WARNING: Jon Letts/Letts Basses

[EddieG]

Folks, just to clarify something here. I've seen a couple of comments now and I think maybe my first posts have been misinterpreted.

Jon Letts never demanded that I pay the full amount up front. What he asked for was £800 of the total cost up front. It was me who, after a couple of weeks of normal behaviour and good communication from him that made me comfortable and trust him, suggested I just pay the remainder so that I knew it would be done, just in case anything happened later and I had problems finding the balance.

Here's the email I sent him at the time.
Yes, I should never have sent the full amount. That was my mistake. It's one I've learned from.

 

[Lowbrow]

I do have to fight streams of unhelpful comments atm.

Makes the weather and then complains it's raining.

 

[TeeSee]

Folks, just to clarify something here. I've seen a couple of comments now and I think maybe my first posts have been misinterpreted.

Jon Letts never demanded that I pay the full amount up front. What he asked for was £800 of the total cost up front. It was me who, after a couple of weeks of normal behaviour and good communication from him that made me comfortable and trust him, suggested I just pay the remainder so that I knew it would be done, just in case anything happened later and I had problems finding the balance.

Here's the email I sent him at the time.
Yes, I should never have sent the full amount. That was my mistake. It's one I've learned from.View attachment 5337030

That's kind of the thing I'd do. If you feel something is gaining traction and going well then you do feel like you want to pay the balance before the finish, as it helps them to trust you too and maybe finish the project a little sooner. Naive now I know, but were I in your position back then I'd have done exactly the same.

 

[Ed Goode]

What I find interesting is how every one of these types of threads (Huff, Prat, Zon, etc) all have the exact same theme … “personal issues”, “family problems”, “health concerns”, etc, etc, etc. I can only imagine there must be some type of tutorial for potential scammers excuses to which they’ve all signed up. Most, if not all, do the same things … delay and obfuscate, deliver just enough orders to keep some folks on their side, and when taken to task drop back to the pile of excuses they’ve bundled.

While there are a gigantic number of basses built each year, the custom build market is pretty small. It’s such a shame that there are so many bad actors

 

[groooooove]

As far as I’m aware you did sell these instruments at a profit.

um...
wut??

do you have any idea how bizarre it is for YOU to bring up what HE sold an instrument for..?

did you have some sort of royalty deal?

are you okay?

jon, get off the internet. go make some instruments and fulfil these orders. you are making an absolute fool out of yourself.

 

[PiquetBass]

This is a better comedy than Family Guy & the Simpsons combined!

Unless you're Eddie (or any other unhappy customer), of course...

I only live an hour away from Leicester. The nearest I'll be going to there will be our gig at Coalville in a month. I'll be playing my "off-shelf" basses, of course.
Certainly won't be booking myself a custom while I'm "in the area"!

 

[EddieG]

That's kind of the thing I'd do. If you feel something is gaining traction and going well then you do feel like you want to pay the balance before the finish, as it helps them to trust you too and maybe finish the project a little sooner. Naive now I know, but were I in your position back then I'd have done exactly the same.

Yep. As I said in the initial posts, Jon talked a good game in the first stages. He was receptive to everything I said, had no problem with any of the details I wanted (well-researched details I might add, I'm not some greenhorn off the street, I've actually put instruments together myself), and in those early days his communication was really good.

And seeing the increasing pile of completed instrument photos he was posting, I felt confident that I would get a really nice instrument.

In fact, I almost felt a bit cocky that I'd managed to get in so early, because I felt sure that his instruments would become really popular in the years to follow, and increase in value.

So with all the goodwill floating around towards him, and the increasing amount of orders he was receiving, I had no problem paying the balance for my own piece of mind.

I had no idea he was capable of what transpired.

 

[Rooster009]

Putting a lean on his assets is the way to go. Let the law work for you. Don’t forget to ask for the money owed plus interest. Also it’s been years now, so add the difference for the inflation that has occurred between then and now. Your owed 1000 should now have tripled. Don’t let him get away with it.

