Custom Made Guitar, Extra Expenses?

[MorbidAddiction]

Hi,

I am currently getting a custom made guitar, its been taking a very long time; my mothers house is almost completed and they started around the same time (guitar might have been even sooner). My issue is, we agreed on a price before he begun, I paid half up front; total price $1,975.

But now, 2 weeks from completion he has asked me for extra costs; locking nuts, 4 neck bolts/screws, the cost of knobs and another charge to put it all together and wire it up.

Is this acceptable? I'm a little peeved that this wasn't arranged in the original quote, as I always explained that I wanted a CUSTOM MADE GUITAR, not custom made parts. My other problem is he tells me he is going to have something done, but never gets around to it (was going to email some photos by the weekend but that was over 1 - 2 weeks ago) and never responds to my emails.

What do you guys think?

(this is with etguitars.com)

Thanks,

 

[ZXIIIT]

I think its BS they charge you for parts without having a discussion about it when setting the price, I mean, 4 neck screws? did they not think about that when you and them were working out the price BEFORE any work was done?

I would keep sending them emails and sound your disapproval, same thing happened to me with LGM Guitars (took a FULL year to get my guitar, and it was only a inlay and body mod job) and I kept sending Jeremy emails, I know they are busy but its your investment.

 

[MorbidAddiction]

Exactly, and you are a customer, its bad customer support. If I owned a custom shop I'd be keeping as good rep as possible. I mean, its only a matter of sending an email to keep me up to date. its gone from $1,975 to $2,121 just for these extra parts, which some - like the knobs where mentioned early but no price was worked out; I was quoted $1,975 for the job, not $2,121.

I would have been happy to pay it if it was part of the initial agreement, but it was a last minute:
'oh there is also the cost of putting it together, wiring it up and adding knobs and all this costs extra for me to do it, or you can buy all the parts from me and put it together yourself.'

But the only other fee I was made aware of initially was postage.

 

[Louis Cypher]

Thats fcuking shit mate, all additional costs should have been made clear to you at the outset, I would check the wording of the original confirmation see if you can hit that back at him, something along the lines of it, there is no details of extra costs.... no statements like "total price does not include wiring etc etc", I would fight it mate much as you can.

I am having a custom build 7 made at the moment too, but I know the order quoted up front was purely for the routed body, neck frets and Inlays. The Pups, electrics, trem etc was all extra on top that I had to pay for ok I am paying cost rather than retail for some parts being sourced by the builder but still I knew up front that was an additional cost I would have to make... but def check all yoru original emails and sh1t and make sure you got a well prepared argument to make back at him coz sounds like he is ripping the piss!!

 

[vampiregenocide]

Surely putting together a guitar is part of the fee? Adding extra costs should be agreed between customer and luthier.

 

[signalgrey]

sounds like you are getting nickel and dimed my friend.
seems like if anything they should be waiving the cost.

 

[MorbidAddiction]

Yeah, I looked but over the emails, here is the part of the email:

What I said:

>> this is my desired build:
>>
>> ::BODY::
>>
>> 1). SEVEN STRING
>> 2). RG/UV STYLE BODY - BLACK (basswood)
>> 3). H-S-H PICKUPS
>> 4). RED BLAZE ll PICKUPS (can you get them in the same colour as the
>> vine inlay?)
>> 5). LOW EGDE PRO 7 BRIDGE - BLACK HARDWARE EXCEPT FOR THE VOLUME
>> AND
>> TONE KNOB (PREFERABLY CHROME) TO BE RED (same colour as vine inlay)
>>
>> ::NECK AND HEAD::
>>
>> 1). EBONY FRET BOARD - 24 fret
>> 2). RED NEON (SAME COLOUR AS PICKUPS AND KNOBS) VINE INLAYS
>> 3). IBANZE STYLED HEADSTOCK - BLACK
>> 4). LOCKING NUT SYSTEM FOR TREMELO
>>
>> :: OTHER ::
>>
>> 1). OIL AND WAX? IS THIS STANDARD?
>> 2). EITHER AANJ OR STANDARD ARE FINE, WHICH EVER IS CHEAPER?

What he said:

>> Here is the final quote for you;
>>
>> - RG7 basswood body manufacture = AU$190
>> - Body paint finish in Black = AU$200
>> - Red Blaze (*) pickup set = AU$450 (retails at $527 for the set, I'll
>> offer
>> you a
>> 15% discount)
>> - Edge Pro 7 = AU$385
>> - Neck construction = AU$410
>> - Headstock finish = AU$70
>> - Oil and Wax finish = AU$80
>> - Locking Nut = AU$90
>>
>> Total = AU$1875
>>
>> A deposit of say $900 will get the order moving, and I'll order in the
>> trem
>> and
>> pickups (pending Dimarzio clarification). Would prefer a bank deposit to
>> our
>> account of;
>>
>> Bank: ********
>> Name: ********
>> BSB: ********
>> Acc No.: ********
>>
>> If this is all good, let me know and I'll get back to you with an order
>> number and
>> further details.
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Ernie Taylor
>> ET Guitars Australia
>> www.etguitars.com


Also, I changed from red to green pickups/knobs/inlays, since dimarzio don't make red. But that doesn't change anything. I noticed he does say the 'final quote' would that represent the ENTIRE cost?

 

[jymellis]

hey brother. if you look he already charged you 90 fucking dollars for the locking nut!

 

[MorbidAddiction]

Sorry, not locking nut...

'Hi

Sorry man for the slow replies, just been so flat out.

