Stock em or order them.

[kaplang]

I say put together an order for all the parts you neeed for a particular unit. If you try to stock all the parts you think you might use you'll be missing something you will need for a repair and will have to order it anyways. Shipping costs and the wait times will be the culprit.

 

[blhagstrom]

Do you by any chance know websites where you can order?

I buy most of my stock from Mouser.com. I like the search and order pages better and they ship in ziplock bags.
Just make sure to check "IN STOCK" when you search.
You can also set "audio grade" for smaller caps (right side in electrolytic cap) and just buy Nichicon or Elna (pretty much all you'll get).
Trying to match lead spacing is not something I do. Many factory caps do not align in the holes and its not like this stuff is going into space or nothing violent.

Digikey.com is our other favorite place. Some people like them better.

Both places have no minimum but the lowest postage on Mouser is like $7-$8 so the more you buy, the better.
Digikey has a tiny first class thing for a couple bucks but its for like one or three things.

Mouser ships SO FAST that if you make a mistake and call them right away...its too late.
Most of my orders come UPS (I select USPS but I think they have a deal with UPS).
Sometimes UPS hauls ass and I get my order quick (3 days to me from TX). There have been a few time that took forever (like over 7 days).
Digikey is just about as fast.

Both have excellent customer service that will hold your hand if needed.
I worked with both on some whacky special stuff and it wasn't much of an order but they helped like I was their best customer.

 

[blhagstrom]

OH, and for tube gear stuff. There are other places that are better at that whacky antique stuff.
wjoe.com, AES.com, are my main two. There is one other but he is in Canada and its getting to be too much of a pain in the ass to deal with Canada and shipping from there.
Pity.
I like Canadians but Canada itself has pissed me off royally.
You only get to do that once.

 

[Hipocrates]

Fun stuff on wjoe.com... thanks!

 

[mikey99]

I'm not a fan of Mousers 'economy shipping'. They use UPS Mail Innovations......

Last order I placed ..... paid $4.99 for economy vs $7.99 for priority.
Order placed Jan 12.....shipped same day from TX , delivered in NC on Jan 25.

Sent them an email and a rep actually called me at home......hopefully this was just
a fluke, but in the future I will pay the extra $3.00 for priority. The rep mentioned
I could select economy, and add special instructions to use First Class USPS mail,
but not sure if I trust that.

 

[Steven Tate]

Makes me growl every time I pay Mouser $7.99 for shipping because I could drive to their warehouse in ten minutes. Grrrrrr.

 

[MBuras]

I used to work at a hobby distributor and we would offer local pickup to certain customers. It wasn't the norm and they had to ask for it but we'd accommodate their request. You might call Mouser and see if they have a will call desk.

 

[Steven Tate]

I used to work at a hobby distributor and we would offer local pickup to certain customers. It wasn't the norm and they had to ask for it but we'd accommodate their request. You might call Mouser and see if they have a will call desk.

I may give it a try.

 

[Dearslayer]

OH, and for tube gear stuff. There are other places that are better at that whacky antique stuff.
wjoe.com, AES.com, are my main two. There is one other but he is in Canada and its getting to be too much of a pain in the ass to deal with Canada and shipping from there.
Pity.
I like Canadians but Canada itself has pissed me off royally.
You only get to do that once.

I think it sometime works both ways with the high cost of shipping and all. I wanted to order a jug of veneer glue the other day from the states and they wanted to charge me $36 to ship it to my address. The glue itself wasn't much more than the shipping cost.