 

[Lowbrow]

Hi all. So yes. I did have many problems at the time of this build. And have been struggling financially pretty much ever since. Eddie wasn’t the only person who got stung by my unfortunate circumstances at the time. But it was limited to just a few individuals. I have tried to remedy this situation with Eddie over the years. And fully endeavour to remedy the situation as soon as possible. I did try to offer Eddie a bass a couple of years ago and he refused to let me do that and insisted Ai build a bass that he had personally designed and that just couldn’t happen at that time. In my experience these things always end pretty badly. Never the less I do owe him a bass, like I say along with a couple of others from this period when I actually made an attempt in my own life. I do still sell guitars through reverb.com but make very little. Hardly enough to survive to be honest. But I’m quite stubborn in my belief in myself as a guitar maker regardless of my business failures. I am a preferred seller on reverb and have a 5 star feedback with done pretty incredible testimonials. I had to cut contact with Eddie because it just became very heated between us. Yes, I owe him some money. Yes I am trying to overcome this situation. No, Eddie doesn’t help by spamming very post about me and my guitars on every social platform. I don’t blame Eddie for this. I fully understand his anger at what went down with his bass that did cost a small fortune to get to the point it was when everything fell apart in my life. I didn’t steal his money exactly. The money was spent on timber and unfortunately the bass just didn’t make it at the time and I’ve not been able to reconcile this matter like I really do need to. I am working on it. I still take the odd custom order on a no deposit, no commitment basis very rarely. I do need to sell guitars. They all get sold through reverb with full buyer protection. And have for several years now. There’s not a lot I can say. I’ve said things I probably shouldn’t in the heat of the moment in the past and sun very dubious about even commenting on this stuff for fear of coming across the wrong way. I’m not really that bad of a guy, I hope. All this business with Eddie, Tom and a Michael are isolated incidents from a long time ago. I really hope my business can pick up so I can focus on fixing past mistakes. I really shouldn’t do this. But then again maybe I should. I don’t know. There are quite a few guitar makers that have run into trouble financially and mentally and I’m glad that I can say that I came out of the other side with my life intact and willing to carry on doing what I feel so was born to do. Which is not to steal money but make the best guitars I can. I will never give up and I hope this will one day be behind us both. Maybe you have had problems yourself and can maybe understand a little of what I have experienced. Again, IDK. I am trying. Thanks. Jon.

TL / DR. You owe the man so pay up.

 

[MachinesUK]

I'm seeing a lot of (understandable) vitriol here, and I believe Jon is definitely doing himself a disservice in his actions, excuses, and responses.

I'm under 20 miles away from Letts Basses. I am actually nonpartisan enough to want to go check them out to assess them on build quality alone.

 

[Dyerseve14]

The fact is you either owe me £1015,

Given this saga has been going on now for 10 years, wouldn't the actual sum owed be more now once adjusted for Inflation/interest.

 

[Jon letts]

Jon, try to be objective here for a minute and answer this; what purpose it would serve me to email a man who it has been conclusively shown over a period of YEARS avoids replying to emails and messages and blocks people?
Is that something you would do??

And then if I did actually manage to enter into a discussion over resolution with you, how it would serve me to then endlessly debate the distance between what you feel like you would like to do or be up for doing, and what the two options are to resolve this amicably as I have already said a mere two or three messages ago?

"I'll try to be as accommodating as possible" is still "you'll get what I feel like offering you" in different phrasing, it's as simple as that.

The fact is you either owe me £1015, or you owe me an instrument of that overall value as specified by me, which was our agreement at various times, and I can produce the emails where you agreed to this, both in my initial order, and then again more recently when we discussed an instrument to clear off the outstanding amount.

You've promised both.
You've delivered neither.

