Communication and Pricing:
Communication was above and beyond anyone Ive ever dealt with before. Todd was on the ball with emails and PMs. At first, I was a bit uneasy about sending the gun in as I was not aware of the history of this anodizing. I searched and searched and Todd made me feel a bit more comfortable about sending my gun in for anodizing. Everything was very straight forward and easy, from getting a quote, to discussing the job, to updates on the status, to the completion of the parts and pictures emailed. I havent gotten the gun back yet so I will finish the rest of the review when I do.
Pricing was very fair. I dont believe in posting the price I paid for the job as every job is different and I wouldnt want someone to expect to pay what I paid. So....I will say, that it is very affordable for anodizing and of the places Ive looked......THE cheapest.
Packaging and shipping:
You must follow the shipping tutorial on GBAs website. And if you plan on sending in....count your pieces correctly. I dont care if you are getting an aluminum wire detent anodized.....its a piece. Count it as such. Wrap your stuff up in newspaper and label it correctly. It will make everything go smoother for you and the anodizers as well. Dont expect to memorize how the items are preferred to be packaged.....just have your stuff there and the web page open and go through while youre packing your stuff up and follow it.
Shipping. Well, they use DHL, and you pay for shipping both ways. I happen to get a good price on shipping, so I sent my parts in fedex overnight on monday 8-21-06. They recieved the parts the following afternoon. 8-23-06. I included a prepaid airbill for return shipping again fedex overnight. I am arranging for pickup today for it to be returned to me. Edit: well, my fault. I wasnt aware that I would be unable to schedule a pickup through my company, so I had to ask Gruntbull to drop it off at a fedex drop place. They went the extra mile (actually ~30miles) to drop it off. I apologize again for that Todd, and it just shows how great these guys are.
Packaging on return was top notch. It was almost hard to get off, which is a good thing. No way in hell is your stuff going to be damaged on return unless it like falls off a truck and gets run over by a following car. Or a forklift jams a fork into your box. It was wrapped tightly w/ thick brown paper and taped up tight. Very pleased here too. Here is pics upon receiving my package.
Issues:
I had some dings in my body, grip frame, reg, and feedneck that I was aware of. They werent all that horrible. The worst one was on the left side of the body between the feedneck and LPR. I wasnt aware when I sent my gun off that GBA did metal finishing, but Todd contacted me and asked if I would like the dings finished for a small additional fee. It was very reasonable price too. If you go so far to get your gun reanodized...you might as well go the distance. So.....I guess if you call that an issue, that was the only one so far. I havent gotten the gun back yet, but I dont anticipate any problems.
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Now, an issue on my part is that I didnt know that the reg swivel and nut were type 3 anodized until after they got the gun. So I sent him an email to let him know, and he said it likely wont be a problem. The parts are only 12 bucks total anyway, so no biggie if it didnt work out. I will update, but I seriously dont think I will have any issues w/ tolerance on this part that an oring cant fix. That was my fault. Sorry bout that Todd. EDIT: Got the gun back and no leaks....none.. not even the type 3 swivel that was reanodized. Works great. Heres a vid
updated w/ new video.....dont laugh at me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-5IlDjGu88
Turn around time:
Well, they got the gun on 8-22-06 in the evening, so I wouldnt expect anything done right away. I wouldnt even count that day in the turnaround. So from that wednesday last week..8-23-06, until today..8-31-06 is how long it took to get pictures....So Im thinking the work was done on 8-30-06. That excludes transit time. Its overnight both ways, so I wont even count the transit time. So wow....amazing 5 business days.....
Gentlemen, thats just impossible to beat. I should have it back for the tourney on sept 10th.
Appearance of job compared to image included:
Id say it looks exactly what I was expecting it to look like. Need I say anything else. If you send a quality photograph or peice of material or equipment you want it to look like, Ill garuntee you.....it will turn out. I really like how it has a purplish hue to it. Very unique and sexy. Very pleased with the outcome here. I find myself staring at this ano job a lot. edit: those are little pieces of tissue on the gun. I got oily finger smudges all over it reassembling it.
Assembly and completion:
Some parts were screwed together already by GBA. Feedneck was already put on, reg was screwed together. I put all my internals back together w/o any problems at all. No leaks. Not even the type 3 swivel that I was worried about has a problem. First time I aired it up after putting it together, bam...perfect. Made a vid that I will put up later this week.
Suggestions/Recommendations:
I only have one recommendation.....Dont change anything from what you are doing now.
. GBA is THE PLACE to get your marker anodized. Great price, Great turnaround, Great communication......just overall awesome.
