Tom, Thanks for the education!!! I had always wondered just what the differences were between a quality head and a "cheap" head, and now I know. I assume that your components will be made to the highest quality standards, which will obviously cost more, but will well be worth it to me. As I've mentioned SEVERAL times, I can't wait to see the TW line of components! BTW, can you give us a general idea of the prices for your new iron lines? I'm guessing cast 431 heads around $10-15 per head, with forged in the $25 range or so. Obviously, the woods will cover a much greater price range, and I can wait for the catalog for that info. Thanks.
Tedd -----Original Message----- From: tom wishon [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Thursday, December 19, 2002 10:31 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: ShopTalk: Production Differences for a buck and change TEDD: Your comment about the $5 difference hit a chord with me because it really coincided with some of my work in the past year +. One of the most interesting parts of clubmaking to me is the design and manufacturing end. In this past year I really had the chance to 'get inside' this side of the golf equipment industry because I was asked to be a consultant for two of the larger clubhead production companies in the world. One of these foundries makes about 40-50% of Taylor Made's heads, the other specializes in several methods of forging in both carbon steel to high strength steel to beta titanium. These two companies wanted me to come into their companies primarily to help them learn more about materials for head design/production and to suggest better ways to use mechanical means to ensure quality. While in my stints at GS and Dynacraft I had opportunities to visit many foundries as part of my product design work and see big differences, this past year when I consulted I REALLY had the chance to get to see deep inside a foundry and see exactly what the costs were for all the extras that they both wanted to do to ensure quality. Among the clubhead production factories in Asia where 100% of the component industry's heads are made and 80% of the OEMs, the difference in cost of a common investment cast stainless iron varies by something like $1.50. In short, when you talk about a $1.50 cost difference in an investment cast stainless iron from the foundry's price to the head sellers, you are talking about a HUGE difference in what goes on with that head in terms of overall quality. Even $0.50 is a tremendous difference in terms of what the foundry does. Things like the price from the company they contract with to make the masters and wax injection dies. Things like whether a head on its production run gets 15 different check station points or 2 to 3 as it moves from wax to packaging. Things like whether each head is bend checked for loft and lie or not. Things like whether 100% of the heads get weight checked or just 5% of them. Things like whether you insist the heat treatment facility uses smaller wire baskets that allow no two heads to touch each other while in the oven, or just piles heads on top of each other in large baskets to get more into the oven at one time, thus causing the mechanical properties of the steel in each head to be inconsistent. Things like lab testing of a cut section of the casting tree to watch the material and mechanical properties of the steel. Or lab testing of the actual heads vs not at all. Things like weighing waxes, checking face flatness on the waxes, using only 10% re-melt on the wax instead of 50%, or using robotic slurry dipping on the waxes to ensure a fully consistent coating of each shell vs doing hand dipping. Things like cutting the dry time of the slurry to get into casting faster. Things like cutting down to 4-5 shell coatings instead of 7 on top of the waxes. Things like using all pure steel ingot for casting instead of tossing the cut off sections of the casting trees back into the furnace to save on metal cost. The list of 'cuts' to lower the head cost goes on and on, and this is just in a standard investment cast stainless iron! The list for cuts on the titanium woodheads is even longer! I'm working on a more complete discussion of clubhead production differences as part of the tech info for our upcoming web site to try to explain more about what these differences are so people could have a chance to know a little more about it because it is amazing. Tom W -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Childers, Tedd A Sent: Wednesday, December 18, 2002 2:05 PM To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' Subject: RE: ShopTalk: Selling it All, My take on "cheap" components has very little to do with the price. The difference between the most expensive component iron(cast, 431 for example) and the least expensive is maybe $5/head. The range is higher in drivers, but again we are talking a range of maybe $60-100 for a Ti head. What I consider "cheap" components are those that are designed purely to look like a popular OEM model, and that are generally available at every Tom, Dick and Harry internet component supplier. How much quality control do you think the foundries that make these "clones" have? I also tend to avoid the component suppliers that sell these heads, as they tend to have little if any knowledge about clubs. Granted, I am a hobbyist, so I am not making a living building clubs, and a $12 head vs. a $7 head (or even $50-60 vs. $100) makes no difference to me, if I am confident in the superior quality of the more expensive head. It's simply not worth my time to fool around with "cheap" heads, when I am going to put the time in to build the best clubs I can. My friends/customers are still going to get a MUCH better set of custom fit clubs for quite a bit less than the OEMs, even if I use the most expensive components available, so I simply don't even consider "cheap" clubs. Tedd - LEGAL NOTICE Unless expressly stated otherwise, this message is confidential and may be privileged. It is intended for the addressee(s) only. Access to this E-mail by anyone else is unauthorized. If you are not an addressee, any disclosure or copying of the contents of this E-mail or any action taken (or not taken) in reliance on it is unauthorized and may be unlawful. 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