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@charlie
Please note that the comments in this reply refer only to the frame which Ron built for me. It is not intended as a criticism of his work in general.
Thirteen years ago I asked Ron to build a prototype frame which I had designed. He said it was no problem and quoted three to four weeks delivery.I paid for the work in kind, ie frame tubes etc. the value of the goods was about £325, frame to be delivered unpainted. Remember, this was 1996, and a trade build was costing approx £150 plus parts - I know this because Ron had built several frames for an associate and myself in the previous year.
I had made contact with the editor of an American magazine who was willing to do an article about the frame, (helped by me presenting him with a very rare headbadge which cost me an arm and a leg to have re-enamelled), only snag was that photos would not do - the frame had to be sent over to the States.
A month passed, and I had not heard from Ron. I telephoned and Ron told me he was waiting for a special part for his frame jig which he said was necessary to build my frame. This was strange because the frame had been designed to be an easy job for a skilled builder with no special formers or jigs. Later, I saw on a website that he claimed not to use a framejig anyway.
The frame was delivered more than a year late. My contact in the States had moved on, and the (only) two provisional orders I had for the frame had been withdrawn months earlier.
As it turned out, it was just as well because the frame was built to a very low standard. The lugs had not been filed, the brazing was untidy, the chainstays which were round section which were to be crimped to a thin oval to round section were not symetrical, one being crimped thinner than the other. The top eyes, which Len Phipps had hand-cut for me and the top of which formed a kind of 'S' shape along the top tube were not brazed in the right place and one 'S' was 1/4" further along the top tube than the other.The bi-laminations for the bottom bracket had been cut wrong and the one at the bottom of the down tube was longer than the one on the vertical tube. The underside of the d/t also showed a gap where the bi-lam had been cut too short.
As I had just had an acrimonious split with a business partner, I had neither the money or the inclination to start another battle. I tried to tidy the frame a bit myself and filed the lugs (not very successfully) and removed the top part of the top eyes .
My Ron Cooper classic has remained unpainted and unbuilt in my attic, to be cringed at each time I pass it.