# NGD: Emperion 7 scorpius shocker



## capoeiraesp (Jul 23, 2010)

After the many months of waiting and then trying to get a refund around the end of May (to no avail), my guitar arrived yesterday.
What has been forced upon me is diabolical to say the least. I have never seen a new guitar of such poor standards in my 10 years of playing.
I have since pulled the guiar apart with a luthier friend of mine.


The nut: Improperly cut and left with white touch up residue






The back of the guitar: yet more white touch up












The neck pickup ring: cut because the route is too close to the neck











Flecks of dust and crap UNDER THE GLOSS! This is throughout a lot of the guitar





2 thumb marks in faint black smudge UNDER THE GLOSS!





Appaulingly installed jack. The lead won't go all the way in so it sits slightly loose






This one speaks for itself. 


















I'm still somewhat lost for words over it all.
I have been in contact with Emperion and they've basically played down the faults.I got the same dribble as the other guy did on his terrible setup and complete lack of tuning stability.
It seems that since the guitars are out of their hands the Emperion guys don't care in the least.
Have I been compensated?
Well, kind of. I got a free extra set of BKPs and a lundgren. They also sent me $80 for the case it didn't come with. 
Would I have preferd a straight refund? Hell yes! Now i've got to sell parts and a guitar body.

Fire away guys.


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## Daggorath (Jul 23, 2010)

Wow, that's poor. These are mistakes you wouldn't expect to see on an extremely lowend/cheap guitar.


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## Prydogga (Jul 23, 2010)

My first guitar wasn't that bad. I hope Emperion get Boycotted terribly, I don't care if some guitars have been acceptable, a company should not run on basis of 'hit or miss'


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## setsuna7 (Jul 23, 2010)

straight refund!!!! That's fucking LAME of them to even sell that thing in the first place!!!
Should have gone for Agile!!!Pity you dude!!!


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## Evil7 (Jul 23, 2010)

wow the binding looked like shit... the pickup ring being cut ... wtf.. When the routing was found to be off, they should have started over or blocked/rerouted.
The fucking fretboard with the filler ect.. looked like total shit....
You have a right to be pist off man!
Cant believe the finish flaws... Thumb prints and trash in the paint.. 
Makes me sick.. its not even my guitar...
That guitar looked used and beat up / poorly repaired.

I feel sorry for ya bro...

edit.. Im sure you taking it apart voids any refund... Not that it sounds like they were going to give you one anyway.


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## Snytbaggen (Jul 23, 2010)

Wow... that's a LOT worse than my guitar, even though theyre from the same run...


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## capoeiraesp (Jul 23, 2010)

Yeah, it sucks ass. I just hope I can make the money I spent back on selling the hardware and extra pickups.
I don't know how people feel comfortable selling this shit. I feel guilty if I don't disclose every small scratch on a guitar on Ebay when selling.

Snyt, your fretboard is not ebony.


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## Fred the Shred (Jul 23, 2010)

Holy. Fuck. 

I must reinforce that Psyonicist and I must be the "Special Edition" winners. Of all examples so far, that one is, to these eyes, the most horrid. What on earth happened to that neck joint - if we can even call that POS a neck joint?

The rest is shockingly horrible as well, so I don't think it's worht it to beat a dead horse, and I can't help feeling sorry for you for being subjected to this atrocity. 

The one thing I've noticed is that the countouring on the black and white examples is different, as well as the whole finish inconsistencies. I may be mistaken, but these discrepancies in terms of quality, finish, and even shape are indicators of two completely different instrument runs.


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## Snytbaggen (Jul 23, 2010)

capoeiraesp said:


> Yeah, it sucks ass. I just hope I can make the money I spent back on selling the hardware and extra pickups.
> I don't know how people feel comfortable selling this shit. I feel guilty if I don't disclose every small scratch on a guitar on Ebay when selling.
> 
> Snyt, your fretboard is not ebony.



I suspected that, and now I know for sure. Thanks. But I still think it's weird that the quality differs that much on our guitars, since they probably were made at the same time. I don't have any of your filler/crack/crap under the clear coat problems that you have, and the neck pickup ring isn't cut either. Haven't had the chance to look beneath it, though.


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## Psionicist (Jul 23, 2010)

Holy Shit!

I am with Prydogga on this one. This is the last straw!

At this point, I am surprised that:
1. The white paint didnt turn out to actually be Liquid Paper
2. You didnt find termites in there somewhere

and the fingerprint/smudge...that's just fucking unreal!

Their whole story about "some guy ripped us off and then ran off with the money"...maybe they can send that guitar to the Italian crime lab to help them narrow down the search for the moron who is the real fuck-up. 
My guess, he is probably still working there! I guess their QC people arent allowed to wear thier glasses to work!!

