Stew Posted June 28, 2005 Report Share Posted June 28, 2005 (edited) Oh man, I hate this. I made a beautiful figured koa bookmatched top Tele style guitar awhile back. The owner recently wanted a setup adjustment. I got the guitar back and I could not believe my eyes. There were sweaty handprints all over the guitar, skin cell and sweat debris on the bridge and he threw the guitar in the case with the guitar strap still on the guitar, adjustment buckle side down. Arrrgh! I'd rather not see guitars return like this. I put so much care into building these and this is how it's treated? I've done some work on some customers non-Stewmade guitars and I'm shocked at the lack of care. I'm talking strings so used to the point that your hand sticks when changing chords. And I get this, "yeah, it just doesn't play right anymore" comments. Geez, maybe wipe down your strings after playing might help. I hate seeing my work come back with this much disregard. Yes I know guitars are meant to be played but you don't enter a brand new Jaguar into a Mickey Thompson off road race. I mean, do this to your $500 MIM Strats. The guy paid like $1600 for this guitar. Do you guys get this stuff back like this? Fresh out of my shop after completion Edited June 28, 2005 by Stew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supernova9 Posted June 28, 2005 Report Share Posted June 28, 2005 Oh man, I hate this. I made a beautiful figured koa bookmatched top Tele style guitar awhile back. The owner recently wanted a setup adjustment. I got the guitar back and I could not believe my eyes. There were sweaty handprints all over the guitar, skin cell and sweat debris on the bridge and he threw the guitar in the case with the guitar strap still on the guitar, adjustment buckle side down. Arrrgh! I'd rather not see guitars return like this. I put so much care into building these and this is how it's treated? I've done some work on some customers non-Stewmade guitars and I'm shocked at the lack of care. I'm talking strings so used to the point that your hand sticks when changing chords. And I get this, "yeah, it just doesn't play right anymore" comments. Geez, maybe wipe down your strings after playing might help. I hate seeing my work come back with this much disregard. Yes I know guitars are meant to be played but you don't enter a brand new Jaguar into a Mickey Thompson off road race. I mean, do this to your $500 MIM Strats. The guy paid like $1600 for this guitar. Do you guys get this stuff back like this? Fresh out of my shop after completion ← Just one question - is that the StewMac Humbucker-Tele bridge? I'm thinking of that for my project, and wanted to see how it looked 'in action' as it were. PS> I'm sure it would be fairer on the guitar if you ship it back to somewhere in SW London instead of giving it back to him Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank falbo Posted June 28, 2005 Report Share Posted June 28, 2005 Unfortunately there's nothing you can do. I did a real nice strat from scratch for someone, probably 8 years ago now. Beautiful Swamp Ash finished natural, maple board, etc. just a bright, clean looking guitar. 6 months later the maple was filthy, he switched from 10's to 11's with no rod adjustment, and it just looked sad. I can handle the dirty maple, but this was just negligent. It's their stuff now, you can't let it get to you. That's a great guitar by the way, I'd be sad too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setch Posted June 28, 2005 Report Share Posted June 28, 2005 Beautiful work, I've yet to see anything you've posted which hasn't made my eyes bug out... I wince when other folks play my guitars, but I've yet to see one given a real working over. I'm a subscriber to treating a guitar with respect, not babying it, but taking basic measures to avoid it getting chewed up before it's time. I can't imagine banging that stunner around, but I guess it means the owner is comfortable with their guitar, comfortable enough not to coddle it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southpa Posted June 28, 2005 Report Share Posted June 28, 2005 There are also people with lots of money and no brains. I sold my old Hagstrom to a "friend of a friend" and bought it back from him for the same amount 6 months later. When I saw the guitar again it was covered in dust and dirt, strings missing and what remained were rusting. It was leaning against the wall in a dank basement, mold growing on the drywall right beside it. It obviously wasn't being played and I was a little pissed with the guy. I take care of my guitars, you can pick up any one of them and find them in tune. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclej Posted June 28, 2005 Report Share Posted June 28, 2005 i guess i'm fortunate that this hasn't happened to me yet. there's one local guy that i'm sure if he brought it in i'd be appaled but he doesn't care enough to even have an occasional set up. on the other hand i've got a customer that drives up from houston (3 hours) twice a year to let me "lay hands" on one i made for him and i've yet to have to do much of anything other than change the strings, tweak the neck and oil the fretboard. and this guy plays probably 6-7 hours a day. here's a pic of it. http://www.villagephotos.com/pubbrowse.asp?folder_id=1141114 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duff Beer Man Posted June 28, 2005 Report Share Posted June 28, 2005 This is the one reason i dont wanna be a guitar maker