for everyone, customers who make noise when they are unhappy with legitimate cause, Grizzly for showing they can be responsive to legitimate issues, Mr. Balolia for being on top of his business issues. Grizzly will more than recoup costs of changes in customer satisfaction and increased sales. No losers here and that is always nice!

Hu

[Dok Yager]

Sorry - I do not normally view the Turner's forum, and was directed to this thread by an SMC member.

I hear the issues with serious turners and would like to fix them to make the G0766 be able to do more. Can someone send me rough dimensions of what how much longer the Banjo and the tool rest need to be? Don't worry about the heft - we will make them heavy duty.

Thanks for everyone's help.

Thank You Mr. Balolia for taking the time to address this issue! I too was given the boiler plate answer that this is correct and won`t be changed. I have said before I that I truly believe The G0766 is a world class lathe and can hold it`s own with anyone. Minor shipping issues and the "banjo" issue aside. Once these are addressed This IS a superb lathe! Thank you again for your attention to this.

[David DeCristoforo]

Apparently being able to make a good guitar does not mean you can also make a good banjo...

[Roger Chandler]

Apparently being able to make a good guitar does not mean you can also make a good banjo...

That was funny, DD!

[Roger Chandler]

Roger,

None of us got what was represented. That is why you bought a new banjo. However, it seems that this was unintentional and will be corrected. I have been burned to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars several times. Once that has happened along with some lesser burns that were still in the thousands you get less willing to take chances on others' mistakes to your disadvantage being innocent accidents. I drove 3500 miles round trip to correct one burn and was going to drive around 1500 miles on two different occasions to correct a couple other burns. When the people realized they would be looking at me on their doorstep they corrected things themselves. I get my ducks in a row and cover my butt!

I wish I had my 766 sitting here and wasn't looking at two days of very hard work to put it back in place again. However, I don't regret covering my tail again. I have been disabled and on a fixed income for twenty-five years. $1500 isn't a small burn these days and unless Grizzly came through with the longer banjo I would have always had grave doubts about the safety of using a longer one.

I'm very glad for myself and everybody concerned including Grizzly that it is working out the way it is. They are going from a PR nightmare to a customer service homerun! I do think that is because of customer's raising enough noise that Mr. Balolia intervened. This is a win for everyone, customers who make noise when they are unhappy with legitimate cause, Grizzly for showing they can be responsive to legitimate issues, Mr. Balolia for being on top of his business issues. Grizzly will more than recoup costs of changes in customer satisfaction and increased sales. No losers here and that is always nice!

Hu

,I think you pretty much summed it up nicely, Hu! This experience for Grizzly at least will make them better, and as customers we should get satisfaction.

I thought about you yesterday, with all you went thru for placing the 0766 there in your shop and then taking it back out. Hopefully, once they get the process in place for replacements to be sent out, you can place your order again.

[Walter Mooney]

I was on the phone with a gentleman at Grizzly's Technical Support group about an hour ago. I received my G0766 a little over week ago, and the crate was in shambles. Contents had clearly shifted -- part of the handwheel for the tailstock was sticking out of one end of the crate , and the styrofoam blocking that had been between the motor and the crate was sticking out of the bottom of the other end panel on the crate! One of the bolts that was supposed (I guess) to be restraining the tailstock during shipping was laying on the bottom of the crate. The other bolt was loose and thus did not restrain anything. There were several other things as well. But, I just had to know if it had survived despite these issues. I unpacked and assembled the lathe, turned it on, and found noticeable run-out in the spindle. There was also run-out in the live center.

I sent an email to GCS, with pictures, detailing every issue, and got back a form letter that showed a complete disconnect from what I had sent them -- as though my email had not been read. I called CS yesterday, who sent me to TS, who told me to have a list of parts I would need to fix the issues. I didn't have the manual in front of me. Studied it last night, called them today (brought it with me), and after getting my replacement parts ordered, I complained to the TS person about the tool rest height issue and the banjo issue. I got the response that many here have gotten -- "they" had gotten together about this, and "they" say both "meet specs", and thus there would not be any resolution to this design flaw. I get off the phone, go to SMC, and lo and behold see this thread and read it. WOW! I now have the feeling that there will be a resolution thanks to Mr. Balolia! So to you, Mr. Balolia, I say thank you very much. I look forward to a speedy resolution of this issue......

I'm not real happy about having to repair/rebuild a critical component of my brand new lathe, but the resolution of that issue is for another thread at another time. Stay tuned!

[hu lowery]

,I think you pretty much summed it up nicely, Hu! This experience for Grizzly at least will make them better, and as customers we should get satisfaction.

I thought about you yesterday, with all you went thru for placing the 0766 there in your shop and then taking it back out. Hopefully, once they get the process in place for replacements to be sent out, you can place your order again.

Roger,

As soon as I see the new banjo design and read how they plan to deal with existing owners I will either order a 766 or wait until the new banjo is on them if that is what I have to do. Definitely want the longer banjo. However, unlike a lot of people thinking about the 766 I have laid hands on one and at least turned it on although I never mounted anything on it.

The things I liked I really liked! A lot of the varying noise levels may be due to belt tension although I know that isn't the only issue people have had. I had some belt noise initially, after running the lathe awhile and swapping the belt from pulley to pulley playing around to see the maximum and minimum RPM's shown on the readout I adjusted the belt just a little snugger than motor weight since there was some drag on the motor bolts and I didn't want to meddle with them. The result was a whisper quiet lathe up to a medium speed, very moderate noise above that.

One thing that is pretty easy to do is have the belt one notch out of position and the edge of it hanging over the pulley, possibly another cause of noise not related to machine issues.

I'll be very glad to have my green and gray machine back! I never did like that mustard color anyway.

Hu

PS: David, that is just evil! I did laugh out loud for real though.

[Matt Schrum]

I just received the following-- word moved down from the top of the chain quickly!

Thank you for your reply.

We appreciate you taking the time to share your comments with us. We feel customer input is a valuable source of information as we continually strive to improve the quality of our equipment and service. We are working with the factory to fix the issue regarding the tool rest base and tool rest height. We are having a new tool rest base casting made that will be 5” longer and 1/2” shorter. This will take care of both the swing and height concerns. Once we receive the new tool rest bases, we will be shipping them out at no charge. Please note that this will take a few months to be cast, machined, and arrive from the factory.

[Mark Greenbaum]

I sure hope we all get that letter. It would warm my heart to know that Grizzly takes pride in its customer relations. So few companies anymore care beyond the initial sale. Thanks for posting Matt.

I just received the following-- word moved down from the top of the chain quickly!

Thank you for your reply.

We appreciate you taking the time to share your comments with us. We feel customer input is a valuable source of information as we continually strive to improve the quality of our equipment and service. We are working with the factory to fix the issue regarding the tool rest base and tool rest height. We are having a new tool rest base casting made that will be 5” longer and 1/2” shorter. This will take care of both the swing and height concerns. Once we receive the new tool rest bases, we will be shipping them out at no charge. Please note that this will take a few months to be cast, machined, and arrive from the factory.