Luthiers.. THAT COMMUNICATE??

[NickCormier]

Im just wondering. with my recent issues with a certain luthier who takes 4+ months each email.. IS THERE ANY luthiers who builds Ibanez-like parts/ or better yet, neckthrus, with consistant at least every 3 months CONTACT?? I dont care about build time, I just want to know progress is being MADE, and That the guy still has intentions of building my order, which isnt the case with the last person. COMMUNICATION should be KEY in any business, Obviously not in the guitar building world. Again, I dont care if it takes 2 years to be completed, Only if they tells me whats going on at least every few months, Thats all I want. Too much to ask for I guess.

Its just silly, You wonder how its so impossible to find someone who takes your money and WONT even deal with you. I understand the whole "Luthiers are busy, and time is money, and more time spent on emails is less time working on guitars".. well.. 2 choices.. Hire a sales person, or DONT take so many orders! I mean wtf, Most of these big builders use CNC machines anyways, shouldnt that save them some time to at least give 20 seconds responses to people who already PAID and have been waiting a year??

Sorry, Just venting.. Im almost wishing I just bought 6 blanks of wood a year and a half ago, and kept trying until I made one that was good. I could atleast send myself an email every 4 months to let myself know whats going on.

[chaos731]

Luthiers don't communicate. It's as simple as that.
They lock themselves into their workshops and that's it...


Seriously, the only true luthier I've ever heard of that has ever gotten uniformly rave reviews (both in terms of service and quality) is Dan Erlewine at StewMac. And, nobody can afford his services (besides, I think he's semi-retired now, anyway).

It's a shame...there's such a huge market out there for luthier work and custom guitar stuff, and it's exceedingly rare that you find one that gives you both good service and good quality.

Actually, screw that...it shouldn't be considered "good service" when someone communicates with you when you're paying for their goods or services. Instead, it should just be considered SERVICE. It should be a given...something that is to be expected by the customer. Certainly, there are going to be exceptions and stand-out situations where communication isn't possible and/or practical, but a paying customer is OWED good communication, as far as I'm concerned...and that's regardless of industry.

Any "luthier" or other tradesperson who says/thinks differently should get into a new line of work.

[barbarelaxe]

Originally Posted by chaos731

Luthiers don't communicate. It's as simple as that.
They lock themselves into their workshops and that's it...

I have to say that this is not entirely currect. I've been working with ernie at ET Guitars for a while now, and his communication is excellent. I know he is half way around the world but who cares. As long as the product is good and you are not being ignored, paying a few extra dollars for shipping is not a problem at all.

[shreddersymphony]

The guy I work with out of New Jersey is absolutely ridiculous. The best customer service I've ever experienced. During both builds he did for me, he sent me picture updates every weekend without fail, was always instantly reachable by phone anytime except ridiculous hours of the night, and catered to my every whim. He even made a bunch of suggestions that I never would have thought of in a million years, and I accepted and used almost all of them. When I didnt want to use one, he was completely cool with it and moved right along. When he missed a deadline we set to finish my 2nd build (literally by like 3-4 days), he took a 250 mile+ trip (each way) to hand deliver it to me up at school. I've never seen a more dedicated person. So, the point is that they DO exist. It's just a matter of taking your time. I think the trick is to find a person who LOVES building guitars and LOVES bringing joy to people by getting them exactly what they want. Some builders (no, Im not talking about any of jemsite's vendors) just do it because they like building guitars but are extremely selfish and want to have everything done their way, without realizing that its the customers dream that is being fulfilled and not theirs. I had to go through 9-10 different luthiers all over the US before I found one willing to do what I wanted, and it's a lengthy process. People need to understand that a custom guitar is a serious commitment and a serious process that requires a lot of research and time. It's not as simple as ok: heres a vendor, let me send him my money and he'll send me a guitar. Personally unless it were for something minor (an inexpensive neck, parts, etc) I would never deal with a vendor I couldnt come talk to anytime I wanted. I just wouldnt feel safe knowing that this person has my money and I'm completely at their mercy. With the guy I found, I felt like a valued customer and even a good friend, and he's provided me with custom parts for 2 instruments that I'm going to treasure for the rest of my life. Not to mention the fact that he didnt take a cent from me until the project was done aside from me paying for the parts I had to give him (which makes sense, cuz it would be pretty lame if he bought all the stuff for a customer and then the customer changed his mind about doing the project). Best of luck to all in their custom hunt!

