Christopher Woods?

[Lefty Robb]

Originally Posted by GuitarGod

Has anyone recieved a neck from him? I am seriously considering getting a jem replica neck done. I have a jem 7vwh but am fairly picky about radius and width, etc. Would he be able to get close to Jem neck specs? Also, has anyone had experience with his LED work...i love LEDs and would also like to know how they are working out for someone? Thanks for the help, you can also PM me if you would like. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

look here

http://www.jemsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=42702

[GuitarGod]

Thanks Robb,
I read that earlier. I was wondering if anyone else had bought a neck from him. The person in that thread said that there were some imperfections and 'details' that were off. I was wondering if it was a similar case with people who bought a neck more recently.

[Lefty Robb]

hmm, I read that thread over and over and he didnt say anything about "imperfections and 'details' that were off."..

[fettouhi]

Originally Posted by Koss

Replacement body for my current 7, and a full custom 7

You got problems with your current 7 string? Is it the one from Monsterguitarshop?

Regards

André

[ET Guitars]

Hey Lefty,
I don't think I metioned anything in my original thread, but in this one where an objective view was requested.

[rikkbeatty]

I have had 2 flame guitars made by him and the work was beautiful. Well worth the wait.

[bammbamm]

He has updated his site a couple times this month.
http://homepage.mac.com/bigvelvetdog...ptainslog.html

Rikk, I thought I recognized one of those flame guitars on his site.

[gitarguy]

My experience with Christopher Woods has NOT been good!! I waited almost 11 months for a flame body that was supposed to be painted and put together with my RG550 parts. He originally gave a completion date of 2-3 months in August 2005. His communication was terrible and he kept promising it would be finished by Christmas, then January, then February and so on he finally told me last month he couldn't paint my guitar and offered to send me an unpainted body along with a refund. When I get the body (last week) it was damaged, my headstock was chipped. and the sleeve that holds the trem bar was broken in half. He said that he was going to look into filing a claim because it wasn't like that when he shipped the parts but its been a week and he hasn't responded to my emails. I ordered received and installed my trem sleeve from Rich but Chris won't answer my emails. I know people have dealt with Chris and had positive experiences but mine was not and you should know it could turn out that way for you too.

[jim777]

I noticed he doesn't sell finished guitars anymore. That's a good thing. Anyway.....

I ordered a body from him in January of '05 and was told about 8 weeks. So, I received the body in September (8 Months later) and the finish was worse than child like. Absolutely terrible. I sent it back, and he told me he'd send it up the block to GMW (a VERY reputable place), and that it would take them 4 weeks or so. I was cool with that, and I got the Guitar back at the end of March/beginning of April (obviously not 4 weeks....see a pattern here yet?). This finish was nicer than the original on the front, but comically bad on the back. There were at least a dozen places where tape had been applied to the finish before it was hard, and those tape 'stains' were now all over the back of the guitar! I still find it impossible to believe you wouldn't see that before packing it up. Of course, it hadn't been done by GMW, it had been farmed out to someone else who also didn't know how to apply a professional finish. Seriously, my $25 Chinese Les Paul copy I bought for my 4 year old son has a far superior finish. I returned the guitar to Chris in April and said enough was enough, would he refund my money. He said he would, and did after a week or so. That part actually went well. However, he had also put a thin laminate on the face of the headstock so it would match the body, so he said he'd remove that and send me back my neck. On the last Friday in April he emailed me "I'll send it on Monday, and email you a tracking number". And that's been that. He no longer returns my emails, he hasn't sent me my neck, and my beautiful 7620 that I was hoping to improve a bit has been apart and out of service for over a year and a half.

Would I suggest You send him your money, or pieces of a cherished instrument? Uh...No. I would not. I have kept pretty quiet about this over the last many months (in my own opinion, anyway) because I didn't want my status as a senior member here to really affect other members of the forum. I know Ibanez custom parts is a big part of his business, and Jemsite is a great place to pick up that business. But he knows who I am, and still can't be bothered to return my neck or answer my emails.

I wouldn't do business with him, and I would very strongly suggest anyone looking for custom parts look elsewhere as well. I've seen his ads on the 'Bay as well, and they often show a neck or body in the pictures and the descriptions says something like "you can chose the wood", which clearly implies the neck/body may not have been built yet, and the pics are of one done previously. I'd watch that as well.

jim

[Koss]

Well thanks a bunch....I'll sleep soundly tonight

He actually isn't doing any painting anymore. According to his site he has one guitar order being done by another painter (GMW-my guitar) and if that works out well, he'll be outsourcing to them for the time being.

While I haven't given up hope, my guitar was suppose to be done and shipped out on july 3rd. He had a schedule board up, but now all he has are the names and no dates, because obviously, he couldn't keep to those dates. I just emailed him since I haven't gotten an update in about a week. Last I got was a pic of my body in the cutting process.