lol...... I dont want to see my work thrashed and thrown around. Im afraid im going to grab the person i sold it too and ring them around the neck haha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhoads56 Posted June 28, 2005 Report Share Posted June 28, 2005 one of the first guitars i sold, delivered it to the gig, the guy played it on stage all night. Went back stage after the first set (45 minutes) and there were four chips from a belt buckle, and a couple scratches from his wrist band. me: "***?!?!?! DUDE BE CAREFUL" him: "***?!?!?! DUDE, its mine now " me: "damn, you got me" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted June 28, 2005 Report Share Posted June 28, 2005 I agree with Perry (...or his buyer to be more precise...) You can't have your cake and eat it too. That's just asking for waay too much. If you're in it to make money, then you sell it and make the money and that's it, it's gone to the wind forever. You have to approach it like a business if you're in business. If you're in it for the art, or for the love, you wouldn't sell them to someone who is actually going to USE it, and Perry's guy was right-on, if someone gave you $1600.00 for it, he can damn well set fire to it in his front yard on the BBQ and piss on it to put it out if he wants to. If you bought it, you can do with it whatever you like, and as the seller/builder, I understand your concern, but you need to let them go, they're not yours anymore, and you shouldn't really care what happens to them. I wouldn't. If I were in it for the money, (and if you are selling them then you are, like it or not) ...I could give a rat's behind what someone does with it afterwards. It's theirs, and to ask them to treat it like you would want it treated is disrespecting their right to, and of, total ownership... which they do have. Doesn't mean you have to take them back in to work on them tho, if it bothers you that much, just tell the buyers you don't want to see it again after the sale, you're a builder, and that's it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toddler68 Posted June 28, 2005 Report Share Posted June 28, 2005 Just a couple weeks ago, I let a relative 'borrow' my GOTM to show a bandmate of his -a reasonable enough request I thought, since he's a responsible father of two in his fifties and a medical professional. He said I could pick it up the next day at his office -that he'd have it in his TRUNK!!! What??! I said. It's the middle of June and you're going to leave a glued-together comglomerate of oil and tempermental wood in your steaming-hot trunk all day? I don't think so. At least treat it like you would your dog. Don't leave it in a hot car. Go figure, he's a horn player... at least he told me before he actually did it. So, I get the thing back the next day (fortunately) and I go to play it that night and the action seemed a little high. Turns out this 'bandmate' of his had taken the opportunity to re-tune it. I guess he wondered why it was tuned so low and cranked it up from B-to-B to standard!!! I don't even know if that was enough to do any damage, but I freaked nonetheless. That's the last time I let it out of my possession! I hope I am mentally able to cut the cord when I deliver on my first paid job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedoctor Posted June 28, 2005 Report Share Posted June 28, 2005 I don't even worry about it. I got the same attitude as Perry's customer. What they DON'T know is that I adjust my prices according to how well they treat my babies. Buckle scratches, edge nicks, pick scratches , etc. don't bother me at all. I would come unglued if one came in with rusty strings! I had a 7-string come back in for replacement of two tuners and it had some SERIOUS headstock damage. Looked like it had been dropped onto gravel from 4 feet maybe 20 times. AND, it smelled bad. The guy just plays in a really rowdy band. He can't help it. Does his best and pays his bills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stew Posted June 28, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 28, 2005 Drak, I'm just surprised about his care, I realize that once it's gone and money has changed hands that it's all over. At first I took it as disregard for my hard work in achieve perfection. I put many hard hours in to be sure that guitar was flawless. Should I relax my finish standards when I know I'm selling a guitar to a beater? To me it's beauty and a tool. But I never beat the hell out of a guitar. I died many painful deaths whenever I would accidentally chip or ding a body or neck. I paid big bucks ($650 for a Strat Plus at 20 seemed like a lot of cash at the time), I was not about to beat it up. Because who knew when I'd be able to afford another one soon. Now that Fender made the Relics, I have a different spin on beat up guitars. It's actually cool now to have some battle scars on a guitar......just not mine. I need to let go of "the children" when they leave the house. Thanks for the nice comment to all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted June 28, 2005 Report Share Posted June 28, 2005 A friend of mine once told me that art and sex are similar. You start out doing it for love. Then you go to friends. Then you do it for money. It's all okay as long as you realize what you are. I see pieces of furniture that the customer busted my whatevers over before they would accept it and pay me. Picked every little detail to death. They now look like they were in a chainsaw