The pricing I have currently is this;

RG7 basswood body manufacture = AU$190
Body paint finish in Black = AU$200
Green Blaze (Custom) pickup set HSH = AU$450 (retails at $527 for the set, I'll
offer you a 15% discount)
Edge Pro 7 = AU$385
Neck construction = AU$410
Headstock finish = AU$70
Oil and Wax finish = AU$80
Locking Nut = AU$90

Total = AU$1875 .Your deposit was $900 in Nov09. Means the balance is
$975, plus items below.

Now to finalise the cost, I just needed to work out with you how much
assembly you were going to organise yourself and how much you wanted us
to do. The remaining parts needed to assemble the guitar would be;

- Neck screws and ferrules $12
- Pots, 5-way switch, barrel jack, and misc wiring $30
- Knobs, neon green set $35
- Clear pickguard $60 (optional - you can either go a clear pickguard or direct
mount the pickups to the body, let me know your preference)
- Strings (Ernie Ball slinky) $15
- Our assembly and setup fee would be $160

So lets work out the assembly details and that will give us the final cost.

Still on target for the end of this month completion [march], and I'll pop you some photos
by Saturday. [2 weeks ago]

Cheers,
Ernie'

 

[jymellis]

wow dude, seems pretty shifty!

 

[Edika]

In the original email he doesn't specify assembly costs. If in his site he doesn't clarify that assembly costs are extra and that is to be specified in the end of the "build" then he can't legaly ask for extra costs. And since you mention in your email that it is your desired build and not customised parts order and he doesn't clarify this in his email then you should insist on not paying extra money!

Again check out his site thoroughly and if you have a friend that is a laywer ask him just to be sure if the guy insists on charging you extra

 

[MorbidAddiction]

Prices and ordering: Pricing & Ordering

I cannot see any mention of additional charges? And during arrangement of price, I was only made aware of the additional fee for postage, which is also mentioned on the website.

also on the main page he mentions (Home Page)

'Our Commitments are;[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] - You will absolutely love your purchase, or you can send it back to us for full refund or replacement.
- You will not have to wait longer than the agreed and quoted delivery time. Though we usually quote 8-12 weeks, our products are hand-made and with a lot of care and attention. We will always try to surprise you with a quicker turnaround than expected, but in any case we hope your purchase will be worth the wait!


- The paying customer is King. All correspondence and dealings with a paying customer will take priority. We are focused on completing your requirements to your expectations, and put it in front of all other enquiries that waste our time or are above our capacity to produce.
- And most importantly - we will do our best to help bring some fun and color back into the world of Rock Guitar!!!

'
[/FONT]

 

[MorbidAddiction]

Also, forgot to add, checking out emails...

'So lets work out the assembly details and that will give us the final cost.

Still on target for the end of this month completion, and I'll pop you some photos
by Saturday.'

That was 12 days ago. And five emails between that period from me with no response yet, no photos.

At the time I was a bit taken back by the added costs out of no where, and wasn't sure if it was a normal procedure...

 

[noob_pwn]

not going to comment on the situation but i think its wrong for you to publicy display ernie's bank details

 

[MorbidAddiction]

whoops, didn't mean to post that bit, thanks for notifying me, fixed

 

[yacker]

Hmm, Etguitars does have favorable reputation from some other purchasers here, so I wouldn't go too far off the deep end. It really does seem like a bait and switch type of maneuver though. Quote you one thing and then say oh yea you need this, this, and this to complete the build and I need this much money for it.

Perhaps there is just a bit of miscommunication going on though. As odd as it may seem to give a quote this way, the quote does seem to be phrased in such a way to imply you are buying parts, such as:
RG7 basswood body manufacture = AU$190

I'm not saying this is the way it should be done, but it definitely is phrased as the cost of building the body. I would certainly expect to have been given some sort of notification before payment that this didn't include the assembly if you were expecting a completed guitar, and the need for extra parts should have been documented as well. There were no other emails or communication that would imply that assembly would also be needed?

 

[Edika]

Previous post actually was a bit extreme so I edited it. First of is to send him an email of all of the above justifing why you have no intention of paying extra money for this. In your sheet you say custom build and this is something he doesn't comment. Of course if you get to technical a custom build might include just the parts and not the assembly so you may want one of the luthiers that contribute on this site to back you up on this. And you should call him also to speak in person with him. Just play it cool and be very very resolved at the fact that you don't intend to pay for something that he didn't specify from the initial agreement (he's not a fucking american credit card company).

 

[drmosh]

sounds like bullshit for me. Paying extra for fucking wiring in a custom guitar? fuck that. and assembly and setup? totally ridiculous, you are buying a guitar, not a collection of parts.

shitty fucking service

 

[yacker]

I hope it doesn't get that far but if it does contact a consumer protection agency and make a complaint and also post to every conceivable guitar forum making an ass of this guy. Hope this helps and is not to extreme

I would say that's precisely what not to do at this point. All that needs to be done is to communicate. If he's serious about customer support there won't be an issue. Don't make threats, don't try to bash his rep on forums or threaten to do so, just communicate. If every time a customer had an issue with a luthier they went to various forums trying to ruin their reputation there would be no luthiers left. There are definitely at least a few members on this site who have dealt with Ernie and had favorable experiences, just do a search.

 

[djpharoah]

I would first say have you talked to Ernie about this prior to pretty much trying to screw his rep on here? Talking to him about this is a lot better than posting a thread about him and all the private emails you too have sent to each other.

Secondly - dude you're getting a custom guitar. Shit happens. If you are feeling the pinch for some extra cash to complete it maybe it wasn't in your best intentions to get a custom made guitar. Customs have shit that goes wrong all the time in how long they take, painting/clearing, parts on order etc.... If all that is upsetting to you then don't know if you made a good choice.

I'm not defending Ernie but I'm not defending you either. Go talk to Ernie and tell him what's up