# Guitar dinged by luthier - How should this be handled?



## I Miss Pratt (Jan 5, 2021)

Hello out there. This is my first post on this forum.

I would like to ask people what they think of this situation and how it should be handled. 

I recently had a custom strat built for me by a known Toronto builder. It was delivered to me with a bridge that was improperly installed so that it could not be decked and it also clunked loudly when the bar was operated. The builder acknowledged his error and asked me to send it back for the bridge to be replaced. 

I shipped the guitar back to him at my own expense, even though it was his error, just to be nice.

He replaced the bridge, which is now working well. The guitar is well constructed and plays well also. However, the builder put an easily visible ding in the front of the guitar body, as well as a bunch of scratches on the body adjacent to the trem bar that he didn't mention to me before shipping it back (see pics). 

Close inspection of pictures that he himself sent to me of the finished guitar before he sent it to me reveal that the dings were already present in his shop before he reshipped. He definitely caused them.

I pointed out the problem, with pictures, to the builder and he has not offered me any explanation or compensation.

This is a brand new instrument and I have well over a thousand dollars invested.

I am not mentioning his name here on purpose - yet - because I want to know what other forum members think. Am I overreacting here? What would your expectations be of the builder in this situation? I am really ticked off. I would not want another forum member to encounter similar issues without warning.


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## StevieMac (Mar 4, 2006)

Not sure how to advise you here exactly but will say that I'd definitely be pissed off if a new build was received this way. There's really no excuse for that kind of negligence IMO.


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## Frenchy99 (Oct 15, 2016)

I would send it back for a full refund or new body replacement.

His mistake.


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

echoing the above, you deserve satisfaction.


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## bigboki (Apr 16, 2015)

StevieMac said:


> Not sure how to advise you here exactly but will say that I'd definitely be pissed off if a new build was received this way. There's really no excuse for that kind of negligence IMO.


I completely agree.
He "fixed" his initial mistake by making more things needed to be fixed???

And in this case price of the guitar is not important in my opinion.
No matter if you paid 100, or 1k or 10k
if you are making something, you agreed on a price and on quality.
I bet your luthier did not agreed on delivering half assed work?

Really sorry to hear about your issues


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

A known luthier shouldnt have let either of those versions of that guitar out of his shop.


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

A luthier who can't fix issues that he himself created? And that is just sloppy work.


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## Fred Gifford (Sep 2, 2019)

I vote pissed !!!


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## JBFairthorne (Oct 11, 2014)

Not very professional behaviour for a “professional “.


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## GuitarT (Nov 23, 2010)

Looking at the uneven gaps between the pickgaurd and the bridge plate and the string misalignment over the bridge pickup the finish dings would be further down the list of my concerns.


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## BobChuck (Jan 16, 2012)

If it's a good instrument, I don't mind small dings. It sucks, in a way. But I will probably do more on the first week. So, I don't see myself asking for a refinish, just so I can do the first sratch, on its first day. Too much work for nothing.

I'm not saying people should not care, I understand why some buy those PRS and keep them like new. It's like a nice painting, or any sort of art for the house.

Now, for the bridge... that's another story.


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## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

Looks like he moved the whole bridge over towards the bass side. That mark beside the treble side of the bridge is where the bridge used to sit. Not only is the bridge not centered in the pick guard, the strings aren't running over the pickup magnets very well either because of it.


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## DavidP (Mar 7, 2006)

Wow, string alignment over the pickup pole pieces is quite off; I could barely live with that but of more concern -- what is the string alignment along the neck margins??


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## jbealsmusic (Feb 12, 2014)

I Miss Pratt said:


> I recently had a custom strat built for me by a known Toronto builder. It was delivered to me with a bridge that was improperly installed so that it could not be decked and it also clunked loudly when the bar was operated. The builder acknowledged his error and asked me to send it back for the bridge to be replaced.


Weird... A reputable luthier would have known it wasn't installed correctly when he tested it after installing, and it would never have left the shop like that.



> I shipped the guitar back to him at my own expense, even though it was his error, just to be nice.


Should have definitely been at his expense. His mistake, his cost to fix it.



> Close inspection of pictures that he himself sent to me of the finished guitar before he sent it to me reveal that the dings were already present in his shop before he reshipped. He definitely caused them.
> 
> I pointed out the problem, with pictures, to the builder and he has not offered me any explanation or compensation.


As in he hasn't responded to your inquiries yet, or he has seen the evidence and responded saying he won't do anything about it. There is a pretty big difference.

