After 15 Years, this Company is Still the Best Source for Finding Parts and/or Fixing Gear
LightParts has had their little niche down in Austin, TX for 15 years now. That’s fixing stuff and finding parts for other folks to fix their gear. That’s a lot of light fixtures, consoles and smoke machines, not to mention a whole lot of peripheral gear involved in the entertainment biz they’ve tinkered with over those years. They keep older (and newer) gear in working order, whether it’s impossible to find stuff or things they can supply right off the shelf. And of course they have the knowledge of what parts are needed for any repair.
When the WholeHog 2 line of consoles were dying out because nobody in the world could source the touch screens needed to keep this desk alive, they rose to the occasion. But who are these guys, and how did they get here?
Back in the ‘90’s, High End Systems was at the top of their game with Cyberlights and Studio Colors ruling the lighting world in unprecedented numbers. Two of the people that worked in that Austin facility back then were Don Pugh and Robert Mokry, the fellows that started LightParts. I stopped into their facility to see what they had going on and to learn about their history.
A Look Under the Hood
As I walk into the back room of their shop, I see all sorts of fixtures in stages of disarray. Mokry explains, “It’s often easier and more cost effective for us to buy the older fixtures from a company to part out, than to source the original parts, which in many cases no longer exist anyhow.” They just took delivery of 20 more VL2500 fixtures. “The Vari-Lite fixtures have had long lives all over the planet. Cruise ships have tons of 2500’s as well as 3k’s. These ships are not in the business of stopping their operation for a week to update their lighting. It’s cost feasible for them to fix their older gear and keep rolling with that technology. Of course, this is good news for us. The VL3ks are 10-year old technology that has held up well over time. But after ten years of regular use, something has to have worn out.”
A minute later, tech Chris King walks through the shop and he’s holding the bare aluminum chassis of a VL2500 that has been stripped of parts. That is all that’s left of this light that once sold for $5,000. All the parts are sorted in bins. “We use just about everything we can strip off of these,” says King. “In fact, once we are down to the chassis, we just take the extra aluminum bits down the street to recycle for beer money.”
Don Pugh had worked at Blackstone Audio Visual, the predecessor of High End and grew with that company for 17 years. At one point he was placed in charge of supporting the Intellabeam products, the scanner that revolutionized the live event industry. By 1994, the Intellabeam had been replaced by the Cyberlight, and soon after discontinued production. But for years, people constantly called Pugh for assistance in repairing them and sourcing parts. In 2004, High End found themselves downsizing, and with their blessing, he bought out all the old Intellabeam parts and hung up a shingle, calling his new company DonCo. A former coworker rented him a small office and room to set up his business.
Answering the Call
As the story goes, six months had passed when Mokry stopped in to see his old chum at the new shop. Things were a little busy and a phone was ringing in the background, so Mokry decided to just answer the phone. He knew the person on the other end, and within a few minutes had taken an order for a bunch of parts. Nobody, not even Mokry, knows why he answered the phone that day; must’ve been fate. Shortly after, the two joined forces, and in January 2004, they officially launched LightParts.
Pugh expands on the good timing for starting up his company. “After 911 people just stopped doing shows, the economy tightened up and buying new light fixtures was not a priority for the majority of companies. Vendors were more interested in buying parts to keep their gear working, so it gave us a foot in the door at the right time. There was really nobody offering what we were at the time. Sure, the bigger lighting shops had their own repair departments, but most just didn’t.”
Mokry plows on, “You have to look at the big picture of what we do. There’s a lot of research and knowledge here with our team, that most techs don’t know. For instance, look at this light over here.” He points at some antique light I don’t recognize. “We get a call from a casino saying they need a circuit board for this particular fixture. I happen to know that there are five circuit boards in this light. I have to know which one they want and it’s obvious the nice lady tasked with calling us has no idea.” Pugh expands on this. “Many of these parts you see in these lights have been updated with new firmware. A person can call and ask for a certain part, but they will have no idea what software version the rest of the fixture is working on. At LightParts, we know these little details. We know the questions to ask the customer. Sometimes it may be easier in the long run to just send us your light and be ensured to have a perfectly functioning piece of gear returned to you promptly, with a warranty on the repair, too.”
Meeting a Need
These fellows had a reputation for knowing all about High End Systems gear, but how did they come about fixing everyone else’s gear? Mokry explains, “We go back to that recession era of supply and demand, and work in a couple of other issues. One problem was that to get parts for many lights you had to wait to get them shipped from overseas. Sometimes those manufacturers were understocked. Nobody wants their lights to sit dormant for weeks losing revenue. Two products came to mind that were very popular sellers and helped put us on the map when this type of scenario happened. It was our ability to source touch screens for WholeHog 2 consoles and fixing lamp ballasts for Mac 2k fixtures.
“There are probably over 10,000 VL3k Profiles out there still working,” Mokry continues. “Fantastic light you can find anywhere. But what can’t people find? Color wheels and ballasts. We stock them. If we see a deal on the internet of someone who’s updating their stock, we will look at what they are selling off to make room. Certain lights are just perfect for parting out at the exact time that we need their parts.”
