# Skervesen SkerveSIX - NGD, build experience and first impressions



## raytsh (Sep 28, 2017)

*Disclaimer*

I want to make clear that I’m not bashing on Skervesen (from here on also referred to as “they”). The guitar looks good, plays well and sounds great. This is my second build and the first one was, besides some minor cosmetic inconsistencies, flawless and well designed. I love their designs and overall visual appeal they have established over the years. I will continue to order Skervesen guitars, or at least I was going to. I’m not sure any more. If you want to know why, you have to read.

But, it is undeniable that there are some general flaws and that the whole build process came with some inconveniences that could have been handled better.

Oh yeah, and this is going to be a long post.


*World’s first!*

Anyhow, I present the world’s first SkerveSix (6-string version of the SkerveTen)!





I’ve always wanted a headless, ergonomic guitar since I’ve played a Boden OS. Just without the endure neck, since this was not my cup of tea. I was on the lookout where to get a headless with ergonomic body.

It all started back in early 2016 when I first stumbled across the SkerveTen; A crazy new model by Skervesen. I’ve known them since 2013 when I started my first build with them. Until the SkerveTen they had more or less only one headless model in their line-up, the Shoggie (DC and SC). The overall body shape kind of reminded me of Strandberg’s Boden and in fact, there are some Shoggies out there that feature Ola’s hardware. Back then it was possible for other manufacturers to purchase and use the hardware for their builds. Anyway, I was never completely convinced by the model. Especially how the top was shaped by the bevels made it look crooked, like leaning to one side. Then came along the SkerveTen and I was instantly amazed by the design. So I asked if they would make a 6 string version as well. And, as it happens this was right about the time where they put official CAD drawings of 8, 7 and 6 strings version of the SkerveTen on their Facebook site. So I ordered a model and paid the deposit on June 22th 2016.


*The build process*

I have some issues with the build process, how it was handled and the guitar itself and I’d like to address these briefly here.





First, the proposed build time was 6-8 months. The guitar was delivered on August 30th what puts it at more than 14 months. That’s quite the substantial delay.

This was partly due to delays of parts delivered from third party companies. For instance, the bridge was delivered like 2 months after the rest of the guitar was finished, same for the case that came in last.

Well, the reasons therefor are simply that the parts did not get ordered when the build started. I can understand this. I only paid a deposit of 40% and the rest about 3-2 months before the guitar was finished. From a financial point of view it does not makes sense to purchase the parts a year before they are needed and to just order them when the guitar is paid in full so there is as much money as possible available from the deposit to work with. Had I known this prior, I would have opted for paying in full so the parts are ordered as soon as possible and to get the guitar much earlier.





A delay is understandable (maybe not one to this degree) and should be communicated. Now, communication is another point the caused frustration with this build for me.

The first 6 months were fine with, not frequent, but regular updates on how the build progresses. I got sent photos of the top and fingerboard blank from where I could select one and all the in-between stages like a half finished body and so on. It is really nice to see a build progressing in this way.

After the 6th month or so communication switched from e-mail to Facebook messages. What is fine in theory for quickly sending a photo and stuff. But the downside was, that it’s a lot easier to miss messages for them and you are talking to a specific person only.

After the build was paid in full and parts were still absent I asked regularly, like once every week, what the status is. Many of my questions regarding the bridge and the case where simply not answered. I then switched back to email and the communication somewhat improved. Still, communication was still spotty and thus unsatisfying from a customer’s point of view because you have no idea what's going on with the build.

In understand that they are doing many builds and are not many people working there. But this needs improvement.









It should also be mentioned, that I was asked to pay the remaining 60% at the beginning of June since the guitar was “about to be finished”. That’s reasonable. But the issue here is, that at this point the case and the hardware were still missing. And at the end there were more than 2.5 months between me paying the total and the delivery. This is also not how this should be handled in my opinion. Usually the full payment is due when the product is ready for shipping.

Now on the parts where something unforeseen in the build process has happened and how this has been handled.


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## raytsh (Sep 28, 2017)

*Issues arise*

The first time something unforeseen happened was in January 2017. This was around the time they had finished the neck blank and the fretboard was in place already. I explicitly wanted a fretboard without binding. I like dark fretboards and a light binding makes it looks narrower in my opinion. I would go as far as to say that I hate binding on necks.





Anyhow, they contacted me in January that they’ve messed up milling the fret slot for the fretboard and thus they had to recut it with a saw. Originally, the side of the fretboard should be left untouched so you don’t see the frets going into the wood from the side (like Warwicks invisible fret thingy). But when a saw is applied this look can’t be sustained; You would then see the slots from the sides like it is the case with many lower priced instruments.

That’s why the proposed a binding to hide the fret slots. I was really torn at this point because the fretboard blank I’ve selected looked really nice and I did not want it to go to waste, what basically was the alternative; They would have made a complete new fretboard if I refused the binding. So, I took the binding…





The 2 dark layers that are part of the binding look odd, not necessarily in a bad way, just really like anything I’ve seen before. The more I look at it the more I can live with it. The much bigger visual flaw, that I cannot live with, is the bridge routing (milled cavity), but I will get to that.






*The Bride back-and-forth*


The second thing that happened was around April 2017 when the raw body was finished with the top glued on and roughly shaped. At this point they routed the place where the bridge is located.





Speaking of the bridge, at first, when I started the build, I wanted Mera hardware because my last build had ABM hardware and I wanted to try something different. Also, the ABM single bridges had a sharp string saddle at the time that was really uncomfortable for palm mutes for me. ABM does not provide single string clamps for headless designs. They would have to be Mera in any case.

We agreed on Mera hardware initially. A few months into the build they proposed ABM hardware because the delivered Mera hardware was lacking quality wise. So, I agreed with the remark that the saddles have to be rounded to make the bridge more comfortable. They agreed.

Then, when seeing the photo of the bridge routing/cavity, I started to wonder, because it looked very deep. ABM bridges would be nearly completely recessed if mounted without a big base plate. Anyhow, I thought they know what they were doing.

Later, about 12 months in or so, I got the first message that the build will be delayed because of Mera parts had to be reworked because they were lacking. I thought: Well, they have to be talking about the string clamps of the headpiece, since these should have been Mera all along. After a few inquiries, they stated that in fact all the hardware would be Mera because they routed with Mera in mind and forgot to select the CNC program for ABM or something along these lines.

The thing is, that I mentally was already done and set for ABM at this point. If I did not had explicitly asked for hardware details again at this late state of the build they would just have mounted Mera without even telling me…

Well, it was back to Mera then. It took a while for the hardware to be reworked and it was finally mounted. This was just a few weeks ago.


*High saddles?*

Official photos were already on Facebook at this point. Looking at the close-ups of the bridge I could tell that the saddles are unusually high up. When I talked to them about it they stated that this is normal and within specs.

As I see it, the routing/cavity is too deep and they had to bring up the saddles that much to make it playable. This kind of reminded me of Kiesel and the Hipshot bridges with the maxed-out saddles. A bit back and forth and they still would not admit that something is unusual with how the saddles are set up.

Here is a photo from Skervesen, where they demonstrated how far the saddles still can be moved upwards and that the are not at their limit yet.





Below is an photo from Mera's site, and you can clearly see that the saddles have the ability to just sit slightly above the body of the bridge. This bridge works kind of like the Strandberg single bridges and there are also these kinds of saddles. You can raise them to a degree, but they are made to be just slightly raised.







