WARNING: Jon Letts/Letts Basses

[gln1955]

Schrödinger’s Bass

I don't know. I think we can be pretty positive that bass will never be alive without ever opening the box.

 

[cataract]

I don't know. I think we can be pretty positive that bass will never be alive without ever opening the box.

Gut feeling about it, sure. Mine too! But the math is sound. The odds are still 50/50. I’m here for it lol

 

[iTzPrime]

So that's where we're at; I'm trying to get an answer from Letts as to where we stand.

What do you think, folks? Will Letts be into the build by now after his promises, or will it still be a pile of wood? Is he going to complete the bass at all?

Stay tuned for more Happy Days!

(And remember to share this thread out for me PLEASE!)

No suprise sadly.

Indeed!
Though I can't get my head around the idea that Letts would intentionally choose to burn me again in full public view this time?

I mean, who would do that, right?......

The same person who has been dodging court orders. You are a nice person, but you are super naive here.

 

[Why Nautilus‽]

This is what I was afraid of when you went with that option in the first place.
If the guy couldn’t build for you before it wasn’t worth haranguing him to build again.

I’m still not sure what draws you to his builds to begin with but I am hopeful for at least an amicable resolution (he sends you the raw material [if there are any] to build it elsewhere with a reputable luthier), or at least some acknowledgment.

But I think it’s a forgone conclusion at this point. He doesn’t care about the opinion of this group - he’s likely making his buck elsewhere.

 

[creaturegods]

Just took another look at the original post to refresh my memory ...

The original receipt was dated 2013
11 years of this, lol. I can't even imagine.

 

[Gunga Din]

Just took another look at the original post to refresh my memory ...

The original receipt was dated 2013
11 years of this, lol. I can't even imagine.

Getting close to Huff territory.

 

[EddieG]

So further to my post the other day, this was in my inbox from Monday.

As I've said previously, a large part of this is to continue drawing awareness to Jon Letts' conduct as a luthier and business owner.
If anyone reading feels they can share this out anywhere, it would be much appreciated also.
Stay tuned for further developments!

 

[31HZ]

OP, I appreciate the continued updates. You had nothing to lose by seeing if you could get a bass after all this time.

 

[MJ5150]

Thread cleanup complete.
The needless back and forth, bickering, name calling, etc has been removed from the thread.
We'll leave the thread open so long as we can all follow along with the TalkBass terms of use found here: https://www.talkbass.com/help/terms.
The ones we all agreed to when we joined this forum.

-Mike

Y'all did good for a couple months, then it resumed this week.
Trolling, masked profanity, insults, disrespect, name calling. None of this is allowed at TalkBass, so another thread cleanup was completed. Some posts that didn't violate rules were deleted as part of the cleanup since, as Stevie Ray would say...they were caught in the crossfire.
Please, no one get your knickers in a twist over this. No infractions or warning were sent out, just post deletes with the intent of keeping the discussion open.
Friends, please let's not do this again. Keep it civil. I know you can.
Thank you.

-Mike

 

[roccobass]

I also see his presence on Reverb.com. So sorry you went through all this.

 

[tvbop]

A lot of stuff over on Basschat about this bad guy. Why oh why do people think buying from these people is a good idea? There are lots of named boutique builders out there....almost hundreds who sell through responsible outlets.

 

[Dyerseve14]

A lot of stuff over on Basschat about this bad guy. Why oh why do people think buying from these people is a good idea? There are lots of named boutique builders out there....almost hundreds who sell through responsible outlets.

The stuff over on Basschat is written by the OP of this thread

 

[Bassface82]

Hello, any news on the bass as of yet…

 

[Bassface82]

So further to my post the other day, this was in my inbox from Monday.
View attachment 5491261

As I've said previously, a large part of this is to continue drawing awareness to Jon Letts' conduct as a luthier and business owner.
If anyone reading feels they can share this out anywhere, it would be much appreciated also.
Stay tuned for further developments!

Any word on your bass…

 

[Bassface82]

Hey all. I wasn't really going to post about this and continue trying to handle it myself, but recent developments have forced my hand to the point I now feel that not warning my fellow bassists in the community and potential customers across the world about this guy would make me as bad as he is.
I'll split this into separate replies on this thread, because there's a lot of detail that simply can't be told in one but please, bear with me.

