When do errors and mistakes stop being acceptable in a custombuild?

[OzziePete]

New day, new shitehole. He promised me ebony pickuprings. He said 'no problem, easy to do'.

when push comes to shove? nah, too hard, too difficult, not enough time.



ass!

Orph, be done with that jerk and if it's only ebony rings you want, get them from somewhere REPUTABLE like Allparts....
http://www.allparts.com/Humbucking-Pickup-Ring-Non-slanted-Ebony-p/pc-0745-0e0.htm

Or, a place that specialises in them like Pickuprings.com
http://www.pickuprings.com/inc/sdetail/632/1548

I don't know about yhis guy, maybe others can speak of their experiences with them? (I think you've had enough 'custom' geniuses for now, right?  :icon_thumright: )
http://www.reedjamescustom.com/

 

[Cagey]

Are you sure you even want ebony pickup rings? It's a hard wood, but it's also brittle. Seems like they'd be easy to break. Plus, they're just black - they wouldn't stand out as a custom part, since black rings are as common as dirt. I understand you paid for them so you should get them, but if you have it to do over... I don't know. Just a thought.

 

[Orpheo]

Are you sure you even want ebony pickup rings? It's a hard wood, but it's also brittle. Seems like they'd be easy to break. Plus, they're just black - they wouldn't stand out as a custom part, since black rings are as common as dirt. I understand you paid for them so you should get them, but if you have it to do over... I don't know. Just a thought.

You're right.



I'll be searching ebay for snakewood instead  :headbang:

And yeah, I'm done with the guy. I'll be ordering some other rings for my 2 warmoth projects, most likely ebony or rosewood, indeed by allparts.

 

[OzziePete]

And yeah, I'm done with the guy. I'll be ordering some other rings for my 2 warmoth projects, most likely ebony or rosewood, indeed by allparts. 

Hey Orpheo

Did you get what was done on those customs, sent to you yet? Have you received them?

 

[Orpheo]

And yeah, I'm done with the guy. I'll be ordering some other rings for my 2 warmoth projects, most likely ebony or rosewood, indeed by allparts. 

Hey Orpheo

Did you get what was done on those customs, sent to you yet? Have you received them?

No, I've got nothing so far.

 

[OzziePete]

And yeah, I'm done with the guy. I'll be ordering some other rings for my 2 warmoth projects, most likely ebony or rosewood, indeed by allparts. 

Hey Orpheo

Did you get what was done on those customs, sent to you yet? Have you received them?

No, I've got nothing so far.

He just have to pack them into shipping boxes and forward them to you doesn't he? How hard is that?  :sad:

 

[Orpheo]

In essence,yes. he failed to make the ebony rings, the leveljob has been done, and I suppose he already fixed one piece of pearl.

I'll give him a call tomorrow.

 

[OzziePete]

I'll give him a call tomorrow.

You are game, I wouldn't bother. I would rather send a curt email saying "pack it all up, it's over, you've had you're fun, give me what you've done".  :sad1:

Then tell him he has seven days to prove it is on the way or the UK fraud people will be onto him.

His dealings do not reflect well on the British Custom Guitar scene, I'd be wondering if there's an association of sorts that has him as a member and should be made aware of his poor workmanship? Any Brits here wanna do some digging and establish if there's a business association that should be made aware of this guy's dealings?  :dontknow:

 

[Torment Leaves Scars]

Dude, those flaws are totally unacceptable...on ALL levels.

As was said, just take your losses.  In the end, it will be nothing more than frustration.  It's a valuable lesson learned.  If you haven't paid him the total amount, simply put, don't.  Just tell him to take his guitars, and stick them where the sun don't shine. 

You have photos, and I will assume you have correspondence going back and forth between the both of you.  Just smear the Hell out of this guy and his business...

 

[Orpheo]

I'm going to drop by, tomorrow, and pick them up myself. its an 8 hour drive, and it will also mean a trip through the Channeltunnel which should be fun!

and he can't send them out, cause he's got no money, or so I've gathered from a little birdie singing in my ear.

 

[jimh]

Orf.  Get you guitars or whatever he gives you, and take them to Jonathan at Feline guitars.  He'll finish them VERY nicely. 

It's a real shame because I enjoy seeing Crimson's work, and his workshop diaries are nice to see. However I think he's concentrating too much on his website, and not satisfying his customers.

Jonathan at Feline will see you right.

Just my tuppence.

 

[Orpheo]

even with my decision to come over, he is still a stick in the spokes of smooth operation. He doesn't want me to come over, because some yadayada talk. (tension between us, wife being a nag, whatever). so, I'll give him one final chance (well, it was the initial agreement).

if he doesn't come up with the crap before friday, I'll be frying him online.


how do you yankees call that again? toasting?

 

[Torment Leaves Scars]

even with my decision to come over, he is still a stick in the spokes of smooth operation. He doesn't want me to come over, because some yadayada talk. (tension between us, wife being a nag, whatever). so, I'll give him one final chance (well, it was the initial agreement).

if he doesn't come up with the crap before friday, I'll be frying him online.


how do you yankees call that again? toasting?

