Guitar Paint Guys - buyer beware?

[selassie1]

In January of this year, I decided to take a chance on having guitarpaintguys refinish my Pedulla Series 2 body. They were very responsive to email at first and even sent paint samples at my request. The price was right and the sample looked good so I sent in my payment and body.

After waiting for the quoted 30-45 day time for delivery, I started asking for updates. Email responses were slow, but they assured me progress was being made. I requested another update at 60 days and got a picture of my body with the color coat applied. I thought - good, just needs clear coat and I'll get it back soon.

I'm now past the 90 day mark with no bass and no responses to emails. Very frustrating.

Reminds me of a certain pickup builder that got banned here for over promising and under delivering. I wasted a year of my life dealing with that one! Hope these guys are not the same.

Anyone have any recent experiences with them?

 

[Dan B]

I knew that name sounded familiar!

Guitarpaintguys.com, How long have you waited?

 

[blubass]

Sorry to hear you're having trouble. I never do business where I have to send stuff out like that. Especially paint. There's got to be 15 guys around me that could knock it out of the park if I needed a bass painted. The guy that did my old guitarists' layed down show quality car paint, gold leaf, pinstriping, and graphics for $150-200. Could walk in the shop any day and have eyes on.

 

[selassie1]

I WISH there was a good local shop that could have done this for me. And I should have paid more attention and did more research on them. Live and learn.

On the upside, I did get a reply from them today saying the clear coat is drying and I'll get my body back next week. Here's hoping!

 

[ImNotJoel]

From what I see at least these guys will get it back to you. The horror story's here about luthiers that have taken ten years it gives me nightmares.

 

[selassie1]

Update: Got my body back in just under 4 months after it was received.

Initial thoughts: I like the neon-ish color and it looks true to the samples. Apparently, they stripped and repainted my body 5-6 times due to some base coat issues. Not sure what the deal was there but the result was a lot of build-up in all the cavities except the neck pocket. The finish is pretty thick looking overall and probably added more weight to the body that I would have liked. The body lines, bevels, contours and shape are all in tact so that's good.

Overall, I'm happy with the outcome but would go with a different shop next time around.

Cost: A+ (Great price)
Time: D (4 months, slow responses)
Quality: B+ (clear coat slightly wavy, excessive overspray in cavities)

 

[jpaynter]

Wish I saw this thread before sending in my p-bass. They said 60 days in-studio when they already had the bass in their prep stage, and that has come and gone. Asked for an ETA today but no reply yet. Insofar I can verify their communication isn't very good as far as any business is concerned. Post your questions Facebook where it is public, only recommendation I have.

The humidity/cold weather thing makes no sense. Why wouldn't you climate control your studio? Other people doing this charge a bit more but have the guitars out in 1-2 weeks. Something doesn't add up.

I'm sure the bass will look great based on the photos that come across their Facebook every few hours. I just don't think I could justify the wait again... or the lack of updates and responsiveness.

 

[J Posega]

Wish I saw this thread before sending in my p-bass. They said 60 days in-studio when they already had the bass in their prep stage, and that has come and gone. Asked for an ETA today but no reply yet. Insofar I can verify their communication isn't very good as far as any business is concerned. Post your questions Facebook where it is public, only recommendation I have.

The humidity/cold weather thing makes no sense. Why wouldn't you climate control your studio? Other people doing this charge a bit more but have the guitars out in 1-2 weeks. Something doesn't add up.

I'm sure the bass will look great based on the photos that come across their Facebook every few hours. I just don't think I could justify the wait again... or the lack of updates and responsiveness.

Demand your bass back, and get in touch with Mo and Mo's Bass Shop; he works with a painter named Fausto who used to do finish work for the Fender Custom Shop. I can send you Mo's contact info if you'd like.

Edit: I got my bass back in under 40 days start to finish, including some routing and drilling.

 

[Richland123]

A guy who plays in my band occasionally does great guitar paint work.

