Mikeyswood - BUYER BEWARE

[Musiclogic]

Here ya go Phil.....Pagelli
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f57/sleek-sexy-down-under-811642/

 

[One Drop]

You guys are fantastic, hope it works out.

 

[Alex Xander]

Guys, I really have no idea how to proceed here!

I think I will wait 2-3 weeks, then demand a refund. If I get a brick wall and exhaust one possible ace in up the sleeve, I think that I will call it quits.

P.S. To all of those offering to help out here, you have no idea how humbled I am. Sincerely.

 

[LightGroove]

Brother, I'm not shying away from advocating I just don't think it's my place. Neither party has asked me to participate in any way. Again, I don't see the contract as voided. I just see major communication issues and frustration that I believe could be lined out with cool heads and compromise. That's just me though.

I would think a ...Dude whats going on with this other build would go a long way The guy is clearly across the water and you are a drive away. Im not saying you need to back either party up but perhaps a simple conversation will go a long way for the OP.

 

[LightGroove]

Not that it necessarily has anything to do with this discussion, but it might be interesting to look up Borderline Personality Disorder. As a general curiosity kinda thing.

I work in the mental health field...I realize this may be tongue in cheek but you have to be careful with this kind of stuff...

 

[Hawkbone]

The regulars that hang here are not going to let 1 guy make all of us small builders and hobbyists look bad.

it goes beyond that man, i was thinking maybe next year ill try to order a custom bass from a luthier here now i guess am just gonna save up and buy a regular bass because its not the first time i've heard something like this and a 1000$ is a fortune for me, reading the thread made my heart sink heh!

It's great that the reputable luthiers here are standing up to try and fix this mess. It will certainly have some negative effect on all of you. There will be a percentage of potential customers who will shy away from the smaller builders.

As Alex (and maybe one or two others) pointed out, anyone checking out LC a year or two ago would have had the distinct impression that Mikey was 'Leader of the Pack' in build skills and in snide posts.

In hindsight, it seems some of you harbored some suspicion/distaste for the guy, as is evidenced by some of the posters in this thread relishing in seeing Mikey finally exposed.

Still, go back a couple of years and a lot of you guys seemed to look up to him, and, to some degree, enjoy his vitriol. I admit to being amused at it sometimes myself. He's a smart cat and he can cut someone in two with 1/2 a sentence. Maybe everyone was just being too nice, and gave him way too much leeway.

Going forward, you guys might want to reign in, sooner rather than later, any such people who show up with delusions of grandeur and hijack your little community. Perhaps you should establish some sort of LC guild? Something to vet newcomers, and to give some confidence to prospective customers. Perhaps you could offer a guarantee of a guild members performance - if they go loopy or AWOL, the guild will kick in and make things right (as you are doing now). Maybe you could establish a trust account that new guild members have to contribute to. Just some ideas to consider.

 

[ChrisB2]

I accidentally landed in this sad thread the other day. Alex you have my sympathy for your plight and best wishes for a pleasant outcome whatever form that may take.

Wow. The guys here offering to help make this bass happen. You guys are awesome. The total opposite of the "builder" in question.

Yeah some people are concerned about the impact this will have over customers working with ANY small builder because of this, but I think just as many ... maybe even more ... will actually feel better about the idea since this highlights one bad "builder" but also the many good builders here. I know for myself I never considered a custom before now, but since reading this and discovering much more about other builds and builders, I have had the thought that maybe someday... and this situation would not deter me one bit. It only would cause me to avoid said "builder."

The most likely real situation is that he's getting out of the luthier game, and literally does not care.

This is my take as well. Hopefully Alex's "ace up the sleeve" is effective at getting him TO care....

Good luck.

 

[thehangingmist]

This is why I love TB.

 

[devo_stevo]

You guys are awesome. I sure hope that more folks aren't turned off to the small guys because of this. I'm planning on officially becoming one of the small guys next year. I hate to hear stories like this, but to see the others step up like this is abloslutely awesome. Props to all involved and Alex is sure to get one amazing bass that he can surely be proud of.

