Three weeks ago, I finished some early holiday shopping, and discovered that I had some money to burn. After a bit of reflection (albeit a very brief bit of reflection) I decided the time was right to take the bullwhip plunge. After doing a quick COW refresher course on whips, whip makers, vendors, models, and everything else whip-related, I determined that what I wanted was a functional, quality whip, as close to Raiders' SA as I could get without going broke. Now, there are MANY very skilled whip craftsmen who have a presence here on the forums, and each of them bring something unique to the table. The high-end whips (let's say the $500-$900 range) are gorgeous and I'm certain they are worth they praise they receive, but I could never justify that much money for a whip on my budget.
So, clearly I was in need of a mid-range whip from a reliable craftsman. After checking out thread after thread praising the work of Gus Caicedo, and his customer service, I headed over to http://www.purewhips.com to check out his whips and prices. The whips looked great, and the prices were quite a pleasant surprise as well. I decided I didn't need to look any further than Gus. Now, never having owned a truly "functional" whip, and not really knowing much about the technical aspects of well-made whips, I ended up just going with my gut in terms of choosing my whip- actually, I just went for what looked to be the most screen accurate whip Gus was selling- to my eyes, this turned out to be the 10' 12 plait, cow hide in natural, which sells for a cool $300.
I ordered the whip, and held my breath.
Three weeks later, I am the proud owner of this Caicedo whip:
The whip is light, but it feels great and moves beautifully. It's sturdy, with a heavy thong- but it responds like a champ, and goes where you tell it to go. Flexible, but not limp. I'm not exactly sure what accounts for Gus' relatively low prices on his whips, but it doesn't seem to me that he's made any sacrifices to the quality- it's just in cow hide, as opposed to, say, roo. But for my money, it moves exactly the way it should.
Here are some detail shots for those who have interest:
The braiding is tight, and contains no errors that I can discern. The color is what I would call a light "whiskey" shade, and I think it's a decent match for the Raiders look (though I won't complain when the natural darkening process sets in). As far as I can tell, the pictures you're seeing are a true representation of how the whip looks in natural light. I've seen where some people have complained that Gus' natural whips are too light in color, but frankly I think it looks fine right out of the box. Horses for courses, I suppose. Just so you know, Gus also included a number of black nylon replacement poppers at no extra charge.
Today I took the whip out for some practice when I went hiking with my trusty dog, Captain, at my side (or rather, on my shoulder...)
Before I close out this post, I'd like to take a minute and let you guys know something about Gus Caicedo-
A couple of days before the whip arrived, I sent Gus an email, just to check in and see where things were at. I was expecting that, like most vendors, I would hear back a brief line or two within the next few days letting me know the status (which would have been perfectly acceptable- that's normal). But Gus is certainly not "most vendors", and within 20 minutes of sending the email I got a phone call from Gus himself. He wanted to reach me in person to let me know about my order (which he had already shipped). When I had some questions, Gus patiently answered each of them, and we ended up having a really interesting conversation touching on everything from how he makes his whips, to tips for targeting, to his friendship and good-natured rivalry with Adam Winrich (another superb COW whip vendor that I'm sure you're all familiar with).
The long and short of this little anecdote is that Gus Caicedo isn't just a talented craftsman with great prices, he's also a small business owner who really invests in his product and in his customers' satisfaction with that product. I want to make it clear that I'm sure most of COW's vendors are excellent people who have excellent customer service, and my praise of Gus should not be taken as a dig at their expense- but I've been buying specialty items off of the internet for years now, and I can count on one hand the number of times I've encountered a seller who cared enough about my satisfaction and concerns to call me up (of their own free will) just to make sure everything was as it should be. But that's the kind of guy Gus is, and I'm pretty impressed.
I have been extremely pleased with my choice in purewhips as a whip vendor. Not just because I really like the whip, but also because I really like the whip maker. All my best wishes and compliments to Gus and his family, and a huge pat on the back for the excellent work that's being done over at purewhips.com. When the time comes, I'm absolutely looking forward to purchasing my next whip (8' for sure) from Gus.
Also, a special thanks to everyone here at COW for giving me so much information, and so many options, when it came to finally making my long-delayed whip purchase.
respects to all-
truck
Not to worry though, it's history. But it never hurts to be vigilant, so thanks!