ROASTING.  :cool01:

 

[Orpheo]

even with my decision to come over, he is still a stick in the spokes of smooth operation. He doesn't want me to come over, because some yadayada talk. (tension between us, wife being a nag, whatever). so, I'll give him one final chance (well, it was the initial agreement).

if he doesn't come up with the crap before friday, I'll be frying him online.


how do you yankees call that again? toasting?

ROASTING.   :cool01:

yeah, roasting  :headbang1: :headbang1:

 

[Torment Leaves Scars]

even with my decision to come over, he is still a stick in the spokes of smooth operation. He doesn't want me to come over, because some yadayada talk. (tension between us, wife being a nag, whatever). so, I'll give him one final chance (well, it was the initial agreement).

if he doesn't come up with the crap before friday, I'll be frying him online.


how do you yankees call that again? toasting?

ROASTING.   :cool01:

yeah, roasting  :headbang1: :headbang1:

Well, FWIW, I've read enough to know to stay away from this d-bag.  You're a lot more patient than I am, I can tell you that much. 

It took nearly 5 months to get my guitar back, and all it had to be was assembled and set up.  I realized that the builder had other work on his plate, but when he agreed to take on the job, I feel I became just as important of a customer as those he was building custom guitars for.

Anyway, it was a frustrating wait, but in the end, the finished product plays nothing short of amazing, and the build and setup are of the highest quality.  Unfortunately, I can't afford one of his neck-through, custom-made guitars, as they ring up at over $4000, but that doesn't stop me from wanting one.  :help:

 

[OzziePete]

Orpheo

Good luck with your road trip.......it really is a pity it has come to that.  :sad1:

 

[Orpheo]

Guys, I have made an extreme journey. I went from Amsterdam via Antwerps, Channel tunnel, London to Ben Crowe's residence and back. I drove 1600 kilometers in just one day. I just wanted it to be over, never even considered to get an hotel (besides, I already put down too much money on these guitars, just didn't feel  like churning out more).

I do have my guitars now. I'm assembling them right now, and damn, its hard work. Even much harder than a warmoth. I have to adjust and resize EVERYTYHING. Every hole, every part has to be 'custom' fitted. Toggles don't fit, pots don't fit, no hole for the output jacks, etc etc.

The tearout is less bad as I thought it would be, just the same for the binding. Its really just is the wood.

About Ben Crowe. he is really, really a nice guy. He has the best of intentions regarding his business and his clients. The superficial issue is that he has too much work on his hands, or too little time, however you want to see it. The real issue, though, is that Ben is too ambitious. He wants to be a customshop in every sense of the word; every customer gets a totally unique instrument with a total unique specsheet. But even the 'standard' line is more custom than 99% of the shops in the world! he has to deliver the standard-line instruments albeit with a customers choice of woods and 2 or 3 types of inlay, but not much else!It has to be streamlined. I saw a huge stash of great halfbuild bodies. some stratty, some Les Paul-ish, and all of them were great, some were greater to some extent of course But seriously, if he took 2 weeks to complete those, he would have perhaps 8 guitars of high quality to sell, but he wants his guitars to be even more custom, unfortunately.

Am I happy with these guitars?! yeah, I think so. But I'm terribly nervous to finish them. I don't know what they will sound like, but a taptest showed great sustain and great tone, one a bit more bright than the other.

I don't have pics so far, but I will be posting some pics when they're done, of course.

 

[Cagey]

I'm glad you got your stuff. It sounds like you're less worked up over the whole thing, which is good. Patience, study and hard work will bring your dreams to fruition, I'm sure.

I can sympathize with the builder. If you know you're capable of great things, often times nothing less than great is acceptable and it becomes an internal hurdle that can prevent any meaningful progress. Add the external frictions that life, fate, poor decisions, etc. bring, and you can end up overwhelmed.

But, you need to know those things about yourself and reality before you enter into deals like you two made. He's clearly no amateur, and so should have known better than to bite off more than he could chew. But, shite happens. Now, it's time to put all that behind and come up with a plan moving forward.

I wish you good luck, and if there's anything I can do to help, don't hesitate to ask.

 

[Stew]

Glad to hear there's some resolution with this Orpheo ... at least you've got them  :icon_thumright:

I really hope they turn out to be amazing instruments. You've been through such an emotional ride with this whole process it would be fitting if at the end you had some truly remarkable guitars to show for it.  :headbang1:

Without doubt this whole 'trip' will be some learning experience!

 

[OzziePete]

+1, I'm glad the trip went OK.  :headbang:

Re: Ben. Orpheo, I wouldn't be too apologetic about the way he does business, no one is forcing him to take on that sort of workload and stretch himself too far.

He can, if he wants to, just lay out one or two standard products as a meal ticket and only take on the jobs he knows he can knock over in quick PROMPT time for custom work. But he chooses to offer the clients the world, or at least not say 'NO' to their requests, then wonders how to complete it all. :doh:

In a way, Ben was fortunate that you were his client he had troubles with, as you acted with a fair degree of civility and a large amount of tolerance and patience. Problem orders in a custom world are probably a certain percentage, handling your customers I guess must be critical in those difficult jobs & maintaining both your reputation and getting the money and a happy customer. Unless Ben can improve and be more of a professional in his administration part of his business, he will soon fold, as predictable as night follows day.