I then accepted the high saddles as being within specs, since arguing would lead to nowhere. But, I asked for a modification for my own comfort; The bridge should be raised so that the saddles are lower and thus more to my liking. They agreed. And actually, it turned out quite nice. They made single shims for each single saddle and they look like an original part that belongs to the bridge.






*Optimal is the goal!*

If they would not have, I would have had made it myself probably, or at least tried. It might be right that the saddles are not maxed out, but they are certainly not on the middle of the full range of movement. They are not optimal. But I like them to be optimal. From my point of view, the routing/cavity is just too deep. It’s like, why would you mount any kind of bridge in a way, where you can barely intonate the strings with the intonation pieces at their maximum? I would mount the bridge at a position where the optimal intonation spot is somewhere in the middle of the range.






*Still flexible*

I have to add that they are very cooperative when it comes to spec changes during build time, what is usually prohibited. I changed the pick-ups 2 times during the early phase of the build as well as the strap lock system. Here, it would be difficult to change stuff, if all the parts would be purchased right from the start, I get that.


*A prototype?*

But, I guess that is what you get if you order the first ever made guitar of a certain model. Not every minute detail has been tested and though through to the end. I get that. I basically have paid for them to make their prototype for that particular, if you will, and all future guitars of that model and buyers of these will benefit from this.

Anyhow, hopefully the next SkerveSix will be more optimal and the buyer will be happy.


*New hardware?*

Funny note: Right at the time the revised Mera hardware came back in, ABM announced on their site that there now are single string clamps for headless designs and the single bridges have also been updated to feature rounded saddles… The best part is, that the guitar shown in the official ABM photos is in fact a Skervesen…


*The little things*

There are some other small things, like the inlay at the first fret, that I really hate. But that is entirely my fault. My Lizard had the same inlays and one at the first fret. I should have instructed them to not put one there. I just don’t see the point of having an inlay there and it is inconsistent. I mean, there is no inlay at the 13th, is there?! Speaking of inconsistent, I don’t get why they would not put a side dot at the first fret when there is an inlay.

The ABM hardware would have been all chrome, but the Mera has black tuner grips, what I don’t like. I’d prefer all the hardware to be chrome, even all the bolts and screws.


*Build process summary*

The overall communication is lacking, especially when it comes to delays and necessary spec changes. I have a binding that I did not want, I have a bridge that I not really wanted (because the ABM was “sold” to me as the better bridge and I set my mind on it at that point) and the bridge routing/cavity looks odd and is a cosmetic as well as a design flaw.


*On to the guitar itself and my first impressions*


Regarding the review/first impression - ish part that follows, please keep in mind that I could only play the guitar for a few hours before I had to send it back to get reworked. This is no in depth review yet, rather my first impressions.


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## raytsh (Sep 28, 2017)

*The specs*





Specs:

Macassar ebony fretboard, compound radius
Swamp ash body wings
Maple/Wenge neck, asymmetrical profile thinner on the lower strings side
Quilted maple top
Amber/Honey burst
Tangente inlays
Luminlay side dots
24 stainless steel frets
25.5’’ scale
BKP Juggernaut pick up set
2x vol push pull, 3-way toggle, World Domination Mod (some kind of acoustic mod), one push/pull enables the acoustic circuit, the other one splits the pick ups
Mera Submarine 3 bridges and string clamps
Weight: 2.66kg
Price: 2500 EUR, includes flight case and shipping


*The look*









The guitar is beautiful! The top is stunning in person even it’s just a run-of-the-mill top and no AAAAA, since I did not want to pay for it. The paint-job and burst came out really nice. Originally I wanted a honey burst that has not even a sliver of red in it. I turned out darker than the sample images I sent, but I really like it anyway. It looks like honey, caramel, maple sirup something.

The polishing is flawless and the transition from the glossy top to the matt finish of the rest of the guitar is sharp and well defined.

I always loved the matt finish of Skervesen guitars; It feels like freshly fine sanded, like there is no finish at all. If you like the feeling of non-fished, non-oiled/waxed maple necks, this would be right up your alley. The matt finish is also as thin as possible, you can feel and see all the details in the grain.





The overall look turned out nice! I was aiming for the colour scheme of classic LPs with a honey burst and all silver hardware. And yes, I’m aware that the binding fits right into that scheme. But still, I’d prefer to have no binding. Speaking of binding, I thought that the natural sides of the top would give the whole body a bound look that would fit into the concept, but it came not out as pronounced as I imagined.






*Feels solid!*

The guitar is also quite heavy, closing in on 2.7kg (for headless 6 string guitars). For comparison, my Boden OS was 1.4kg. I’d say around 2.3-2.5kg is an ideal weight for me. So, this one is a bit too heavy for my taste. This is mainly due to the body/wings not being chambered. Since this model features a top, it would have been easy to chamber it after the wings have been attached. I asked for it, but they told me they won’t do it. Slight chambering would be an improvement to the design in my opinion. The body is also quite thick what does not help the weight.

But, the weight also makes the guitar to feel incredible solid. I like how non-chambered guitars resonate. It has no effect on the tone through the amp of course, but you can feel the vibrations when playing. Additionally, the comparably heavy body helps the guitar to stay in place and to bring the neck in a nice playing angle, about 30-40° I’d say, when standing up. The long horn also helps immensely. It just stays in place nicely when playing standing up





What also feels surprisingly nice are the potentiometers. I had a few guitars with push/pull controls and they always felt insubstantial and weak. They often wobble a bit and are too easy to turn and feel scratchy. Not these once. They feel great to turn, reliable and substantial, even pulled out.







*Neck and playability*

The fret-job is perfect as known and suspected from Skervesen! I can’t stress this enough! The frets are perfect!! The factory setup is also as I like it: relief, measured from fret 1-17 at the 8th is about 0.25mm (.010’’) and the action at the 12th fret is 1.5mm (3.5/64’’) for the low E string and 1mm (2.5/64’’) for the high e string.

Though there is a rough spot where the upper horn meets the neck that needed additional sanding. This is the spot on the neck that is the hardest to reach, this might be the reason.





What is a bit odd, and quite different than as it was with my Lizard, are the fretboard edges. Here, they are quite sharp. Not as sharp as they are not treated at all, but sharper than my Lizard. You can see a comparison here:

Lizard:





SkerveSix:





This is not really big deal, since they are not too sharp for my taste. It makes the guitar feel more modern and less broken in. On the other side of the spectrum are PRS for instance; My Mira had super rounded fretboard edges and felt like it has been broken in for 10 years or so.

I would have had the option to make a fanned fret 6 string, but I think that 6 strings go along well with straight frets. Especially since I only tune down one step and use 10-52 strings.

Now with the bride raised and saddles lowered, the guitar plays reasonably comfortable.

I like the asymmetrical neck profile, I always have and the compound radius plays great! The asymmetric profile thins out a bit on the side of the lower strings. I’ve placed my thumb on this side most of the time. That makes the neck feel thinner, without sacrificing mass and strength.

The neck is also a bit wider than a Les Paul T or a standard Jackson for instance, what gives the outer strings more room and makes string slipping less likely. Vibrato on the lowest and highest strings always feels safe and reliable.


Overall the neck feels great!

The factory setup is crazy low! The action is incredible low and it buzzes quite a lot on the lowest string. But only ever so slightly on the other strings. The neck relief is nearly non-existent. When I fret first and last fret, I could not get a thin piece of paper to fit at the lowest point of the neck bow. I can just see a sliver of light between top of the fret and bottom of the string.





