I’m not saying he is right. Because it’s wrong. Oscar is definitely going through a tough time. From my understanding, it happens to a lot of luthiers and artists alike. I will wait for completion of my bass, and I’ll keep y’all posted.
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WARNING: Oscar Prat Basses
- Thread starter benjobass
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- oscar oscar prat prat warning
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If he is going through a "tough time" maybe he should stop taking orders until he can get his affairs sorted. At this point it sounds like he is actively trying to scam money from people.
Right now, I don't think I want to sticky it, due to the number of people affected...not the severity of course, as it is a serious concern.
Additionally, this thread is high on the first page of a Google search for Oscar Prat basses. I hope the two people in this thread get a satisfactory resolution, and I'd hope that people with an interest see this thread first.
I Remember when that guy was trying to get bass players in my area to have him make builds for them. He even reached out to me about building me a bass. I saw one he had left one in an area music store to show off and it was nice but pricey. Too bad he’s now ripping people off.
Makes sense on the basis of this particular post. Though I do know that there are more than just the two of us who have vocalized in this thread. I linked to two other posts here on the board where others have also chimed in. Myself, and others, have also been communicating privately as a result of these threads.
The point I'm trying to make is that this post is just the most recent about, what appears to be, a trend in this particular luthier's behavior. The more people that gain visibility into this, the better.
I don’t understand why those people don’t come forward... I guess they are still hoping they will get their bass eventually...
My thoughts exactly. Really unclear why others affected by him haven't chimed in...
Ah, looks like he relaunched. It was dead for a long while. Thanks for the heads up. I'll update the head post.
Glad to see everyone speaking out. I gave up on getting my money back after he stopped returning messages. Figured I was SoL since he hauled to another country.
This is awful - I'm so sorry you're caught up in this situation too.
Quick update for those following this thread. Prat seemed to be turning a corner by trickling in small installments towards my refund for the months of Sep and Oct. But sadly, and predictably, he's now back to ignoring my invoices and emails asking where my Nov refund installment is.
It's interesting that he doesn't just build the bass. At least then he could make some money on the deal instead of having to refund your money. Well, he hasn't disappeared. That's something. Good luck.
Hi everyone,
Well that's a lot of sad news for me.
I have talk about a 12 strings custom bass with Oscar Prat, in November 2016.
After a long talk, Oscar has send me a first invoice (more 3K$), before drawing two different scale plan corresponding to the tuning i ask.
He told me, crafting the bass will take one year at least, so i've wait.
He has continued to answer me until the paypal 180 days was finished, and never answered me again after that point in May 2017.
He has answer me on facebook once time, told me he send me news soon. And after that, every message i sent him stayed unread on facebook.
Someone know if he still on facebook or have disabled his account ?
Hope he still work or have some personnal problem, but i'm disapointed that goes on this way, compared his good reputation.
Well that's a lot of sad news for me.
I have talk about a 12 strings custom bass with Oscar Prat, in November 2016.
After a long talk, Oscar has send me a first invoice (more 3K$), before drawing two different scale plan corresponding to the tuning i ask.
He told me, crafting the bass will take one year at least, so i've wait.
He has continued to answer me until the paypal 180 days was finished, and never answered me again after that point in May 2017.
He has answer me on facebook once time, told me he send me news soon. And after that, every message i sent him stayed unread on facebook.
Someone know if he still on facebook or have disabled his account ?
Hope he still work or have some personnal problem, but i'm disapointed that goes on this way, compared his good reputation.
So sorry to hear you're caught up in a similar situation. Unfortunately, at this point it comes as no surprise. He's destroying his reputation by treating buyers like this. He's been ignoring me for the last two months again and I have no doubt he's going to continue this disgraceful behavior. I hope this post remains very high in search results for his name and his basses. More people need to know about how terrible he is to deal with.
