Official Zon Club Part 5

[Darren02]

The whole thing wasnt BS.
Dave(Maidenbass) just contacted me. Joe Zon and him are working things out. Supposedly there was a big misunderstanding but i will post photos of the basses once he recieves them if anyone wants. Im just glad the whole thing is (hopefully) over. Its caused a lot of stress for Dave and he hasn't been doing too well both physically and emotionally. He never had any intent to damage Zons reputation, but he legitimately didnt think he would ever get his basses.
This is all i know and id appreciate no longer being involved in the whole thing. Its been stressing me out a bit as well and i cant have that on top of school.
The last thing i will post regarding the whole ordeal is a resolution, but after that I just want to enjoy my time here on TB with all of you.

 

[Darren02]

Id say Maidenbass is one of my best friends. I know him extremely well and he is the absolute most respectful person ive ever encountered, granted he is treated with the same respect. Im sure him editing his posts was a big mistake and made him look bad, however he didnt mean any harm to other members or TB itself. Instead he just wanted either his money back or his instruments. Personally, i do think the situation got blown up by accusations and such. However, a hopefully happy ending is happening and ill inform everyone when it does. Joe agreed to refund mr.gittleman his deposit as well as send Dave his basses.

 

[bassstrangler]

He never had any intent to damage Zons reputation,

In a David Spade voice: "He kinda did". That's just my opinion.

Edit: He did damage Zon's reputation, whether or not he intended to. There were lots of things stated and edited in that thread. Anytime someone claims a person or business has committed fraud or any criminal act, and posts it on public website, that is definitely doing damage to the business or person's reputation. To what extent that damage is, I don't know.

 

[TolerancEJ]

If I had the money (and sadly I do not), I would offer to pay / reimburse mrgrittleman for the amount he already sent, to take over the wait for that existing build. The VB6 / Vinny 6 is my favorite design from Zon.

 

[Darren02]

In a David Spade voice: "He kinda did". That's just my opinion.

Of course. Thats why I mentioned it. His intent wasnt to DESTROY Zon in itself, but just to warn others and maybe see if anyone else is in the same boat. Yknow? I think it just went way too far but im glad its getting sorted

 

[bassstrangler]

Of course. Thats why I mentioned it. His intent wasnt to DESTROY Zon in itself, but just to warn others and maybe see if anyone else is in the same boat. Yknow? I think it just went way too far but im glad its getting sorted

Please read the edit of my original post, actually more of an addition to it. I don't have any reason to believe your buddy or Zon. My whole thought is this: matters like this should remain private. Slander and libelous statements are a line that is difficult to toe. After I read the thread yesterday, I thought to myself, "poor Zon, where's their opportunity to be heard?". This is a very one-sided story so far.

 

[Darren02]

Please read the edit of my original post, actually more of an addition to it. I don't have any reason to believe your buddy or Zon. My whole thought is this: matters like this should remain private. Slander and libelous statements are a line that is difficult to toe. After I read the thread yesterday, I thought to myself, "poor Zon, where's their opportunity to be heard?". This is a very one-sided story so far.

I agree. This should have been handled privately, and if Zon blatantly refused to ship his basses or refund mr.gittlemen, only THEN should it have been brought to TB. I feel the whole thing was unnecessary for sure. I mean look at the poor Zon Club thread. Its been havok since it started. But im just glad there will hopefully be a new beginning to it and i truly hope both Dave and Joe Zon make amends and that Zon guitars recovers twofold.

 

[pickles]

Well, I’m super excited for my build, whenever it gets done. Its a sonus special 5 with a killer walnut top and a regular sonus neck pickup added. So I’ll be able to switch between a sonus sound (with a little extra low mid kick from the special’s winding and walnut top) and a sonus special sound. Active/passive 2 band EQ with a passive tone control. Going to be super versatile.

 

[Bryan R. Tyler]

I will post a brief summary of what happened. We normally don’t discuss moderation here but since this thread was thrown into upheaval for quite a while by Maiden Bass, we’ll make an exception. This isn’t going to be an issue for discussion however.

Most everyone here saw MB’s behavior here. It wasn’t mere concern or anger- he was repeatedly posting that Zon was a thief, a liar, running a Ponzi scheme, etc., and that he filed a police report and insurance claims against him. Things that are libelous if they aren’t true. @Bob Clayton spent forever cleaning up this thread and we allowed him to open a new warning thread instead. Zon offered to ship him his Legacy this week but only if he deleted the thread. MB then tried to have us delete the thread, which we would not do as A. it contained other user’s posts and B. if his warnings were legitimate they absolutely should have stayed up. He then tried going back and deleting and/or editing out any negative comments he made from the thread- rewriting history basically. At that point I reply banned him from his own warning thread (which also would prevent him from being able to edit his posts) and told him he would not be permitted to post there again until the disingenuous behavior ceased and we got some straight answers from him. It was clear he was either massively blowing things out of proportion and running the company’s name through the gutter which is not acceptable here, or was being fully truthful and all the warnings and lawsuits were warranted but was fully willing to use TB as a bargaining chip and risk other user’s welfares and cover it all up in order to get what he wants. Again, not acceptable. That thread was deleted in the end as MB stated his warnings and criminal cases, etc. were all premature. We however absolutely do not condone needlessly dragging the company’s name through the mud.