He built this bass he made for famous Philly soul musician and producer Bobby Eli.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

I thought you just meant random guitar painters, LOL!
Speaking of which, there's a local guy who hits up the FB groups about painting instruments.
I've seen his work & he paints right over the graphite conductive paint in the instrument cavities

 

[J Posega]

I thought you just meant random guitar painters, LOL!
Speaking of which, there's a local guy who hits up the FB groups about painting instruments.
I've seen his work & he paints right over the graphite conductive paint in the instrument cavities

And? Plenty of people do this. The graphite paint (if it is graphite, I don't know, I've never read into what shielding paint is made of) is meant for shielding. It's like copper tape, but better. There's no negative to painting over the shielding. I've got a Dingwall bass that uses a star grounding technique and the shielding paint was painted over from the factory. Easier than trying to mask off the inside of a cavity nobody is ever going to see.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

Of course there's a negative to painting over it. How do you ground to it if it's painted over?
That shielding does nothing if it's not grounded to something.

 

[J Posega]

Of course there's a negative to painting over it. How do you ground to it if it's painted over?

Star grounding. My Dingwall is like this. All grounds meet on one pot, then a wire comes off to a washer that gets screwed through the shielding paint, thus completing the connection. Works perfectly, no buzz.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

I'd prefer it not get painted over.
You're minimizing the effectiveness of the ground by having that thin layer where the screw goes in. If it's not painted over, the whole washer contacts with the conductive paint.

Also, how do you measure the resistance between the cavity shielding & the controls if it's covered in paint.

 

[guitargarage]

I haven’t dealt with The Guitar Paint Guys yet - but as someone who does a lot of lacquer work (they do poly I believe) I am gonna have to at least point out some of the challenges in refinishing a guitar vs. finishing a fresh piece of wood. I know to someone who’s never done it, it seems really straightforward to pick up a spray-gun and “voila” done - but trust me its a lot more inconsistent than that. Besides getting the finish thats on there off, there’s always that great wild card of not knowing what exactly has been soaked into the wood by some chemical coatings genius ...

The 60’s P-bass with rabbit fur glued to the back (for shirt-less-hippy-comfort) is still probably my fave. But the ‘56 P-bass that inexplicably bled through red pigment from the pores of its ash body like Lady Macbeth’s hands ...even after every stripper, filler and sealer I could think of .. was one of the worst ... “out damned spot” indeed !!

And yes - being responsive to your customers key - and I’ll fully admit thats a place where I have also been negligent on occasion, out of my own personal frustration or embarrassment that a job was taking too long. But I will tell you that its not because we’ve forgotten about your bass or guitar - but more likely that we are hesitant to deliver news of (yet another) delay. Again - not saying its a GOOD practice, but just explaining why its hard to respond sometimes.

So my point is .. I doubt the Guitar Paint Guys are stealing your guitars and sending them to North Korea or that they are addicted to opiates and nodding out in the paint booth. They are probably guilty of being over optimistic and pricing their services too low. But their work looks pretty good to me and I may actually be sending some stuff their way since I DO NOT shoot poly.

And yes I’m f*cking grumpy due to the sleep deprivation associated with having a 7-month old.

Cheers !!

Krishna
Guitar Garage
Boston, MA

 

[screambasses]

I have sent them three basses. This is my experience:
First bass: an old Hondo, painted black. They received it on October 17, 2017, and it was shipped back to me on November 21, 2017 - so, about a month.
Second Bass: Ibanez Iceman, painted purple sparkle. They received it on January 9, 2018, and it was shipped back to me on April 25, 2019 - so, about three months.
Third Bass: USACG Jazz, painted blue. They received it on April 2, 2019, and I'm still waiting for it - 6 months so far! - or even just some sort of email that states when it will be done. I only emailed them twice. I sent them an email on August 26, 2019 expressing my concern. I got a "form" email back. On October 4, 2019, I sent another email. No response. I won't be using them again.

pete

 

[WI Short Scaler]

I sent the body of my Squier Musicmaster to them for a Candy Apple Red paint job.

I was quoted 45 days, got it back at about 60. My only complaint was communication, I got the bass back in hand before they had responded to a status email I'd sent at about 55 days or so.