Sadly, a fire at Blackbird guitar
 

Apparently their shop burned over the weekend. Not sure what that means for the business, but I'm pretty sure my guitar, there for repair, is gone...

That's a bummer!! Hopefully not all is lost (including your guitar)!

It looks like a total loss from the news pictures. I got a email broadcast from them suggesting that all contents were lost.

The linked news report said "The affected commercial space has no occupants" meaning they were unused empty buildings.

That may be poorly worded, it said after a search, so maybe meant not occupied at the time of the fire. Sure looks like the Blackbird factory I visited.

Sad news. That may be tough to come back.

Bad news indeed! I wish Joe L. & Company the best as they pick up the pieces from this devastating event. It will be good to have follow-up information as it becomes available, but I won't bother them right now for updates. They obviously have their hands full. Joe has posted here in the past, but not recently.

It has always been a bit surprising to me that they were based in SF. From direct experience, I know that is an expensive and challenging place to be a small business. Hopefully we will see a rebirth of Blackbird instruments soon. I might lobby for a Lucky 13 built using ekoa instead of CF. I recently traded my Lucky 13 for something else but still have my beloved Farallon tenor ukulele.

That is the Blackbird shop. It was in the early morning (3am) on the weekend, so no one there.

It is so sad that blackbird had a fire. I’m so glad no one was hurt. Does anyone have any update on the guitar manufacturing? I was supposed to be getting an El Capitan in a couple months.

What I was told was all the contents of the shop burned. My guitar was supposed to be ready for pickup last week after 7 months in the shop. I am reluctant to bother them immediately, but if the work in progress and the tooling burned, it will be a long time. They've never been very communicative, and have a lot on their minds now.

they kind of owe you an answer, tho.

I mean, will they try to replace it, or will they just have the insurance company pay you off? If the timeline to replace is too long, do you get a choice?
Will the upgrade the guitar, or give you just a "close enough" version?
So, actually, that raises another question: let's say the replace the guitar, but it isn't as good as the original. What are your options?

You kind of deserve to know that sooner than later.

Sorry, DDW. This will all take time to sort out. You may have to settle for an insurance refund. If the tooling is damaged, especially those $$,000 aluminum molds, that could be really hard to come back from.

I could easily have been caught in the same boat. My Lucky 13 needed to have the back of the neck re-sprayed since they originally shot it so thin. Playing wear had not quite gone through the satin clear coat to feel the CF fabric, but it was getting close. I networked and found a good local auto body shop and he shot the back of the neck for me for about the cost of shipping one way. Otherwise mine would have been there too.

+1

If everything was lost, I kind of doubt they will be able to rebound. :(

Unless they have the appropriate insurance they would have been required to have to finance their business...

Very sorry to read this. Was this also the location of the Lingrove company that manufactures Ekoa?