If he actually caused the dings, he should cover the cost of repair and shipping both ways. Seems rather straight forward to me...

Still, this is getting weirder... Again, a reputable luthier would never have let those dings go out the door. He certainly would have noticed them while working on the guitar. How "known" is this builder exactly? Seems he's missing things that even non-luthiers would catch. Combine that with some other things that look "off" about the build, and I'm really puzzled...



> What would your expectations be of the builder in this situation?


For him to deliver what he promised at the price he promised. Otherwise, full refund.

I have so many questions though..... So many questions.........


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

How do the strings line up on the neck?

Was it expensive or cheap? If cheap then perhaps you live with it, but if it was over, say $500 - $600 then you have to decide what you will live with, or go after a return. The bridge being out of line like that is not something I would keep. I wouldn't want to return it for him to try to fix ir further. It looks like a defective build. Who knows if the neck is lined up properly or what other issues it may have.

Have you check the intonation?


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## zztomato (Nov 19, 2010)

I don't understand what the build is? Is it a parts build or is everything from scratch?
The bridge placement is confusing to me. The strings don't line up with the pickups all that well. It seems like maybe he moved the bridge rather than adjusting the rout? Not great any way you slice it.


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## I Miss Pratt (Jan 5, 2021)

Thanks to everyone for their comments.

This is a build from parts not from scratch. 

I have to thank those of you who actually know what they're doing enough to have noticed the shifted position of the bridge. I totally agree that this is a major concern and I thank you for pointing it out. I'm embarassed that I didn't notice myself, but I actually was so bummed by the way everything turned out that I've barely even looked at the guitar. I had hoped to direct the builder of the guitar to this link to see all of your comments and give him a chance to make good on this fiasco. Hopefully that will work. I will post back either way. Thanks again.

I have many questions as well jbeals...


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## zztomato (Nov 19, 2010)

I see what's going on now. The bridge is a Gotoh, which has a collar around where the arm goes and also a bolt under that that 90% of the time rubs against the wall of the trem rout. You almost always need to take a little off the treble side of the upper part of the cavity. Unfortunately, if he did move the bridge, he would've dowelled the screw holes and re-drilled to shift slightly to the bass side so that the trem moved freely. Adjusting the rout would've been the preferable option. Maybe he was worried about damaging the body?


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## cboutilier (Jan 12, 2016)

He made a mess of that.


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## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

If there are plugged holes under that bridge I would not be happy.
Ask for it to be fixed, as in a new body properly assembled?


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## Dorian2 (Jun 9, 2015)

Are you sure he's a Luthier?


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## Latole (Aug 11, 2020)

Frenchy99 said:


> I would send it back for a full refund or new body replacement.
> 
> His mistake.


100% right. This is unacceptable work.


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## Latole (Aug 11, 2020)

Dorian2 said:


> Are you sure he's a Luthier?


A lot of non-connoisseurs call a luthier a guy who works on guitars. 
In most cases they are not luthiers. 
Or incompetent luthiers. 

Here we have an example.


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

Holy crap! Now that I know its a partcaster, man I'm no luthier, not even close, but I can do a better job than that guy did.


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## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

Dorian2 said:


> Are you sure he's a Luthier?


I had more written but I'll leave it...


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## I Miss Pratt (Jan 5, 2021)

Hello again everyone. Thank you for your replies. 

The builder in question is Mike Carparelli.
This is his website Carparelli Guitars & Accessories
This is his reverb business. Carparelli - Parts & Accessories

He has 5 star feedback on reverb. He has also built guitars for 2 other people who I know who had no issues. I thought those two things warranted a high degree of trust. I have no ill will towards anyone. I was happy to support his business instead of handing more of my money to a big American corporation. It gives me absolutely no pleasure to publicly complain about his work on line. I would have much preferred to settle this between us. He is refusing to call me because he is "too busy". My calls go directly to his answering machine.

His response after reading your comments is "Go ahead tell your side of the story. You failed to tell the truth. Publish my name. Make my day"

He claims that he received the guitar with the body ding already in it and that he just forgot to mention it. Here is a direct quote "I didn't think that much about it as its literally a tiny pin head size. Now you want to make a mountain of it. Publish my name, no worries. I will respond and publish your name in all fairness" is a direct quote. 

My name is Kyle McKechnie. I live in Sudbury. I asked you guys if I was overreacting and it didn't seem that way to you. I will leave it up to you to guess who is being honest and who is not. I have the entire text stream of our business dealings from start to finish. 

Thank you for your attention to my situation and for your advice. Have a good day.


