Repairs that got more expensive than planned?

[kiat]

A few months back soon after taking my main bass combo** to a pub jam, though it not had much use, the unit failed. No sound, though the headphones worked.

 

Long story short, it eventually got mended and it cost me £230 in repair costs alone. There were considerable transport costs on top of that.

 

Have relatively expensive repairs happened to you?  What were the realistic choices open to you - was conversion a possibility?

 

It was a lot more than I'd bargained for, given these are selling on UK eBay for £300,  though the engineer told me the likely costs at each stage. 

 

I've decided to turn this into a combo/cab at the  earliest opportunity. 

 

Details: 

* The engineer, Rowan at Keld Ampworks, Newark

* motherboard too complex to diagnose (labour costs would have soared)

* The engineer Yamaha provided a mobo for £170

* Charged labour £70

* Rowan could not get the headphone working independently from the main speaker, as it was when I took it in.

** Ampeg BA210v2 - 7 years old, but had a 6 year hiatus when I wasn't playing bass.

[Owen]

Ouch. But the costs look fair. Hourly rates are not what they used to be. 

 

My personal experience was with a Double Bass and a luthier. It hit almost 4 figures. It is never a great moment. 

[LeftyJ]

I recently had a guitar valve amp repaired and hit just over €200. It's a cathode-bias amp, so the bias of the power tubes is regulated "automatically" - until the cathodes fail. So the power tubes were running way too hot, and several parts controlling the power regulation towards the power tubes were replaced. Luckily I still had a spare set of EL84 power tubes or it would have been a lot more. Tubes are expensive these days! 

[Woodinblack]

The guitarist in my band has been having a trouble with his fender amp - he has had it 'repaired' 3 times (the last one he specifically said he didn't want anything replaced) and it still isnt working right.

 

[edstraker123]

I bought a strat off here and it was fret buzzy when I picked it up. I was going to get a set up done on it but the luthier said there was no adjustment left on the truss rod and I ended up having to have the neck steamed to straighten it - cost a lot more than a set up. Only time I'd ever been asked to sign a receipt to say I'd checked the guitar and there was nothing wrong with it. It opened my eyes to how careful you need to be when buying a used instrument. Hopefully karma paid the seller a visit.