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Other builders' work

M

mikeyswood

Inactive
Jul 22, 2007
4,211
23
Cincinnati OH
Disclosures
Luthier of Michael Wayne Instruments
#1
Holy Cow! I was given another builders work this morning to repair (not know to be a TBer) and I was aghast at the craftsmanship.

I have also seen great work in person; the Wickershams, the Ricos, and our own Tom Clement. They were all top notch and inspiring for me to raise my own standards.

This is not intended to be a dogpile on other builders, but when you guys look at other peoples' work, at what do you look?
 
#3
I've seen some somewhat shotty work on a brand new ESP custom shop. The "Ouija board" Kirk Hammett Model......... He paid 8 g's for this (limited edition)... gaps in the neck pocket, fretwork was not exactly "excellent", but not good either (once I checked them, there were about 10 frets that were higher than others). IMO, It was more of a "wall hanger", until I set it up, then it was fine. I've seen Japanese ESP custom shops, that were around 2k, that were in better shape than this one.

A Gibson custom shop Les Paul ($3k): Uneven fretwork, Faded spots in the paint job, under the finish, binding work wasn't great. Set that up, leveled the frets, sent it on it's way.

My guitarist wanted his music man Petrucci's set up (he's got 4 of them), craftsmanship was good on them, but get this: No adjustment springs on the pickups??? Literally just screwed in there. Luckily I had some springs on hand. From one to the other, 1 was "hotter" than the others, signal wise.

OTOH

One of my guys brought an Anderson in, to get set up..... for the life of me, I could not find fault in this guitar, other than the "vanilla" set up, when it was brought to me.

Hamer Talladega: Again, the craftsmanship was awesome, I could tell this was someone's "baby", when they were making it.... Everything from the way the wood grain was layed out, binding, inlays and even the burst and the finish was flawless. This one made me stand at attention, regarding my own work.

Zemaitis: Came in for a setup, another beautiful guitar, could not really find any fault in the craftsmanship. That guitar spoke to me and it said "Hey Jason, your work is $**T! ;)
 
#4
No worries Chris. We will get this one's playing surface to be quite good. The rest of the instrument would require too much attention, in my opinion.

As a builder I am still under triple digits and was shocked to hear that this was their ~70th. It will be a good learning experience and you will have great value for the investment (fingers crossed).

Sadly Jason, I would agree that Nashville Gibsons are a let down. This is also true of the current owners of my beloved BC Rich.
 
#5
mikeyswood said:
Sadly Jason, I would agree that Nashville Gibsons are a let down. This is also true of the current owners of my beloved BC Rich.
Click to expand...

Yep, I haven't had much faith in them, after seeing a dozen or so "sub par" custom shops.

But, if you want to look at a standard that will ruin you for life, don't look at the custom shop Hamer's, Zemaitis or Anderson ;)

Head and shoulders above many.
 
#6
mikeyswood said:
No worries Chris. We will get this one's playing surface to be quite good. The rest of the instrument would require too much attention, in my opinion.
Click to expand...

I am happy with the neck... at least it's comfortable. As far as the rest goes, :scowl::bawl::rollno::bawl: .

mikeyswood said:
As a builder I am still under triple digits and was shocked to hear that this was their ~70th. It will be a good learning experience and you will have great value for the investment (fingers crossed).
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've never built an instrument and truly believe with all of the instrction available here and in print, and with the right tools, that I couldn't do worse myself.
 
#7
The problem with some of the examples is they have a name and it almost seems like they don't need to put in the effort. Another example of a high priced instrument that seems to be a bit hit-or-miss quality wise is Rickenbacker.

Re - Gibsons, I've got a mid 90's epi Les Paul, and compared to a friends new Gibson, the epi was in much better shape. Just seemed to be a level of quality about the finish that the gibby couldnt touch. Granted, the electronics were somewhat shoddy by comparison with the epi. But they are significantly easier to fix!

Really really want an Anderson guitar, they just do things soooooo nicely !
 
#8
i_got_a_mohawk said:
Really really want an Anderson guitar, they just do things soooooo nicely !
Click to expand...

I know, right?

Actually, the same guy that bought the LE, ESP, I got him turned on to Anderson.
he has over 60 custom ESP's and now he's ready to go Anderson and get rid of his ESP collection now.
 
#10
Rickett Customs said:
I know, right?

Actually, the same guy that bought the LE, ESP, I got him turned on to Anderson.
he has over 60 custom ESP's and now he's ready to go Anderson and get rid of his ESP collection now.
Click to expand...

I can understand why!

The model I'm interested in is on youtube (just maybe a different finish)



Win!

I should probably stop day dreaming.

Mike, any pictures of the offending bass, or are you not wanting to divulge that?
 
#12
One of the odd deals with Anderson, is that 2 bolt neck they have too (but not all of them have it).....Works for them though. And don't even get me started about the angled neck pockets either, just an amazing instrument.

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#13
i_got_a_mohawk said:
Mike, any pictures of the offending bass, or are you not wanting to divulge that?
Click to expand...

I want to keep this anonymous. The flaws in the bass would remind you of a teenager's build. Perhaps younger. The buyer received this at what amount to cost of materials in my estimation so I think that we can all consider that a fair deal. Myself and another TBer here in town should be able to get this bass into a good player, but not an Alembic by any means. ;)


Good call Mark. I am pretty critical with the sanding and occasionally a grit gets upped too soon only to REALLY p*ss me off later. :mad:
 
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#15
A small music shop here really loves Anderson's too. I had never heard of them until I started shopping there. It is blatantly obivious why they like them so much once you handle one. Definitely something to aspire to. No doubt about that...
 
#17
My guitarist wanted his music man Petrucci's set up (he's got 4 of them), craftsmanship was good on them, but get this: No adjustment springs on the pickups???
Click to expand...

I'm mixed on them...I really wanted to stand behind their products, but I have one of their 1st petrucci family reserve models that's not a daily player (it's pretty much a trophy guitar) that the finish is delaminating from. So much for being crafted to a higher standard...
 
#18
big90sbasshorns said:
I'm mixed on them...I really wanted to stand behind their products, but I have one of their 1st petrucci family reserve models that's not a daily player (it's pretty much a trophy guitar) that the finish is delaminating from. So much for being crafted to a higher standard...
Click to expand...

There was a thread on that happening to a Stingray, and EBMM fixed it for the poster.
 
#19
There was a thread on that happening to a Stingray, and EBMM fixed it for the poster.
Click to expand...

I saw that thread, that was the catylist that made me contact them hoping that they could help out. No such luck for my guitar because I didn't submit the registration/warranty card.

I didn't fill it out and send it in because the marketing led me to believe that their guitars bearing the "family reserve" badges are the absolute best examples of their craftsmanship that you can buy so I didn't anticipate any issues what-so-ever.

Given that I had purchased the guitar as a trophy and not as a player guitar there was a certain allure to keeping all of the case-candy intact...warranty card, papers, hangtags, factory barcodes, etc...

I sure regret not sending that card in!
 
#20
big90sbasshorns said:
I'm mixed on them...I really wanted to stand behind their products, but I have one of their 1st petrucci family reserve models that's not a daily player (it's pretty much a trophy guitar) that the finish is delaminating from. So much for being crafted to a higher standard...
Click to expand...

Was it a peizo model? They got a good peizo system in those.
 

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