I knowingly bought a Kiesel I'm making a 22 page thread about

[SalsaWood]

The Kiesel Becker guitars are fantastic. I want another one day.

 

[TedEH]

You won't be saying that in five years when ChatGPT

I won't have to, because the AI will say it for me.

 

[Asdrael]

I hesitated making a 56k joke on my last NGD thread's title. Definitely doing it for my next NGD and watch the children ask questions.

Every NGD thread needs a 56k warning, a picstory and a random knife picture in front of the box. That is peak SSO history.

 

[nightsprinter]

I sincerely hope that some of the 56k threads had FLAMINGPENTACLE.GIF

 

[Fox Dieane]

Everyone always shits on Kiesel because of Jeff. And, yes, while I agree that he seems like kind of a dick, I think it's cool that he still works in the shop and interfaces so much with customers (frankly, if I had to consistently interact with the fucking nerds who post on TGP and SSO--myself included--I'd probably be more of a dick too). He doesn't have to do either of those things. I'd rather support a family-owned business any day over private-equity corporate bullshit like Gibson/Fender.

I also think it's cool that Kiesel continues to support Jason Becker with his medical costs by selling the tribute models.

I can see supporting a family owned business, but I have personal beef with the man. I won't go into specific detail because it's not a *huge* deal, but it gave me the kind of vibes of a neighbor coming over and asking for a cup of splenda, but all I had was a cup of sugar and they scoff and leave without so much as a "thanks, but no thanks." (This was years ago after I sold the two guitars I had and was looking to order another once I got on stable feet again, so it's mostly irrelevant to talk about in detail now.)

I do like their guitars and really wish I didn't sell the few I had, especially for the price I paid at the time, and I bought them through one of their more friendly salespeople at the time, but desperate times and all that. I also don't outright brand shame. I like Gibson and Fender, namely because nobody/not many really makes a guitar that feels like them. Gibson has done a ton of questionable things and is all weird and corpo, but my Les Paul feels great in my hands simply because they use a neck carve that nobody else in my experience has used. (The chonky 50's profile and not the thinner stuff.)

Just between my personal experience with Jeff, and maybe I'm biased since I'm a lady, I just can *not* shake that image of him flexing his sinewy bicep while emphasizing "we're being men" while chewing out a customer on live-chat in front of however many people. Which I'm fully aware that might be petty on my part, but it is what it is. I wont bag on people who enjoy their Kiesel's, but I just personally don't feel comfortable putting my money in his hands is all. Maybe he's changed, I don't really keep up with him. I'm not a very wealthy person and I've long since been priced out of their guitars anyway so even if I didn't have qualms with the man, I still wouldn't/couldn't buy exactly what I'd want from him.

TL;DR You're free to view the brand how you want, I won't bring you down for it unless you try to bring me down for choosing not to do business with him, and you haven't, so no harm no foul.