[gitarguy]

Sorry to rain on your parade but thats the way it went for months. No updates! I was told in Oct. it would be ready by the end of the month, then the same thing in November, then I would get it before Christmas, then New Years. In February he said he would ship it out within a week. Finally in June he said he couldn't get the paint work done even though he showed me pictures of the guitar nearly finished. I would be very cautious with him.

[fettouhi]

Originally Posted by jim777

I noticed he doesn't sell finished guitars anymore. That's a good thing. Anyway.....

I ordered a body from him in January of '05 and was told about 8 weeks. So, I received the body in September (8 Months later) and the finish was worse than child like. Absolutely terrible. I sent it back, and he told me he'd send it up the block to GMW (a VERY reputable place), and that it would take them 4 weeks or so. I was cool with that, and I got the Guitar back at the end of March/beginning of April (obviously not 4 weeks....see a pattern here yet?). This finish was nicer than the original on the front, but comically bad on the back. There were at least a dozen places where tape had been applied to the finish before it was hard, and those tape 'stains' were now all over the back of the guitar! I still find it impossible to believe you wouldn't see that before packing it up. Of course, it hadn't been done by GMW, it had been farmed out to someone else who also didn't know how to apply a professional finish. Seriously, my $25 Chinese Les Paul copy I bought for my 4 year old son has a far superior finish. I returned the guitar to Chris in April and said enough was enough, would he refund my money. He said he would, and did after a week or so. That part actually went well. However, he had also put a thin laminate on the face of the headstock so it would match the body, so he said he'd remove that and send me back my neck. On the last Friday in April he emailed me "I'll send it on Monday, and email you a tracking number". And that's been that. He no longer returns my emails, he hasn't sent me my neck, and my beautiful 7620 that I was hoping to improve a bit has been apart and out of service for over a year and a half.

Would I suggest You send him your money, or pieces of a cherished instrument? Uh...No. I would not. I have kept pretty quiet about this over the last many months (in my own opinion, anyway) because I didn't want my status as a senior member here to really affect other members of the forum. I know Ibanez custom parts is a big part of his business, and Jemsite is a great place to pick up that business. But he knows who I am, and still can't be bothered to return my neck or answer my emails.

I wouldn't do business with him, and I would very strongly suggest anyone looking for custom parts look elsewhere as well. I've seen his ads on the 'Bay as well, and they often show a neck or body in the pictures and the descriptions says something like "you can chose the wood", which clearly implies the neck/body may not have been built yet, and the pics are of one done previously. I'd watch that as well.

jim

Sorry about that bad experience Jim.

Regards

André

[Iceblurain]

Hi everyone,
Hope all is well, new member here.
I just wanted to tell a little about my Christopher Woods experience so far.
I can't comment on his work because I haven t seen it yet. I am still waiting for a body that I paid for in February of 2005.
I like the updates, and it is interesting to see him place ads for new work when I never see any of the old stuff getting done.
I suppose from reading here that some people do actually get their guitars. But this is the first place I have found where people are actually talking about it.
I do know how hard it is to meet deadlines. But my 2 to 3 month project is going on past the year and a half mark and I haven't seen or heard of any progress on my JEM body in over a year.
I do see projected work times. But I never see the projects getting done.
I would love to here some positive feedback here, for me it is almost a running joke, every few months my wife will ask me if my new guitar is coming yet.
I in no way want to dis his work. The pictures look great and it is his lively hood. I just really have no point of reference beyond my own experience.
I am a little scared now in hearing Jim777 talk of comically child like finishing, because I am of one of the lucky ones waiting for paintwork, so we shall see.
At any rate, I am just asking anyone with positive feedback to speak up. It will just make me feel a little better inside to know someone is at least actually receiving what they pay for, and that they are truly happy with the quality.
Thanx for any good news
Chris

[Koss]

My friend got his L.E.D neck from him after maybe 2 or 3 months. Then when it arrived, it didn't fit on the body he had (Washburn body, I could have told him it wouldn't have fitted. My friend isn't that bright) so he sent the neck back, along with the body, and Chris made a new neck to fit the body. That also took a few months, but it was no longer than 3-4 months.

Whenever I email him for an update, I always get a response no later than 2-3 days. I am talking to him about which deadline I expect him to meet, since my guitar was suppose to be completed by the beginning of this month. He hasn't commented on the dealine I set (End of August) so im going to email him back and get some sort of guaranteed deadline, and if I don't agree with it, then i'll pull the plug. I'm not waiting over a year for an $800 guitar (Plus all the hardware and electronics that I provided)

[eelblack2]

As I posted in the other thread, I got my body today and Im extremely pleased. I guess I was fortunate that the body was already built when he put it up on the bay. It took him about 2 weeks to get the single coil routed, which he did for free, so I think he is trying to spread his time out between a ton of projects at once. Based on the posts Ive seen so far regarding total custom guitars, I think it can be VERY easy for someone in that line of work to get into deadline trouble unless they manage thier time extremely well. When you do something you love for a living, I can imagine easily getting caught up on a pet project or two and getting into serious trouble with the other 10-20 projects that are now backing up.