Keith Merrow leaves S7

[flexkill]

. Even those glaring fuckups aside, the dude has major balls for owning up to these mistakes.

What other choices did he have though really? If he says nothing then people go on believing he makes shitty guitars.

Choice #2 he calls KM a liar....which is not really a good option unless it is 100% accurate.

Choice #3 He sucks it up owns the mistakes and starts damage control.

Choice #3 is the best and only option IMHO.

 

[Splinterhead]

Mayones Endorsement.

He seemed very animated about it when I asked him about why he waited so long...So I could only guess it's a little bit of Endorsement shaming or whatever you call it. He obviously played the guitar are promoted for a good while, and apparently "loved" it. And now, Coincidentally right after he gets a Mayones and after the contest, he puts them down? hmm.......

This is indeed disturbing. I don't know Keith, he seems like a nice guy and puts out some cool material. I give him credit for marketing himself and his music to a point where he has massive popularity. Unfortunately with that popularity he is able to shift, to an extent, public opinion within the guitar community. This would make me be very cautious and try to think of the repercussions of what I say/post on the internetz.

 

[DIOBOLIC5150]

Mayones Endorsement.

He seemed very animated about it when I asked him about why he waited so long...So I could only guess it's a little bit of Endorsement shaming or whatever you call it. He obviously played the guitar are promoted for a good while, and apparently "loved" it. And now, Coincidentally right after he gets a Mayones and after the contest, he puts them down? hmm.......

I'm not endorsed by Mayones, or any other guitar company. I don't want to be. I just want to play guitar and not worry about anything else, such as promo... or sig models. Over it...

Those who say that they don't like how I handled the situation (BlacKat, etc.): How would you have handled it? As stated in the OP, I'm trying to be diplomatic. I'm not attacking S7, just simply sharing my experience. I get emails everyday about S7 guitars, even though I left the roster a long time ago. I've dodged this issue for too long.

The thing is... I demo a lot of gear. What the hell good would my word be if I didn't speak the absolute truth about MY experiences, such as this one?

 

[Splinterhead]

I'm not endorsed by Mayones, or any other guitar company. I don't want to be. I just want to play guitar and not worry about anything else, such as promo... or sig models. Over it...

Those who say that they don't like how I handled the situation (BlacKat, etc.): How would you have handled it? As stated in the OP, I'm trying to be diplomatic. I'm not attacking S7, just simply sharing my experience. I get emails everyday about S7 guitars, even though I left the roster a long time ago. I've dodged this issue for too long.

The thing is... I demo a lot of gear. What the hell good would my word be if I didn't speak the absolute truth about MY experiences, such as this one?

Well that was fast thanks for clearing that up Keith.

 

[Hankey]

Ola Englund's response on the matter:

Seeing all the recent flaming around Strictly 7 Guitars I feel I need to make a statement. I'm not going to comment anything about Keiths guitars cause I think that's between him and S7G and not between us and internet.

I usually stay out of drama like this, cause no one benefits from it, but for the sake of the fans and people who have ordered a S7G Solar I have this to say:

Two years ago me and my buddy Paul got together with S7G for a potential endorsement deal including a signature model called Solar(sOLAr). I was sent a prototype of this model and it was hands down the best guitar I've EVER played. That guitar is still my main 7-string. All the other guitars I've received have been top notch and have been playing awesome. There was a couple of painting flaws on one of my touring solar6. I was going on tour one month later and needed two six strings and seeing how they in the middle of all the production shot out two guitars for me in less than a month I think that's a minor issue. The guitars still play awesome. I've had a problem with two guitars and frets being sharp(I live in less than 20% humidity during winters in Sweden). The neck shrunk a bit and the frets needed to be filed down a bit. Thanks to Allen Hunter for that. After that I've had no more problems with any guitar. According to Jim this is a big problem with ebony if it hasn't been dried out. This is not a problem anymore, Jim has made sure that this won't happen again. Those are the two things that happened to me and they have been resolved.

S7G is a small company and still is, and with the success of the Solar series they got tons of stuff to do, seeing how they have now sold more than 80+ of them, you can see how a small custom shop needs to expand FAST. This means employing new people for different processes, and with employment comes a learning curve, and that takes time. This of course creates a backlog of guitars that just continues to grow. At the same time S7G continued to get more and more signature artists getting signature guitars. And their expectations weren't met like mine was. I can totally understand the disappointment on their part.

