Invictus Guitars Revealed to be Idiots

[capoeiraesp]

^ yep and yep.

 

[elq]

My best advice for anyone seeking a custom guitar, please do your research on the company, go to reputable companies such as ..., Halo or whomever you know is a reputable company.

 

[HOKENSTYFE]

A shame. The wood choices look pretty good. Need to find out their wood supplier.

 

[Khoi]

not trying to side-track the whole thread, but how is the situation with Invictus parallel with BRJ? Not a big fan of BRJ, as far as I know, they make quality instrument, but takes forever to be made.

ADDED: I'm almost 100% clueless about BRJ, but I'd like to know the issues with them.

sure, BRJ does have (or had) a better reputation than Invictus, but it's slowly turning into an Invictus situation.

I've been waiting for my guitar for 2.5 years now. It's been paid in full since January 2012, when I was told it would be done. Still haven't heard anything about it, and nearly all communication has been cut off. I'm not the only one.

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/lu...ay-thread-only-updates-customers-ad-free.html

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/extended-range-guitars/201175-rico-returns.html

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/extended-range-guitars/212146-ngd-brj-custom-jekyll-828-a.html

 

[Polythoral]

I was soooo close to buying into the hype several months back, thank you SSO people for saving me back then. <3 I'm glad to know better these days.

I'm pretty sad though for some of the awesome people who ended up involved with Invictus, but not so much involved with the actual builds and that didn't know well what they were getting into, like Jiv and Matt.

 

[Stealthdjentstic]

I was soooo close to buying into the hype several months back, thank you SSO people for saving me back then. <3 I'm glad to know better these days.

I'm pretty sad though for some of the awesome people who ended up involved with Invictus, but not so much involved with the actual builds and that didn't know well what they were getting into, like Jiv and Matt.

You mean the guys that hyped them up? His internet guys that were pimping him on SSO here (see user Nautilus)? Sorry but anyone claiming to have worked for him and not noticed the huge flaws is not to be trusted either, those flaws are so obvious even a beginner can see them.

Here is one of Invictus's guys new venture:

https://www.facebook.com/EndarGuitars?fref=ts


Yeah...he learned from Invictus...so I would suggest staying far away!

 

[RickSchneider]

I'm interested to see what he produces to be honest. True at the fact people from here may be wary to deal with him, but maybe he left for a reason, to do things right?

Eh, some positive thinking never hurt anyone. With that said I'm not getting a custom from him

 

[MaxOfMetal]

ITT: Folks in small bands seeking awesome endorsements are surprised their <$1k customs are not Blackmachine killers.

Really, was any of this at all a surprise? Notice the theme of everyone going for the ridiculous, nay too-good-to-be-true, deals getting bent over the barrel.

I'm not saying that folks should always go with the most expensive, or the biggest fish in the pond, but at least consider for a second why something is so much cheaper.

It's a bummer for the guys who got fucked, and even more so for those who shelled out top dollar.

How many more have to get ripped off before folks decide that the newest, cheapest BM-copier might not be the best place to throw their limited funds at?

 

[Stealthdjentstic]

Exactly, IMO, save up the extra $1000 or so and go with a real brand or buy from someone who has been building for a while and has a proven track record.

Also a bit of a funny story....my friend and I walked into a local guitar store here with his b6 to try out a few amps and the guy asked us if that was in Invictus

 

[Metalus]

ITT: Folks in small bands seeking awesome endorsements are surprised their <$1k customs are not Blackmachine killers.

Really, was any of this at all a surprise? Notice the theme of everyone going for the ridiculous, nay too-good-to-be-true, deals getting bent over the barrel.

I'm not saying that folks should always go with the most expensive, or the biggest fish in the pond, but at least consider for a second why something is so much cheaper.

It's a bummer for the guys who got fucked, and even more so for those who shelled out top dollar.

How many more have to get ripped off before folks decide that the newest, cheapest BM-copier might not be the best place to throw their limited funds at?

This

 

[Navid]

Also a bit of a funny story....my friend and I walked into a local guitar store here with his b6 to try out a few amps and the guy asked us if that was in Invictus

 

[Lorcan Ward]

I saw this on their FB just before the page got deleted.

The Ever Forthright guitar was setup and checked before being shipped out. All I can offer after that are my apologies.

Guys...Are we 100% sure this is an awful guitar and not a really well made guitar-shaped cake?

Somethings seriously wrong when a guitar cake has better routing and fret crowning than a "Master built" custom guitar.

This whole situation is going to make it very hard on people who have outstanding orders. He could have 20-30 orders still left to build/complete?

If something sounds to good to be true well it usually is.

 

[Polythoral]

made me lol.



also@stealth: I guess I can't actually speak for Matt, because I think he did some of the actual luthiery work there and I never really talked to him, but I feel knowing Jiv (Nautilus/Endar Guitars dude) a bit that he couldn't have had a full grasp on the stuff happening. I feel they at least had some decent guitars made (given stuff like Leah and Pin getting them after having tried some), and this was around the time Jiv joined them, after trying some of their instruments and then ordering his in because he was happy with what he tried. They most likely had decently made examples to show people, then rushed commissioned builds, I imagine.

