Mint Best Tractor still in business?


I'm wondering if anyone know if 'Mint' is still in business.
I've written five emails over the course of a month or more with no response.

Thanks in advance.
smcg
I bought a Tractor for my Scout from them about four months ago. Other than that, I really don't know.
Regards, Sam
Smcg, I'm not sure if Mint still make the protractors or not. What TT and arm combo do you have?
I ordered one a couple of weeks ago. Yip took my order, and promised delivery in a couple of weeks, so I'm expecting it to show up any time now. So judging from that, I'd say he's still in business.

Regards,
Dan
I just received my tractor from Yip. . .maybe your e-mails aren't getting to him.
I just corresponded with Yip two days ago and he is planning to make me a second protractor. So, I would say Yes, he is still in business. It did take about three days for him to return my email, but he apologized saying he is particularly busy. I have found his customer service to be excellent.
May sound silly, but make sure you didn't misspell Yip's email address. Common mistake that has happened to all of us at some point.

If your emails did not bounce, it might be a spam filter problem. Most email providers have spam filters that filter emails based on the domain name. If your domain is anything fancier than yahoo, gmail, hotmail, etc., it is possible that his filter thinks your emails are junk and never make it to his inbox.
I had four email exchanges with Yip over a two day period about two weeks ago. Nothing has changed from three years ago when I ordered my first MINT. At least as far as I can tell.
Email him from another account or else have another board member who has successfully contacted him recently forward your message.
Where is the MINT LP shipped from? I was told my Mint LP shipped 9-29-12 but never received an e-mail from Yip giving me a tracking number. I've now requested a tracking number 3 times and NO response from him! This is just unacceptable customer service IMHO.
IIRC, the Mint comes from the Far East somewhere. Hang in there, it should arrive soon. You've gotta be a little more patient w single man shop w major time zone lag (assumming you are in U.S.)
Mint is in Hong Kong. He ships end of the month and it can take two weeks to arrive. For both of my protractors, I got an email with tracking number and photo of shipping box with label.

I'm surprised that he has not responded to your emails. He is in a different time zone and probably extremely busy as his protractors have become quite popular.
I agree it is not good customer service.
Dear Sksos1,

I do have a customer asking me three times for a tracking number and I have answered his emails immediately. It seems my messages have never delivered to the customer email box.

It is my regular practice to send an update email with tracking number and other details to the user's Paypal Email Address when his package has been sent. There is no exception and I welcome any enquiry in this regard.

To expedite matter, dear Sksos1, I will send an Audiogon message to you. Please read your message a moment later, thank you.
Yip is a great supplier to deal with. I had no problems in shipping and he always kept me informed of status. He gets a 100% rating from me.
"Yip is a great supplier to deal with. I had no problems in shipping and he always kept me informed of status. He gets a 100% rating from me."

I second that. I just got his tractor for my table. I was informed all the time about the progress. Great contact,
also a lot of patience from his side :)
Me too. Yip and the service he provides is fantastic. Best protractor in the business!
I have bought two tractors from Yip and I experienced great customer service. I received a tracking number and picture of what was sent. As he tells you, it can take up to two weeks to receive it. Maybe your computer ithinks that the email is spam.
I purchased a protractor from yip about 3 months ago. Yip is very knowledgeable and good to do business with. His protractors work great. My table sounds better than it ever did. Well worth the price
I agree with you all. Just got my third for my FR-64s/SP- 10 combo. Needed two days to get those damn fractions of 1 mm right. What an hobby.
I'm looking for one to use on my new VPI Classic 1. Does anyone have one I could borrow or buy?

I have been in contact him regarding a new one. But I'm not exactly sure how to measure spindle to pivot. Is it the exact center point of the spindle, or the edge? And we need it down to a fraction of a mm (according the Nandric)?
AFAIK, you don't need to measure anything in order to make an order. You provide the turntable and arm combo and he figures out how to manufacture the correct template.

Nandric is talking about USING the mint protractor and getting the correct geometry down to the fraction of a mm.
I see.

When I emailed him, he asked me to measure the distance, and around 257mm was what it looked like to me. Does anyone know what the measurement should be for the latest VPI Classic? According to the VPI site, they're not making the 10.5i tonearm any more. It's now just called the Classic arm.
Narticus, 'around 257mm' will not do.If Yip has no data about some arm/TT combo he will ask you even to measure very pricise the spindle diameter of your TT. Those seem to vary 'considarably'. I own 4 Mint tractors made for 4 different tonearms and two TT's. They are very pricise and easy to use.
Narticus,

First, read what Nandric just wrote.

Second, VPI is notoriously reluctant to share technical data about their products. It's one way of keeping customers from buying parts, upgrades and tools (like protractors) from a competitor. Not especially customer-friendly in a DIY-happy world like vinyl but it's a common business practice exercised by many companies in many industries (including the one I work for).

Third, spindle-to-pivot distance is measured from the center of the TT spindle to the center of the axis of horizontal rotation of the tonearm. Estimate to the nearest 0.1mm if you can. Use the finest ruler you can find and measure multiple times with the ruler oriented in both directions. Throw out obviously anomalous results and average the others.
My mistake, Narticus. I assumed Yip would have the numbers for a table as common as a VPI. I didn't know about their secretive practices.
For the VPI Classic 1,2 and 3 series and the 10.5i series, Mike at VPI has confirmed the correct S2P distance is 258mm for an effective length of 273mm.

10 years later, can anyone confirm he reached out to Yip? Been sending him emails for the last 10+ months and not a single answer.

Yes, same here. When you hit "Press To Order" on his website it sends you to an email- that never gets answered. I've been trying for about 6 months now.

FWIW, Yip ask for the pivot to spindle on some if not all VPIs due to the inaccuracy of the info supplied by VPI and that measurement to be in question on some of their tables.

@tooblue I'm actually trying to contact him for his Mint LP Solution and Mint Strips. I guess I will have to find an alternative.

@jaypare @markpao I was trying to contact him for a few months.  I never heard back.  I had to give up.