# Ed Roman RIP



## cwittler (May 17, 2011)

Love him or hate him, he is gone. Passed away yesterday. Looks like his daughter will keep the wheels rolling. Not sure he cast much of a shadow up here, but south of the border he was one of the more colorful characters in the US guitar community.

I used to surf to his website about 10 years ago to see what he was doing to make guitars better (or not). I owe him a tip of the hat at least.


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

Certainly let you know what was on his mind. He was hated by thousands and loved by thousands.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Big businesses often require big personalities and mucho bombast. Never dealt with him myself, or visited the store, but all the VG ads I've seen over the years made it clear that Ed fit that mould.

What I find subtly amusing is the message at the website "We understand that many people have questions regarding the circumstances surrounding his passing." I guess what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, eh?

Here's to the end of an era and the passing of a colourful character. If we're lucky, when each of us goes, people will have stories about us. I'm sure Ed has left many of those behind.


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## al3d (Oct 3, 2007)

colourful character..THAT he was. Like Scott said, love and hated by a LOAD of musicians...he screwed over more people then i care to imagine..LOL..


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## cwittler (May 17, 2011)

I remember when he showed up at the liquidation auction of Baker guitars and bought the brand name out from under Gene Baker. Gene was pissed and never forgave him. Then Ed took production offshore despite all of his very public and lengthy anti-offshore rants. The guitar cummunity took it as a coup d'etat of the worst order and immediately dropped the Baker brand with lightning speed. No way was anyone buying from Ed Roman. Maverick or menace, eh?


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## hummingway (Aug 4, 2011)

I never heard the stories. I did get a kick out of his store's website though.


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## 4345567 (Jun 26, 2008)

__________


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## keeperofthegood (Apr 30, 2008)

hummingway said:


> I never heard the stories. I did get a kick out of his store's website though.


Same here LOL some nightmares there some cool things some prices that left me shaking my head


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

From the Ed Roman website



> It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Ed Roman.Ed Roman was a big personality. We understand that many people have questions regarding the circumstances surrounding his passing. His death however is still very recent, and is a heartbreaking shock to the family. We ask that you please be respectful of the sensitive nature involved with losing a loved one, and the mourning process that follows.We will remember him fondly and are keeping his legacy alive. We are conducting business as usual and all orders in process are on schedule, so keep the orders coming, and they will be addressed with the same quality, care and pride you have come to expect from all of us at Ed Roman.A more formal announcement from Lindsey Star Roman will be forthcoming. Thank you very much for your consideration.Lindsey Star Roman and the Ed Roman Crew​


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## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

nkjanssen said:


> Was he loved by anyone? I thought he was just hated.


I have been using various guitar forums for about 8 years now and I can never recall seeing a single favourable post about him, nor any posts backing him up in any way. There may be some now that he has passed, but I'd venture to guess that's the only reason.


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## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

First Ed, then Kim Jong Il. What a week.


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## cwittler (May 17, 2011)

From what I remember, Ed's shop in Connecticut was well respected and Ed was well liked by the many people who patronized his business back then. I think the move to Vegas was a game changer. Ed stopped listening and started dictating. That doesn't really ever sit well with musicians of any kind and that is when the bad reviews really started rolling in.



torndownunit said:


> I have been using various guitar forums for about 8 years now and I can never recall seeing a single favourable post about him, nor any posts backing him up in any way. There may be some now that he has passed, but I'd venture to guess that's the only reason.


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## Destropiate (Jan 17, 2007)

Are there any specific things he did to get that king of scorn from the guitar community? I have seen his website but cant recall any forum drama.


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## Accept2 (Jan 1, 2006)

When he was in Connecticut he was a partner with other people. His reputation stems from building clones of expensive guitars, putting on the proper logos and selling them as originals. I seem to remember court cases involving counterfeit Hamers back in the late 90s. His fans stem from the fact that when he did build guitars under his own companies they were high quality guitars. So guitar wise he had his fans, business wise he had detractors............


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## jimsz (Apr 17, 2009)

Read some of Ed's "Rants"

http://www.edroman.com/rants.htm


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## Destropiate (Jan 17, 2007)

jimsz said:


> Read some of Ed's "Rants"
> 
> http://www.edroman.com/rants.htm


Yeah allot of that is contradictory with other sources of info I've come across. Also with contradictory to itself if you read enough. Seems like a bit of a knob. Oh well. No sense getting bent out of shape about it anymore I guess.


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## cwittler (May 17, 2011)

Well, he was certainly infamous for taking the real deal brands he was dealing and tearing them apart and modding them into something he thought was more worthy and promoting them over the unmodded stock. A slight conflict of interest if not outright counterfeiting. And his partners in Connecticut certainly bolstered his reputation, this is true. He had his own modis operandi that is for sure.



Accept2 said:


> When he was in Connecticut he was a partner with other people. His reputation stems from building clones of expensive guitars, putting on the proper logos and selling them as originals. I seem to remember court cases involving counterfeit Hamers back in the late 90s. His fans stem from the fact that when he did build guitars under his own companies they were high quality guitars. So guitar wise he had his fans, business wise he had detractors............


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## butterknucket (Feb 5, 2006)

I used to read his rants on his website about ten years ago or so.


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

sounds like a terrible businessman, but I like free thinkers and ppl that buck the trends....Gonna miss some of the interesting perspectives and historical info on his website.


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## gtrguy (Jul 6, 2006)

GONE


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## smorgdonkey (Jun 23, 2008)

Accept2 said:


> When he was in Connecticut he was a partner with other people. His reputation stems from building clones of expensive guitars, putting on the proper logos and selling them as originals. I seem to remember court cases involving counterfeit Hamers back in the late 90s. His fans stem from the fact that when he did build guitars under his own companies they were high quality guitars. So guitar wise he had his fans, business wise he had detractors............


That's wild stuff. I had heard a lot of stuff about him selling counterfeits too. He did say that Hamer was the fussiest company about the wood that it used and they had a special agreement with suppliers so that they could return the unwanted wood. He said that he couldn't possibly afford to return anywhere near the amount of wood that Hamer returned to suppliers.


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