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## JBFairthorne (Oct 11, 2014)

What a clown. He should be ashamed of himself.


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## KapnKrunch (Jul 13, 2016)

Lincoln said:


> Looks like he moved the whole bridge over towards the bass side. That mark beside the treble side of the bridge is where the bridge used to sit. Not only is the bridge not centered in the pick guard, the strings aren't running over the pickup magnets very well either because of it.


One corner of the pickguard is rounded and the other square. Screams "hack-job" fer sure.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

Isn't he Dots On His Shaft?


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

player99 said:


> Isn't he Dots On His Shaft?


Used to be. He's changed them to Carparelli Guitars. He's just a distributor actually.


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

I didn't know that. Well I haven't had any issues with the wiring harness I bought from him.
Actually now that it's been mentioned, I remember now.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

If you buy enough guitars from China how hard can it be to build one?


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## jbealsmusic (Feb 12, 2014)

Yes, he is (was) Dot On Shaft. He re-branded as Carparelli Guitars.

PM sent... Don't want to add gas to the fire.


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## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

Familiar face in the reverb picture... Geddy Lee?


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

I could never understand who would call their guitars Dots On Shaft.


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## TimH (Feb 4, 2006)

player99 said:


> I could never understand who would call their guitars Dots On Shaft.


Someone with very little business acumen. This thread seems to reinforce that.


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## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

That other little chip, he dropped something while he was working on the guitar. It happens. After you do it once, you always put some sort of covering over the guitar you're working on, so if you do drop something, it doesn't leave a mark. If you give a shite that is.


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## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

Any videos of this guy building his guitars? 
You know, like Freddy G at Freddy's Frets has on youtube.


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## JeremyP (Jan 10, 2012)

Lincoln said:


> That other little chip, he dropped something while he was working on the guitar. It happens. After you do it once, you always put some sort of covering over the guitar you're working on, so if you do drop something, it doesn't leave a mark. If you give a shite that is.



I totally agree . After you do that the first time you dont forget it lol...... This is total trash way to treat a customer. Pretty shitty that you had to go through this while trying to give a local the business.


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## jbealsmusic (Feb 12, 2014)

tomee2 said:


> Any videos of this guy building his guitars?
> You know, like Freddy G at Freddy's Frets has on youtube.


No. He doesn't build guitars. He sells re-branded MIK guitars. His "custom" stuff is assembled from kit parts.



JeremyP said:


> I totally agree . After you do that the first time you dont forget it lol...... This is total trash way to treat a customer.


To be fair, we don't know if he responded yet, or what he's responded with. Let's give him a chance to correct his mistake. I hope he makes it right.



> Pretty shitty that you had to go through this while trying to give a local the business.


This is the unfortunate risk of dealing with a small business... You know you'll get the same treatment (more or less) from a chain, big box store, and "known" brands. You don't know what you're getting from a small business, unless you do some pretty thorough research. Even then, the information to go on may be limited.


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## I Miss Pratt (Jan 5, 2021)

jbeals, I totally agree about giving a person a chance because we all make mistakes. That's exactly what I did - multiple times. The comments I posted were exactly verbatim how he reacted.


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

Anyone have half a million? (Carparelli guitars)


Is that guitar neck heavy? In that case that would make it a holy diver!




www.guitarscanada.com












Anyone have half a million? (Carparelli guitars)


He does look awfully white for someone from the middle east... He's the holy ghost.




www.guitarscanada.com


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## Cardamonfrost (Dec 12, 2018)

Years ago, when he had a shop in Barrie (it's now a dentist office), I went in to ask about a custom guitar (local newspaper had articles about new luthier opening etc), and when I looked around and saw brightly colored, obviously cheap imported shred guitars (screaming skull finishes and all), I browsed for a minute or 2 and left. I had a brief, non inspiring conversation with the owner. 

I would be pushing for a refund.
C


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## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

but most importantly, how neatly done is the router work on his body cavities?? That's what really counts and sets the bar between ho-hum and custom shop guitars.


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## jbealsmusic (Feb 12, 2014)

I Miss Pratt said:


> jbeals, I totally agree about giving a person a chance because we all make mistakes. That's exactly what I did - multiple times. The comments I posted were exactly verbatim how he reacted.


Sorry, I missed your post with his responses.



I Miss Pratt said:


> I would have much preferred to settle this between us. He is refusing to call me because he is "too busy". My calls go directly to his answering machine.