rugby match. Spent darn near fourty hours once French polishing a high gloss shellac finish on a small table. Delivered it on Friday. Monday it was back in the shop with a martini glass ring that went all the way to the wood. Van Gogh hardly sold any of his paintings and thus controlled their treatment. Died broke. I've sold damn near everything I've built for the last 40 years. I'm not broke. Yet. There's a line from a song "Motzart never ever made a lot of money and that what I keep tellin' my wife." Can't remember who wrote it but there's some truth to it. The factory boys catch some flack from folks like us but they've learned their lessons well. I like the "cake and eat it too" line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myka Guitars Posted June 28, 2005 Report Share Posted June 28, 2005 I love to see my guitars well played. That usually means they will have scratches and abrasions but that is what they are for. They go out of my shop shiny and brand new becasue they purchased a new guitar. I have a guitar coming back to me soon and I'll have more to say after that. They original owner apparently played it pretty hard and the new owner wants it mint again. It doesn't bother me at all. My personal guitar is one that I play and I never think twice if it gets a ding in it. It is in perfect playing condition but it is a guitar not a painting. The super clean museum pieces are just the same guitar never played. If that's what client wants to do with it then thats fine. It's not what I do with my own though. I play them and they show it. ~David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedoctor Posted June 28, 2005 Report Share Posted June 28, 2005 "Motzart never ever made a lot of money and that what I keep tellin' my wife." That is very close to Mose Allison's Brambles of Love. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted June 28, 2005 Report Share Posted June 28, 2005 Drak, I'm just surprised about his care, I realize that once it's gone and money has changed hands that it's all over. At first I took it as disregard for my hard work in achieve perfection. I put many hard hours in to be sure that guitar was flawless. Should I relax my finish standards when I know I'm selling a guitar to a beater? To me it's beauty and a tool. But I never beat the hell out of a guitar. I died many painful deaths whenever I would accidentally chip or ding a body or neck. I paid big bucks ($650 for a Strat Plus at 20 seemed like a lot of cash at the time), I was not about to beat it up. Because who knew when I'd be able to afford another one soon. Now that Fender made the Relics, I have a different spin on beat up guitars. It's actually cool now to have some battle scars on a guitar......just not mine. I need to let go of "the children" when they leave the house. Thanks for the nice comment to all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted June 28, 2005 Report Share Posted June 28, 2005 i couldn't care less...i do the best i can to make the guitars i build the best that i can...but once i start playing them,nicks,scratches,sweat,all that...means nothing to me. i keep new strings on the good playing ones,and i keep them in tune,set up,and ready to play...but i build them to play and if i set up a guitar for a buddy,i usually clean the board and polish everything up..but if it comes back to me later for new strings(yeah,that's right...i know guys with floyds that can't change and tune their own damn strings...they can't play either,but i guess that doesn't matter)then i don't really care. a worn guitar has a personality...a new,flawless guitar is only waiting for you to give it a personality by breaking it in. now a guitar with missing strings?that's my peeve.guy i just met once said "ih,you play"(he played bass) he said"show me what you got" and handed me a dirty,rusty p.o.s. strat copy with busted #6 and #4 strings.no amp either i said "no thanks"...he looked at me like i must not know dick..and so i showed up the next day with half of my stack and my 2 main guitars...at 7 a.m. woke his ass up he was like "***?" i said "hey,you said yu wanted to hear what i got,well now you're gonna hear it" 2 hours later i left him with his ears ringing,wide awake and begging me to come back that saturday and play.i never went back. i just wanted to show the guy that a guitarist 1)uses ALL the damn strings(duh)...and b)HATES to be called out to play on a p.o.s and i wanted to make him pay for his childishness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhoads56 Posted June 29, 2005 Report Share Posted June 29, 2005 nice story wes, but its not very "metal" you should have stabbed him with the point of your V Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted June 29, 2005 Report Share Posted June 29, 2005 nice story wes, but its not very "metal" you should have stabbed him with the point of your V ← it was more "metal" in the actual happening,trust me.i was quite aggressive. not that you would ever believe i could be aggressive or anything. oh...and first thing i played when i hooked up the amp was "hallowed point"... that's pretty dang metal...and as always...i was quite good looking that day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted June 29, 2005 Report Share Posted June 29, 2005 oh...and i forgot...then i stabbed him with the lower bout of my ibanez sabre...it hurt more than a vee because it is dull,you see.... it bruises...nevermind Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.