Edit :typo and reply ban clarification

 

[packrat]

Thank you for the follow-up and for handling this. The damage to Zon will linger for ages unfortunately, but hopefully they'll recover.

I can't help be curious about the previous time the user did this to another small builder that a staff member mentioned, but I can't imagine bringing it up would be helpful at this point.

 

[bigsnack]

Well that was an easy add to my ignore list!!

Such a bummer a whole bunch of folks have a sour taste about Zon now. I hope those folks return here and get the real scoop.

 

[packrat]

In a perfect world, everyone whose post was deleted (so who contributed to the now deleted warning thread) would get a private message pointing at the explanation above. I realise we do not live in a perfect world.

 

[SBassman]

Bryan - thank you for taking the time for the post mortem. After all that transpired, I do think that was important.

Much appreciated.

I'll just end with - wow.

 

[SBassman]

Ok, I'll end with one more thing - reality TV producers: there is money on the table here. This is a really interesting sequence of events. Go interview the players and turn this into 60 minutes of excellent TV. Just sayin.

 

[J.Wolf]

Thank you @Bryan R. Tyler

 

[Angus]

I will post a brief summary of what happened. We normally don’t discuss moderation here but since this thread was thrown into upheaval for quite a while by Maiden Bass, we’ll make an exception. This isn’t going to be an issue for discussion however.

Most everyone here saw MB’s behavior here. It wasn’t mere concern or anger- he was repeatedly posting that Zon was a thief, a liar, running a Ponzi scheme, etc., and that he filed a police report and insurance claims against him. Things that are libelous if they aren’t true. @Bob Clayton spent forever cleaning up this thread and we allowed him to open a new warning thread instead. Zon offered to ship him his Legacy this week but only if he deleted the thread. MB then tried to have us delete the thread, which we would not do as A. it contained other user’s posts and B. if his warnings were legitimate they absolutely should have stayed up. He then tried going back and deleting and/or editing out any negative comments he made from the thread- rewriting history basically. At that point I replied banned him from his own warning thread and told him he would not be permitted to post there again until the disingenuous behavior ceased and we got some straight answers from him. It was clear he was either massively blowing things out of proportion and running the company’s name through the gutter which is not acceptable here, or was being fully truthful and all the warnings and lawsuits were warranted but was fully willing to use TB as a bargaining chip and risk other user’s welfares and cover it all up in order to get what he wants. Again, not acceptable. That thread was deleted in the end as MB stated his warnings and criminal cases, etc. were all premature. We however absolutely do not condone needlessly dragging the company’s name through the mud.

Thank you for the heads up, Bryan.

This is one of the things I pointed out in one of my now-deleted replies in the original thread- that the whole thing (including trying to collect the names/info of everyone currently waiting for a build) felt more like self-serving pressure tactic than a "let's band together and have strength in unity" thing. It was pretty transparent. I'm glad everything is getting sorted optimally for both parties now, at least. Thank you to all the moderators for keeping an even hand for all parties.

 

[Darren02]

In other news, I may be buying another Sonus sometime soon. I decided although my spector is fantastic, I really like the playability of Zon basses and im looking into possibly getting another one after i sell my spector. Joe gets his frets so perfectly level, and i like having that sort of effortless feel as i play! Not to mention, how smooth the graphite neck is... mmmmm

 

[SBassman]

I don't own a Zon, and never will. But this thread and some others have brought me to a conclusion - more builders should go the Rob Allen route and not do customs - just stock of their own designs, ready for sale.

Don't you think that would make some of the world a better place? There are just too many stories of madly talented builders - who also eventually take their eye off the business ball. In a very bad way.

Selling just stock on hand would cure a whole lot of the angst, no?

Just imagine a world where all of Darrin Huff's basses were sold as in stock, not custom. Never a back order. No more lame pictures of chalk outlines on wood. Just finished basses actually shipping.

Do you hear the angels singing?

 

[packrat]

I think the problem is that if they have interesting options and low volumes, they'd need to either predict the future, be really lucky about what people would buy any way or end up crushed under the non pay back of the basses they build and can't sell.

 

[Fuzzbass]

Such a bummer a whole bunch of folks have a sour taste about Zon now. I hope those folks return here and get the real scoop.

Let's not get carried away. Folks can get the real scoop on the Maiden Bass incident, but there are others who have been treated badly by Zon.

Again, I wasn't: early this year I got my custom build after 9 months, just one month late. But I'm aware of three other TBers still undergoing extreme delays, two of 'em significantly longer than Maiden Bass, and let's just say that the communication they receive (if any) leaves a LOT to be desired. So it's not like the sour taste has magically disappeared along with Maiden Bass.