Lee Garver is an unethical piece of *&#%$@

[Genebaby]

Re: Lee Garver is an unethical piece of *�%$@

[ QUOTE ]
OK, Vic can correct me if I am wrong...I think he wants to re-board what he has, as the headstock is also finished like the guitar. Thats what he has to do now, as he will not get a replacement neck from Lee.

[/ QUOTE ]

You are correct Tom. We are doing a board swap out to save the nicely painted headstock on this one, fix up the nut area and install a double action truss rod.

Incidentally, we were both suprised how unusually light the the neck is with no hardware and no fretboard. Much of the solid feel was coming from the truss rod, this is some seriously light maple.

[Genebaby]

Re: Lee Garver is an unethical piece of *�%$@

[ QUOTE ]
Well, since you are getting no satisfaction from Lee, you could always do one of those Ebay "no sale" auctions showing great pics and telling the whole story of Lee's work here. Hell, run it 10 days so the most people can read the story and see the pics.

Do it. This will hurt Lee in the future pocket big time.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's a possibility, but think of a web page you can go to, which is like merging the info in the two threads, with pics and emails, all the info about what has gone down. Think of the link on HC, and this and other boards. Think of the link on that Ebay auction.... [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

A web page with everything on it saves me saying the same thing over and over, just go there and read up.

[Deneb]

Re: Lee Garver is an unethical piece of *&#%$@

It's a bad business practice. He could have EASILLY replaced the fretboard (not a veneer) or replaced the neck.

It's not like he doesn't make enough profit, to cover another piece of maple.

[hippietim]

Re: Lee Garver is an unethical piece of *?%$@

I sent a message to Lee regarding his customer service on this and what my opinion of this was as a past customer of his on several occasions. Based on what has been posted in this thread about Lee regarding this I wasn't expecting much. Instead I got what I think is a thoughtful and courteous response. Here is his complete e-mail to me. Lee specifically said it was fine to post any or all of his message. So here it is:

Tim:

I've actually gone so far out of my way to handle Vic's situation that this is becoming ridiculous. He gets the guitar, waits 6 -7 months, and THEN complains about aspects that are simply not defective. But this is typical of him. He complains, whines, and then comment many months after he gets something. He then bashes GMW with zero feedback from me. He basically cherry picks what he wants to complain about and then I'm left to try to help him with absolutely zero thanks in return.

But specifically Tim, and at absolutely zero cost to him, I performed the following work in an attempt to make him happy the first time the issue of those sharkfin inlays came up:

Disassembled the guitar
Routed for a Floyd recess (which just like those sharkfin inlays, he ordered AFTER the body was done and painted. This is typical of Vic)
Repainted the guitar, including the recess
Milled/dressed the frets
Reassembled the guitar with a full set up
Shipped the guitar back to Australia

ALL of this was done at my cost. No charges were made to Vic. He wanted a new neck because the inlays were about 1 mm different than those used by Jackson, and I simply refused to accommodate that request because it was unreasonable, and unwarranted. We never stated our inlays to be identical to a Jackson. If he wanted a Jackson, he should have bought a Jackson.

Next, because I simply don't trust this guy at all, I had THREE players from the JCF (Curt Dudley, Alex Johnson and Jon Shoemaker) come to the shop, inspect and play the guitar after the above work was performed. They were then asked to critique it with zero pressure from me. It was unanimous. The guitar played great, and looked great. All three JCF members agreed that Vic's complaints were completely unwarranted. So I shipped it back and heard nothing for 7- 8 months until now. Not even a thank you for my efforts to resolve the situation. Then he complains now, many months later.

Next, this guitar was originally ordered with dot inlays. Of course, after the bridseye neck was made, he wants sharkfins. So we simply pulled the frets, milled down the maple and installed a lam top which can't be seen under the black neck binding. This is a perfectly acceptable practice and I can tell you that Jackson has done this many times to correct fretboard "issues". The fact there's a few small gaps on the sides, and the guitar played great when it left (again, fully verified by three other JCF members), I still find his complaints to be without merit.

So Tim, this represents my side of the story. Should this not be acceptable, then I guess the other two GMW guitars you have must also be suspect. Given that we've produced thousand upon thousands of guitars, and my feedback rating is near perfect, I stand by my work. You have two of my guitars and I haven't heard any complaints regarding those two instruments.

