Is there any reason at all I should not get a Skervesen?

[max3000]

Hey guys.

So I'm looking to replace my ESP Horizon NTII. Dunno why, I just don't connect with it anymore..

There was some drama with Skerv about a year ago AFAIK people were claiming they're just not worth the price and the QC is a bit shoddy at times?

Just wanna hear some input from you guys and potentially Skerv owners out there.

 

[oracles]

There have been numerous, well documented examples of poor QC across their instruments. Poor binding and fretwork, misaligned bridges, poorly routed neck pockets, and the worst I've seen is a neck actually beginning to separate where the woods were coming unglued.

I haven't paid much attention to them in the last six months, purely because I don't think that's a big enough time frame to make a proper judgement surrounding an increase in QC consistency. My advice would be to do some thorough research before making any kind of investment. Ignore artist NGD threads and "OMG BEST GUITAR EVER" threads.

 

[Daeniel]

Honestly I would just ask Skervesen owners I got one Raptor 6 and I am completely satisfied - selling it since I am not playing too much metal these days, but every time I pick it up makes me think twice about selling. Just my two cents.

 

[hikizume976]

I ordered mine late 2013. Back then I saw nothing but good stuff online, can hardly remember any "well documented examples of poor QC" at all. Otherwise I wouldn't have pulled the trigger on a €2300 guitar.

Got it mid 2014, and while the transaction could have been smoother, the guitar is great all around. Sounds great, plays great, feels great. Absolutely nothing wrong with it.

Hit me up if you have any questions, but I agree with the post above. Get in touch with other owners, or look for that skervesen owners group on facebook.

 

[btbg]

For what its worth I've had the opportunity to play a raptor a while back and was very pleased. Excellent fretwork, excellent feel, there's nothing I myself would complain about.

That being said, I've heard a few complaints - but most of them seem to come from the GP funny farm however, oracles Is probably one of the only persons I've come across on the GP side of things that has an informed opinion, so you can count on him not to bullshit you. Keep that up

Take into consideration the good you've heard and see how it stands up against the bad.

 

[axxessdenied]

From what I know they play pretty great.
Would I buy one? Nope. I'm a stickler for attention to detail and I feel that Skervesen really needs to step it up in that department.
I've seen some wonky things on some of the official pics that Skervesen posts.
Mainly aesthetic issues... but when you are spending that kind of money I feel like the way the bridges and pickups are routed could be a lot cleaner. It's pretty glaring on their multiscales.

Skervesen customer service is pretty good. They still need to work on getting their business in proper order and make sure that some builds don't get forgotten and then rushed to completion.

 

[SomeGuy97]

From what I know they play pretty great.
Would I buy one? Nope. I'm a stickler for attention to detail and I feel that Skervesen really needs to step it up in that department.
I've seen some wonky things on some of the official pics that Skervesen posts.
Mainly aesthetic issues... but when you are spending that kind of money I feel like the way the bridges and pickups are routed could be a lot cleaner. It's pretty glaring on their multiscales.

Skervesen customer service is pretty good. They still need to work on getting their business in proper order and make sure that some builds don't get forgotten and then rushed to completion.

I strongly disagree with "customer service is pretty good". I have a Raptor 7 and a multi-scale Raptor 7 on the way. I'll most likely never buy another one just because of their customer service. It's absolutely atrocious. I've been lied to and ignored. Every time I've ever inquired about having a guitar built it has been completely ignored. Never ONCE has it been acknowledged even after buying two guitars from them. I understand they're probably backlogged- but then why can't they just say that? How difficult is it to say, "Hey, we are just way too swamped right now and currently can't take any more orders for builds at the moment."
They lied about when they shipped the guitar out to me. I paid for the first one on December 16th and it wasn't sent out until December 29th? I believe. Then took nearly another month to get here. Oh yeah, and when there was a problem with the tracking saying it was delivered but it hadn't been delivered...Skervesen C.S. was nowhere to be found. A week later when it showed up- ohhhh, all of a sudden they started replying to emails again.
They pulled the same crap with the second guitar that I haven't even received yet. Lied about when it was shipped out and then I had to send multiple emails just to get tracking information.
I also think it's sketch that now they prefer not to go through PayPal but want payment via bank transfer. I had an issue with PayPal where they used the wrong currency converter- or rather the exchange rate they had from USD to Euros was off and I ended up over paying by $130. They didn't even understand the problem when I explained it to them, in great depth and detail and didn't care either.
**Side note- be VERY careful when using PayPal's USD conversion rates- they are always off and Paypal is aware of a flaw in their system. It took multiple 80+ minute phone calls and supervisors to have them confirm and admit this- yet they still wouldn't refund my money. The flaw lies in the fact that it won't tell you how much USD you're paying. For example- I sent over 2000 Euro, at the time the conversion to USD was roughly 1USD=.83 Euro; but paypal had it set at something like .78- and they DO NOT DISCLOSE THIS. I verified the conversion rate through multiple different sites before ever sending the money. They claim they update the conversion rate twice daily...yet they wouldn't say where they pull their rates from. It's ludicrous. Be careful.



