Custom Bellows UK contact/website difficulties?

[MNaPh]

I was just about to send a bellows from my Century Universal 8x10 to Custom Bellows at the beginning of the week but I had a quick question that I thought I could answer by looking on their site. The site was down and I thought it might just be down for overnight maintenance but it has been down for the entire week. I sent an email to let them know about the site service interruption but never received a reply. I've also called twice at the end of the week (verifying that I was calling during their operating hours) but both times I went to a generic voicemail that didn't even mention the name of the company.

I'm hoping that someone from the UK might be able to shed a little light on this situation. I definitely don't want to ship my bellows until I can verify that this is all just a glitch and that they are still in business.

MIchael

 

[AgX]

Seemingly not a new issue. Though that does not necessarily make us wiser:
http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/forums/threads/are-custom-bellows-still-in-operation.129965/
http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?143271-Custom-Bellows-Ltd&p=1420762

 

[Nodda Duma]

They made bellows for me this summer, if that helps.

Cheers,
Jason

 

[Ian Grant]

They made some bellows quite recently for one of my friends, I'd try giving Keith a call,

Ian

 

[MNaPh]

Seemingly not a new issue. Though that does not necessarily make us wiser:
http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/forums/threads/are-custom-bellows-still-in-operation.129965/
http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?143271-Custom-Bellows-Ltd&p=1420762

Thanks AgX, it does still seem to be a bit of a mystery. I found the threads you linked to but since they were a few years out of date I thought I would start a new one. I had email correspondence with them 3 weeks ago but now that they have gone dark for a week I supposed I am left with only questions until/unless I can get in touch with them.

 

[MNaPh]

They made some bellows quite recently for one of my friends, I'd try giving Keith a call,

Ian

Thanks Ian, I'm assuming that Keith is the owner. Do you know if he would have a different number than the one listed in their general Google info? I tried that number twice but I was only able to reach a generic voicemail.

 

[Ian Grant]

Keith Lowe is the owner of Custom Bellows, the registration of the website lapsed on the 19th November. These days it's a small business not like when his family made over 1 million sets of bellows for Kodak, let alone their other large customers.

Ian

 

[MNaPh]

Keith Lowe is the owner of Custom Bellows, the registration of the website lapsed on the 19th November. These days it's a small business not like when his family made over 1 million sets of bellows for Kodak, let alone their other large customers.

Ian

Thanks Ian,

That does help clear up some of the mystery. I know they're a small family operation these days. I really wish I could throw more business their way when Keith decides to leave the business the options for professionally made bellows will be drastically reduced. I took a tragic turn at a small bellows myself awhile back and 'tragic' is the best adjective I have for my attempt.

Michael

 

[Paul Ozzello]

Not out of business, must be a problem with the website. I just had an order shipped a few days ago from them.

 

[Ian Grant]

Website is up and running again.

Ian

 

[choiliefan]

That's good news.

 

[darkroommike]

Unable to contact a small family business over the holidays? I don't know if that is a cause for concern. I do wish you good luck and keep us posted.

 

[AgX]

Unable to contact a small family business over the holidays?

Concerning holidays you seem better informed than me or the OP.

If you refer to Thanksgiving in late November, that is a US thing.
Not celebrated in the UK, not even heard of in Germany...

Though I admit that lacking reply from a seemingly small business within a week, as such should not be reason to be bothered. I made quite some reasoned inquiries at major manufacturers I never ever got response to.

 

[darkroommike]

Concerning holidays you seem better informed than me or the OP.

If you refer to Thanksgiving in late November, that is a US thing.
Not celebrated in the UK, not even heard of in Germany...

Though I admit that lacking reply from a seemingly small business within a week, as such should not be reason to be bothered. I made quite some reasoned inquiries at major manufacturers I never ever got response to.

I did not specify a holiday, but I counted a half dozen on the UK calendar I consulted. The season or holidays (lower case) are a time for family get togethers, etc. A small delay in a reply might be expected.

 

[MNaPh]

Unable to contact a small family business over the holidays? I don't know if that is a cause for concern. I do wish you good luck and keep us posted.

This is a VERY delayed followup but I did get hold of Keith at Custom Bellows and he was suffering from a domain expiration so the website and email went down for a couple of days. I sent off and received the replacement unit and I can say unequivocally that all of the hype is true. It's a true beauty of a bellows and fits like a glove.

 

[choiliefan]

Good to know.
May they eventually fold, what will be the alternative?
Extremely worried for the future...

 

[mshchem]

This is a VERY delayed followup but I did get hold of Keith at Custom Bellows and he was suffering from a domain expiration so the website and email went down for a couple of days. I sent off and received the replacement unit and I can say unequivocally that all of the hype is true. It's a true beauty of a bellows and fits like a glove.

How much did it cost? I am trying to work up the courage to replace the bellows on a 8x10 Deardorff V8 . The original bellows still function. I'm a bit afraid of waiting to a point that bellows won't be available. You just sent bellows with frames??

 

[MNaPh]

How much did it cost? I am trying to work up the courage to replace the bellows on a 8x10 Deardorff V8 . The original bellows still function. I'm a bit afraid of waiting to a point that bellows won't be available. You just sent bellows with frames??

Hey mshchem, I sent the bellows still attached to both the front and rear frames, which is what they prefer, and Keith fits the new bellows to the frame as part of the service. The entire cost from Custom Bellows was £225 and I paid about $25 to ship it over. My Century still had its original bellows which were only 'technically' intact so it was well worth the expense to replace and I'd say these new ones would easily last a lifetime of regular use. The only caveats I can give you are that USPS to Royal Mail in the UK took the package through Frankfurt and the Germans held onto it for almost 3 weeks before releasing it to the UK. Once Keith had the bellows he turned it around in about a week and half and had it back to me about a week after that. The Century bellows has about a 36 inch draw so it's pretty massive for an 8x10 but I don't know if that affected the cost at all.

I hope this helps.

 

[AgX]

Site is up again

http://www.custombellows.co.uk

 

[mshchem]

Hey mshchem, I sent the bellows still attached to both the front and rear frames, which is what they prefer, and Keith fits the new bellows to the frame as part of the service. The entire cost from Custom Bellows was £225 and I paid about $25 to ship it over. My Century still had its original bellows which were only 'technically' intact so it was well worth the expense to replace and I'd say these new ones would easily last a lifetime of regular use. The only caveats I can give you are that USPS to Royal Mail in the UK took the package through Frankfurt and the Germans held onto it for almost 3 weeks before releasing it to the UK. Once Keith had the bellows he turned it around in about a week and half and had it back to me about a week after that. The Century bellows has about a 36 inch draw so it's pretty massive for an 8x10 but I don't know if that affected the cost at all.

I hope this helps.

That's good info. Sounds like a good deal. I love my camera, I have heard nothing but praise for these folks.

 

[AgX]

Site is up again

http://www.custombellows.co.uk

However their screen shades page is off and their shop for the Bulldog cameras is closed.

 

[minh0204]

Good to know.
May they eventually fold, what will be the alternative?
Extremely worried for the future...

Large format is very healthy and alive in Asia. There is a seller on eBay by the name of ecbuyonline2008 who makes custom bellows - I bought 2 from them, very supple and of course light tight. Can't yet comment on longevity but so far so good.

We'll see the inevitable end of slide films before bellows. At any rate bellows making is 10th century tech.