Edit: and yes I've heard very good things about Ernie at ET and Jaden, and I've had a good experience with Chris at Legacy guitars as well - he shipped my stuff fast, well packed, and it only needed minor sanding to become an outstanding quality neck. There are good luthiers out there, its jst a matter of doing your research and triple checking everything.

[barbarelaxe]

i've worked with "Legacy" Chris as well and everything went smooth including communication. It looks like he learned from past mistakes and hopefully will not repeat them.

[toneboy]

If custom builders/painters either hit their delivery dates and/actually gave them to their customers (instead of excuses), I don't think progress updates would be as necessary.

I've ordered custom Jacksons in the past that took a year but by God, the guitars were in my hands in 11-12 months.

Waiting is a lot easier when you know you will only be waiting so long. When a custom builder/painter tells you 4-6 weeks (or whatever) and it takes a year, that's B.S. pure and simple. A man is only worth his word and when his word means nothing, that's what the man is worth.

Saying that the product is will be worth the wait means squat when the custom/builder painter takes you on an emotional rollercoaster ride by constantly pushing out the delivery date for your project.

I would look beyond the vendors on Jemsite. There a lots of folks out there that build mighty fine custom instruments and offer high quality painting services for competitive prices without all the B.S. The Internet and other guitar forums like this one make it really easy to find them.

[NickCormier]

Yea im talking with Ernie at ET guitars, I think I'll try with him and hope he fares better than most of the known luthiers around here. Im kinda skeptical obviously though =/

[jim777]

I have dealt with a number of luthiers here, from Jeremy at LGM to Chris Woods, and now I just go with Carvin if I need something

[Clonetool]

about a year for both LGM and Woods

[NickCormier]

in afew weeks, it'll be a year since my order with Woods, yet he hasnt started cutting, routing, or painting yet.

Im hoping for a Xmas 2009 delivery.

and Jim.. yea, my latest project I went direct to Carvin, the neck should be getting here in a week or two. Its just, certain things Carvin cant make me, which is unfortunate =[ I really need to get some tools and start building myself.

[HDS]

Wow seems like you guys are given business loans rather then getting custom work done.

I still say do what you can yourself like the paint job and finish, it isnt as hard as they would like you to believe.

[Drow Swordsman]

You're on ss.org Nick, I'm sure Sherman would build you whatever you wanted and he gets rave reviews on there.

[Brosa]

I've seen Sherman's work and i must say... it looks bloody fantastic!

EDIT: added link: http://www.sherman-customs.com/gallery.html

and one in action:

http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=RrJP9gVwSoM

[Tank]

Well if you are in Europe try:
http://www.neubauerguitars.com/

He is a really cool guy and you can phone him at any time about the status of your project. Also he will give you REAL and realistic dates when something will be finished. His prices are also very reasonable. You can see some of his fantastic work on his custom gallery pages.

I had him do a mod to one of my guitars and could not be happier with it. He also did a full setup for free with the modification.

Only downside the webpage is in german, but he speaks english I am told hehe

[shreddersymphony]

Originally Posted by NickCormier

in afew weeks, it'll be a year since my order with Woods, yet he hasnt started cutting, routing, or painting yet.

Im hoping for a Xmas 2009 delivery.

and Jim.. yea, my latest project I went direct to Carvin, the neck should be getting here in a week or two. Its just, certain things Carvin cant make me, which is unfortunate =[ I really need to get some tools and start building myself.

That's my problem with Carvin as well and probably the one reason why I didnt get a guitar from them. They couldnt do anything of what I wanted (custom inlay, special neck stains, custom woods, etc) so I found a local luthier and happy-happy joy-joy . It was hilarious though, the search for this guy. One dude who did very high quality work told me that he couldnt do the inlay i wanted cuz he was a Jehovah's witness and the eye of Ra is a 'religious symbol'. I was debating prank calling him and asking if he could inlay a giant jewish star into my guitar's body. Now I respect people's religions, but I cant believe he let something like that (an eye of ra nowadays unless im mistaken is just a cultural symbol of egypt really, not many Egyptians that I know still pray to the sun god, lol) lose him about 700 dollars of business. Oh well.