Back to Skervesen- in the last email they sent me they were asking for a friend of mines personal information. I swear to God. I didn't respond or even ask why they were asking me about it. I think they can't get a hold of him or something. I'll screen shot the email if I need to. And he posts on this site I think.


Regarding the build quality (which is more important anyway) It's solid. I went hunting for a mistake somewhere. Just something to be off. Couldn't find anything wrong. It's perfect. Better quality than the music man Petrucci's I had. The only thing I don't like is the width of the neck. The radius is fine, but the fretboard/neck is substantially wider than what I'm use to. It almost makes it feel like an ERG.

 

[Daeniel]

Weird, everytime I wrote them I got a reply in 24 hours. But that is only my experience of course.

 

[Heroooh]

I was totally happy with everything, during the process and after that. Sold the guitar cuz my taste had changed a bit. Im also thinking of ordering a second one from them,
What comes to quality, my Raptor was top notch and absolutely gorgeus. So I could say you would be happy with a Skerv

 

[Jonathan20022]

I mean, based on the stories you'll find and hear and even from the responses in this thread. You're not receiving a clear cut answer by how varied everyone's experiences are.

They clearly can build a great guitar, but from all I've personally heard and seen I wouldn't want to gamble on a guitar that expensive and perhaps end up having a not so good experience. There have been flaws on guitars before, and that's understandable there's no perfect guitar maker out there and lemons exist regardless. But if I've learned anything about ordering guitars and asking others about their experiences, 100 people telling you yes, doesn't guarantee your own experience.

 

[crg123]

I own the original Viper guitar (only 2 made) and the first guitar with that headstock - Thanks .

I love this guitar to death and will never sell it. It's a monster of an instrument and looks fantastic. I've never had a solid body guitar that resonated so fully while I played. I've tested out, through my friend who had a gear whoring issue haha, a Kxk, Bernie rico jr, and Guitar logistics amongst a bunch of others and this guitar is by far my favorite.

There has been a lot of Bullshit thrown around by the guys over at Guitar porn that was fueled by two former members of this form who are mods there. Alot of it was very back handed and the result of the fact that Skervesen wouldn't go with their "pay to get your brand promoted on our website" deal. I have screen shots if you want. Also have proof of one of them raving about the quality before that whole thing went down. I just feel the whole situation was very dishonest.

Not to say they haven't had mistakes, I've seen the photos too, and TBH though I have no experience with the customer service side of things since I bought it second hand. I have had numerous conversations with them and have kept in good communication on the Skervesen Owner's group on Facebook where they get back to you within minutes.

In the end though the people who made my guitar know what the hell they're doing. The people I would listen to most are the people who have kept their guitar for more than a few months rather then flipped it.

 

[Adam Of Angels]

I've heard a lot of great things, and just some bad things. I've had two of them and both were really nice, although they were both oddballs and kind of weird for my taste.

I've had Gibsons, Fenders, Jacksons, Ibanez(es), Music Mans, etc. that have had nasty factory flaws. I actually had to have Music Man rebuild a guitar twice because it kept coming back all jacked up.

The bottom line is, people are building these things, and they're not likely to be 100% perfect. Sometimes they might have really bad issues. You might also get something imbued with magic.

 

[jerm]

all the issues i've heard about them have been from older models. it seems they've upped their game recently.

 

[Jonathan20022]

I've heard a lot of great things, and just some bad things. I've had two of them and both were really nice, although they were both oddballs and kind of weird for my taste.

I've had Gibsons, Fenders, Jacksons, Ibanez(es), Music Mans, etc. that have had nasty factory flaws. I actually had to have Music Man rebuild a guitar twice because it kept coming back all jacked up.

The bottom line is, people are building these things, and they're not likely to be 100% perfect. Sometimes they might have really bad issues. You might also get something imbued with magic.

Yep, I think customer service is more important overall. As long as a company stands by their product and makes things right then that's what should matter IMO. But that also goes only so far, if a company is rebuilding guitars often or there are glaring flaws coming up in builds at a rate that's abnormal. Then that's an issue.

Using this as an EXAMPLE. Riffer (PRS employee) showed us the amount of lemons that PRS was receiving for their import line and the piles were so incredibly small for the amount of instruments being put out by them. In the end it's a raindrop in the ocean.