Though, that might be due to the truss rod being stuck and thus the relief being less than usually for the factory setup. But, I just would increase the relief ever so slightly to get rid of some of the low string buzz.

That said, the low action makes fretting as effortless as one could wish. Tappings and hammer ons don’t need any force and ring out long. The neck is really easy to play!


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## raytsh (Sep 28, 2017)

*Ergonomics - Sitting down?*

Regarding playing positions in general, I prefer to have the guitar for one, in exactly the same position while sitting down and standing up, and to have a 90-80° angle between upper arm and forearm of my picking hand. If the angle gets more acute, I start to feel strain in the shoulder and upper arm. For the neck, I prefer it to be in a 30-40° angle to the floor.

Playing the guitar sitting down is weird for me. In the position with the guitar on the right leg, the bridge is too far out. My elbow is pointing back, is raised up, and there is an acute angle between upper arm and forearm what I find really uncomfortable. If I put my hand on the bridge palm mute position, I feel like my shoulder gets tense immediately because I have to move the elbow so high up and out.

Basically, the guitar is kind of besides the body, under my right arm and the neck points away from the body to the front, kind of like playing a long scale bass. I prefer to have the guitar more in line with my shoulders (not completely parallel though) than under my arm.

Additionally, it is hard to reach frets higher than 15 (with the index finger) since my left forearm needs to be pressed into the side of my stomach to reach the higher frets properly. I have to reach across my body to get to the frets.

The reason for how the guitar sits of course is, that the curve where the guitar sits on my leg has its dip not between the pickups but nearly in one line as the neck pickup. Both my Boden-style and Warrior are better to play in this position due to their respective position of body curvature in relation to the pickups and the bridge.










I’m not sitting at an angle to the camera here. I’m parallel in the front view and perfectly perpendicular in the side view. This is how the guitar naturally sits with how the lower curve and the belly carve are shaped. As you can see, my elbow is extended to the side and the back quite extreme; Really uncomfortable. In fact, after playing it for only about 2h, I’ve got sore muscles in my upper picking arm for a week. The way the guitar sits and how the bridge and thus the picking hand is located in relation to the body, is just so far out compared to all the other guitars I’ve played. I’ve been playing for way over 10 years and I’ve owned 30-40 different guitars over the years; Les Pauls, Strats, Super Strats, SGs and what not; Fender, Jackson, Ibanez, ESP, Chapman, Gibson, Schecter and more. None of these guitar shapes sits so far out and brings my picking arm in such an uncomfortable position.

Imaging you would play a Fender J or P Bass on the right leg with a pick and rest your palm on the bridge for palm mutes. That is what it feels like; way out there to the side and back.

When I would design a guitar body, I would think about where to place the curves in relation to the bridge and pickup. I’m not sure if this has been done here or if it was just designed this way because it looked good.

An SG would be the other extreme, where the dip of the body contour is at the bridge pickup. This makes an SG sit quite forward and is nice for the picking arm when the guitar rests on the right leg. But, that also makes a SG to sit not so well in the classical position; the neck is really far out and the whole guitar is shifted to my left side. To reach the lower frets kind of feels like playing a bass.

In the classical position with the left leg raised, the guitar sits quite far out to my left and I have to lean my upper body to the left as well. Not as far out as an SG of course, but still. This is kind of bad for the back of you do it for a longer period of time. The jack placement makes it so, that the cable is in the way of the right leg. In this position, an angled connector is necessary. But as I will talk about in more detail later, it is preferable to have a straight connector when standing up as well as when sitting down.





The classical position is not ideal though, since the guitar has too much material behind the bridge where it has contact with my right leg while sitting on the left leg. I have to sit quite widespread (man-spreading, you know?) for the guitar to rest properly in this position, especially when the cable is plugged it. As mentioned that’s why the guitar sits to far to my left.

The lower part of the body, where the controls are, is also in the way. If I sit on a normal chair I can’t lean against the back of the chair because the body of the guitar than sits on the seat of the chair and not on my leg anymore. I have to sit right at the edge so the body can go below the seating surface.

A Boden shape works better for me here, but has the drawback of the left leg pressing against the cable connector right behind the bridge.










The alternative to all this is to have the guitar so incredibly high hanging, that it hangs freely when sitting down and leaning against the back of a chair. This might be possible without a cable but there is no way for this to work with a connector plugged in. The jack position is just the worst! With a straight connector and the cable lead around the strap pin, you would have the guitar hanging so high, that it would be more like a necklace. This might be nice for the fretting hand but again creates an acute angle between upper arm and forearm of the picking hand.


This works also better with a Boden shape since the guitar can sit a bit lower due to how the body area with the controls is shaped and how the connector is lead out of the body.

Since the classical position is more comfortable this means for me, that I have to change connectors when I alternate between sitting down and standing up.

Also, the distance between the deepest point of the body contour and the pickups is quite large. The less this distance, the lower the guitar sits, what in return is more comfortable for the picking arm in my opinion. My Warrior does this really well.

What I am saying is, that the body is in nearly in no way ergonomic despite its appearance. The jack placement ruins much of the ergonomic potential and the function of the body shape as it is here! But as mentioned earlier, I haven’t played the guitar for less than 10h at this point. Ii is possible that I find an acceptable solution over the next weeks or that I just get used to a currently awkward playing position.


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## raytsh (Sep 28, 2017)

*The jack placement!!*

I’ll now look at the jack placement on its own, since it’s so odd. The more I think about it the more I see the jack placement as the biggest design flaw, even bigger than the ridiculously large bridge routing/cavity what is more or less a visual flaw. The jack placement seems to me like a completely pragmatic solution with not much thought put into it. Just lead the cable out in some way and you are done.









Neither with a straight nor with an angled plug can I get a good fit. Usually I like to lead the cable along the strap button and strap to create a kind of strain relief. This does not work here as well as I wished. An angled connector leads the cable straight down, no way to wrap it around the strap without it leaving an indentation in the body wood of the back side. This is an issue in both ways the connector can go.









As you can see, no matter how the cable is lead, an angled connector will alway damage the body.

A straight connector on the other hand is in the way when sitting down and playing in the classical position. But it better allows to fixate the cable with the strap.





An angled, Fender-style, jack angle would work better here in my opinion or even leading out the jack in an angle to the body layer like Strandberg does so the cable is directed more to the back of the guitar, away from the body. Or imaging a Les Paul, how nicely the cable is lead along the body and over the strap pin with an angled connector. I can also imaging to lead the connector below the tuners on some way or in a channel on the backside so the outer body contour remains intact without the cable interfering.

I know that the cavity is quite small, but, I would have nothing against it going into the neck laminate to make more room for reasonable jack placement.

Again, this is really odd when looking at other designs like the Lizard or Raptor with its clever jack placement that allows to lead the cable along the strap with a straight connector.









Once more, this indicates that the design is not yet thought through completely and is more or less still a prototype.


*Ergonomics - Standing up – belly cut and arm rest*

I still haven’t figured out a good strap length. Usually, I like to set up the strap in a way, that the guitar is at the exact same height when standing up as it is when sitting down. What factors into this are the positions of the strap pins as well as the belly cut/carve.

If I set the strap length so that it is most comfortable height-wise for the picking and fretting hand, the belly carve has no effect since the guitar sits to high.

