Business on hold

Due to world events, the price of Nickel surged three times to nearly its highest point in history according to the London Metal Exchange (article here).  The issues surrounding and created by this directly affect my business.  Nickel is the primary metal used in the shielding cans of my small signal audio transformers and that's where the issue is for me.  Many, but not all of my transformers use an alloy high in nickel, so those transformers are also affected.  I just ordered a very large quantity of transformer laminations (nickel alloy).  I paid 20% more than usual knowing the price will probably be high like this for a least a few months, but possibly over a year.  The last time nickel prices jumped like this it took a long time for it to recover.  The bottom line is I can't get more shielding cans at this moment in time.  My inventory of cans has dwindled down to a quantity of 32, which won't last long.  I have decided to reserve these for my upcoming 500 series mic preamp and halt all orders of other products until the situation becomes resolved.  I am working on a few ideas to at least temporarily remedy the situation.  The leading 2 solutions would involve manufacturing of custom cans in house.  I'm already manufacturing the transformer bobbins and an array of other components for my products - all of which eats up my time.  I'm not happy about any of this, but I will do what needs to be done.  I don't want to deal with China, but there's a Chinese company who may be able to supply me with clones of the cans I'm currently using.  I need to reach out to them for a quote.  Their price will need to be super low for me to even consider working with them.  I will do my best to keep you informed with future blog posts as things progress.   

-Update 3/30/22:  Enough transformer cans and laminations have been ordered to cover my business needs for an estimated 12 to 18 months.  Hopefully that'll be enough to ride the storm out.  Thankfully, I was able to save some money buy ordering larger quantities.  The overall cost impact on my transformers is minimal.  I will only need to raise my price by $1.50 USD.  The laminations are in stock.  I'm just waiting on the shipment of magnetic shielding cans.  Once they are in stock I'll be able to open my online store within a day or two.  I'm expecting to have them within 2 weeks, but who really knows with the current state of the world?

-Update 4/6/22:  Business will re-open on the 19th of April.  The webstore will be open at that time and all LBA products will be available soon after.