I hope you guys upload these images to youtube or something so this kind of thing comes up when someone searches "Emperion". 

The sight of that guitar and that you didnt get a refund fills me with nausea and rage.


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## Snytbaggen (Jul 23, 2010)

Snytbaggen said:


> I suspected that, and now I know for sure. Thanks. But I still think it's weird that the quality differs that much on our guitars, since they probably were made at the same time. I don't have any of your filler/crack/crap under the clear coat problems that you have, and the neck pickup ring isn't cut either. Haven't had the chance to look beneath it, though.



Just to clarify: My guitar isn't perfect at all has a lot of flaws, but this guitar is way worse...


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## Sebastian (Jul 23, 2010)

Holy batman !
Sorry to hear about that...
That's awful...


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## s_k_mullins (Jul 23, 2010)

This is just sad  I'm sorry you ended up with such a shit guitar dude.


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## guitar4tw (Jul 23, 2010)

Holy shit, it looks like some sort of elementary school project. Really sorry for you, dude. 

Instant boycott!


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## tatgren (Jul 23, 2010)

Mann, i must to say that i am a lucky man, my emperion guitar doesn't look like that piece of *****...awwwwwww


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## Customisbetter (Jul 23, 2010)

That guitar made me laugh pretty hard.

That sucks man and i hope these bastards get what they deserve.


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## Edika (Jul 23, 2010)

This is the worst one I have seen. It is even worse than the one I received!


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## BlindingLight7 (Jul 23, 2010)

Kill it with fire.


It looks like devries found a new job.


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## asstone (Jul 23, 2010)

Just remember that i bought a b stock guitar from Agile which was reduced in price by 300 dollars (from 1000) due to a one inch brown mark under the clear coat, i.e. a tiny cosmetic flaw brought down the value by 30%.


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## failshredder (Jul 23, 2010)

Man, that sucks. Glad we could all learn a lesson from your mistake.


BUT.

It's "appalling." Holy shit on a stick, I wanted to gouge my eyes out every time you misspelled that.


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## theperfectcell6 (Jul 23, 2010)

Man that sucks! It looks like a piece of crap 

Hope you get something outta this!


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## longfalcon (Jul 23, 2010)

the $100 chinese LTD's look better than that. christ.


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## MaxOfMetal (Jul 23, 2010)

longfalcon said:


> the $100 chinese LTD's look better than that. christ.



I have six or seven Ibanez GIOs (the lowest of low quality) and they don't even have these defects. Some of them RETAILED for $120. 



Snytbaggen said:


> I suspected that, and now I know for sure. Thanks. But I still think it's weird that the quality differs that much on our guitars, since they probably were made at the same time. I don't have any of your filler/crack/crap under the clear coat problems that you have, and the neck pickup ring isn't cut either. Haven't had the chance to look beneath it, though.



Well the main contributor is poor factory QA/QC, which goes hand in hand with a non-automated painting process (i.e. the factory was probably one of the lesser ones out in Korea).

I think another reason why there is so much variance in quality is that Emperion decided to use some of the instruments that wouldn't pass QC, and just "patched" them up to be workable. The fact they sent that through the door is appalling.


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## Corwin (Jul 23, 2010)

I still don't get why people still think of getting an Emperion. Up until now they are inconsistent, and even if its cheap, getting a guitar like this would make my heart break.
I really feel sorry for you guys who ordered one, even if it is "ok".


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## longfalcon (Jul 23, 2010)

Corwin said:


> I still don't get why people still think of getting an Emperion. Up until now they are inconsistent, and even if its cheap, getting a guitar like this would make my heart break.
> I really feel sorry for you guys who ordered one, even if it is "ok".



especially when agile is a known quantity, and of course there are the established import brands....


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## MaxOfMetal (Jul 23, 2010)

Corwin said:


> I still don't get why people still think of getting an Emperion.



Two main reasons:

A) People are inherently cheap. That's not a dig, it's just the truth. I mean, who _wants_ to pay more for something when they potentially could get it cheaper. Like I said, it's not a dig on those who buy "cheaper" guitars. This goes hand and hand with impatience as well, and once again, it's not a dig. I'm the type of guy who takes coupons to the store, and pays a premium for overnight shipping. I'm in a glass house here. 

B) People don't like to feel cheated, so they tend to make some of the "smaller" issues seem like not such a big deal. They figure "I got it for so cheap, so I got what I payed for.", which is fine, but that doesn't mean they didn't get fleeced. It just just means they can rationalize it to themselves. 

I'm not shitting on those who got am Emperion, I'm just making an observation of which I've seen in tons of different cases, not just this one. I still put ALL of the blame on Emperion and they're shady, and let's face it, downright criminal, business practices. I really hope you fellas are made whole, and this leads to the dissolving of the Emperion brand.


