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Rick, I've been playing double bender guitars since '83. 5/6 gigs a week, on bender guitar and pedal steel. Retired from the club scene in 2,000. Amortization is not really an issue. The initial cost is the issue. You could amortize any extravagant purchase given enough time. On one hand you have a fistful of parts, and a router template. On the other hand, you have more precision-machined parts than you could stuff into a bushel basket! All made from very expensive billet stock. Expertise, and experience, in putting both together is a given. If the bender parts were put on CAD, you could go to any machine shop and have them cranked out. You could get 25 complete sets in probably half a day. Probably around $50 or less per unit in parts. There are hardly any parts, comparatively, in a bender.
Another thing that gets me is the time factor. 9 months? 11 months? I hope they don't have your guitar for that length of time! I'm thinkin' that you are on a waiting list for that time, and only send your guitar in about a week ahead of the scheduled installation. Under pressure, I can assemble a D-10 steel in a long day. But we usually worked at a more serene pace, taking a day and a half to two days to complete a guitar. If we were busy, and had a backlog, or were waiting for parts from the machine shop or polisher, you might have to wait up to a month.
I can completely understand being a fan of people (C.White, D. Gatton, Jeff Beck, L. Green fan here), or products (total old Shobud geek am I!), but that doesn't mean that I should pay too much for a product of their vision, talent, or expertise. What is "too much?" Obviously what the market will bare. We bender guys are a pretty small niche market though, and that has a great effect on costs. I wonder if the units for Fender and Hipshot are machined one at a time??? I have no idea about that. But, and here's a big butt, there's no incentive to reduce any prices when guys are willing to wait a year, and pay the high price.
No disrespect meant towards anyone, just a business/manufacturer viewpoint,
Best,
JB
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