⚠️ Warning: Extremely Delayed Rybski Custom Bass Order – No Delivery After 3.5 Years

[YOSUKE]

Hi everyone,

I’m posting this to share my unfortunate experience with Rybski Custom Bass Guitars (run by Mr. Slawomir Waclawik).

In January 2022, I commissioned a custom bass from Rybski and paid a deposit of $2,875 via PayPal. The agreed-upon delivery time was 10–14 weeks, but as of June 2025, the instrument has still not been delivered.

Over the past 2.5 years, communication from the builder has been inconsistent and filled with vague excuses – primarily regarding his health and personal circumstances. He has occasionally promised that the bass is “almost ready” or “just needs setup before shipping,” yet no progress has ever materialized.

Here are a few notable points:
• Communication continued into 2024 and 2025, but always with the same recycled excuses and no meaningful updates.
• Despite my repeated requests, I have never received a completed photo of the bass or confirmation of shipping.
• My final demand in June 2025 was ignored entirely.
• I have filed complaints with FTC and IC3, as well as started documenting the case more publicly.

This post is intended to warn other bassists and potential customers to think twice before ordering from this builder.

If anyone has had a similar experience with Rybski or has successfully received a bass recently, I’d appreciate hearing from you.

Thanks for reading.
– Yosuke Shimura (Japan)

 

[_Tay_]

In an age where almost everyone has a camera, refusing to simply take a picture and send it to you personally, is incredibly sketchy to say the least. Hope you manage to get sorted out properly.

 

[DWBass]

Hearing about all these horror stories regarding custom builders has put me off from ever buying one (from any builder) unless it's hanging in a brick and mortar trusted establishment. I appreciate you, and others, for bringing this to light. I think I'll stick with my sub $1000 basses which serve me well.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

A sadly common story with custom builds, but there’s no excuse for ghosting you. Seems like there must be a better way, like paying in installments with verified milestones at each payment. Hope it works out for the OP eventually.

 

[J-Bass RMR]

Never heard of them until now... Rybski Basses?

 

[aprod]

Just get a Fender.

 

[Pdaddy1978]

And this guy just runs off ....with 3 grand...of my money??
I'm pretty sure I'd lose my $&#%.

 

[roccobass]

You have faith and patience, my friend. Making someone wait 3.5 years for a custom build is not acceptable, at least to me. I would ask for a refund and move on. Hoping it’s not past timeframes for Paypal to help you out on that if the builder ignores that request

I shudder to think might arrive after all this.
Good luck to you and I wish you the best.

 

[B Minor Threat]

Since there's no shipping confirmation can't PayPal be of assistance in refunding you? They've always been helpful when I had bought things that never shipped.

 

[DuluthDank]

Any custom order that relies on a single builder working alone to be completed would be too stressful for me. Life happens, and people need to take medical leave or whatever, to look at this situation charitably. But i also don't want that to me my problem as a customer.

 

[Iristone]

For some reason I can't even access their website. Have they really just run away?

 

[King V]

It's almost like these scammy "builders" follow the same plays from a single book. As someone who has had my money vaporize into thin air on a custom build before, I wish you luck. Unfortunately after 3 1/2 years, there is not much that anyone is going to be able to do to help you recoup your money, and these builders know that.

 

[ragetoca]

Is this builder in Japan??

 

[humbuckaroo]

I once bought custom gun grips from a guy in Texas. He led me on for just enough time that my credit card dispute period had expired and then was suddenly gone with the wind. I lost $250. You're probably SOL unfortunately, especially after this long.

Appreciate the info though, I'm sure others will benefit.

 

[JohnnyBottom]

You gave him what up front ? 2K+

 

[Hurricane Jimmie]

Is this builder in Japan??

So Anyway, I wouldn't call them a builder.
I'd be interested if anyone else actually owns a Rybski Bass.
Or do they just take money, post pictures from the internet and make excuses.

BTW- I once gave my luthier $1250 to put together a bass for me. He said he was going to do a batch of them for his clients with special pickups and logos. Sounded like a fun project.
I'd send him emails and he'd tell me why things weren't moving forward and how he planned to address it. He continued to do work for me, and my basses always played fantastic after he set them up. Set ups and repairs was his only occupation. His wife worked and they had a small child. They didn't have anything approaching a lavish lifestyle.
I eventually told him to forget about the bass, because I wanted to forget about it and put it behind me. I think he just got over his head on the project.
But I never got a bass.

 

[Sharko]

Who is Roger Dickson?

 

[Micha84]

You made him what up front ? 2K+

Yeah, I wondered the same. I get that builders want a deposit, otherwise there'd just be a ton of people ordering for the fun of it just to be never seen again. But from a customer's perspective it is a bad deal: If I walk away from our agreement, the builder still has a bass that he can sell; if the builder walks away, I have nothing.

A deposit of a $100 should already be enough to scare away anybody who isn't serious about it.

In general, when ordering online, no matter if it is custom basses or toilet paper, rule number one: do your homework. If you don't know the shop, spend half a minute on google searching for its reputation. The more money I spend, the more I'd search. Rule number two: If it is too good to be true, it probably isn't true.

 

[Bander]

So. This whole pay ahead thing is wrong. If they can't front the materials, they aren't a business. Folks are locally falling for this "half now" approach on home maintenance, fences, driveways, etc. Think about it, they come to your house, spend an hour fixing you a free estimate, you pay 500, 1000, or 2500 down as half. Why would they possibly care when they return? They just made 2500 an hour. And worse, they will spend it, and when they do show up, thru will only make the remaining 2500 for days of work, or worse, they have to buy the materiel now that they didn't buy before. Its tough love, but you are being naive to fall for this. No reputable business operates this way.

 

[Heiwa]

Zon all over again