Show your latest guitar

    5 years ago I ordered a custom guitar from a Swedish luthier. (I'm NOT outing his name! I really do wish this guy all luck with his guitar building, and hope he gets other satisfied customers, but I'm out of this now)


    When he first sent me pictures I could see on the pictures at least one fret was installed incorrectly (as well as other things not lining up 100%...)


    Fast forward 5 years and he has now replaced the fretboard, and he sent me the guitar to try out.


    [Blocked Image: http://i65.tinypic.com/seydu8.jpg]
    [Blocked Image: http://i63.tinypic.com/v5j2fp.jpg]


    First impression after opening the box:


    NICE LOOKING GUITAR!
    But then I quickly saw the strings didn't have an even space between them on the nut. It was a little off on one or two strings.
    Nothing that would REALLY affect the playing, but it's still lack of attention to detail form the builders part.


    Then I noticed the finish wasn't glossed up very well. There's surface scratches all over the place, and I think there's some buffing compound left, because it felt like my hand was getting that "dry sand" thing going on like when I have polished guitars myself (even tho I suck at it). STILL NOT A BIG DEAL! I wouldn't mind the finish being like this. I mean, give me a perfect guitar and it will be a dented wreck in a few weeks.


    The finish was yellowed, but the builder told me that before sending me the guitar telling me he had trouble getting it 100% white, but I said "thats okay" because well... It's not a big deal.


    I plugged it in, and noticed that the pickups were fantastic. Really good pickups!
    I compared a bit back and fourth between my guitars with Irongear Steam Hammers and I definitely liked these ones better.
    So even if I wont buy similar pickups from the guy I might re-think my Irongear fanboyism, there must be other pickups out there to fall in guitar gay love with.


    BUT THEN...


    Fretwork was subpar. Buzz all over the place, and the guitar even has higher action then my others, so I didn't bother with lowering the strings. DESPITE the slightly higher action, it was really nice to play on. I almost prefered this one to my old favorite, thats saying something!


    BUUUUUUUUUT....


    Then I also noticed the fretboard was uneven, and had a visible bump on the bass side at 12" fret.
    That caused some serious buzzing and string choking on lower notes and riffs, and seemed almost like the intonation went high off above the 12th fret... Not sure if that was the bump doing that, but I compared to a couple of my other guitars and I didn't have the same issue with those.


    Checking frets with a fret rocker, I noticed that some frets were popping up a lot causing choked notes here and there.


    Another minor complaint was that the guitar was fitted with 2 string trees (D/G/B/E strings) and after removing them, I noticed tuning stability was better. So they were completely unecssary, because there was no "sitar sound" on open strings when removing them. Those things should ONLY be installed if the guitar makes "sitar sound", otherwise they are only screwing up the intonation. Yup, this was easy fix, but then the headstock has 2 unecessary holes instead. Just a visual thing tho, nothing about function.


    It was very heavy too. Nothing to be done about, but yeah, I count that into my "personal preferences" about things that makes me want to return it. If the fretboard was great, I wouldn't care about it (just like the finish and string trees etc etc)



    I am very aware that the guitar might get better with a proper fretjob, but right now I'm just underwhelmed and will return the guitar.


    I told the luthier I can pay for shipping here and maybe even add a few bucks to compensate but he insisted that I just return it.


    I'm sure this is dissapointing for him, but I hope he learns to take more care of his builds in the future.


    And as said, I do NOT want to out the guys name because he seems like a really nice guy who simply needs more experience to do things right in the future.

    Hmm, so many things with a handcrafted guitar. It all depends how much the fish is.
    When i read your story here it must be a guitar like a cheap squier ( the real cheap ones).
    I say squier because in the early 80 th i bought a squier strat for some bucks and it was nearly the same story. Fretboard bad, tremolo so bad that the strings where damaged after a few hours of playing and and and...Hope you have payed not too much....

    Quote from Eltzejupp

    Hmm, so many things with a handcrafted guitar. It all depends how much the fish is.When i read your story here it must be a guitar like a cheap squier ( the real cheap ones).
    I say squier because in the early 80 th i bought a squier strat for some bucks and it was nearly the same story. Fretboard bad, tremolo so bad that the strings where damaged after a few hours of playing and and and...Hope you have payed not too much....

    Nah, I noticed all the issues very fast and contacted the builder and will return it.
    I have got a full refund, which is why I wont reveal the guys name.


    If I for some reason didn't get my money back, I WOULD give a public warning against him, but he seems like a nice guy, so I dont want to hurt his business for these mistakes. I just leave him be from now on. If he makes guitars for other customers that are happy with there guitars = great. ^^

    Quote from Eltzejupp

    Hmm, so many things with a handcrafted guitar.

    You can be lucky or not, especially if you order on the Internet.
    I also had a bad experience with one of 3 internet purchases. (The 2 othee are quite OK.)
    I don't want to disclose the name of Luthier here either.


    Common sense would say yes, don't buy a guitar you can't test for yourself. But sometimes you're just unreasonable. ^^


    I'll write it off as a teaching allowance.

    Quote from Sharry

    You can be lucky or not, especially if you order on the Internet.I also had a bad experience with one of 3 internet purchases. (The 2 othee are quite OK.)
    I don't want to disclose the name of Luthier here either.


