Zinky Superfly blog - Part 50: Call 7

So this call didn't go particularly well, both of us lost our cool and nothing was achieved except that some of my suspicions concerning the commercial viability of the Superfly were confirmed.

As of October 2009, there are several retailers in the US and UK advertising "new" Superflys in stock or to order. If you've read this far, you would be expected not to want to buy one at any (low) price.

I decided that calling Bruce was no longer effective, so sent him a terse email with a few reminders - see part 51.

Telephone call on 31 March 2009

Bruce:

  • Apologised that no further progress had been made
  • Stated that he needed to remove one (or both?) of the transformers
  • Explained that this was causing a delay as they were firmly glued to... something
  • Needed a tool to address this
  • Couldn't find it as his workshop needed putting in order
  • Was proposing to do that before spending any more time on my amp
  • Wanted to get the amp fixed and out of his workshop so I would no longer be calling him up and "bitching" at him (his word)
  • Admitted that the Superfly was such a complex design that it ended up costing so much to manufacture than he couldn't make a profit on it at the advertised price
  • Denied that the Superfly was still offered for sale
  • Was surprised to be told that it was prominently featured on his web site
  • Made some more grudging apologies
  • Hung up on me