Lloyd has started his OWN guitar company

[deviltronix]

Re: Lloyd has started his OWN guitar company

Where have I seen that Satan graphic before?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">That graphic is by famous artist Chris Cooper, better known as "Coop".

http://www.coopstuff.com

[deviltronix]

Re: Lloyd has started his OWN guitar company

and with GMW's poor customer service of late...they could be a viable alternative.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Do you guys know of any specific incidences of this? I've got one on order and another GMW I want to order.

[randyvanmalmsteen]

Re: Lloyd has started his OWN guitar company

holy bat shit! i am in love!



[img]graemlins/drool2.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/headbang.gif[/img]

[sully]

Re: Lloyd has started his OWN guitar company

Originally posted by deviltronix:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"> and with GMW's poor customer service of late...they could be a viable alternative.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Do you guys know of any specific incidences of this? I've got one on order and another GMW I want to order. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">i think it's more of a commitment to turnaround times than anything else.

sully

[StukaJU87]

Re: Lloyd has started his OWN guitar company

I sent Lee an email Wednesday for a price quote on some work. He hasn't gotten back to me yet. They must be swamped if he doesn't have time to answer about graphic work. [edit] It wasn't about one of his standard graphics, by the way.

[Twisteramps]

Re: Lloyd has started his OWN guitar company

Originally posted by Hellraiser6502:
This venture is doomed to fail....

All of his 'target' buyers are savvy enough to realize it's just a parts guitar company.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Wasn't that how charvel started? [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Pete

[Black Mariah]

Re: Lloyd has started his OWN guitar company

Yes, but that was nearly 25 years ago when replacement parts weren't easy to find. Why should I pay a premium for Warmoth parts that are built by some douchebag in his garage?

/me looks at sully

Uhh... I mean... who WOULDN'T want a parts guitar built by some doucheb... DUDE in his garage... heh... haha.... uh-oh...

/me runs

[Twisteramps]

Re: Lloyd has started his OWN guitar company

Originally posted by Black Mariah:
Yes, but that was nearly 25 years ago when replacement parts weren't easy to find. Why should I pay a premium for Warmoth parts that are built by some douchebag in his garage?

/me looks at sully

Uhh... I mean... who WOULDN'T want a parts guitar built by some doucheb... DUDE in his garage... heh... haha.... uh-oh...

/me runs

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Couple of things here...

1) Warmoth makes good parts. Whether or not Lloyd uses them, they are good parts. I've seen some bodies from them that were abso-fucking-lutely gorgeous. their fretwork is great, and yeah, someone can build a VERY nice guitar from their parts. which leads me to...

2) If you have the nicest, best parts in the world, made of the rarest most wonderful looking tonewoods and have it assembled by someone who doesn't know what they are doing... it's going to be a piece of SHIT.

I would wager most of the guys on this board could buy the same parts and it wouldn't be as nice as a professionally assembled and tweaked guitar. never mind any custom finishes... just the raw assembly and playability.

Pete

[Chuckracer]

Re: Lloyd has started his OWN guitar company

I spoke to Lee about his shop a couple years ago when I was buy my silver strat from him. I was amazed that I could call and talk to him and not a phone jockey. He said its pointless to hire somebody cause people that call ALWAYS want to talk to him, and he wanted to keep that 'one on one' thing going. He also said he builds the guitars himself cause that's what he loves to do and dosen't want to evolve into just the boss and namesake.
Unfortunately, the turnaround times have gotten very long, indeed. But I'll wait. Its worth it.

[sully]

Re: Lloyd has started his OWN guitar company

Originally posted by Twisteramps:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by Black Mariah:
Yes, but that was nearly 25 years ago when replacement parts weren't easy to find. Why should I pay a premium for Warmoth parts that are built by some douchebag in his garage?

/me looks at sully

Uhh... I mean... who WOULDN'T want a parts guitar built by some doucheb... DUDE in his garage... heh... haha.... uh-oh...

/me runs

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Couple of things here...

1) Warmoth makes good parts. Whether or not Lloyd uses them, they are good parts. I've seen some bodies from them that were abso-fucking-lutely gorgeous. their fretwork is great, and yeah, someone can build a VERY nice guitar from their parts. which leads me to...