As a result, the belly carve does not align with my rib cage. As a result, the lower body edge tilts away from the body, while the upper edge turns towards the body. The guitar sits at an angle of about 15-20°. I can now see the top of the body and the fretboard without having to move my head forward. I prefer the guitar body to be nearly perpendicular to the ground and only see the side of the neck. This feels more comfortable for my fretting hand since the wrist has not to be extended forward.

If I set the strap length so, that the belly carve works nicely with my rib cage and the guitar body is straight, and I see only the side of the neck, they guitar hangs too low for comfortable fretting and picking for me.

I think, the guitar needs a bigger belly cut and a more extensive armrest. The only guitar that did that nearly perfect for me was the EBMM JP6. It just fits perfectly between picking arm and body for me.

Speaking of the armrest, it is really minimal and barely noticeable. Sure, it is a lot better than at a Les Paul, but less comfortable than a PRS Mira or SG for instance.

*No good position?*


With most guitars I’ve owned (way over 30) I could find at least one position where it feels really comfortable. Not with the SkerveSix though. Neither in any sitting down position nor standing up I can achieve a reasonably comfortable position where I could play hours without putting too much stress on either picking or fretting hand/arm. Again, this is partly due to how the body is shaped but mostly caused by the jack placement.


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## raytsh (Sep 28, 2017)

*High fret access?*

One strange thing about this design is, it’s an NTB with no heel. Usually that means, nice high fret access. But in fact, the access isn’t that great at all. The issue here are the bevels. These make it look like there is good high fret access, since visually you are following the line of the top. If the horns would end where the top ends, then it would be fine. But, as the bevels are in the way, you can only get up to the 22nd fret. I like to bend with my ring finger in the higher regions and I can’t really do that comfortably frets higher than 22nd.






Additionally, I have my thumb on the side of the neck instead of the back. Since the upper horn joins with the neck between 17th and 18th fret, it really limits the access to the frets higher than 20 as well.

Even if you have your thumb on the “heel” area, the bevel part of the lower horn will still block access to a certain degree. You have to reach over the body so to speak. A carve like many PRS have would be helpful here.

A SG or Boden style guitar has better high fret access for me, despite having an actual heel.





I barely play up there, so it’s not a that of a big issue for me.


*The bridge - Odd string spacing?*





The keen observer will have noticed that the bridged are not equally spaced. At first glance, I thought it looked odd. But in fact, this is due to the bridge spacing is compensated for the string with. The string-spacing is not measured from the string centre, rather the string edges. This is not noticeable when playing but is a nice touch and shows the attention to detail that they put into these builds. Then again, it is all the more striking that the bridge routing/cavity is designed so thoughtlessly.





Overall the bridge is decent. It is way easier to tune than the Strandberg bridge. But, the saddles have really, REALLY! sharp edges as well as the screws that clamp the string at the bridge. After only about 30min of play it is already irritation for my palm. And this is with the saddles lowered by 1.5mm already due to the new spacers for the bridge bases. I can’t imagine how irritation it would have been if the bridge was as it should be delivered initially. I see me filing the saddles down eventually…





Also weird is, that I did not get the latest bridge version. This one is still the older model, where the intonation cannot be adjusted without completely removing the string tension. The newer bridge has a screw in the base that allows to adjust the intonation more easily.

The bridge is also a lot easier to tune as, for instance, Strandberg's bridges. The ratio is larger and they are easier to turn.


*The bridge routing – too big!*

Speaking of the bridge (again), its routing/cavity is not only to deep, it is also to wide and long in my opinion. It looks like it would easily fit a 7-string bridge. I can’t really think of any reason why there should be so much free space. In my opinion, this is a design flaw, not a manufacturing mistake or something along this line. Sure, it works. But, imaging you have a guitar with soap-bar style active pickups and you are retrofitting a standard pickup without covers. Sure, it will work and sound as intended. The routing will be too big and it won’t look nice.

That is, if you retrofit something.

However, if you design a guitar for a standard pickup, why would you opt for such a routing that results in a visually less appealing product? You simply won’t. You would come up with a routing that fits nicely.





I think the perfect way would be to have routing that is shaped like the black bases and fits only the bases and not more. This might be harder to machine. An alternate solution then would be to have single a routing that only leaves 1-2mm room around the bases.

This again shows, that this is the first guitar of its kind and has this prototype-vibe to it where they are still trying things out to see what works best. I’m sure that the design will change over time.

Here you can see some other SkerveTen models that feature the hardware. As you can see the routs look different, because it still is changing. But they all share the similarity of the saddles being quite high.


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## raytsh (Sep 28, 2017)

*The clamps*

While the bride/tuners look decent, and I don’t like the black tuning buttons much, I think the string clamps are a bit to chunky for this sophisticated design. I like the ones of Strandberg and ABM more.






*The string-clamp-truss-rod-situation*

The mentioned issues were all more or less cosmetic “flaws” or are a matter of personal preference. Yes, one could argue that having a bridge operate at its optimum and not at the verge of being dysfunctional is down to preference, or to prefer not to having sharp metal edges cut into your palm, or to have a routing/cavity that fits a piece of hardware that the routing is made for properly.

But, there is one issue that I came across that is of a different kind: The screws that hold down the string clamps on the headpiece are screwed in to deep. As a result, the truss rod is locked and cannot be moved farther out. Thus, the relief cannot be increased, I can only tighten the truss rod. You can also see how the truss rod has been scratched by the drill when they drilled the holes for the string clamps.





This is a really big issue in my opinion! The relief is minimal, to non-existent right now. If I fret the first and last fret, I cannot fit a thin sheet of paper at the lowest point of the neck. So, the neck is basically flat. It just needs some degrees of temperature or air moisture change and the guitar will have a back bow and will then be unplayable.

How can this slip past QC? One would assume they check if the truss rod moves freely in both directions.

Additionally, the string clamp in question is raised. This happened either because they screwed it down while the truss rod was in the position as it is now and the clamp than raised because the screw cannot go deeper, or the truss rod was adjusted after the clamp was in its final position and the pressure of the rod pressing against the screw moved the clamp up.

Either way, this can be easily spotted by visual inspection.





The truss rod should have been put in the neck closer to the body, it should start behind the string clamps not right under them.

I’ve mailed them about this issue but did not get a reply yet. I might be able to grind down the screw with a power tool to free up the truss rod but that still does not fix the clamp that is raised up. I have no idea how to remove the clamp.

I might have to send the guitar back so they can fix it.


*The back*

The backside is nicely carved with good high fret access. But the belly carve is to reserved, it could be way more aggressive in my opinion. Same for the arm rest portion of the front contour, the bevel could be larger. I’m really a fan of big bevels and cuts, think JP6.





The NTB construction feels really solid and resonates nicely but high fret access is limited as mentioned earlier despite there being ne heel.


*The sound*

I did not have to time to play it much. This is only my first impression. Also, it is really hard to properly review the sound, since it’s such a subjective matter (as is ergonomics, weight and many of the other stuff I’ve talked about, I am aware of that, thank you).

And, as blasphemous as it might sounds (seewhatIdidthere?!), but sound is not that important - I can change so much with my amp settings, choice of cabinet, choice of mic and mic placement. The whole sound changes drastically if I would use other picks, pickups or effects or just play differently. The sound is in your hands, you know?! But what does not change, and what is the point of my first impressions here, is how the guitar is build and how it plays when it’s set up well. Thus I’m not going to deep into the sound.

