Bootleg Guitars Jon Hill Custom Bass FAIL

[JonathanPDX]

The reason why is (I'm assuming here and you know what it means when one assumes...) it's all easy to talk about sueing someone and battling it out in court but the truth is that costs additional money and even if you do win (doesn't always go your way, it really depends on the lawyer and how much money you're willing to spend) that doesn't mean you're going to see any money. Plus (I may be wrong...) don't you have to sue the party where they are phisically located?

There's no guarantee, of course, but if you accept the useless product you have 0% chance to ever be made whole. The threat of a lawsuit, especially the way that could echo throughout the music community and influence potential customers, might be enough to force a refund. If not, you can file in small claims court and even apply to take it to one of those TV judge shows that settles small claims cases. Sure, not great odds, but a heck of a lot higher than 0%.

Just like most people don't want to go through the hassle of filing in court, most folks sure don't want the hassle of a settlement hanging over their heads and impacting their business and finances potentially for years.

I just can't imagine putting out that kind of money and not making serious efforts to get a major refund or be made whole in an acceptable way. Waiting another year from a second subpar replacement part from the guy who already proved to not care or deliver seems like a terrible idea all around.

Fool me once, shame on you . . .

 

[pasIII]

My point is, don't blame yourself. This isn't a case of you cheaping out. The issues with this bass shouldn't happen by anyone who is doing this as a business.[/QUOTE]
Thank you

 

[bordinco90]

It's a bootleg alright. Sorry that the experience went bad for you. That's a terrible feeling!

 

[rtav]

Some seem to come off a bit like, “for $2200 you SHOULD expect hair under the finish… why, you’re lucky it didn’t explode when you plugged it in at that price point.”

No, you’re the innocent victim of a careless person who basically stole $2200 from you - they got paid in full - you undeservedly got a nightmare.

Sorry to hear about this and will refer others to this thread as a warning.

I hope you can get it sorted somehow (TBH if it we’re me anything short of a refund including shipping back and a full apology would do).

 

[Matthijs]

If you had a relationship with Mike Lull, why didn't you have him build one?

I’m curious about this too.

 

[Dana R Gregory]

Have you considered taking him to small claims court. You obviously did not get anywhere near what you paid for. Sorry you got screwed.

 

[RichterScale]

Once it was passed the deadline and you were getting dodgy answers and pics of a cracked neck, shame on the builder, but shame on you for moving forward. By accepting the bass, making the final payment and accepting replacement parts, you're stuck with it. There's no advice other than coulda, shoulda, woulda.
Also, you're a member of TB. It actually has a Luthier section that's loaded with very skilled and bonafide builders. At the very least, you could've asked folks around here if they knew this guy or to at least check out his website. Or even asked in the general basses section for recommendations of reputable builders.
This is unfortunate, but I don't have any hollow sentiments of sympathy to offer. The lesson here is not that you get crap basses for under $4k, or that custom builders can't be trusted. It's to make sure you do your homework, pay attention to red flags and don't allow yourself to be taken advantage of. We all have to learn that lesson at some point. At least it was a $2k bass and not your life savings and a $300k house or something.
Once this all cools off, maybe you can sell it to someone who wants to rebuild/refinish it and recoup some of your money. Or pay someone to rebuild it for ya. There's always something you can do.

 

[deff]

Once it was passed the deadline and you were getting dodgy answers and pics of a cracked neck, shame on the builder, but shame on you for moving forward. By accepting the bass, making the final payment and accepting replacement parts, you're stuck with it. There's no advice other than coulda, shoulda, woulda.
Also, you're a member of TB. It actually has a Luthier section that's loaded with very skilled and bonafide builders. At the very least, you could've asked folks around here if they knew this guy or to at least check out his website. Or even asked in the general basses section for recommendations of reputable builders.
This is unfortunate, but I don't have any hollow sentiments of sympathy to offer. The lesson here is not that you get crap basses for under $4k, or that custom builders can't be trusted. It's to make sure you do your homework, pay attention to red flags and don't allow yourself to be taken advantage of. We all have to learn that lesson at some point. At least it was a $2k bass and not your life savings and a $300k house or something.
Once this all cools off, maybe you can sell it to someone who wants to rebuild/refinish it and recoup some of your money. Or pay someone to rebuild it for ya. There's always something you can do.