2) If you have the nicest, best parts in the world, made of the rarest most wonderful looking tonewoods and have it assembled by someone who doesn't know what they are doing... it's going to be a piece of SHIT.

I would wager most of the guys on this board could buy the same parts and it wouldn't be as nice as a professionally assembled and tweaked guitar. never mind any custom finishes... just the raw assembly and playability.

Pete </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">[img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] a few things here...and most of this is inspired by BM's givin me a hard time (which is totally fine, and i thought was funny)

yes, warmoth makes some GREAT stuff; bodies, necks, etc. but you can't expect to order the stuff, slap it together and expect it to play as well as it looks, like pete said. the one neck that i've got from warmoth needed a good amount of fretwork, which is fine, as i was going to do it anyway.

i don't see too much of an issue with using parts houses for getting yourself going, but i look at that as training wheels that you eventually discard as your skill level increases.

i think that it's lame if you're not very involved in the actual fabrication of the guitars you're claiming to produce; the fretwork, setup, electrical work, etc. i'm not saying that lloyd has people building these things and has nothing to do with the construction, but i have a feeling that's the case. i don't think it's cool to order a bunch of parts, have someone else assemble and finish them, and call it your guitar company. granted, lloyd may not be establishing himself as a builder of these, so i could be talking out of my ass, here. i just got the impression that the san dimas guitar company is supposed to offer top quality hand made instruments by expert luthiers, etc...and again, i could totally be talking out of my ass on this.

and while i've certainly used warmoth and other parts houses for a couple projects, i've also taken those parts and modified them, done the fretwork, reshaped neck profiles, contoured and modified bodies, etc. i don't plan on using those supply houses for very much longer, as i'm able to cut my own bodies, bind em, put tops on them, etc.

anyway, i don't necessarily disagree with pete at all, and some of my disdain for lloyd may be a factor, here. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

sully

[shreddermon]

Re: Lloyd has started his OWN guitar company

Lee's customer service is excellent. The dude does everything for his customers himself, one-on-one, and does top notch work all around. I have never had a bad experience with him.

Most of the whining about GMW has to do with their build times. When placing an order, Lee may estimate that it will take, say, three months. But it will almost certainly take longer. Admittedly, Lee could get a little better at the accuracy of his time estimates. But to say he has "bad" customer service because of this one minor factor is quite an unfair overstatement IMHO.

However long it takes, GMW's stuff is always top notch and well worth the wait. And you'd be hard pressed to find another custom-built-to-your-specs guitar of such high quality in GMW's price range.

[neilli]

Re: Lloyd has started his OWN guitar company

I bought a GMW a while back and it's great - Lee was really helpful, and I guess he's busier now, but I wouldn't hesitate to buy another....
Just my opinion though!
Cheers
Ian

[RP]

Re: Lloyd has started his OWN guitar company

With that headstock, he ought to call them "Neptune Guitars" and go after the Kramer market.

[lerxstcat]

Re: Lloyd has started his OWN guitar company

Originally posted by jsullysix:
lloyd is in no danger of losing his dealership; it's another line, no big deal.
sully

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Well, maybe no, but maybe so. I think if I were a Charvel/Jackson dealer and came up with a line called Soloist Guitars, FMIC/JMIC would be kicking my ass right quick-like. I also think their subsequent patent filing to Lloyd's might well be preparatory to a court challenge, based on the fact that Charvel has used that San Dimas name for cachet for many years.
Who would think that someone would snake the name, since the target market would rather have the real thing? If they didn't prevail legally, I would sure see them dropping him as a C/J dealer since he doesn't have a storefront either. I guess he has some protection within the C/J sphere to even try this, but Fender seems pretty committed to defending their
intellectual property, so....

Either way, a shutdown by the courts or lack of interest, I'd call them something else or expect failure; the whole idea is, as someone said of the graphics, rather Romanesque.

[roodyrocker]

Re: Lloyd has started his OWN guitar company

Whether or not you like the headstock or graphics or whatever, I can tell you these guitars Lloyd is putting out feel and play nice! I was able to handle one or two of them when I was in California. I can also tell you that the fret work was top notch.
No, I don't own one nor have any association with the line. But I have bought Jacksons from Lloyd before. I also don't believe Lloyd would put out junk guitars for sale.

Rudy