Then Vic has the gall to install a fake Jackson logo on a guitar he paid $1600 for, and would have cost him about $1000 more from Jackson. So for what he paid for the guitar, he got a great instrument. he isn't paying me enough for this guitar to be complaining. The small gaps under the binding are immaterial and do not affect the playability whatsoever. Obviously, both Vic and I wish he had simply ordered a Jackson if he wanted a Jackson. Coming to us for a guitar the Custom Shop would build makes zero sense. But I took his order, which I definitely regret.

But I treat my customers great. I have a shop stuffed full of orders to prove it. Just because Vic gets to cherry pic through all of his complaints, I can't stop that. So if you feel he's correct on this issue, then by all means, buy elsewhere. But if I though Vic had a legitimate complaint, I'd rectify the situation, just as I did with ALL of the extra work I performed above.....free. But in this case, I don't think he'll ever be happy. So I told him he should simply sell the guitar and buy a "real" Jackson, rather than attempt to use my work to counterfeit a factory instrument . Besides, why did Vic pull the neck binding? This makes zero sense.

Finally, feel free to post any or all of the above on the JCF. If my explanation isn't sufficient, then there's not much I can do. And if you feel that you don't want to place another order, that's your decision. But I run my business very ethically and I stand behind my product. If someone isn't happy or satisfied that is indeed the case, they need to buy elsewhere.

Lee

[RacerX]

Re: Lee Garver is an unethical piece of *�%$@

[ QUOTE ]
especially as I placed my order through GMW based soley on Forum praise for his work. Previosly I had not known about GMW, but you guys said so much about them here I chose GMW over Jackson to make my guitar, which I totally and fully regret 100%.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ah, so it's OUR fault! [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[hippietim]

Re: Lee Garver is an unethical piece of *?%$@



Sully, that's pretty lame. If any of us posted something like that after getting poor quality guitars or customer service from Jackson/Charvel (or perhaps Sully Guitars [img]/images/graemlins/poke.gif[/img]) I'm pretty sure the post would be yanked pretty fast if not worse.

[Jack Napalm]

Re: Lee Garver is an unethical piece of *&#%$@

What's interesting is I don't think anyone has mentioned the new infamous headstock since NAMM and the strathead announcement. This is the biggest thread about GMW since.

[SEEGERMANY]

Re: Lee Garver is an unethical piece of *�%$@

I'd say that's a pretty damned good explanation. Like I said earlier, I didn't even buy my GMW from Lee and he still put forth the extra effort to make the guitar 100%. Sorry, but in my opinion, this was a witch hunt.

By the way, didn't I read a thread about " JCF tolerance?" You fuckers slay me!

[SEEGERMANY]

Re: Lee Garver is an unethical piece of *?%$@

[ QUOTE ]
Sully, that's pretty lame. If any of us posted something like that after getting poor quality guitars or customer service from Jackson/Charvel (or perhaps Sully Guitars [img]/images/graemlins/poke.gif[/img]) I'm pretty sure the post would be yanked pretty fast if not worse.

[/ QUOTE ]

Lord knows that I don't want this to become a habit, but I actually agree with Tim. What's shakin Sully?

[hippietim]

Re: Lee Garver is an unethical piece of *?%$@

I take it all back Sully - no way am I going to be in agreement with GERMANDETH [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[sully]

Re: Lee Garver is an unethical piece of *?%$@

i agree guys, hold please and i'll fix it. something like that shoulda been sent in a pm if at all. just an fyi; sullysucks.net is available. i know there's gotta be someone out there who can put that to use. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[VulfgangPfuck]

Re: Lee Garver is an unethical piece of *?%$@

Hearing about all of this stuff...
Neal should just disassociate himself from GMW, because they may be tarnishing his name in the process.

I've never dealt with GMW myself, but after hearing this I will more than likely, never will.

Neal would NEVER treat a customer like this. Not EVER!

[hippietim]

Re: Lee Garver is an unethical piece of *?%$@

[ QUOTE ]
i agree guys, hold please and i'll fix it. something like that shoulda been sent in a pm if at all. just an fyi; sullysucks.net is available. i know there's gotta be someone out there who can put that to use. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

Sully - didn't ya see - I took it all back.

Looks like I need to hit GoDaddy and register a domain [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Chameleonfong]

Re: Lee Garver is an unethical piece of *?%$@

Buy a Hondo!!!

[hippietim]

Re: Lee Garver is an unethical piece of *?%$@

[img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]