Official Luthiers Forum!

Anyone else get this.
Good offer for me, nearly missed it because I hid SM subscriptions (FB clubs posted), it was getting like spam there were so many.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

I didn’t see a free invite. It was for free StewMax? That’s like 100 bucks!


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So far every year I let mine expire and they ultimately send me an email but I have not gotten one yet. They do send too many emails and their marketing dept should understand that. First thing I ever bought from SM was probably 1992-3 somewhere around there.I think I should be grandfathered into lifetime membership

I never saw such an invite. And I would doubt it if I did. I really like the membership thing. I don’t think twice about ordering stuff. Guess I’m a sucker for this kind of thing. But free membership? Doubt it

I let mine lapse for some time,.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

If you go to their website they are now saying a membership is $54. One of my clients was offered a free membership if he would purchase something so he bought 4 screws. Seems the value of membership is dropping precipitously.

Mine expires today. I think I'll cancel.

I've always maintained a membership so I could get small orders for repairs and such without worrying about shipping. When mine runs out I may have to rethink that.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

It seems at odds with the current state and costs of shipping products that SM would be reducing the cost and / or giving away the membership.

Maybe it’s just a loss leader?

Maybe there are folks responsible for the StewMax program that have specific enrollment metrics to hit? That seems too big businessy.

I live in Ohio and most things I used to get within 1-2 days. Lately I’ve noticed though that the estimated date for when the product will ship is never “today” or “tomorrow” as it used to be but is instead a couple days in the future.

I know they are also experimenting with chatbots in text messages. If I look at a product and then close the browser without buying I get a text asking if I’m still interested. It’s clearly a chatbot but I did reply once to a message about an out of stock item and got a message that seemed more human but was probably also the bot.


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Actually the cost of StuMax is going up.

Just checked my Order History. Last July my "dues" were $39.95, this July they were $54.95.

As Brad said, with shipping prices going up like a rocket, it is hard to see how they could lower Max rates. Still a good deal for me.

Too many times I'd place an order and the next day remembered something else costing me another shipping charge. You only have to order 3-4 times a year for the Max to begin paying off.

Also noticing more items on sale getting back near the quantity style discounts they used to offer.

I do actually miss the occasional emails from StuMac that had Trade Secret releases and I always watched. Only SPAM I ever got that I didn't try to stop!

I think there was a change in MGMT or ownership and hopefully they are working out the details of how to keep customers happy.

Even Amazon Prime is not at all what it used to be as far as shipping goes. What used to be 2 days to me is now more like 2-3 days to even get items to the shipper. Delivery from them is closer to 5-10 days.

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Brian R, Wood Mechanic
N8ZED

I got that email and took advantage of it. You put the StewMax in your cart, then one other item. The cart then shows the $54.95 credit. I got the fret nipper which was on discount too! Pretty good deal.

I never saw any such membership offer. Even though I am having to hang my apron, I probably would have taken them up on the offer —if only as a way of dreaming.

I’m a sucker for catalogs, but the shipping does hold me back.


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I got the SM email and a year's free membership a couple of weeks ago. Bought one fret eraser, got the full membership comped, paid my few bucks for the eraser.

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Peter Havriluk

I got the email and signed up. They did want my credit card number so they can automaticlly sign me up next year. If I don't tend to use it that much this year, I will cancel before it renews. I have gotten so I have most tools and such that I need. There have been things I would have ordered from StewMac, but the shipping cost was really high. I ended getting it from another vendor. It seems they are trying to lower prices maybe because folks like me are finding stuff else where for a lower price and cheaper shipping. Don't get me wrong, I want StewMac to succeed. They do have some nice things for luthiers. ...and, they are very good about replacing things if they wear out.

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com