I actually sat down and cried when my Pfaff Tipmatic 1011 died in January of 2011. That machine was my faithful work horse and quilting partner since 1986 when I bought it at the factory in Germany for the equivalent of $250 US. The motor gave out in 1997 and I forked out $200 to replace the motor. The Tipmatic and I continued to be a team. It didn't even complain about my kids learning to sew on it.
Honestly the possible cost of replacing it scared me to death. But off to the Pfaff dealer in Indianapolis I went. The dealer assumed I wanted some fancy expensive machine. I quickly corrected that assumption and we went to the "simple work horse" models.
I just wanted the same model (no learning curve, right?) but it is no longer being made, so the dealer showed me the closest model - a Select 4.0. It didn't really seem to have any more features than the old one, and it used the same needles, bobbins, and light bulbs. So I forked out several hundred dollars and went home to become partners with this new machine.
After 2 months of use, I am quite satisfied except that the body is not all metal like my old one. My personal experience is that a well taken care of Pfaff is a true workhorse and friend for an obsessed quilter like me. Previous to getting the original Pfaff, I had killed two other non-Pfaffs due to overwork and long hours.
July 2011: A side note here would be that my wonderful hubby took the old machine into the Pfaff dealer who was able to find parts to rebuild the motor to fit the old Tipmatic 1011, although it took several weeks. My daughter paid the few hundred dollars out when it was fixed and is now happily using the machine she learned to sew on.
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