Fraudulent Seller Alert. Beware!!

[scoville]

I take no joy in telling you all this but i feel i have an obligation to let the truth be known about someone most of us know so that maybe others won't have to find out what this person is capable of. i'm sure some of you have had good dealings with this person, nonetheless, this is what happened to me.

I bought 4 guitars from John Jaco (peedenmark7) over the last 2 years, most recently was the flametop with bound neck I recently posted pics of online. This was described to me as an '81 prepro flametop s-head, rare bound neck, v-trem'
and the seller
"'got it around 2000 ..came out of arizona, I didnt know the guy , and if memory serves me, answered one of the ads I placed in vintage guitar magazine."

I was amazed at its near pristine condition, much like 2 of the other 4 i bought from this seller.
I was excited to have it so i took a few pics of my charvels all together and posted them online, most of which nobody knew i had.
After seeing these pics somebody came forward and revealed that my Charvel strat-head zebra explorer, serial number 1646, was at one point on the GMW website. The explorer was the 3rd guitar i bought from this seller (bought the previous year).

So i asked John about this and he said he lent the guitar to Lee (GMW) so a guy from Canada could make a replica of it and also told me the story again of how he acquired the guitar:

"this was dave linsk of overkills guitar... dave lived in jersey for a number of yrs and decided when the band was failing to start letting some guitars go to pay bills etc...
he was of the mindset they were worth more parted so thats what he did .. wouldnt sell them to you as a whole... and he did get more money out of them this way...I ended up getting 90% of the guitar myself but had to do some horsetrading with a guy to get the correct #1646 neck plate back on the guitar...
was kinda bullshit actually but alls well that ended well...
seymour invader bridge, 59 neck... 1 11/16 nut 2 1/4 butt...brass nut,v-trem
very typical backshape...guitar is on the heavy side.
original case and work order..."


His excuse seemed unlikely and after having been a bit suspicious of its very good condition i decided to try and track down dave linsk himself. Here's what he had to say after i sent a picture of it to him:

"hi chris....i thought that i should let you know that no it is not my guitar....i still own it....the case and neck plate were mine from this guitar..... i sold them a while ago... i bought a new case and was offered a decent amount for the plate so i figured sure what fuck i don`t really need them and let them go........anyway i thought you should know that the plate is the original one and the case is original too...hope this helps....dave"


so my world starts crashing around me. having just got the flametop and it too was in "rare" near pristine condition i decide to call a favor on a friend and see if by chance a builder we know, knew anything about this flametop with a bound neck.
after starting to describe the guitar, the builder interrupted, finished describing the guitar and told the story of how he made it for John Jaco, built around an unfinished NOS neck blank.

to say he was disgusted after being told John was trying to pass it off as an original 81 prepro for near $4000.00 is an understatement.

Both of these guitars have period correct parts (180 degree gold gotoh crownhead tuners, truss rod adjusters with the holes in the center, diamond plate jack on the explorer, brass trems, neck pocket initials and dates, marker trim in neck pocket of body, ... etc.
We all new this guy to deal alot with NOS parts, now we know why.

I am shocked and outraged at the level of fraud.
Beware.

-Chris Scoville

[gtrbuyer]

wow......thanks for the heads up on this guy Chris!!!

[1979Charvel]

Chris, I respect your integrity...I always say "What Goes Around, comes around"....Dont worry he has a peice that he bought (NOT FROM ME) which he wasnt told about either which isn't original and still parades it as if it was.

There is a guy here on the BOARD who recently burned me and didnt tell me about MANY MANY PROBLEMS with a guitar that I bought from him and had to FIND OUT IN SHOCK!

He'll have his day when the same thing or worse will happen (TRUST ME ON THAT).

[Carbuff]

Yikes!! That really sucks but its cool how you were able to get your info together. Thats a lot of money. Got any lawyer friends?

[toejam]

Wow. I'm kinda shocked John would do something like this. I'd like to hear his side of the story as well.

[straycat]

He has the right to speak. I will listen.

[ADR]

Zoinks!!! Ill have to "bookmark" this post. That really SUX!

[jcm800x]

Laaaaaaaame, hope it gets resolved to your liking.

[dannyr]

Sorry to hear this. Thanks for the heads up.

[daisp]

I'd have to agree.. there sure are some jerks out there looking to screw you, i've found it's pretty important to keep all records of a transaction, including e-mails and photo's in case someone tries to burn you.

