WAS thinking that Ultrasabers were liars....

[Arioch Zamfal]

So I am pretty new to the custom saber world and this saber is the first from Ultra directly, but my fourth in the last 3 or 4 months.  I first bought a used saber from a different smith off of the auction site.  Got it in a week and loved it so I ordered one from the smith directly...(more to that story to come).  Then I held an Ultra at a con and really liked it, saw a used War Glaive on the auction place that came without a blade and got it rather cheaperly was impressed with the quality except the vertical groves actually make spinning uncomfortable so was disappointed by that but think the quality of the work is amazing (going to wrap that with something eventually and order a US blade instead of the one off my other saber so it has the nice look to it and the Guardian Blue stands out more).  So I decided the costume I am putting together for The Dark Empire should have a saber staff for it and ordered one directly from US.  Came today and it's amazing... Phantom V3 with 36" HGB make it a beast!  quality it awesome and I can't wait to get it out and swing it around!

Now for the part I said I thought US might be liars.... the former saber I ordered from the other sabersmith was through the auction site.  It listed a 3 day ship time and the way it was presented looked as if I was ordering that saber and not a stock photo.  Turns out it was and there was a 4 to 6 week lead time on the saber, which then turned as it was going to be longer, and then longer....and then other excuses (ran out of blade material) promise after promise it would ship... it took months...  With US, I placed the order 8 days ago, it was filled the next day and shipped, if I had chose faster shipping it would have been here in no time.  I thought for sure when I got the alert that it was being shipped that there was no way... after my last experience with that other smith and comparing it to US, I gotta say you now have a repeat customer who has his next three purchases already planned out.  

[Master Bluespike74]

Welcome to Ultrasabers Arioch.  Glad that you are happy with your purchase.  I own 3 US's myself and I am pleased with both.  I also have the War Glaive and I found it easier to do flourish moves when you hold the choke point. 

Please be sure to take pictures and post them as we are always happy to see what others are doing.  Also, you will find that once you get an Ultra, you will want to buy more and more and customize more and more. 

Have a great day and happy sabering.

Blue(bacca)

[Arioch Zamfal]

Thanks Blue, I hope to get some pictures with it tonight...I already have knocked out two ceiling tiles in our basement with it.  Not sure if I am going to stay with the 36" or downgrade to 32" or just cut them the length I want.  Hope the original post doesn't sound rude and I was posting with my 3 year old trying to play with the keyboard then, but I had just wanted to stress the difference in customer service from the first smith to Ultrasabers... seriously the first guy was months of lying, ignoring emails through different services, giving lame excuses, and then what came was nothing like in the pic.  It was to be a weathered saber, and it was but just barely.  Looks like he spent 30 seconds on weathering it, but it was no way as near as the pic.... I think that guy designs some really cool sabers, but I wont every buy directly from him again.  (plus the ultras just look alot brighter, which I think partly is due to blades.  IDK)

I just am amazed at the speed of shipping and quality, only compliant and its very minor,  is that I can't seem to get the coupler to thread in just right so the buttons are lined up when it fully tightened.  Sorta off kilter by 3/4 of an inch no matter what I do.  would like to have them line up or be on opposite sides, but if it can be done, I will figure it out as I play (errrr... train...yeah, train) with it. 

Thanks for the advice on the Glaive, I found that too, but sometimes I let my hand slide down the hilt... but you are right about the choke point.  I hope to get blade from US for it (couldnt' afford it and Phantom at same shot this past time), but I when I take pics tonight I'll compare them all.  Just can't say enough how pleased I am with this.

[Master Bluespike74]

We have some CDOP people here on the forum that feel the same way about the buttons not lining perfectly on the Phantom.  My recommendation is to use O-Rings so that you keep the tightness of the connection but gives enough resistance so that your buttons will line up.

Blue(bacca)

[Manroon]

Glad to hear of your good experience, can't wait to see some pics. Awesome on seeing your first Ultra at a con. I got lucky and met the guys at their booth during Wondercon. Sooo many.... sabers! It blew my mind. Literally. I didn't know what to do after I found that booth. lol

Also, sorry to hear about your bad experiences with that other smith. I don't want to get too deeply into another smith's stuff, since this forum is attached to Ultra's store, but if that's the smith I think it is I've heard a LOT of similar stories about him.

[Arioch Zamfal]

Yeah I didn't want to name who it was. People can prob figure it out if they really wanted especially when I post pics later but my purpose relating what I did is not a dig at him, although I will share my experience when someone asks me if they should get one of those ones like I have. I have no ill will against the guy, heck I wouldn't have even minded waiting had the guy been upfront from the very beginning and answered emails and such.  I was just trying to say how awesome of service I got from ultra and I am pretty pumped about the phantom.

O rings...check!  Didn't think of that!  Thanks!

[Manroon]

I could tell. Have to admit I'm looking forward to those pics as well though, horrible service aside that guy's stuff is supposed to look awesome.

[Akos_Amun]

I think it must be hard to be a saber smith if you don't have a dedicated, knowledgeable, enthusiastic team to help. Can you imagine how hard it would be to keep the number of customers Ultra has happy if it was just one or two people? That would be so hard. I know i would start feeling overwhelmed at the prospect. I think it's important to take some kind of business relations course or something similar so you understand how to set up communication between yourself and your suppliers and your customers. If you can't keep track of your supplies to stay ahead of orders it can quickly become a nightmare for everyone.

Luckily Ultra and his team are like a well oiled machine and do everything they can to be sure things are fair and satisfactory. Glad to have you as part of the community! I hope you will enjoy yourself here.