In late June 2013 and after a long time of searching for and not finding the instrument I wanted and needed, I came across the website of Jon Letts and Letts Basses, based in Leicester, UK. I was surprised at how little a luthier was charging for handbuilt custom work and with my impending 40th birthday the missus to finance an order from him, and after some back and forth I agreed the details of a custom 33" scale neck-through 5-string. I paid above the normal price for a decent top and my own spec of neck laminates, sent him a deposit, and he said he'd order the materials and get started.

View attachment 5335949

Letts talked a good game, claiming at one point the instrument would be "the greatest bass you'll ever see", and I was quite comfortable that he seemed genuine, so after some more chat and his outright guarantee that paying in full up front would punt my order to the top of the pile, I (like a moron) transferred the balance in good faith.
View attachment 5335950 He gave me a delivery date of 24 weeks. At first he would keep in touch fairly regularly, let me know when the woods arrived etc, but it wasn't long before problems began...

Not long after he received the balance, he would start refusing to do things that I was asking him to do, and that he'd previously assured me would be fine; the bass was utterly bespoke, he had no model range that I was choosing from, and I had designed it based on the physical requirements I had. He had agreed to all of this, but he started coming away with stuff like "I can't really deviate from the contouring that I do", and other things like that. Pretty much trying to push me into accepting whatever he wanted to make. Fairly quickly into the build process, Letts would start to disappear, and it was hard to get hold of him. I don't mean emailing him day after day because that's not my style, but I'd email him every other week or so for updates, and find him hard to get hold of, completely contrary to before he had my money. Now and again I'd see his website updated, at one point with the materials for my bass, so I believed he was cracking on with building it.

While he was meant to be building my bass, I kept seeing him and his stooge Brent appearing online elsewhere touting for more business by offering cut-price deals to potential customers. Brent was also the person he tasked with handling his social media and online queries, but the guy's customer service skills were absolutely horrendous, and I saw him essentially abusing people on another forum for answering reasonable questions about his slowly but steadily developing dodgy business practices. At one point I essentially saw Brent tell a customer that he should just STFU and let Letts build the bass, just because the customer wasn't happy with where Letts was choosing to take the details of the build he'd paid for!

As the 24wk deadline for completion got closer I started to press Letts on the progress and when it would be done. Eventually, he began sending me photos, as the deadline came and very quickly went. But seeing a little progress, I felt a bit more comfortable that Letts was going to build and deliver what I paid for. So I didn't press him too hard, and let him carry on.
View attachment 5335954 View attachment 5335955 View attachment 5335956 View attachment 5335957 View attachment 5335958 View attachment 5335959 View attachment 5335960 View attachment 5335961

Did you ever try getting in touch with ‘The Stooge’ as you put it…? Maybe he could have shed some light on this situation…

 

[EddieG]

The stuff over on Basschat is written by the OP of this thread

There's actually much more on Basschat about Jon Letts than the post I made. If you search his name it'll bring up other posts.

 

[EddieG]

Any word on your bass…

Apologies, family and health stuff have stopped me updating this, but such is life.

Anyway, Jon actually started the bass, he wanted to (and did) leave the neck blank to settle for a while.
But he uploaded a video of him carving the neck a few weeks ago. He confirmed in the comments that this was my bass.



I've emailed him today to request some images, as I believe the body wings and neck are now glued together. I'll keep you posted as to further developments.

 

[EddieG]

Just leaving a screenshot of the comments from the YouTube video here, just in case.

 

[EddieG]

Jon Letts has had me blocked on Instagram for a number of years now, back since I was originally calling him out for having taken my money, and that has never been undone but my daughter was able to access his Instagram page and retrieve these photos of the bass so far.
So as everyone can see, there has been progress made.

Whether that progress will see a bass coming to me is another thing altogether, and I think is worth keeping this updated for.

Because if someone like Jon Letts, who professed on these boards and in email correspondence to me that he wanted to rectify the issue honestly, could actually screw me over in front of the bass community, I think its important to make sure anyone considering a purchase from him knows EXACTLY what to expect if he doesn't rectify it as promised.

 

[Why Nautilus‽]

With respect to your situation and your patience…regardless of his solution for you I certainly won’t be purchasing an instrument from him, nor would I recommend him to anyone.

I’m still hopeful you get the bass you want, but this has clearly shown a person who cannot be trusted to do the work in a timely or professional manner. Not what I’m looking for from a custom instrument situation.