In the rental business, the new products normally have a good three-year run before they start to have normal wear and tear issues, and they are out of warranty. Mokry explains this importance. “This means that LightParts has to have the parts along with all of the knowledge, such as revisions of firmware on a particular fixture, so we’re set up to aid our customers as soon as they call.” People aren’t ready to part their lights out after three years, as they have just paid them off and are seeing a nice profit. Circuit boards and power supplies are two things that 99 percent of moving light techs cannot repair. They remain a huge part of the company’s business. Repairs are set at a flat rate, so it’s easy to make a “repair it or not” decision.
This means keeping up with what’s out there on the market. Mokry spent some time traveling to different shops this year to take a first-hand look at the popular models. He also wanted to cement relationships with companies and form a network for him to get parts to service his customers. Being well-known and respected in the business certainly has its perks. Earlier this year, someone dropped off 36 Elation Platinum 5R fixtures to get tuned up. Sometime soon afterwards, LightParts was named the Midwest repair center for Elation fixtures. “While Elation had great service locations on each coast, Texas is almost its own entity. We can fill a hole nicely. As for the travel, I like meeting the people we deal with daily and getting an education on how they and their products work. It’s nice to put a face with the name personally. It keeps us in the know on the latest gear as well as letting these people know we can aid in the repair of their gear at any time.”
Making House Calls
LightParts has even been known to make house calls to repair and provide yearly maintenance. They recently returned from a trip to the ATT Center in San Antonio. Workers had to go up in Condor lifts to bring the fixtures down so the crew could clean and repair them on the spot. Mokry expands on working on some dirty lights. “I’ll tell you what, working on lights that service the rodeo industry is some of the nastiest stuff in this business. Forget about fog oil. These are just caked inside with dirt. One longtime customer asked to buy IP65 rated wash lights from us. They weren’t worried about water one bit; they wanted an IP rated fixture that kept dust out.”
The House of Worship industry turns to LightParts for help quite often. Budgetary concerns are always a factor, and often enough, LightParts is able to help them repair their old gear while supplementing it with some repaired or slightly used fixtures. Through their relationship with High End, Mokry is given all of the old demo lights and Hog consoles to resell as second hand, slightly used gear. He offers some smoking deals. Mokry admits, “The funny thing about working with churches is, they often wait until the last moment to get their lights repaired. They all know they have a large Easter production service, but they decide to repair their lights the first week of April. But we always take care of them. Often on site as well. Heck, next week we have to send a couple guys somewhere to repair ShowGuns!”
There are now nine people employed in their self-owned building, and work space is at a premium. “So many of our people have been here for over ten years. We may not be getting rich, but we like our buddies and coming to work.” Chris King was hired not long after they opened and he’s still there. Tom Ojeda looks after repairing fixtures. Jose Marez keeps the warehouse humming. Danny Baker used to build Status Cue consoles and repaired WholeHog consoles for High End. LightParts bought all the old parts for those desks, and Danny is now employed here supporting Hog 3 consoles. Employees also include Mokry’s daughter Patti, who’s the repair coordinator as well as looking after sales, which Mokry ensures is a full time gig. “She looks after every piece of gear from the time we get a phone call until the day we ship it out the door and collect the money.” Jullie Martinez was LightParts second employee 13 year ago. Mokry says, “Don and I might own the place, but Jullie runs it. She is essential to the success of LightParts.” The latest staff addition is Briana Decker, an experienced and well known person in the Austin stage lighting community.
LightParts get asked a lot about repairing very inexpensive Chinese fixtures. “It’s just not worth it for us or the customer.” Pugh explains. “Unless it’s an off the shelf fan or socket, it’s cheaper to go buy another one and dispose of the broken unit.” One of the greatest sources of convenient supply for LightParts is knowing which parts can be replaced with “off the shelf” parts. Through years of research, they have learned where to find belts, motors, screens, fans and items that the normal tech would have to spend hours searching for and not being 100 percent sure the substitute part will work once installed. Mokry expands, “A few years ago, a customer was in need of some Claypaky parts that simply weren’t made anymore. We were able to find some similar parts that were used in another light that substituted perfectly.”
Lamps have become part of the inventory that LightParts can help you with. “I could tell you some interesting stories. We had a client who was very upset. They had bought a bunch of MSR1200’s from us to relamp Cyberlight fixtures. But the new lamps were only lasting a month. I looked at one of the lamps, and on the base was stamped, “Made in China.” The company was outsourcing their own lamps. So we found someone that could make us better quality metal halide lamps and we started selling them. Thus began LightParts lamps.” Elation will now officially endorse LightParts bulbs in their Platinum 5R series of fixtures. LightParts also recently produced a substitute lamp for the discontinued Strand LekoLite lamps, which is recommended by Strand for use in the fixtures.
The Lightparts.com website is quite extensive for finding whatever you need. One can find their parts fast, figure out a way to get their gear repaired, buy some bulbs and check out some fixture prices while there. It’s a great technical reference for automated lights and consoles. There’s also a new section dedicated to selling B stock fixtures from High End, ETC, Vari Lite and Elation, all with factory warranty.
In closing, Mokry mentions, “LightParts isn’t what we ship in a box or what we fix. It’s the people here. It’s an overall service we provide. Parts on hand, knowledge of what the client needs and the ability to fix anything. Well, almost anything I should say. Nobody wants to work on a fog machine. They’re greasy and just a hot mess. But it’s a public service we provide — because we say we can fix anything, and you gotta have a fogger for a light show.”
For more information on LightParts, visit www.lightparts.com.