Also note, Jiv was not doing luthiery really for Invictus, he basically existed to post updates and give out quotes. I know having had looked through the Invictus facebook photos on a few occasions (obviously you can't now) but there was pretty much never a shot with Jiv and any of the guitars together, I imagine he probably didn't spend too much time in the workshop and seeing the in progress stuff in person. He's also a lefty, so unless he wanted to test some upside-down I doubt he was a part of testing any.

From what he's told me he did begin to realize things going downhill, especially with build times and such, and if you do check his post history on here, he did stop hyping during that time. His enthusiasm for plugging the brand just dropped extremely fast overall, aka, within like 2 months, then he just kinda disappeared, probably having already begun realizing things wrong. The only sketchy post is the one he did in the Vildjharta thread, though he technically did not try to justify anything in it, he simply offered to try to answer people's questions if they messaged him or whatnot.

He's always seemed like a really awesome and genuine person to me, and he's been taking the Endar stuff rather seriously, though obviously with only one prototype done (which he basically decided was not up to the level he wanted and is working on a second prototype now) I have no real judgement on it (though it certainly looks better than that Invictus, mirite?). I do on the other hand look forward to seeing more from him and hope that he does do well.

I'm sure you and most other people have already formed your opinions, just giving my two cents. *shrug*

 

[Kiwimetal101]

I just about about woke up the whole house laughing from that..

 

[Whammy]

A shame. The wood choices look pretty good. Need to find out their wood supplier.

They've sourced woods from this place for some guitars.
Guitar Wood from Oregon Wild Wood

 

[Stealthdjentstic]

made me lol.



also@stealth: I guess I can't actually speak for Matt, because I think he did some of the actual luthiery work there and I never really talked to him, but I feel knowing Jiv (Nautilus/Endar Guitars dude) a bit that he couldn't have had a full grasp on the stuff happening. I feel they at least had some decent guitars made (given stuff like Leah and Pin getting them after having tried some), and this was around the time Jiv joined them, after trying some of their instruments and then ordering his in because he was happy with what he tried. They most likely had decently made examples to show people, then rushed commissioned builds, I imagine.

Also note, Jiv was not doing luthiery really for Invictus, he basically existed to post updates and give out quotes. I know having had looked through the Invictus facebook photos on a few occasions (obviously you can't now) but there was pretty much never a shot with Jiv and any of the guitars together, I imagine he probably didn't spend too much time in the workshop and seeing the in progress stuff in person. He's also a lefty, so unless he wanted to test some upside-down I doubt he was a part of testing any.

From what he's told me he did begin to realize things going downhill, especially with build times and such, and if you do check his post history on here, he did stop hyping during that time. His enthusiasm for plugging the brand just dropped extremely fast overall, aka, within like 2 months, then he just kinda disappeared, probably having already begun realizing things wrong. The only sketchy post is the one he did in the Vildjharta thread, though he technically did not try to justify anything in it, he simply offered to try to answer people's questions if they messaged him or whatnot.

He's always seemed like a really awesome and genuine person to me, and he's been taking the Endar stuff rather seriously, though obviously with only one prototype done (which he basically decided was not up to the level he wanted and is working on a second prototype now) I have no real judgement on it (though it certainly looks better than that Invictus, mirite?). I do on the other hand look forward to seeing more from him and hope that he does do well.

I'm sure you and most other people have already formed your opinions, just giving my two cents. *shrug*

Apparently lefties cant tell when side dots are done that poorly?


Im just saying, there are better options out there than some guy that learnt from Garreth.

 

[Mark66]

Its that old case of too much hype, too faster growth, lack of resources and skilled labour to deliver the goods, nature has its way of dividing the wheat from the chaff!

 

[Nautilus]

Oh look! A thread about Invictus. Who'd have thought it?

Yup, I worked there. Yes, I'm building my own guitars now...Like everyone else I was pretty stoked to see a new UK builder on the scene. Like a lot of people I paid Invictus a lot of money for a guitar, which I've yet to receive. I even went so far as to help out managing the finances and the internet-facing parts of the business. I never got my hands in the building process but like a lot of us here, I was really interested in how it's all done.

Before long I stopped posting on behalf of the company, decided to do things under my own terms seperately from Invictus and have for many months been working with labels, organisations and customers to try and get some closure on what's owed to people and what's going on. For everything that did (or evidently didn't) happen at the workshop, I've always believed Gareth was well intentioned.

We can sit around and play witch hunt --- or, as I have been doing for a while, I can help people try to take an account of what's owed to them and do something about it. Your choice folks, but if anyone can actually help those who've lost out it's probably me.


If anything, I've learn't a lot from Invictus about how not to do business.

 

[aawshred]

Guys...Are we 100% sure this is an awful guitar and not a really well made guitar-shaped cake?

this is amazing

 

[rythmic_pulses]