Anyhow, this is the first time playing the Juggernaut pickups and I have to say, I really like them. They are medium to high output I’d say and sound quite percussive; You can really hear the pick attack. Palm mutes are thick and meaty. Overall the sound has it's mids forward and slightly dialed back lows for my ears.

The neck variant sounds really creamy, though I play 99% of the time on the bridge pickup.

The coil split sounds nice, but I barely use it in general. The WorldDom Mod makes the guitar sound a bit like an acoustic what works well with both pickups engaged and on a clean channel.

The guitar is also medium loud played without an amp. I often play “dry” late in the night, and it works fine for that. It being too loud would actually be a downside.


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## raytsh (Sep 28, 2017)

*Pricing and case*

The price is reasonable, especially considered that I could choose between different woods, and the included case would probably cost 250-300EUR on its own if purchased separately.









The case is great! The guitar fits perfectly snug and the case is incredible sturdy. It is also incredible heavy though. I prefer to use gigbags for short trips with the guitar via car. If I should fly with the guitar at some point, this case would come in handy, but it is also not lockable. So that’s that.

The case has one big flaw though: It dives! It dives like crazy to the side where the neck is placed. Even if you hold it right at the edge of the handle, it still dives. Really annoying! I don’t get that; The case has been custom made to fit the guitar. Why would you not place the handle at a position where it is balanced?

I asked Skervesen about this issue and they told me, that this is because it makes it easier to carry on stairs. I agree, it makes it easier in these specific situations. But, when I'm walking around with the case, stairs are only there on a fraction of the way. For the most part, it's flat ground here. So, this does not justify the offset handle in my opinion.


*The second round - 15 months*


After I’ve sent the guitar back to get reworked, mainly because of the truss rod being stuck, it took about 3 more weeks to get back to me. That makes it a total build time of about 15 months.


They’ve addressed the sharp edges of the bridge. The saddle of the two lowest strings have been rounded on the side where the hand rests. It is way more pleasing to do long palm muted tremolo parts and such.





The rough spot on the back of the neck has been smoothed out, but in exchange I’ve now got some rough sanding marks where the body meets the upper horn, like from 100 grit sandpaper. The paintjob has been done very nicely, I cannot make out the area that has been sanded. Another unwelcome change is, that the area is now smooth but also flat. The neck does not follow the overall profile anymore in this area. It is more straight, like an endure neck from Strandberg.

But, and that’s a bummer, now there is a rough spot on the back of the neck, where my thumb rests, that spans the whole 3rd and 4th fret. While the rough spot at the high registers was a mild distraction, now in these lower registers it’s really annoying… It is probably a result of the masking and repainting for fixing the first rough spot. Again, I cannot understand how one could miss this. When I first took the guitar out of the case when I got it back, I ran my hand along the backside of the neck and immediately noticed the rough area. How can one miss this?!






As you can imaging, this is really annoying and noticeable when doing slides in this region of the fretboard.

The string clamps are now more even and the truss rod can move freely. Very nice! But, in exchange the chrome plating is partially gone on that very string clamp.







There is a dent on the edge of the fretboard, about 5mm in size that is new to me. The fretboard edges are also a bit dirty.











They’ve also swapped the potentiometers around; I like the lower one to be for the bridge pickup and not the other way round as it was when I initially got the guitar.


All in all, I’m happy I’ve sent it back to get fixed and reworked, it was worth the additional wait. At least for the truss rod it was necessary. But now I have I more noticeable rough area on the neck...


*Full price?*

Speaking of “worth it” - I’m not entirely sure if this should have been charged in full. With all the issues and delays in mind, I’d say they should have offered me 20-30% cash back or an even larger discount for a potential next order. What I have been offered is a few, as in single digits, percent discount on my next order. Money-wise this is amounts to maybe 20 packs of standard strings. If I would be them, I’d offer my disappointed customer a bit more. If I’m not ordering again, I get nothing.


*A nice piece of furniture?*

My post might come across a bit harsh and overly critical. But, I’m really disappointed and frustrated when it comes to the guitar itself and the overall build process and experience. After over 14 months of wait I’ve played it for less than two hours, just to ship it back immediately. It is so frustrating!

Now, after 15 months total, I associate mainly negative emotions with this guitar. I also simply can’t un-see the bridge routing/cavity that just looks off, as well as how high the bridge is above the area that it is mounted. Also, that the truss rod cannot be used basically is a big flaw and it really puzzles me how this could slip through QC. It might be fixed now and it works, but the holes in the wood do not magically disappear; The guitar is flawed. I have no incentive to play it even if it sits right beside me.

It feels like I’ve paid 2.5k for a nice-looking wall decoration or piece of furniture. As you can imagine I’m not really happy with the guitar.


*The perfect guitar?*

One might think I’m over analysing things and look to closely. But, I just really like guitars and I think about how something is designed and how it can be improved and I question things that are not optimal. I’m also aware that there probably isn’t something like a perfect guitar.

I have to admit, that my expectation were incredibly high after 14 months of wait. I wanted this to be the last guitar model that I would ever purchase! I only had to option on the back of my mind to get the exact same model with same specs but different woods as a backup or for alternate tunings.


*At the end*

I still like Skervesen and they would be my first choice for semi-custom builds. There is really no alternative that I’m aware of. Sure, there is Padalka for instance, but since he is not located in the EU, I will have to pay about 40% in fees and tax and with this, the guitar is just too expensive.

Prices are also very fair in my opinion, if the product is flawless (or 99.9%).


Originally, I was going to order another one. Even if this would have had slight flaws, I’d still want a near perfect one. Like, three's the charm, right?! But, I’m kind of fed up with (semi)custom guitars for now. I’ll stick to stock guitars of the shelf for the time being if I decide I need another one.


Anyhow, till the next time (maybe), -Frank


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## prlgmnr (Sep 28, 2017)

Well, that was a rollercoaster ride. Perhaps the most detailed NGD of all time.

The thing looks amazing but that truss rod situation would probably have had me return it and leave it there.


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## raytsh (Sep 28, 2017)

prlgmnr said:


> Well, that was a rollercoaster ride. Perhaps the most detailed NGD of all time.



Thank you for reading it all the way through.  Most people would not finish reading such a ridiculously long post, I assume.



prlgmnr said:


> The thing looks amazing but that truss rod situation would probably have had me return it and leave it there.



I thought about that, and, as of now, I would gladly take a refund and send it back. But, this is not how it works with (semi)custom guitar from what I understand. At least the 40% deposit is gone for good, what is completely understandable from the manufacturers point of view, no arguing there. And if I only get 60% back and don't have the guitar, I would very well just keep it, deal with it, and maybe sell it on my own to minimize my loss.


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## xzacx (Sep 28, 2017)

Sucks to hear about all your issues, but being that it's not my guitar, all I can focus on is that beautiful finish. Love the color as well as the inspiration for it.


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## raytsh (Sep 28, 2017)

The shade and gradient of the burst turned out great and looks very nice with the chrome hardware, I agree. Looks like honey-caramel-tea-fudge!


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## khm (Sep 28, 2017)

Great NGD, very detailed and thorough. 

Is a real shame that things didn't end up being how you had hoped, and that's a crazy delay. I am in the middle of a build with another maker at the moment, and the completion time has already doubled (also due to them ordering the Hardware 4 months after the build was meant to be complete). Hopefully with some more play time you will start to enjoy it some more.


