Are Shirley's only well known among the Brethren?

pjtexas1

pjtexas1

somebody shut me the fark up.
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A guy I have known 30 years who has always competed in Texas and a guy who owns a BBQ restaurant and competes all over (won brisket at the Royal) never heard of Shirley Fabrication. They both seemed surprised that they had such a long wait list and they have never seen one anywhere.

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NOPE - seen many talking about them on another forum or two. Funny Thing - in the comments of some FatStack videos on Youtube (vidoes by owners not FatStack) commentors were slamming them and saying they should've ordered a Shirley........ :pound:
 
maybe because they are happy with what they are using and not in the market for a new rig but anybody that does comps knows who Shirley Fabrication is or they just playing dumb , lol . :laugh:
 
Shirley makes an awesome product but still a well kept secret as they just don’t crank out thousands a year like Lang,etc.
 
With over a 2 year waiting list it is hard to believe they are not known

Does the shop have multiple steady people working on smokers or are other things their bread and butter with smokers being their fill in Work?

I was really impressed with the quality of work they did in the videos I saw. The half moon on the weld beads was impressive. The welds were nice in hard to reach out of sight places too like inside the cook chamber. Where a crappy weld would probably never be seen.
 
No idea. I wish I owned one though. Paul is an active member. Seems to be a great guy. 2 year wait list says something though.
 
That's funny...cuz I mentioned a few well known pit makers from Texas, ie Gator Pits, to Tyler and he said he'd never heard of them. LOL! I can believe that. Shirley Fab seems to keep their head down and tend to their customers at hand and not worry about the 'competition'....probably because they aren't trying to keep up with others. They seem to be quite content in their own lane. that's my assessment anyway.:rolleyes:
 
Demosthenes said:
That's funny...cuz I mentioned a few well known pit makers from Texas, ie Gator Pits, to Tyler and he said he'd never heard of them. LOL! I can believe that. Shirley Fab seems to keep their head down and tend to their customers at hand and not worry about the 'competition'....probably because they aren't trying to keep up with others. They seem to be quite content in their own lane. that's my assessment anyway.:rolleyes:
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yup and very well said and I like them staying a small business and buying a quality product that is customized to what you want .
 
BBQ Freak said:
maybe because they are happy with what they are using and not in the market for a new rig but anybody that does comps knows who Shirley Fabrication is or they just playing dumb , lol . [emoji23]
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That's just it. These guys buy and sell cookers all the time. One of them is selling their entire comp setup right now. Didn't think to ask what he's getting this time. I'll never be without one but it was an awkward conversation.

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Flatbroke said:
With over a 2 year waiting list it is hard to believe they are not known

Does the shop have multiple steady people working on smokers or are other things their bread and butter with smokers being their fill in Work?

I was really impressed with the quality of work they did in the videos I saw. The half moon on the weld beads was impressive. The welds were nice in hard to reach out of sight places too like inside the cook chamber. Where a crappy weld would probably never be seen.
Click to expand...

I think this is part of it. I don't know how long he's been doing it but it's always been a part time (and maybe second full time job at times) for Paul. Tyler started helping him as he grew up, then took over the company a few years back. He's added a few employees since so they have more capacity than they used to but you don't have years of supply out there like you do with some of the others. Also, as they've become more well known the size of the pits they're building has growth quite a bit as well -- which eats into that increased capacity.

From what I've seen, the quality is amazing -- quality people too. Given the wait times and the nature of the way they do things, I don't know that they need to get a lot more known. I don't have any reason to own one but still might some day.

On a side note, Paul's probably reading through this... "should I chime in? is that going to be weird talking about how well known I am?" :heh:
 
Paul is one of the best people here. I know he doesn't care who has heard of him as it makes no difference in the kind of person he is. It was just weird to me as in my mind they are 2nd to none.

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If I had a bunch of coin and a big yard I would buy one haha. I've been wanting to get a offset but I live in Canada so any good offset would be alot of money anyways.
 
miked125 said:
If I had a bunch of coin and a big yard I would buy one haha. I've been wanting to get a offset but I live in Canada so any good offset would be alot of money anyways.
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Relative to the 'well known' pit makers in the spotlight right now....you don't need a 'bunch of coin' to own one of their pits. (shipping to Canada might cost more than a stock patio model tho....:-D) Their prices are very very reasonable considering it being custom made to order.
 
BBQ Freak said:
maybe because they are happy with what they are using and not in the market for a new rig but anybody that does comps knows who Shirley Fabrication is or they just playing dumb , lol . :laugh:
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Not sure I would say anyone doing comps but doesn't know about Shirley is dumb. I do about 10 a year and I've only seen a Shirley at 1 comp in the last 5 years I've been competing.
 
Ya they aren't as well known as they seem here and that doesn't surprise me. As big as bbq is on this forum (sounds dumb saying that....which isn't hard for me :-D) a custom pit manufacturer that isn't well know all around the bbq world is common. And that statement doesn't just apply to SF.

They definitely are not known much on the "comp circuit" around me. I know a few teams that have used them, but it isn't much (one day I'll compete on mine just for giggles :biggrin1:). The last 3yrs we have done the charity vending at Sip & Swine (a big competition/event in GA in terms of teams and also public turn out) most teams/folks don't know what the hell I'm cooking on other than ones that, for some reason, follow me on FB :crazy:. Don't get me wrong....when people see it they sure ask questions :becky:.

So with a 2yr waiting period, I'm not sure what it matters to Shirley's. Their company is what it is......which to me seems to be a bad ass fabricator that doesn't cut corners and won't expand their "manufacturing process" and just hire folks to get stuff out faster. If any small business had a guaranteed 2yr sales pipeline that just kept getting people to line up.......then yolo??
 
Wager said:
Not sure I would say anyone doing comps but doesn't know about Shirley is dumb. I do about 10 a year and I've only seen a Shirley at 1 comp in the last 5 years I've been competing.
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Same here - I've only ever seen 1 Shirley at 1 comp. I see lots and lots of Jambo's though.
 
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