Glossary of Luthier/Builder Complaints: Caveat Emptor

In the past, we've tried to avoid a list like this.

I'll be watching this pretty closely, but if gets out of hand, or other mods or Alex don't like it, expect it to get nuked.

Also, if this is going to work, you're going to have to provide sources and links for everything.

 

See my edit. We're going to need "proof".

 

What exact tolerances are you aiming for in your three criteria? Those are formulated quite abstract...

 

I've never seen a Blakhart NGD on this forum since I've joined 5 years ago. Is this list based off reviews from this website or is the info coming from somewhere else?

 

Slightly off-topic, but what worries me is how many of them *were* respected, reviewed and hyped and had reputations and waiting lists - before it all went to shit. Kinda scary when you do want to go with a custom build, because you never know when something could change.

 

^Kind of like becoming a victim of one's own success. For some, it seems, their workload overcame their ability to handle it (or ability to say "no" for that matter) and things spiraled.

 

Where a lot of these builders fail is communication. "Sorry but I have been far too optimistic in my estimation, it's going to take x time longer" for a build in progress and "Really sorry about this delay, you can have a refund if you want to cancel the build." for a not-yet-started guitar. People are happy to wait if they are just told what the situation is and get to see a progress pic from time to time.

Some builders just don't seem to grasp this and will be off the grid for months or the more dishonest ones will only answer someone looking to start a build.

 

or be blackwater decide that you actually hate this shit and disappear forever.

 

Agreed. I contacted two legit builders recently. Carillion was one. Feline guitars was the other. Both have good reputations as far as I know.

Feline simply never replied to 3 separate emails (one per month). I understand being busy, or missing emails occasionally. But they aren't *that* busy that they can't respond to simply requests. They chose to ignore it. Maybe they're so successful that they don't need new customers. Or maybe you need the secret handshake to ask questions about the B6.

Carillion also didn't reply to a quote request. I chased up on social media twice, and both times Chris read the message, then replied days later saying soon. Then, after more than two months, I did get a very apologetic email from Chris saying he'd totally dropped the ball, had been busy etc. I appreciate him apologising, but the damage was already done IMO. I couldn't sensibly hand over £3000+ to somebody that disorganised who just disappears without contact. (Also, upon checking his Instagram activity, he's online constantly and likes thousands of photos of suicide girls. So he has time for that, but is "too busy" to answer customer inquiries...)

I ended up putting TWO deposits down with a builder that I really liked, who replied to everything in a helpful and timely manner, and who was totally happy to meet up, chat etc.

So yes, communication is essential. And I'd never, ever give large amounts of money to people who can't manage to reply to emails or talk on the phone. If they can't even get the ordering right, I have no faith in them handling the build, updates, changes etc.

 

Same with me and Skervesen, I sent emails to various companies/luthiers (Roehrs, Ran, Padalka to name a few) asking if they had more options than was listed online, could you do X etc, and Skervesen still hasn't responded and it's been a month or so.

 

Disorganised is the last thing I'd call Chris. He's one of the few builders nowadays who has super strict build times accurate to almost a date, both my builds were even done under the estimated 4 months, great communication, constant updates with spec confirmation messages throughout the build. I've been through the custom process a lot and nobody is more organised than Chris. His output is twice some shops with several workers cause of how on top he is with his business.

 

I had the same experience with Feline. Multiple emails, never got a response. Figured I didn't need a b6 that bad and moved on.

I actually had the exact opposite experience with Skervesen. They answered all my emails typically within 24 hours. We had 100+ emails back and forth during my build. This is when Bogumil was doing the communications, I believe it is someone new now, and I don't have any first hand experience with whomever that is.

 

I try contact Feline asking about guitar available that I was ready buy on the spot and nonreplies from him

 

Also wrote Feline about a guitar (via FB), no response...

 

I know. In fact, it was your post which convinced me to contact him. You said the build quality was equal to your Daemoness, and I trust what you say.

Either way, he totally dropped the ball with my request (by his own admission), and he was extremely apologetic about it. Fair enough, but at that point I didn’t feel I wanted to give him £3,000+.

Just my experience. Maybe other people will have different experiences.

 

I’m in the UK right now. I’ll call them when they open and see what they say.

Their website not updated since 2014, and I find it particularly ironic that their ‘how we do business’ link is broken.

 

Building other people's designs is very time-consuming.