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## Hollowway (Jul 23, 2010)

For the sake of all future potential purchasers, you MUST put a thing on you tube showing all that stuff! This is just ridiculous. And yeah, I believe his thing about he guy that works for them being the scammer is BS. Just a convenient lie to cover up the fact that they're scammers.


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## zimbloth (Jul 23, 2010)

What an absolute disgrace. I try never to comment on these kinds of things but this just pushed me over the edge. For someone who wants a new 7 for super cheap, I would just stick with Agile, Schecter, or ESP. They're not perfect either but by-and-large they're pretty nice and would never put out garbage like this.


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## AhsanU (Jul 23, 2010)

capoeiraesp said:


> Have I been compensated?
> Well, kind of. I got a free extra set of BKPs and a lundgren. They also sent me $80 for the case it didn't come with.
> Would I have preferd a straight refund? Hell yes! Now i've got to sell parts and a piece of shit guitar body.
> 
> Fire away guys.



I'd hardly call that a compensation for poor craftsmanship.

But yes, we're in the same boat. They're not gonna refund us, and we'll both have to sell the parts that were thrown in and just cut our losses. These guys aren't gonna give us back our money, so we'll just give 'em a terrible reputation and hope no one else buys from these guys.


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## capoeiraesp (Jul 23, 2010)

failshredder said:


> Man, that sucks. Glad we could all learn a lesson from your mistake.
> 
> 
> BUT.
> ...




It's a case of me being Australian and you being American. There's a lot of odd words we each spell differently.


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## Rhoadkiller (Jul 24, 2010)

That is fucking unacceptable, and to think I wanted to order one PFFT good thing im getting a Rico


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## capoeiraesp (Jul 24, 2010)

Cheers for all your support and condolences guys.

On a much more positive note, my mrs said I can have a custom made Ormsby as my wedding gift! She is very sympathetic to my situation and has just cemented even further that she's the right woman to marry.


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## ZeroS1gnol (Jul 24, 2010)

MaxOfMetal said:


> Two main reasons:
> 
> A) People are inherently cheap. That's not a dig, it's just the truth. I mean, who _wants_ to pay more for something when they potentially could get it cheaper. Like I said, it's not a dig on those who buy "cheaper" guitars. This goes hand and hand with impatience as well, and once again, it's not a dig. I'm the type of guy who takes coupons to the store, and pays a premium for overnight shipping. I'm in a glass house here.
> 
> ...



Well Ive owned my share of cheap guitars and they all had better finish than the piece of crap seen in this thread. I feel sorry for anyone who get cheated like this. Really sad.


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## Zugster (Jul 24, 2010)

That's just nasty. I will be sure to recommend against Emperion to anyone who would ask.


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## JacobShredder (Jul 24, 2010)

capoeiraesp said:


> Cheers for all your support and condolences guys.
> 
> On a much more positive note, my mrs said *I can have a custom made Ormsby* as my wedding gift! She is very sympathetic to my situation and has just cemented even further that she's the right woman to marry.



I've been following Mr. Ormsby's builds forever, he's actually the one who got me into guitar building with his stuff.

All I can say that his builds these days are..still pretty damn amazing.
The man does amazing work, I've seen him chop the headstock off one of the most amazing necks i've ever seen because he accidentally dropped it, when he obviously could've just fixed it. The man's a perfectionist, he will make you happy I guarantee it haha


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## JaeSwift (Jul 24, 2010)

capoeiraesp said:


> Cheers for all your support and condolences guys.
> 
> On a much more positive note, my mrs said I can have a custom made Ormsby as my wedding gift! She is very sympathetic to my situation and has just cemented even further that she's the right woman to marry.



Dude, you're a lucky man. Then again, when I think about it, if I were to marry my girlfriend she would probably let me order a custom guitar as a wedding gift also 

Great women are great


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## capoeiraesp (Jul 24, 2010)

Yeah I am lucky. 
I've known perry for about 6 years or so and the guy has always gone above and beyond helping me out.


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## graciouspatty (Jul 24, 2010)

Who at Emperion thought that it would be ok to sell that guitar?


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## capoeiraesp (Jul 24, 2010)

Their "master luthier", literally, going by the info sheet that came with the guitar.


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## MaxOfMetal (Jul 24, 2010)

capoeiraesp said:


> Their "master luthier", literally, going by the info sheet that came with the guitar.


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## mark105 (Jul 24, 2010)

That's terrible, I agree with Zimbloth, The schecters and Agiles I've seen were alot higher quality than that. Sorry you got screwed.


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## guitar4tw (Jul 24, 2010)

I guess their quality control person is Hellen Keller.


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## 7 Strings of Hate (Jul 25, 2010)

guitar4tw said:


> I guess their quality control person is Hellen Keller.