 

[HaMMerHeD]

I'd love to have any part I can in this multinational bass conspiracy.

I know my skills aren't close to what JC and Maurizio have on tap...but anything I can do...

 

[aproud1]

If you guys can work something out with Mike to get the parts I'm in Cincy and would be willing to handle whatever shipping you might need? Not much but might make it more possible if Mike doesn't even have to deal with shipping.

 

[LightGroove]

If you guys can work something out with Mike to get the parts I'm in Cincy and would be willing to handle whatever shipping you might need? Not much but might make it more possible if Mike doesn't even have to deal with shipping.

Sweetness on your part.. considering that the materials purchased probably dont even exist..this will be a stretch...My money is on him dropping this guys 1500 in other areas of his life..like an engine or a knee. Free Loan... why not?

In case folks dont know... Fraud comes to mind..and I think there is a legitimate case.

 

[Reticle]

My money is on him dropping this guys 1500 in other areas of his life..like an engine or a knee.

That's absurd! It was an ankle, not a knee. ;-P

 

[baileyboy]

Too bad you didn't go with www.fbbcustom.com. Luthier Matt Schmill has got to be the easiest to work with and the most communicative luthier out there. Additionally, his basses are reasonably priced, great sounding and rank up there with other high-end boutique basses, such as Alembic. Good luck with this luthier and thank you for sharing your experience in detail.

 

[MrArose13]

Sorry for being so aloof up to this point..

I think this whole fiasco is just distressing. There has been many moments in this thread that I had something to say but thought, – surly Mike would want to defend himself, let’s see what he has to says first – well, 14 pages later, the “man” has not spoke for himself to even try to save face with the community he chose to be a part of. This only leads me to question his integrity, and business ethics. Now I see that his poor sense of responsibility has be gone to effect all of us, 1 post of someone stating that that they would have commissioned a build from a fellow TBer but now wont (in fear of getting burned) is one too many, and I’ve seen more than one. Being a little guy in Luthiery I find this distressing. For me, I feel the community has spoken and there is no place for such(his) behavior. Moving on, I have much respect for Musiclogic, and I have seen pics of his completed work. I’m more thin willing to lend any assistance I can to rectify what should have been handled a long time ago... Just ask and you got it.

Alexander Eddy - I’m glad to see that this situation will be taken care of.

 

[pacojas]

Too bad you didn't go with www.fbbcustom.com. Luthier Matt Schmill has got to be the easiest to work with and the most communicative luthier out there. Additionally, his basses are reasonably priced, great sounding and rank up there with other high-end boutique basses, such as Alembic. Good luck with this luthier and thank you for sharing your experience in detail.

..., and now back to our regularly scheduled program.

 

[Joshua]

OK here we go:

1) Yes, it was someone using a dup acct.
2) No, it was not Mikeyswood.
3) I've handled it. In the future, please report the post. It makes it much harder to clean up when the post is quoted.
4) Let's try and stay focused on the primary point of this thread; a successful resolve to this business arrangement.

 

[dmac1961]

Wow, what a dreadful situation! This is my first vist to LC, and I have no dog in this fight, but I hope it works out to your satisfaction Alex. And wow, what a nice group of folks to offer their assistance in rectifying a bad ordeal. Great community!

 

[jmorbita]

my apologies for quoting without reporting... I thought I was being so funny by doing so...

here's hoping alex gets his bass!

 

[Jared Lash]

My post was deleted as I quoted the now deleted post, but some of what I said bears repeating.

I don't think stepswork4me deserves any ire. He's made a deal with mikeyswood that he's comfortable with and that's all.

I will say that he has a lot more patience than I do - two years is a long time to wait. Even Fodera only has an 18 month lead time and the vast majority of that is because other customers are ahead of you in the queue.

It's a shame that things like this cast doubt on the other small and/or part-time builders. To those guys I'd say that the best thing you can have is previous satisfied customers who can vouch for your work, detailed spec/quote sheets for new customers and estimated completion dates that you hit as closely as possible. But most of all, good communication and respect for you clients.

Good luck to Alex, stepsworksforme and the TB luthiers. I hope things work out for all of you.