> His response after reading your comments is "Go ahead tell your side of the story. You failed to tell the truth. Publish my name. Make my day"





> He claims that he received the guitar with the body ding already in it and that he just forgot to mention it. Here is a direct quote "I didn't think that much about it as its literally a tiny pin head size. Now you want to make a mountain of it. Publish my name, no worries. I will respond and publish your name in all fairness" is a direct quote.


🤦‍♂️

Sorry to hear it man... I'd push for a refund. If those scratches really don't matter, as he says, he shouldn't have a problem selling the guitar to someone else, right?


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## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

I hope you can get all of your money back, not for the scratch or ding but the badly aligned bridge and pickguard.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

Did you pay by PayPal or credit card? If you did you could dispute the charge.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

Carparelli Lube







carparelliguitars.com


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## Sketchy Jeff (Jan 12, 2019)

is it possible that the trend for relic'd or pre-worn or whatever you want to call it has caught up with this builder? if you had 20 customers in a row who were willing to pay extra to have the guitar look like it had been rode hard and put away wet for many years and then you come along and want a thing that looks showroom new it might be hard to get out of habits developed in the previous builds

that doesn't address the poor alignment issues raised above. i hope you didn't pay a lot of money for it with all due respect it looks like a decent DIY partscaster build by a first time handyman with a few live-and-learn issues

j


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## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

I love that colour Strat btw. 😋


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## jbealsmusic (Feb 12, 2014)

Was browsing Facebook at lunch. Mike posted this exact guitar up on his Facebook. You can tell because it has the exact same scratches in the finish:








Screenshot


Captured with Lightshot




prnt.sc





His comment about it is interesting...
_"The one on my bench there was for a Surgeon friend of mine, he sent me a his old fender neck and said he had to have that body on it ( same body as yours ) so I built it for him, he loves it."_​
Maybe he posted the wrong picture by mistake and was actually talking about a different guitar... 🤷‍♂️ Really trying to give Mike the benefit of the doubt here.


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

You have to be so careful when choosing builders. I had a builder in the GTA build me a neck for a guitar and was talking about a build with him. He had built several great guitars for a friend from this forum. However the neck ended up having a lot of unfixable issues and I had to send it back. He never offered to make it right or build me a problem free neck but did take it back with no argument. Needless to say I threw out the idea of having him build me a guitar. I would likely only go with internationally known builders such as Bill Crook (of who did build me a guitar), Ron Kirn, Chihoe Hahn, etc. Yes those builders command premium prices but I'd rather spend 3-5k on a guitar guaranteed to meet or exceed expectations rather than throw away $1,000 - $1,500 on a guitar thats sloppily built and the builder likely won't stand behind their product.


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## Frenchy99 (Oct 15, 2016)

The seller is in the wrong !

He should refund or fix it.


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## I Miss Pratt (Jan 5, 2021)

jbeals, it is the same guitar. 
I am not a surgeon though.

When I first received the guitar, I was stoked. I loved the aesthetic. It seemed to play well. I gave him some positive feedback. I think it's important to share positive comments when things turn out well. 

The day after I opened the box I actually had a solid hour to spend playing it and that's when I noticed the problems with the bridge. I'm talking about the original bridge that didn't fit properly in the body cavity. Not the new bridge that some of you are saying is improperly installed. Anyways, yes, I did like it before I noticed the problems. 

The purpose of this thread was to help me figure out if I had a legitimate beef and to provide the builder with some objective feedback (from you guys). Thank you for helping me with both of those things. Unfortunately it didn't help. Regardless, I did not intend for this to be a venue to be disrespectful or rude to the builder, regardless of my concerns. We have all seen threads degenerate. Please help me to prevent that from happening here. Thank you again.


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## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

So the guy is lying about a surgeon buying his guitars, because surgeons have money and could buy any guitar they want but they choose his. Slimy


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## jbealsmusic (Feb 12, 2014)

I Miss Pratt said:


> jbeals, it is the same guitar.
> I am not a surgeon though.
> 
> When I first received the guitar, I was stoked. I loved the aesthetic. It seemed to play well. I gave him some positive feedback. I think it's important to share positive comments when things turn out well.
> ...


You are the best of us good sir. Much respect! 🙌

Hope it works out!


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## bzrkrage (Mar 20, 2011)

He has it with the dings on his Instagram....
Carparelli guitars insta


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

Someone should log in and comment, 'it may just be the camera angle, but that bridge looks misaligned to me?'.


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## Latole (Aug 11, 2020)

Lincoln said:


> Looks like he moved the whole bridge over towards the bass side. That mark beside the treble side of the bridge is where the bridge used to sit. Not only is the bridge not centered in the pick guard, the strings aren't running over the pickup magnets very well either because of it.