What really matters though is you guys, the customers. And there are a LOT of happy Solar owners out there! I've received tons of mails from people who thinks it's the best guitar they ever owned etc. So there seems like S7G is doing something right? I've heard from a couple that had some minor flaws but as soon as they get back to S7G they get it resolved, either with a new guitar or other ways. The wait times are longer than they initially planned but they are working hard to get the people their guitars. One at a time. They are slowly getting together a solid crew and I have full faith in Jim that they will deliver awesome guitars.

If you ordered a Solar and you're happy or unhappy with it, shoot me a and S7G a mail. Send me pictures of it etc, I'd love to get some feedback! If there are any issues, S7G will resolve it. Jim and I have discussed the quality control so we're both on the same page. If you're still waiting for your Solar then have some patience. Eventually you'll get an awesome guitar in your hands. I'm still stoked about the ones I have.

Also as I always say if I'm rolling through your town on a tour just let me know in advance if you're coming out and want to try a guitar, just grab ahold of me and we'll talk gear.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Regards - Ola Englund

P.S: Enough ranting, more beer!

SKÅL!

Copy/pasted from Strandberg's Facebook page...

 

[Adam Of Angels]

I'm not endorsed by Mayones, or any other guitar company. I don't want to be. I just want to play guitar and not worry about anything else, such as promo... or sig models. Over it...

Those who say that they don't like how I handled the situation (BlacKat, etc.): How would you have handled it? As stated in the OP, I'm trying to be diplomatic. I'm not attacking S7, just simply sharing my experience. I get emails everyday about S7 guitars, even though I left the roster a long time ago. I've dodged this issue for too long.

The thing is... I demo a lot of gear. What the hell good would my word be if I didn't speak the absolute truth about MY experiences, such as this one?

Haters gon' hate, son. That's all.

 

[flexkill]

I'm not endorsed by Mayones, or any other guitar company. I don't want to be. I just want to play guitar and not worry about anything else, such as promo... or sig models. Over it...

Those who say that they don't like how I handled the situation (BlacKat, etc.): How would you have handled it? As stated in the OP, I'm trying to be diplomatic. I'm not attacking S7, just simply sharing my experience. I get emails everyday about S7 guitars, even though I left the roster a long time ago. I've dodged this issue for too long.

The thing is... I demo a lot of gear. What the hell good would my word be if I didn't speak the absolute truth about MY experiences, such as this one?

So is the QC issue really around 2% in your opinion? I only ask because that is a very good "Failure" rate if true.

 

[DIOBOLIC5150]

So is the QC issue really around 2% in your opinion? I only ask because that is a very good "Failure" rate if true.

If that's true, my guitars must have accounted for all 2% of last year's failures.

 

[flexkill]

If that's true, my guitars must have accounted for all 2% of last year's failures.

That's what I thought. Thanks man, dig your music.

 

[JLP2005]

What other choices did he have though really? If he says nothing then people go on believing he makes shitty guitars.

Good point, but he could have made a worse decision, for sure.

 

[Fred the Shred]

Honestly, I was well aware of the implications of Keith's pics here. Before I even begin, that's a massive fuckup from S7G. Keith knows it, Jim knows it, both Olas know it, and that's it - no matter what prototype stage, QC has a component of ensuring mats are exactly as they're supposed to be and the frets suddenly jumping off the guitar is, for obvious reasons, a killer.

Then again, truth is that I haven't seen disgruntled relatively recent S7G customers giving them a poor review or failing to have an issue addressed. Personally, I've played a fuckton of them. Bodens, S7G's sigs and production models, etc.. Never had a reason to complain, and actually had a go at stuff they weren't exposing because they were protos they weren't fully satisfied with that actually played and sounded great as well, both from their line and the Boden line.

Thing is that, in Keith's shoes, I would not have gone to this sort of extent explaining why the deal fell, not to protect S7G from truth, but because we all know what happens when someone visible, regardless of how many times they will type "this example" will quickly unleash a negative bandwagon that goes from "this example" to "OMG it's all shit" and eventually "I knew it they're like Invictus, burn their homes and kill them while you bask at the mourning of their widows!".

tl;dr - the proto was an unacceptable mess as Jim admitted to, the dozens I've played were quite cool (some more "my thing" than others, as usual), and now the hate spreads like wildfire, usually driven by peeps who see pics, read internet posts, but don't really have first hand experience for the most part. Can't wait for more elaborate conspiracy theories in which Keith is secretely promoting some brand's evil agenda to rule the world...