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## KnightBrolaire (Sep 28, 2017)

The jack placement is a huge oversight compared to other headless guitars on the market. I don't really like the jack placement on the shoggie or boden either (honestly I prefer how padalka and kiesel both do it but that's just me). That truss rod issue is unacceptable imo. as far as comms/the delays go, that's kind of par for the course for some builders anymore, they're inconsistent in their communications and they give unrealistic timelines/subsequently fail to meet them.


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## diagrammatiks (Sep 28, 2017)

Did the build come out to 2500 euros? I'm assuming since you are in Europe...the ones I specced were all about 3k usd. 

Thanks for the review...I was thinking about ordering one of these earlier this year. The only thing that stopped me was that I wanted to wait for them to get more examples out in the wild and I wanted them to offer chambering. 

I feel like what happen here is that..they really haven't done enough prototypes with the hardware. The shoggie uses different hardware that they seem to be more familiar with. It seems like they just made it up as they went along with the mere stuff on your build. They should definitely offer a partial refund for some of the flaws. 

On the ergonomics...I actually really don't like the look of the shoggie and prefer the look of this on paper. However, the issues you are having remind me of the same issues I had with my 4ap which was an early original design build. They have since revised the design to be more comfortable afaik. The original 4ap looked really good but I found it to be ergonomically lacking. There was only one position sitting where it was comfortable. It was really hard to play classically due to the way it was shaped. Although it worked when you strapped it really high. The output jack seems to have the same design as the Skerveten. The position is weird and just gets in the way all the time. 

Their fretwork and finishing is really good though. They definitely need to do some more testing on these new designs...and maybe only offer hardware that they know how to work with.


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## raytsh (Sep 28, 2017)

Yes, it was proposed as 2.5k EUR as we specced it and that's what I paid at the end.


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## Restarted (Sep 28, 2017)

I'm sorry for your bad experience. But seriously, that is one of the most beautiful guitars I've ever seen. Also, thanks for the great write-up


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## yuri_1973 (Sep 28, 2017)

By far, the best NGD / Review ever.

I really want to thank you @raytsh for the thorough details and time spent doing the review, I consider it's extremely helpful post, useful, and entertaining.

I really hope the guitar grows on you and the imperfections are forgotten the more you play it.


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## Sogradde (Sep 28, 2017)

As beautiful as the guitar is, I would honestly return it. 2.5k is no small change and a price point where you should rather worry about "will they get the shade of trans purple right?" and not "will my guitar actually work?".
The Bridge routing is a nice nod to Kiesel fuckups, the input jack is not well thought out but the trussrod situation is jesus-christ-how-horrifying-tier bad.
Also considering how bad this guitar does ergonomically (as most headless guitars are build to be ergonomic...) I wouldn't waste my time with that instrument and ask for a refund.
It's a real shame because I have seen some nice Skervesen builds in the past but this one is a mess.

I feel really sorry for you.


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## raytsh (Sep 28, 2017)

I hit them up with an e-mail after I've got the guitar back from the re-work. I did not get a reply yet. Maybe I can work something out regarding a refund.

It is also my fault partly. I knew that this would be the first of its kind. I also should have figured out how the guitar would sit on my leg playing sitting down just from the photos and sketches. I also knew about the jack placement but did not pay much attention initially.



yuri_1973 said:


> By far, the best NGD / Review ever.
> 
> I really want to thank you @raytsh for the thorough details and time spent doing the review, I consider it's extremely helpful post, useful, and entertaining.



Thank you! I enjoyed gathering my thoughts and writing them down. It was maybe the most enjoyable part of the whole build project.


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## crackout (Sep 28, 2017)

Having played this particular guitar myself for a few minutes, I can only sign off on all stated issues.

What really blew my mind was how bad the access on the high frets was. It was the first NTB guitar I laid my hands on and I was stoked when raytsh told me about the guitar's arrival. But the neck sits so deep in the body, it's impossible to fret notes beyond the 22nd fret.

The best aspect of this guitar is the ridiculously awesome fretjob. Holy moly it's good. 

What I also found to be not ideal is the glossy top. The reason being the effective bridge height. With the bridge only sticking out the top <10mm, my palm touches the body during playing. The gloss acts like glass in this case which makes my hand stick to it thus slowing me down. This is not a flaw by Skervesen of course, just a personal preference. 

Since I know raytsh's obession with instruments, I can only hope for him to get a full refund.


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## diagrammatiks (Sep 28, 2017)

crackout said:


> Having played this particular guitar myself for a few minutes, I can only sign off on all stated issues.
> 
> What really blew my mind was how bad the access on the high frets was. It was the first NTB guitar I laid my hands on and I was stoked when raytsh told me about the guitar's arrival. But the neck sits so deep in the body, it's impossible to fret notes beyond the 22nd fret.
> 
> ...



Ya I dunno if you can call the fret access a defect or a design flaw. The first version of the 4ap had the same issue. On mine the neck joint was so high you could only get up to the 20th fret before having to move your wrist into weird shapes.


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## electriceye (Sep 28, 2017)

Longest NGD post ever.  Anyway, confused why or how you'd still only consider tehm after this mess of a process. Me? I'd be done with them for good.


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## bpprox22 (Sep 28, 2017)

TL;DR


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## bpprox22 (Sep 28, 2017)

Seriously though... HNGD! that thing is a beauty.


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## raytsh (Sep 28, 2017)

bpprox22 said:


> TL;DR



I expected to read this a lot earlier.


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## raytsh (Sep 28, 2017)

electriceye said:


> Anyway, confused why or how you'd still only consider tehm after this mess of a process. Me? I'd be done with them for good.



Well, my Lizard was pretty nice. So, that's a 50% success rate for me. But, yeah, I'm not in the mood to order another one any time soon.


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## laxu (Sep 29, 2017)

Thanks for the incredibly detailed review!

I'd say many of the issues stem from asking for different hardware than what they usually use. With ABM you would most likely have experienced the issues that required sending the guitar back. Still not excusable. To me it seems those Mera bridges are meant to be inlaid on the guitar so that routing should not have been done at all and instead just routed for the bridge shape.

Surprised that the higher fret access turned out to be an issue. I had issues with the Strandberg design because the heel protrudes so far up the neck.

Now I'm glad I went with the Shoggie shape instead of the Skerveten as the ergonomics issues are pretty glaring. Don't know if the Skerveten design somehow works better when you have the wider body of the 10 string original.
I really hope Skervesen reads this and starts making some much needed changes to the Skerveten design as the ergonomic issues seem like fairly simple fixes. Aesthetically I find it really pleasing but if it isn't comfortable then that is all for nothing.


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## raytsh (Sep 29, 2017)

I should have chosen the Shoggie as well in hindsight, they have a lot more experience with this model.

Oh, and by the way, sorry for all the typos and grammatical errors, guys! I've noticed a lot of them after submitting the posts, but I can't edit them...


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## raytsh (Sep 29, 2017)

Update: Jarek, the owner of Skervesen Guitars, got in touch with me after he read this NDG thread here. He apologized for how the build went and how the guitar turned out and offered me a partial refund and, on top of that, a new guitar. When this new guitar is done, I will then send the SkerveSIX back in exchange. Of course I gladly accepted this offer.

We still have to figure out what model and the specs and stuff. I now have a bit of money back and I will get a guitar with what I will probably be much happier. This is a great gesture from Skervesen and I did not expected them to be so forthcoming. I have to add that I did not wrote this NGD to get attention by Skervesen nor did I post this on social networks and tagged them or something. I just wanted to share my thoughts.