As I've said, the ball's in your court. Declare publicly what you're prepared to do, and the matter can be then taken private, possibly resolved, and I'll be more than happy to set the record straight publicly on it and make sure it is recognised.

It's up to you.

If you’re still happy for me to build you this bass then that’s what we’ll do. Send me an email and we will try and figure it out. We will have to come to an agreement based on timbers in stock and things like that but I’m sure we can reach an agreement that works. Or not. Whatever the case may be. I can’t keep responding to all the posts on here as there are just too many of you lol. But I do, and always did regret what went down between us and the two or three others that have gone unresolved. I really would like to handle this like human beings. And as far as what I’ve been doing to improve, it is an ongoing process of trying to make better guitars that have wider appeal and ultimately a good reception. This has been an ongoing thing for me. Never ending it would seem and I realise that I just have to accept things for what they are right now and finally try to deal with my past mistakes and go from there. You know where I am mate. Jon.

 

[Jon letts]

Given this saga has been going on now for 10 years, wouldn't the actual sum owed be more now once adjusted for Inflation/interest.

This is just really unhelpful my friend.

 

[BadMonk]

I know that responding on here will not help my situation one bit. I am trying to improve my situation so that I can address this. Right now, trying to hound me and dog my every move is just making things worse. I need to grow, not be thrown under a train.

That's one of the most pathetic remarks, ever. Where's my violin? Oh 'poor me' ... Grow a spine, man, and get this bs over with. Typical criminal element.
The longer you go down this path the worse it becomes for you. Any hostility, real or imagined, is well deserved at this point imho.

 

[Jon letts]

I'm seeing a lot of (understandable) vitriol here, and I believe Jon is definitely doing himself a disservice in his actions, excuses, and responses.

I'm under 20 miles away from Letts Basses. I am actually nonpartisan enough to want to go check them out to assess them on build quality alone.

I’m afraid that sounds like a rather disturbing proposition man. You would be more than welcome under different conditions.

 

[Dyerseve14]

Eddie, dont let this clown build you a bass. You will never be able to enjoy it.
Even if it isnt the steaming pile of shite that others have received, it will be a daily reminder of this awful Saga.
Could you imagine how pathetic the after-sales support would be from this tool when, not if, something goes wrong!

 

[iTzPrime]

Hello Russell. Long time no see. As you have stated this was almost 10 years ago now. I wasn’t in a great place. And I know the three basses you had from me were not perfect as let’s face it. I was just a beginner at the time. As far as I’m aware you did sell these instruments at a profit. I don’t know. I certainly don’t want to get into an argument with you again. It does make me a little upset to have these kind of comments coming at me after all this time and it was never my intention to defraud anyone as is being said a lot here. I just wanted to make the best basses I could and it hasn’t been easy. Anyway, what can I say apart from I hope you’re well and how did that tuner button hold up? Genuine question.

You had 10 years to fix this problem. After 10 years and now still not paying the money back, your intentions are very clear.

 

[Jon letts]

That's one of the most pathetic remarks, ever. Where's my violin? Oh 'poor me' ... Grow a spine, man, and get this bs over with. Typical criminal element.
The longer you go down this path the worse it becomes for you. Any hostility, real or imagined, is well deserved at this point imho.

Thanks

I'm seeing a lot of (understandable) vitriol here, and I believe Jon is definitely doing himself a disservice in his actions, excuses, and responses.

I'm under 20 miles away from Letts Basses. I am actually nonpartisan enough to want to go check them out to assess them on build quality alone.

please don’t turn up at my children’s house mate. I don’t live there anymore.

 

[MachinesUK]

I do think you are doing yourself a disservice with your responses, but that doesn't mean I have any issues with you.

So I understand you - I said i'm not on either side and wanted to see how good the instruments are, and that is 'disturbing' ?

 

[Dyerseve14]

This is just really unhelpful my friend.

I am not your friend and you do not deserve any help.
The people that deserve help are your victims.