[peedenmark7]

chris,
you have been taken care of , so why youre starting something publicly afterwards is puzzling.

first off you ,were made aware in a telephone conversation that the zebra s-head was a guitar bought in pieces "some" from the original guitar , and put back together with others. you had no problems with the possibilities of a refin and/or that it potentially had shannon ties which only seemed to pique your wanting it.
I was crystal clear on the other pieces potential issues that you bought at the same time.
why do you think I would sell a strathead for roughly half or less than the current market clip?
you were clear on what they were and furthered by saying no matter what the history was that it was still an explorer and worth the price.



nonetheless, I stated that if you werent happy with the zeb , that I would take it back. WHICH ALMOST 2 YEARS LATER I DID DO. so there is no complaint to be had on this piece or that deal.

as for the flametop, yes I couldve better described it.
however, you did get full pics of it.
I certainly didnt intentionally mean to mislead you.
and offered to take it back along with the zeb.
I asked for a bit of time to raise the cash,
BUT you wanted a quick solution , WHICH YOU GOT.

I should add that from the beginning chris offered to keep the flametop,??
but at a substantially lower price. which I reluctantly agreed to , not being fully liquid at that time and wanting to take care of him.

he then asked if I had any other ideas how to quickly rectify this, fishing for another strathead from me.

chris you were refunded cash and were sent 2 interesting vintage hamers that you fully agreed upon to settle the cash differential on the flametop and zeb, and were even given a partial refund on another guitar that had nothing to do with this, that you now took issue with..

you said we were done and that you were satisfied
I further stated that though the deal was done , asked if I might be able to buy the flametop and both hamers back when cash allowed for.
you said yes...


now a month after this transaction was rectified I get confirmation from paypal on saturday morning, that you are still looking to get a refund via your credit card after I already sent you cash and 2 additional guitars to settle the matter ???

I consider this matter closed, and per your last email ,you did as well.

so after all the threats of screaming in the valley if I didnt take care of you...THEN DO SO.... you still feel compelled to post ?

[jcm800x]

[scoville]

john,
your trying to squabble over meaningless things here to try to distract and obfuscate.
this post wasn't about how you tried to rectify the situation, its about what you did.

you got the work order and built the explorer around a plate and called it 90% original (you admitted a changed pickup).
refin? the entire guitar save the plate is new.

you said the flametop was 100% original 1981, but i found out was recently built.

you put dates, initials and marks in the neckpocket on both of these guitars.

i never even mentioned the third guitar which you said had the shannon ties.
the black 'pre-pro' i'm convinced is a recent repro as well, something you said was
a prepro. i bet the builder will recall this one as well when i show it to him.

this isn't me bashing you, its about what you did. and you did it to yourself.
your a thief and a fraud and people need to know.
i should have had the police involved, be thankful i didn't.

[Erez]

[1979Charvel]

Amen Chris! The issue is NOT the "trying to make it right", The issue is that the seller went INTO THE DEAL knowingly deceptive. And THEN tries to make it right. Hopeing your or me or the next guys are IDIOTS and would never find out. HECK at least you had a chance a year later! I never even got an offer!

My deal was so fraudulent that the seller knew he COULD NEVER SELL HIS GUITAR I SPOTTED ON EBAY, If he had DISCLOSED THE TRUTH SO HE JUMPED ON THE first IDIOT that would trade him, That happend to me. He sends me pix using Stock Photos Which would not disclose THE TRUTH. (I have all the pix still) None are close up as the truth would be revealed and I would have dropped the deal like a plate of HOT CRAP!

You will always find these type of people PUTTING A SPIN on all the details....TO MUDDY THE WATER - the spin is not the issue IT IS THE ORIGINAL DEAL THAT WAS INITIATED KNOWINGLY IN FRAUD!

Guys can save all the emails, and any other BULLSH$T correspondance, But the FACT STILL REMAINS....YOU DONT DISCLOSE THE TRUTH FROM THE BEGINING, THEN YOU ARE A FRAUD, especially when THEY start saying "Oh Bro, I didnt even see that!"

Even if you TRY MAKE IT RIGHT and all the OTHER BULLSH$T, you still are showing your self with a LACK OF INTEGRITY, if you dont UP FRONT TELL THE WHOLE STORY!!!!

There are 2 People HERE on the BOARD that I WILL NEVER DO BUSINESS AGAIN!

Nuff Said to ALL THE FRIGGIN RIPPOFFS that would TRY to RIP OFF another JCF BROTHER!!!???? THIS APPLIES TO EVERYONE OF US HERE ON THE FORUM!!!!

Show and TELL THE TRUTH IN THE BEGINNING,YOU'll BE BETTER OFF!