I was thinking the same. OP's experience is similar to some that people have had with a the luthier over on the Les Paul forums. This guy never finished work, offered random instruments and services by way of compromise, started refunding one specific forum member in piddling-small sums, and was generally a diva about it. Like David Schwab on here, his entire business model was 'rob Peter to pay Paul', or to implement a crude pyramid scheme that required waves of new orders to pay for the materials needed to complete earlier orders.
My brother is a classical violinist and had the same issues! It seems rare to find a luthier that isn't a crook, a hack, a flake or some horrible blend of the three. Those who aren't are to be treated well!
I just looked him up on Facebook. His account is still there, but it looks like he hasn't posted anything since July.
Would like to add my voice here.
I own 1 Prat bass and have sold another. Without getting crazy specific, the bass I sold was solid. Playable, good tone, etc. It did have to have some fret sprout dealt with, but that's not unusual for the Colorado climate. I sold it because it wasn't a great fit for me and I felt confident I wouldn't be passing on a lemon.
The instrument I still have has a severe neck stability issue. I custom ordered it in 2014, got it in March or April 2015. A popular build style for him at the time. See pics. 33" scale, pickup ramp, 28 frets, etc. When I was using it for gigs, I would frequently have to tighten or loosen the truss rod at least once a gig, and sometimes more. During the gig! That's how much it would move. Setting aside the woods chosen (mostly highly-figured flame maple), no guitar neck should ever move that much IMO. And it's a 5 piece neck! It seems to respond evenly to the truss rod, so (last I checked) I can still make it playable for a time. No bumps, ramps or twisting have occurred that I've noticed. I also don't play it anymore. It's become wall art.
When I asked Oscar about this, he said: "The neck is a 5 pieces neck, very strong, but it will move till is stable, because is new, in around 4 to 5 months." My opinion of that statement aside, that definitely hasn't been the case. It's as unstable as ever, 3.5 years later. My last attempt at correspondence with him about it was Feb 2016.
To be clear, I haven't made any true attempt at getting him to make it right. I brought it up a handful of times and basically just got excuses. I should have been more forceful, but it's clear from this thread and @lowendmafia's thread, as well as other stories, that it's unlikely I'd ever get help from him directly.
So there it is. People can PM me if they want more info. I hope @benjobass and whomever else get their instruments or money back, whichever they prefer.
I own 1 Prat bass and have sold another. Without getting crazy specific, the bass I sold was solid. Playable, good tone, etc. It did have to have some fret sprout dealt with, but that's not unusual for the Colorado climate. I sold it because it wasn't a great fit for me and I felt confident I wouldn't be passing on a lemon.
The instrument I still have has a severe neck stability issue. I custom ordered it in 2014, got it in March or April 2015. A popular build style for him at the time. See pics. 33" scale, pickup ramp, 28 frets, etc. When I was using it for gigs, I would frequently have to tighten or loosen the truss rod at least once a gig, and sometimes more. During the gig! That's how much it would move. Setting aside the woods chosen (mostly highly-figured flame maple), no guitar neck should ever move that much IMO. And it's a 5 piece neck! It seems to respond evenly to the truss rod, so (last I checked) I can still make it playable for a time. No bumps, ramps or twisting have occurred that I've noticed. I also don't play it anymore. It's become wall art.
When I asked Oscar about this, he said: "The neck is a 5 pieces neck, very strong, but it will move till is stable, because is new, in around 4 to 5 months." My opinion of that statement aside, that definitely hasn't been the case. It's as unstable as ever, 3.5 years later. My last attempt at correspondence with him about it was Feb 2016.
To be clear, I haven't made any true attempt at getting him to make it right. I brought it up a handful of times and basically just got excuses. I should have been more forceful, but it's clear from this thread and @lowendmafia's thread, as well as other stories, that it's unlikely I'd ever get help from him directly.
So there it is. People can PM me if they want more info. I hope @benjobass and whomever else get their instruments or money back, whichever they prefer.
I've "stickied" this thread now. I'm so sorry for everyone's experiences! 
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