I don't know (or really care) what he sold to Robert Fripp - perhaps he is capable of concentrating on doing at least an adequate job when he's under "pressure', so to speak - but I would personally find it impossible to enjoy playing anything he sent ME, PERSONALLY, after all these botched, nonsense problems. The entire time you're playing it, you'll be looking for faults in the finish, the accuracy of fit, and the SOUND. And, of course, finding them.
Wood is NOT unpredictable, except to someone who is inexperienced and trying to accomplish things with inlays and finishes for which he hasn't been trained or educated well enough to "pull them off." It ain't "bad luck", it ain't a crapshoot, it's promising customers things that you don't know how to do. I, umm, hate to be so negative, but if you're asking for a reality check, this is just how I see it. You are telling yourself "oh but he did THIS part right!" in order to negate the awful truth.
As to what I would do? I would do everything under the sun, moon and stars to get my money back. You don't
really want these things now, do you? I would find out
all the legal recourses - you have a substantive, accurate e-mail trail of everything that you specified, right? I know very little about this branch of the law, especially as it pertains to international commerce - but at the very least, shining a light (or the threat of it) may straighten something out. I don't really know what the guy who started the website had tried already - he had a guitar in hand that was crap, but clever Ben has installed a clause in his "terms and conditions" which basically exempts him from any refunds for "custom work" - and all he sells is custom work!
http://www.crimsonguitars.com/terms-and-conditions
Did you SIGN on to these terms, or is this something he has retroactively come up with? He's not allowed to change the terms of service after you've contracted under a previous set, but again, where do you go with this... I would absolutely, certainly ask him if he is using Robert Fripp's name and reputation with Fripp's full knowledge of the business he conducting under the auspices of being "Robert Fripp's luthier" - the implied action there is clearly contacting Fripp and asking HIM if he know what's being done using his reputation. I understand that this Ben Crowe is in way over his head here -
but that's not your fault, and you're under no sort of duty or duress to "be a nice guy" and support him in his "earn while you learn" phase of tearing up wood and teaching himself finishing and inlay.
EDIT - OK. I read through his terms a bit more:
Crimson Guitars shall not be liable for loss of profits, loss of business, or other consequential, special, indirect, or punitive damages, even if advised of the possibility of such damages, or for any claim by any third party except as expressly provided herein. Customer agrees that for any liability related to the purchase of products or services, Crimson Guitars is not liable or responsible for any amount of damages above the amount paid by the customer for the purchase of products or services. Under no circumstances, including, but not limited to, negligence, shall Crimson Guitars be liable for any direct, indirect, special, incidental, or consequential damages, including, but not limited to, loss of profit arising out of the use, or the inability to use, the materials on this site, even if Crimson Guitars has been advised of the possibility of such damages.
I do do some work for lawyers in a different capacity, and the above is deranged. He is attempting to usurp contract law, by declaring himself pre-emptively above it somehow? "Under no circumstances, including, but not limited to, negligence, shall Crimson Guitars be liable for any direct, indirect, special, incidental, or consequential damages..." No, dude, that's not how either business OR law works - you obtain a business license and perform your work in a country under the laws that pertain to your line of work, i.e., manufacturing. And if you steal from, mislead or abuse your customers, the law under which you agreed to operate is what matters, not some asinine self-proclaimed "exemption."
"Just because I say so, hmmmph!" He can write any crap he wants to, but I can assure you, no lawyer signed off on that silliness above. Again, I don't know what British law says, but there absolutely, surely is something along the lines of violation of contract. The all-important, over-arching principle is, what did you pay him to do? And what has been done? Under the following outlined below, YOU DO NOT NEED A SIGNED FORMAL CONTRACT -
IF, and this is a big, big IF - you have clear-cut set of e-mail correspondence that serves as the "offer and acceptance" denoted below.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offer_and_acceptance
You can do this thing, but I would go out of the way to avoid the crimson guitar review guy's approach, as some counter-charges of "slander" and "defamation" will only confuse the issue.