Pfft! even SHE would have caught most of that


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## MaxOfMetal (Jul 25, 2010)

At least Hellen Keller would have given better communication than these folks [Emperion].


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## Andromalia (Jul 25, 2010)

By the way since they are the "Vader distributor" in europe, I have sent an email with pics taken here to the Vader reps, so they see who is selling their cabs. I'd advise doing the same with BKP/EMG etc. They likely won't like to see their pickups in these pieces of poodoo.


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## Zugster (Jul 25, 2010)

Andromalia said:


> By the way since they are the "Vader distributor" in europe, I have sent an email with pics taken here to the Vader reps, so they see who is selling their cabs. I'd advise doing the same with BKP/EMG etc. They likely won't like to see their pickups in these pieces of poodoo.


 
That's hittin em where it hurts. And they deserve it.


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## zimbloth (Jul 25, 2010)

Yikes... this is getting ugly. I didn't realize Emperion distributed BKPs and EMGs too.


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## Scar Symmetry (Jul 25, 2010)

Jesus Christ. When I saw their prices and how 'appealing' they looked I was instantly suspicious and thankfully remained that way.

Remember people: if something looks to good to be true, *it probably is!*


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## simonXsludge (Jul 26, 2010)

what are those emperion guys thinking? i just can't believe they shipped this piece of shit and won't give you the refund you surely deserve. holy crap...this is too poor to believe.


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## Jinogalpa (Jul 26, 2010)

there are 3 emperion threads on the first page and all of them shows crap. just wow


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## Rick (Jul 26, 2010)

Good Lord.


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## sPliNtEr_777 (Jul 26, 2010)

i never really followed the emperion threads, nor have i posted on ss.org for a while, and i can understand the appeal of the guitars to some extent, but this whole emperion thing smacks of lazy people trying to orchestrate some sort of "get-rich-quick" type plan. They havent really shown any sign of quality on any level, their designs were pretty meh (to my eye anyway, people will undoubtedly disagree), their website looked like something a four year old had made, their photoshop mockups looked amateur at best, and the actual guitars? well from what ive seen on here its almost as if Ed Roman had started selling DeVries guitars under a pseudo-brand, "emperion". id hate to say "i told you so" even if i had actually told you so, which i didnt, but im frankly, as the OP said, appauled, someone had to make or break emperion to ss.org, its a shame it had to be done thus, but now we know, I think we'll all think twice next time a new company making cheap seven strings comes calling...

just my


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## TimSE (Jul 26, 2010)

oh no 

thats fucking dogshit mate! No one wants a Devries!


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## Deathmetal94564 (Jul 26, 2010)

Holy shit you got ripped off.


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## drmosh (Jul 27, 2010)

holy fuck what a piece of shit.


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## zindrome (Jul 27, 2010)

wow.. that is just..sad
sorry you got such a miserable deal dude
hopefully your posting will shed light to enough people as a warning to boycott such a dubious company


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## rcsierra13 (Jul 27, 2010)

Definite boycott and bad word of mouthing.... just atrocious. So sorry for the shit you've been through.


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## MJS (Jul 27, 2010)

I think it's pretty safe to say at this point that everyone associated with Emperion falls into one of these categories: 

1. Unethical, lying, thieving pieces of shit. 

2. Incompetent morons that shouldn't be allowed in the same room as wood & power tools. 

3. Both 1 and 2.

The scumbag owners should do the world a favor and guzzle some bleach. 

They're going to get away with it though because people are letting them. I believe I said that somewhere in the big thread. 

I think they also counted on everyone just accepting PayPal's auto-generated refund denials... instead of everyone picking up the phone and talking to an actual human and making it clear that these scammers are using PayPal's policy to rob people. 

I don't think PayPal would side with those dirtbags if humans got involved. People lose PayPal accounts for a lot less than what these clowns are pulling.


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## georg_f (Jul 27, 2010)

oh noes! That first pic looks like my first Earvana nut swap attempt (which looked better on the second try)


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## Zugster (Jul 27, 2010)

MJS said:


> I think they also counted on everyone just accepting PayPal's auto-generated refund denials... instead of everyone picking up the phone and talking to an actual human and making it clear that these scammers are using PayPal's policy to rob people.
> 
> I don't think PayPal would side with those dirtbags if humans got involved. People lose PayPal accounts for a lot less than what these clowns are pulling.


 
For future reference, you can pay from a credit card from within a paypal account. The credit card company is usually happy to cancel payment or do a refund if needed if something goes wrong. When I bought an amp on ebay and it never showed up, I got all my money back with one easy phone call. (The seller shipped it USPS instead of UPS as promised - so there was no way to track it. This made filing an insurance claim with the freakin post office *HIS* problem, not mine).


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