100 % right , this guys ia a newby in guitars building.

He do some poor job on pickgard at bridge


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## aC2rs (Jul 9, 2007)

Terrible work. 
This "luthier" needs to make this mess right.


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## troyhead (May 23, 2014)

Did you buy all the parts and then ship them to be assembled, or did the luthier sell it to you as a complete kit? Either way, he should have noticed and at least called before trying to hack together a solution. The whole situation seems like a case study in how not to handle customer service.

Personally, I don't think the dings are a huge concern. Once a parts body has any holes drilled in it, the value has already gone way down, so that might be worth only some minor compensation, but not a lot. But if he put the bridge on incorrectly and made the body unusable without some significant work, then that would be my bigger concern.

I had a parts guitar assembled for me once. I was disappointed with the luthier at first, only because it took so very long to get completed (with some legitimate and unavoidable reasons, but still a major inconvenience to me). But in the end he didn't charge me for the build at all, I didn't even have to ask for any kind of compensation. That's good customer service, where he anticipated how I might be feeling and offered to make it right before I could even ask.


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## I Miss Pratt (Jan 5, 2021)

troyhead it was a Fender neck I liked from another guitar bolted to a guitar assembled by him using parts I purchased from him.

I totally agree that the dings will not affect the value much. How much is a parts guitar assembled by this person worth on a good day anyway? If I wanted something I could sell later, I would have bought a Fender. It isn't about how much money I can get for the guitar. It's about me supporting a guy's business at a time when money is tight for many people and him doing substandard work, not being straightforward with me, not standing behind his work and then dismissing concerns that seem, to a lot of people here, to be very legitimate ones. I would agree though, that this is a case study how not to handle customer service. Buyer beware.


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

Earlier in the thread, you posted his comments about him telling his side?
Contact him again and share this thread link. See if he joins and responds to this?
My guess is that he wont.


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## I Miss Pratt (Jan 5, 2021)

laristotle said:


> Earlier in the thread, you posted his comments about him telling his side?
> Contact him again and share this thread link. See if he joins and responds to this?
> My guess is that he wont.


laristotle, I HAVE shared this link with him. I posted a direct quote of his reponse earlier. Basically, he accuses me of dishonesty (he says the guitar was already dinged when I sent it back to him but he just forgot to mention it) and of overreacting about the ding. Impossible to prove who is telling the truth. He has no response to any concerns about the bridge installation. Take a look at the reason I had to ship the guitar back in the first place, the overall results and his reaction to my concerns and decide for yourself.


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## brokentoes (Jun 29, 2014)

The term Luthier gets thrown around an awful lot. That just looks like bad tech work.


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

I Miss Pratt said:


> laristotle, I HAVE shared this link with him


Aye. 
Was just curious as to whether or not _he_ wanted to defend his reputation.
I guess not. I have no problem considering him a douche.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

I asked earlier if you used your credit card or PayPal to pay him. If you did, you can possibly put a claim in and get a full refund.


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

laristotle said:


> Aye.
> Was just curious as to whether or not _he_ wanted to defend his reputation.
> I guess not. I have no problem considering him a douche.


I'll be surprised if he would even bother coming over here. Dot On Shaft has been bashed before in different forums, this is as far as I can remember, and he never tried to come and explain whatever. Unfortunate because he is 'local' and I actually did buy a couple of harnesses from him without realizing who he was. Otherwise I wouldn't have bought it off him. Mind you the harnesses work perfectly so I don't have any issues with what I got.


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## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

I'm going to guess he's not making the harness, but is importing them fully made


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

tomee2 said:


> I'm going to guess he's not making the harness, but is importing them fully made


Probably. But he provides different control plate colors and different capacitors. I would think he would need a bigger inventory if he is going to provide the different combinations of the colors and capacitors.


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## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

Chito said:


> Probably. But he provides different control plate colors and different capacitors. I would think he would need a bigger inventory if he is going to provide the different combinations of the colors and capacitors.


I had a look at his site...looks like he's got capacitors being made with a brand name too, so I'd agree he's probably soldering the cap in as required.
Or maybe he's making the whole thing. Who knows.


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## Frenchy99 (Oct 15, 2016)

tomee2 said:


> so I'd agree he's probably soldering the cap in as required.



Soldering a cap or 2 does not make you a Luthier or Tech...


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## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

Frenchy99 said:


> Soldering a cap or 2 does not make you a Luthier or Tech...


Haha! Absolutely agree.


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