I'm really happy that they got in touch and want to make me a happy customer. I know many brands and manufacturers that just would cut communication and keep the cash or simply downplay the issues/flaws.


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## diagrammatiks (Sep 29, 2017)

nice glad everything worked out. that's good customer service.


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## musicaldeath (Sep 29, 2017)

First things first, the guitar looks beautiful. Sad to hear about all of the flaws.

I always thought the Shoggie single cut was such a cool and unique look (not a fan of the DC style headless guitars for some reason). On Skervesens' part, that is a great gesture of them. They seem to be the rare exception when it comes to these types of companies willing to go to the extra mile. That says a lot about the people who work there as well. Good on them. Good luck with your future build.


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## laxu (Sep 29, 2017)

raytsh said:


> Update: Jarek, the owner of Skervesen Guitars, got in touch with me after he read this NDG thread here. He apologized for how the build went and how the guitar turned out and offered me a partial refund and, on top of that, a new guitar. When this new guitar is done, I will then send the SkerveSIX back in exchange. Of course I gladly accepted this offer.
> 
> We still have to figure out what model and the specs and stuff. I now have a bit of money back and I will get a guitar with what I will probably be much happier. This is a great gesture from Skervesen and I did not expected them to be so forthcoming. I have to add that I did not wrote this NGD to get attention by Skervesen nor did I post this on social networks and tagged them or something. I just wanted to share my thoughts.
> 
> I'm really happy that they got in touch and want to make me a happy customer. I know many brands and manufacturers that just would cut communication and keep the cash or simply downplay the issues/flaws.



That's really great of them and overall a simple goodwill gesture like that will keep their reputation good. Kiesel, take note! Skervesen can probably turn that into something playable that might suit somebody else by just fixing the area near the bridge.

PS. Your photos of the guitar look really nice.


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## Soya (Sep 29, 2017)

Great review! I completely agree with you when you said you mainly associate negative emotions with the guitar, and couldn't bring yourself to play it more. I'm waiting on a custom amp that I was quoted an 8 week lead time on, and it's been over 6 months now. Of course with hearing every excuse in the book (even saying the first amp was "lost" in the mail). If it ever does arrive, I'll likely sell it immediately, because just looking at it will remind me of the stress involved and I'd rather just have it out of my life.

I am glad though to see Skervesen take responsibility and try to make it right. Right there is the big difference between say Kiesel and Skervesen, Kiesel will downplay the issues and discredit the customer, Skervesen will offer to fix the situation (either for pr control or more altruistic motives).


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## laxu (Sep 29, 2017)

musicaldeath said:


> I always thought the Shoggie single cut was such a cool and unique look (not a fan of the DC style headless guitars for some reason).



I'm the opposite, the single cut Shoggie looks like it has been amputated while I love the doublecut version. I think the singlecut would work better with a more exaggerated "whale" singlecut like you find on some basses. Now that I think of it, a singlecut Shoggie multiscale bass with a bigger cutaway would be pretty neat...


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## KnightBrolaire (Sep 29, 2017)

raytsh said:


> Update: Jarek, the owner of Skervesen Guitars, got in touch with me after he read this NDG thread here. He apologized for how the build went and how the guitar turned out and offered me a partial refund and, on top of that, a new guitar. When this new guitar is done, I will then send the SkerveSIX back in exchange. Of course I gladly accepted this offer.
> 
> We still have to figure out what model and the specs and stuff. I now have a bit of money back and I will get a guitar with what I will probably be much happier. This is a great gesture from Skervesen and I did not expected them to be so forthcoming. I have to add that I did not wrote this NGD to get attention by Skervesen nor did I post this on social networks and tagged them or something. I just wanted to share my thoughts.
> 
> I'm really happy that they got in touch and want to make me a happy customer. I know many brands and manufacturers that just would cut communication and keep the cash or simply downplay the issues/flaws.


woah, now that's customer service. Unfortunate that you had issues to begin with, but that's a hell of a way to rectify them. Getting a partial refund/another build is a really nice gesture.


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## metallifan3091 (Sep 29, 2017)

I agree, KB. It really is a shame that this guitar didn't come out well because it LOOKS gorgeous. I really like that honey burst sort of finish.


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## xzacx (Sep 29, 2017)

Wow, that's really impressive customer service. That really goes a long way. 

My girl got me a pair of boots last Xmas, which she was guaranteed would be here in time. They didn't end up making it. She was able to find them somewhere else, and retuned the pair that came late. Long story short, they ended up sending her a hand-written apology along with a card holder that was currently for sale at their website for over $250. It wasn't a huge deal to me, and I wouldn't have cared about just getting the gift late, but I've ended up spending a lot more money with them this year, thanks in part to the good feeling we got from the way they handled that situation. 

My point being, I'm not necessarily a big Skervesen fan, but between that beautiful finish, and the way they've handled this, I'd now consider something from them in the future.


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## purpledc (Sep 29, 2017)

IMHO you deserve a complete rebuild. They should build a new one the right way and send it to you with a prepaid label for the jacked up one to be returned to them after you have checked the new guitar and are satisfied. I just think even though the guitar is beautiful there are obvious flaws that simply will never be correct even with the surgery they have done. For full retail price you deserve full retail quality.


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## musicaldeath (Sep 29, 2017)

laxu said:


> I'm the opposite, the single cut Shoggie looks like it has been amputated while I love the doublecut version. I think the singlecut would work better with a more exaggerated "whale" singlecut like you find on some basses. Now that I think of it, a singlecut Shoggie multiscale bass with a bigger cutaway would be pretty neat...


I think Ibanez did the single cut BTB bass at one point and it had that "whale hump" exaggeration you were talking about. I really likes the look of that and want a guitar done with that body style.


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## xzacx (Sep 29, 2017)

purpledc said:


> IMHO you deserve a complete rebuild. They should build a new one the right way and send it to you with a prepaid label for the jacked up one to be returned to them after you have checked the new guitar and are satisfied. I just think even though the guitar is beautiful there are obvious flaws that simply will never be correct even with the surgery they have done. For full retail price you deserve full retail quality.



Did you not read? He's getting a complete rebuild, plus a partial refund.


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## 4Eyes (Sep 30, 2017)

Nice finish on that guitar, even it didn't turn out in the best way...and well played by Skervesen - wish you good luck with the next axe, I bet you'll chose wisely


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## purpledc (Sep 30, 2017)

xzacx said:


> Did you not read? He's getting a complete rebuild, plus a partial refund.


I read everything yesterday. But that post of his wasnt showing for me. I went back after reading your post of how impressed you were with their service and went back through the entire thread and found nothing that you were talking about. The only thing i found was the ops post about sending an email seeking a discount but that he wasnt expecting much. Only this morning did his other post show up for me. I had figured you must have read his post about inquiring about a discount as definitive. I get a lot of this lately. Posts not showing up. I notice for me at least, many times when i log in when there is a thread with 3-5 pages often times when i click on say page four and then click on page five i get the same posts on both pages. Often this leads to missing key points until the next day when post i couldnt see before suddenly become visible.


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## Riker_Maneuver (Sep 30, 2017)

How were you able to configure this for 2400 EUR? The cheapest I can configure it is for around 3200 EUR.