 

[Adam Of Angels]

Besides, Fred owns an 8 string S7G that he got from one of the most beautiful men I've ever seen, and I can assure you that's it a nice piece.




This post was truly unnecessary.

 

[Fred the Shred]

Indeed. It's actually being sold to fund the Strandberg, but I can't fault it one bit, really. Also, the neck section is fucking gorgeous on that thing. Not as much as you, of course.

 

[technomancer]

tl;dr - the proto was an unacceptable mess as Jim admitted to, the dozens I've played were quite cool (some more "my thing" than others, as usual), and now the hate spreads like wildfire, usually driven by peeps who see pics, read internet posts, but don't really have first hand experience for the most part. Can't wait for more elaborate conspiracy theories in which Keith is secretely promoting some brand's evil agenda to rule the world...

Come on Fred, didn't you get the memo? Everybody that posts here and says anything negative about anybody is secretly on somebody's payroll. I recently saw a PM that basically said everyone on the mod staff works for one guitar guitar company or another to promote some agenda. Honestly I wish it was true, I'd love some free guitars and cash for all the time I spend trying to keep this place civil

 

[JLP2005]

Come on Fred, didn't you get the memo? Everybody that posts here and says anything negative about anybody is secretly on somebody's payroll. I recently saw a PM that basically said everyone on the mod staff works for one guitar guitar company or another to promote some agenda. Honestly I wish it was true, I'd love some free guitars and cash for all the time I spend trying to keep this place civil

My urge to say something completely fucking retarded is through the roof right now. But I won't get banned! Not this time!

 

[killertone]

I have seen some weirdness on some of their guitars but all I can say is that I played Ola's original Solar 7 at NAMM this year and it was awesome.

 

[Deadnightshade]

I recently saw a PM that basically said everyone on the mod staff works for one guitar guitar company or another to promote some agenda. Honestly I wish it was true, I'd love some free guitars and cash for all the time I spend trying to keep this place civil

On my way to work I found a portal,got in and
Killed Xenu's Kingdom



On topic,I have to say that Jim's totally right about people being eager to spew shit about a company ,especially when they have no experience of any of their instruments.Even if they do,it doesn't mean they have enough knowledge to judge objectively the REASON of the product's failure and the circumstances that caused it,in order to blame the maker/user accordingly.

 

[dsquared]

Someone name a guitar maker that hasn't produced some bad pieces. All makers, even your favorite ultra-exclusive custom builder, have let fuck ups into the wild and will continue to do so. Perfection does not exist anywhere, with anything. Of course, it's the ratio of good to bad that matters.

I own a S7G, but my favorite guitars are ESP CSs. And I'm not naive enough to believe that ESP doesn't make a dog once in a while. Even their custom shop.

 

[Fred the Shred]

Come on Fred, didn't you get the memo? Everybody that posts here and says anything negative about anybody is secretly on somebody's payroll. I recently saw a PM that basically said everyone on the mod staff works for one guitar guitar company or another to promote some agenda. Honestly I wish it was true, I'd love some free guitars and cash for all the time I spend trying to keep this place civil

You don't work for KxK? Fuck, you're useless to me then.

 

[engage757]

I'm not endorsed by Mayones, or any other guitar company. I don't want to be. I just want to play guitar and not worry about anything else, such as promo... or sig models. Over it...

Those who say that they don't like how I handled the situation (BlacKat, etc.): How would you have handled it? As stated in the OP, I'm trying to be diplomatic. I'm not attacking S7, just simply sharing my experience. I get emails everyday about S7 guitars, even though I left the roster a long time ago. I've dodged this issue for too long.

The thing is... I demo a lot of gear. What the hell good would my word be if I didn't speak the absolute truth about MY experiences, such as this one?

And when a company that you WERE endorsing made a sub-par product, you made it public and removed yourself from the affiliation. I don't blame you in the slightest, if someone is using my name on a sub-par product, I will pull it in a SECOND. No one can say that you did something wrong here IMO. You showed pictures, didn't flame anyone, simply shared the experience and why you no longer would be endorsing a product that you wouldn't use or was sub-par.

More power to you.

No one can say anything to you about deciding to not promote a product with your name on it that could potentially disappoint or be defective.

+1 for being honest and trying to educate people despite the fact that you lose a signature model.