    Common sense would say yes, don't buy a guitar you can't test for yourself. But sometimes you're just unreasonable. ^^


    I'll write it off as a teaching allowance.

    I had one locally made. Neck is fantastic. I put in Duesenberg pickups and it now sounds stellar. That said, I don't really need it for my sound. BUT... can I sell it? Not really. Who the heck really knows this local luthier? So it's $,$$$ into a non-movable piece of gear.


    In general, I recommend buying name brand if turning over gear is important (ie on a gear journey that isn't near it's stopping point)


    I even have Thorn's which are not easy to sell because, well, I'm LEFT handed, so there is that wait time.


    As to my locally made guitar, the neck is the most horrible off-yellow. And you know what? I ASKED for that color! (because I use the tag "YellowBeard") What an idiot! The Luthier even held it for months because he didn't like the color and was afraid to confront me. But I asked for it, I got it, paid him, thanked him. I am thinking of having him rework the neck when I get bored and have cash to burn. Shave it back and re-color it something better (ie vintage natural) to show the nice maple he used. I will most probably end up gifting it to some young kid who needs a killer guitar. I already got plenty of those.


    IF any of you have NOT done this, try it. Gifting a guitar makes you feel amazing. Especially if the receiver is a talented player with only crappy guitars. Eventually we all have to gift our guitars when we get too old to play. Much more enjoyable to do that when you're 30, 40, 50, etc and watch them grow, even if it's just their hobby.

    Cool point view ( the gifting thing) .


    That's what i often do with little guitar things like pick up's, potis and such stuff. I have a cool 12 year old kid in my neighborhood and sometimes I teach him and i fit up his two cheap gits. It's fun to see how lucky he is when we replace a pick up and I show him how to solder it. After replacing some parts he sits and played for hour.... He is akways very exited when he can use one of my gits and play over the kpa.........

    Quote from Eltzejupp

    He is akways very exited when he can use one of my gits and play over the kpa.

    If I were him, I'de too. :)


    BTW: I have pre-ordered a Strat from my local Luthier.
    It will be ordered when I have sold my old Gibson (The Grabber) bass.


    More space than I have now for my guitars and equipment is no longer granted to me. ;(
    ^^ (make love not war) ^^

    Quote from Eltzejupp

    Cool point view ( the gifting thing) .
    That's what i often do with little guitar things like pick up's, potis and such stuff. I have a cool 12 year old kid in my neighborhood and sometimes I teach him and i fit up his two cheap gits. It's fun to see how lucky he is when we replace a pick up and I show him how to solder it. After replacing some parts he sits and played for hour.... He is akways very exited when he can use one of my gits and play over the kpa.........

    Awesome! You are really awesome!


    I helped a soccer buddy out with a christmas gift for his kid. He couldn't afford a guitar, so I gave him one to give his kid. But he told the kid it was from me. So over the years I gave him my cheapest as I move up to intermediate and pro crafted guitars. He is a pilot now, loves to play to relax and have fun, still comes by to say "Hi", and plays better than me. And this is the best, haha, on Facebook he labeled me as "Uncle". Priceless!


    There are a lot of people out there who have poor parents, so sometimes that cool person outside the family is the one they remember for the rest of their life. For me, a boss I had in my 20s. Like a Dad to me. Taught me a lot of wisdom. Those are the things you would like to pass on.


    We get SO absorbed and narcissistic in our hobby, so when you pull out of yourself it's a taste of what real happiness is about: Spreading it, not getting it.

    Quote from Cederick

    And as said, I do NOT want to out the guys name because he seems like a really nice guy who simply needs more experience to do things right in the future.

    I don't know... Sometimes its a good thing to out someone, just to save the next guy. Guitars are so personal, and anyone willing to shell out $$$ for something they are really passionate about deserves everything they are hoping for. I build all my guitars, and no small detail is ever overlooked. Some people are just patient for the very small detail, others are not. Over the years I've seen a few 'start ups' who suddenly decided they were a guitar builder and presenting themselves 'hobbiest to expert' within a few months to a year. That's bad. Me personally I've been building for 35 years or more, there's things you learn over time just like playing guitar.


    I would tell anyone looking for a custom guitar to be wary of any small builder unless there is a looong line of happy customers. If not, you have a 50-50 chance of getting lucky or pissed off. Its just too easy not to just put up pro websites and such and look like the real deal.

    Been searching for this one for a few years, it's the color that makes this one especially rare. Weird how guitars you search for years can show up all at once and now I can't afford to buy them all. Anyways here it is, I think some here may know what it is...


    [Blocked Image: https://dk1xgl0d43mu1.cloudfront.net/user_files/esp/user_images/002/025/994/xlarge.jpg?1518103504]

    Quote from SuckerFreeGear

    Been searching for this one for a few years, it's the color that makes this one especially rare. Weird how guitars you search for years can show up all at once and now I can't afford to buy them all. Anyways here it is, I think some here may know what it is...


    [Blocked Image: https://dk1xgl0d43mu1.cloudfront.net/user_files/esp/user_images/002/025/994/xlarge.jpg?1518103504]

    That pulls double duty as a Tone Monster AND a pointy weapon! CONGRATS, SIR!