The disappointing thing here is that while maybe Jon doesn't have the same cache as Mike Lull enjoyed and despite people here not being familiar with who he is, he has been quite well known. He was (I think), the custom shop manager for Dean and at least contributed designs and work for Dean. He is a well known and was a respected Luthier. So maybe this one slipped by and that's inexcusable, but it should have been made right. For Jon's sake to keep his reputation intact and for the OP's sake to get them the bass they wanted free of those issues they documented. I honestly think that my first paint job was even better than what they got. There is certainly no amount of due diligence on the OP's part that could have prevented this. There are many articles and resources on Jon that all point to the positive.

 

[sleddogn]

If you had a relationship with Mike Lull, why didn't you have him build one?

I don't think thats the OP, thats a different member that posted the Lull comment i think

 

[RichterScale]

There is certainly no amount of due diligence on the OP's part that could have prevented this.

There were signs early on. At least according to the story.
At any rate, I'm confused about why this is being posted now, if it happened in 2018.

 

[deff]

There were signs early on. At least according to the story.
At any rate, I'm confused about why this is being posted now, if it happened in 2018.

As the work progressed for sure. But at the initial inquiry and deposit, unlikely. I'm not sure why the OP reposted it either. I think it might actually be the second repost as I remember this coming up last year. Maybe just trying to stick the knife in again?

 

[gln1955]

There were signs early on. At least according to the story.
At any rate, I'm confused about why this is being posted now, if it happened in 2018.

As the work progressed for sure. But at the initial inquiry and deposit, unlikely. I'm not sure why the OP reposted it either. I think it might actually be the second repost as I remember this coming up last year. Maybe just trying to stick the knife in again?

If I'm reading the OP correctly, he has now received a new neck for the bass that is still effed up.

 

[RichterScale]

As the work progressed for sure. But at the initial inquiry and deposit, unlikely. I'm not sure why the OP reposted it either. I think it might actually be the second repost as I remember this coming up last year. Maybe just trying to stick the knife in again?

This is my first time seeing this (which doesn't mean anything) and I'm not familiar with the builder (which also doesn't mean anything).
From what everyone is saying, if this guy has a good rep and already has an established building record, and according to the OP, spoke with him as a small, individual builder and directly, then it seems that this isn't a matter of having a large, busy business where you can blame it on one hack employee and letting one slip through.
Maybe he was doing well at one point and the wheels fell off? I dunno. I've seen situations where someone was doing well and then developed a problem with "partying" and this is what you end up with.
Hard to say. The whole situation seems odd, including the fact that this gets posted once p/yr.

 

[wilberthenry]

Suing someone in another state for a little over 2k is asking for more headaches and trouble imo. Sorry about the experience, but sometimes the wise thing to do is walk away and write it off as an expensive lesson. Lawyer fees are way pricier than custom basses.

 

[Barticus]

Hairs in the paint? eeewwww
the model is a Dawg bass, so maybe he was trying to add some K9 mojo

 

[RichterScale]

I'm curious if anyone else had a bass/guitar built by this guy since this one.

 

[rtav]

Hairs in the paint? eeewwww
the model is a Dawg bass, so maybe he was trying to add some K9 mojo

There’s a “ruff ruff” joke somewhere in there as well. Sorry.

 

[Barticus]

One of the testimonies in the video is from a legit musician Michael Stanley (RIP) so he must have been a legit builder at one point. Maybe things are just off the rails now? Because the closeup photos from the OP don't look anything like that web site. I'd like to see a complete picture of the bass in addition to all of the closeup photos.

I don't know how I've never heard of him, when countless millions have heard his instruments

 

[RichterScale]

I prefer to use countless numbers.
Counting is hard.

 

[RichterScale]

This story is about the latest experience that I had with a luthier Jon Hill of Bootleg Guitars.

Can you post some full shots of the bass and shots of the headstock or whatever shows that it's a Jon Hill build?