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## KnightBrolaire (Sep 30, 2017)

Riker_Maneuver said:


> How were you able to configure this for 2400 EUR? The cheapest I can configure it is for around 3200 EUR.


it was a prototype


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## laxu (Sep 30, 2017)

musicaldeath said:


> I think Ibanez did the single cut BTB bass at one point and it had that "whale hump" exaggeration you were talking about. I really likes the look of that and want a guitar done with that body style.



Yeah that is what I was thinking about. They have two in the BTB Bass workshop range at the moment and they look super cool but I don't care for the string spacing and the 35" scale. They really should do multiscale BTB.


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## raytsh (Sep 30, 2017)

Riker_Maneuver said:


> How were you able to configure this for 2400 EUR? The cheapest I can configure it is for around 3200 EUR.



I just specced it with their Excel order form and that's what the total turned out as.


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## M3CHK1LLA (Oct 1, 2017)

great write-up. glad to see things will work out for you.

ive been wanting a skervesen for a few months now and been checking various music stores, ebay, reverb & here to find the "right one". this is the first time ive seen any negative about them and was glad to see they are trying to make things right. 

hopefully they will learn from this "prototype" and have a better product for future customers. this well certainly help me in my future decisions about buying one.


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## prlgmnr (Oct 2, 2017)

I don't really see anything negative in here, I see a customer not getting something they're happy with and a builder going out of their way to make it right.


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## Shoeless_jose (Oct 2, 2017)

This is a win, win, win! Good on the builder too


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## purpledc (Oct 9, 2017)

prlgmnr said:


> I don't really see anything negative in here, I see a customer not getting something they're happy with and a builder going out of their way to make it right.



I think the problem I have with the whole story if I have any problem is that it took the owner seeing this thread with negative feedback before they would remedy the issue. Don't get me wrong I love that they are making the OP whole, but it seems the ball was dropped quite a few times before that happened and only was addressed once posted on a large guitar forum for many to see. Now we all know that can go two ways. At least they didn't bitch out, take their ball and go home.


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## Xykhron (Oct 20, 2017)

Thank you very much for sharing your very detailed opinnions about the building and the ergonomics of the guitar. I was tempted by this model and I was about to order one 7string, but after reading you and the experience of my other Skervesen (1 Shoggie, 4 Raptors and 1 Swan on the building process), I think I should wait some time until I order it. Mine have also some "flaws", and some of those flaws shouldn't be there if you put more attention to detail. They all are excellent guitars but I'd rather prefer to wait a couple of months more but having a good product than having it quicker but with some issues.

One thing that I noticed on my last purchased ones was, indeed, the sharper frets than the older models I currently own or owned in the past years. I think it's because it takes less time dressing up the fretends than with the new finish, but it bothers me a lot, because the main reason I like Skervesen is because the fretwork, and it's not the first review I read that talks about sharp fretedges. 

Anyway, I'm not here writing to complain about Skervesen QC, but to thank you for the review. I use to make large reviews but yours is, hands down, one of the most in-deep ones I've ever read.


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## Wolfos (Oct 20, 2017)

I'm currently in month 4 of a Carved Raptor 7 string build. Man am I ever glad you wrote this NGD thread! I am having the same issues with communication as you did, the first month maybe 2 months have been great with quick replies and pictures but since then it everything has taken weeks for replies! Very frustrating. Some days I forget that I'm even building with them.

It must be a Custom shop thing because I'm also building an 060 with Aristides and after first deposit was made there has been zero communication in almost a month.

I hope I don't run into any major issues!

Edit: I just read the post above, I'm going to be really upset if the fretends are sharp I wonder if I can request smoother ones. It's probably the only thing I get picky on.


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## raytsh (Oct 21, 2017)

Xykhron said:


> One thing that I noticed on my last purchased ones was, indeed, the sharper frets than the older models I currently own or owned in the past years.





Wolfos said:


> I just read the post above, I'm going to be really upset if the fretends are sharp I wonder if I can request smoother ones. It's probably the only thing I get picky on.



The fret ends are perfect on mine. I was referring to the fretboard edges being less rounded off than on my Lizard.


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## gingerman (Oct 22, 2017)

Hope you feel good about the guitar now. The overall looks is just marvellous, better than any LP


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## Lemonbaby (Oct 22, 2017)

Wolfos said:


> It must be a Custom shop thing because I'm also building an 060 with Aristides and after first deposit was made there has been zero communication in almost a month.
> 
> I hope I don't run into any major issues!


Take it easy. You signed a contract with these guys and they're running a serious business. If a company doesn't seem trustworthy, you shouldn't order a guitar in the first place. I ordered a car for 60k Euros which was delivered 8 months later and guess what: they never sent any pictures of the build progress... 

If I ran a custom guitar shop, I'd offer to provide weekly pictures with an upcharge only. The guitars ordered with this option would take 20% longer to build and be 20% more expensive. I'd team up with a photographer who picks them up once per week in the morning, takes really nice pictures and returns them by the end of the working day.


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## raytsh (Oct 22, 2017)

Lemonbaby said:


> Take it easy. You signed a contract with these guys and they're running a serious business.



They sure run a serious business, but, at least for my builds, we never signed a contract. It's more like "you say you want it, they say they do it" - kind of a thing. Just verbally (casual e-mail conversation) confirmed, nothing written down, nothing one could be held accountable for. I guess that's how it works with manufacturers of that size.


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## Wolfos (Oct 22, 2017)

Lemonbaby said:


> Take it easy. You signed a contract with these guys and they're running a serious business. If a company doesn't seem trustworthy, you shouldn't order a guitar in the first place. I ordered a car for 60k Euros which was delivered 8 months later and guess what: they never sent any pictures of the build progress...
> 
> If I ran a custom guitar shop, I'd offer to provide weekly pictures with an upcharge only. The guitars ordered with this option would take 20% longer to build and be 20% more expensive. I'd team up with a photographer who picks them up once per week in the morning, takes really nice pictures and returns them by the end of the working day.



I'm not really worried about the end product, just frustrated by lack of communication taking weeks/ months to answer questions. Then after reading the OP's thread I just said I 'hope' I don't run into any issues, not actually stating that I think there will be any.

My build is pretty straight forward anyway it would be pretty hard to mess up.


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## Lemonbaby (Oct 22, 2017)

raytsh said:


> They sure run a serious business, but, at least for my builds, we never signed a contract. It's more like "you say you want it, they say they do it" - kind of a thing. Just verbally (casual e-mail conversation) confirmed, nothing written down, nothing one could be held accountable for. I guess that's how it works with manufacturers of that size.


I might be “too German“, but you should at least have one mail or (better) a document consolidating all agreed specs. That's the absolute minimum even with a small (single person) custom guitar builder, otherwise I'd personally step away and find someone else.


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## raytsh (Oct 22, 2017)

Lemonbaby said:


> I might be “too German“, but you should at least have one mail or (better) a document consolidating all agreed specs.



I'm German as well.  Of course we had agreed on specs (Excel file), price and ETA but not formal contract, invoice or something along these lines. It's surely not like ordering from Amazon or Thomann, that's what I meant.


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## gienek (May 28, 2018)

The guitar was messed up on point of making fingerboard ...

And also yes, it looks good, but not functional and well thought as Bodens.

Great NGD, looking for updates


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## raytsh (May 28, 2018)

gienek said:


> Great NGD, looking for updates



The continuation of this build can be found here: http://www.sevenstring.org/threads/ngd-skervesen-mirage-ff-6-1x-pu.330010


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