BREAKING NEWS: Shopsmith, Inc. Has A New Owner

[gold4us21]

I'm glad to see the baton being passed on. Although I have truly had excellent customer service, I have read of others who have not. I recently purchased the the new PowerPro Gen 2 upgrade and had an issue with the new Pinon gear. They determined it was probably the fault of the shipper and fixed it without issue. I was down for about 2 weeks but I have it up and running beautifully. The customer service for me was good, BUT, I know the Frontline phone people need better training on the Shopsmith products. Some have no clue as to what we're asking for and that is disturbing to many of us.
I look forward to SEE how the new ownership will be dealing with us oldtimers (33 year owner with 3 Shopsmith units) and new owners to be. I hope my son when he inherits my units will have good experiences.
Good luck to the new regime.

[ryanbp01]

The whole event was an eye-opening experience. Kudos to you John, Nick, and the rest of the Shopsmith team for putting on this event. I hope they do it again!
BPR

[thedovetailjoint]

Does he use a Shopsmith?

Nick said his grandfather owned and used a 10ER, which is now owned and used by his uncle. He now owns all the Shopsmith tools he wants. Shopsmith doesn't need to be owned by a woodworker, it needs to be owned by a businessperson. Nick is that, and that's good enough for me.

[db5]

+1

As expected JPG says as much as possible with as few words (keyboard characters) as possible.

[JPG]

+1

As expected JPG says as much as possible with as few words (keyboard characters) as possible.

It means TOTAL agreement with the previous post by someone else. No need to repeat it.

[edma194]

+1

As expected JPG says as much as possible with as few words (keyboard characters) as possible.

It means TOTAL agreement with the previous post by someone else. No need to repeat it.

+1

[edma194]

The whole event was an eye-opening experience. Kudos to you John, Nick, and the rest of the Shopsmith team for putting on this event. I hope they do it again!
BPR

My thanks to everyone as well even though I was not able to attend. With unrealistic optimism I hope to be able to attend the next one in 75 years. Wish I could have seen so many people from here in the Forum and others.

The new owner news is exciting. I agree with earlier posts about parts support for older machines. The number of existing machines that can introduce new users to Shopsmiths must exceed new sales by a great deal and provide a much more practical entry price to the system.

[RFGuy]

I am thankful for the previous owners being stewards of Shopsmith and I am hopeful for the future under this new ownership. Thank you to both. I sincerely wish him the best with this new endeavor. Many of us have discussed at length on multiple past threads the potential opportunities and challenges with continuing a brand like Shopsmith, especially given the difficult macro-economic environment and intense competition in the woodworking tool space. So, I am not going to regurgitate all of that again. I believe this thread mentioned that the new owner comes from the wealth management business world, which likely means he intends to maximize profit in this new endeavor (well any business owner would, but perhaps he has more acumen in this regard due to his background). While many want to see backwards compatibility with Shopsmith tools, I honestly think that has hamstrung development at Shopsmith. I would love to see the headstock and SPT's retooled with new and improved versions. Of course, wherever possible, I hope the new owner still offers as many replacement parts as possible for any & all legacy systems. I particularly like JPG's suggestion of replacement parts at whatever suitable cost is appropriate. Like he said, when you need a part, you need a part, so why not offer the replacement even if the cost might be substantially more than what it was initially offered at under its first production run? On the opposite side with new products like the PowerPro, I believe it has become cost prohibitive for the new woodworking tool shopper ready to pull the trigger. Why should a new woodworker shell out $5k for a new Mark 7,8,9...when they can drop $3k on a Sawstop and have enough leftover to drop in a router wing in the table, buy a standalone jointer and get a drill press, etc.? I really don't think a new Mark 7 is the value proposition that the previous owners thought that it was or what a brand new Mark V many decades ago represented at that time. I would really like to see some annual sales numbers for the Mark 7 vs. time because I believe continuing to raise prices ad infinitum, as has been the case for many years, IMHO will only continue to lead to brand erosion for Shopsmith. JMO.

[SteveMaryland]

Surprised to hear this. Hope springs eternal. My one live encounter with the previous owner (not John) left me with some concerns about the fate of the company, which now rests with this new owner.

Profitably selling Shopsmith today and tomorrow will require wise management and realistic $$ expectations, because the peculiar market and demographics of Shopsmith today, and the world itself, is worlds apart from that of Yesterday.

"Low" component prices cannot and should not be expected from Shopsmith. The quantities are just not there, and will not be there tomorrow. Also, better to make parts here rather than go overseas to get "low low" prices. Expect "high" prices, make-to-order, and slow delivery as the "costs" of keeping the Shopsmith brand and component availability alive.

I hope the new owner values a cohesive design/engineering team. He needs to stop the revolving door of talent. Finding experienced and talented machine designers in our de-industrialized economy will be increasingly difficult. Shopsmith needs a few good engineers/designers who know their CAD, and a business owner who understands how to manage them and how to keep them. And I hope he listens to engineers and not "Marketeers".

As for future new products, I think not, but numerous small improvements and beef-ups in the existing line would be realistic. Certainly straightening out the PowerPro problems at least. Improvements in rigidity, setup repeatability, and dial-in adjustability of the existing line will continue to be in demand.

[cinredman]

Unfortunately, I was unable to make the 75th event.
While I am hopeful, I am also searching for information regarding Mr. Cupps background, experience, and track-record running businesses.
Has anyone found his resume and background info? I mean, truly hoping this guy isn't a wealth management dude like Gordon Gekko!