No issues are ideal, but if it makes even a small splash in the amount of guitars being put out then it's not going to be worth the gamble personally. I wouldn't want to get a guitar and have to wait even longer to get it rebuilt after an already massive wait.

There has been a lot of Bullshit thrown around by the guys over at Guitar porn that was fueled by two former members of this form who are mods there. Alot of it was very back handed and the result of the fact that Skervesen wouldn't go with their "pay to get your brand promoted on our website" deal. I have screen shots if you want. Also have proof of one of them raving about the quality before that whole thing went down. I just feel the whole situation was very dishonest.

Not to say they haven't had mistakes, I've seen the photos too, and TBH though I have no experience with the customer service side of things since I bought it second hand. I have had numerous conversations with them and have kept in good communication on the Skervesen Owner's group on Facebook where they get back to you within minutes.

In the end though the people who made my guitar know what the hell they're doing. The people I would listen to most are the people who have kept their guitar for more than a few months rather then flipped it.

I get the sentiment and see what you're saying. But a picture of a glaring flaw on a guitar is still a flaw, regardless of the owner or the person who currently owns it. You can't discredit actual issues that are being brought up just because you don't like the person who is bringing them up. Calling something legitimate like that "bullshit" isn't fair to guys like this who want honest feedback and want to find out about the history of the instrument.

Your guitar may be fantastic, and it sure looks fantastic but you have no liability if the OP's possible future order goes wrong. That's the inherent issue with advertising a perfect product in the midst of positive and negative feedback. Research comes both ways, it's better to know the positives and negatives than to just ignore the bad and assume it never happens.

Like I said dude, they can build great guitars. But there's been guitars with issues and there are still a few issues every now and then that shouldn't be there. I spoke to Maciek in the ERG Page and brought up a situation that I won't name just because the owner of the two Skervesens is a good friend and was previously endorsed by them I believe. In the end Maciek told me he would of course take care of any issues that come up with a guitar from them that has a fault or flaw. As I said before, that is the most if not one of the most important things any guitar builder needs to do. But flaws shouldn't be there on instruments that take this long to be built and are priced as they are.

 

[btbg]

There has been a lot of Bullshit thrown around by the guys over at Guitar porn that was fueled by two former members of this form who are mods there.

Anyone who knows how they operate would have the sense not to deal with them anyway. Maybe Skervesen caught wind

 

[jephjacques]

I've owned two Skervesens and they were both well built guitars. I got them secondhand so I can't speak to their customer service but I have no doubt they make quality instruments.

 

[Nag]

I follow the things that happen around them loosely... and while people did complain in the past, it's been a while since I saw a new guitar with problems. in the past, I also heard their communication was lacking, dunno how that is now.

Many people have said Skervesen need to step up their game. I have the impression they have started... but I'd still wait a little bit. if there's no major drama this year, I guess it will be safe to order one in 2016. it takes time for a business to prove themselves to be good.

 

[crg123]

I get the sentiment and see what you're saying. But a picture of a glaring flaw on a guitar is still a flaw, regardless of the owner or the person who currently owns it. You can't discredit actual issues that are being brought up just because you don't like the person who is bringing them up. Calling something legitimate like that "bullshit" isn't fair to guys like this who want honest feedback and want to find out about the history of the instrument.

Oh sorry I probably worded that wrong. Its not the pictures of flaws I was calling bullshit. It was more so the spamming that was going on of those flaws all grouped together after they had already been addressed.

Just to clarify, I'm not saying they were 100% flawless and didn't have any mishaps in the past, don't get me wrong. It's just been bothering me that the negative campaign that was waged against them seemed very overblown to me. I've dealt with people acting like a few cosmetic defects on a hand built guitar were grounds for calling it firewood, implying that they were scammers, and in general people using scare tactics to ruin their business. Also the hordes of people who'd just repeat what they've heard from others but never played the guitar in real life.

There has been a lot of Bullshit thrown around by the guys over at Guitar porn that was fueled by two former members of this forum who are mods there. A lot of it was very back handed and the result of the fact that Skervesen wouldn't go with their "pay to get your brand promoted on our website" deal. I have screen shots if you want. Also have proof of one of them raving about the quality before that whole thing went down. I just feel the whole situation was very dishonest.

Not to say they haven't had mistakes, I've seen the photos too, and TBH though I have no experience with the customer service side of things since I bought it second hand. I have had numerous conversations with them and have kept in good communication on the Skervesen Owner's group on Facebook where they get back to you within minutes.

TL;DR Not saying there were some instruments that showed up with flaws, just annoyed with the smear campaign that was run against them.

 

[haieb]

A new Skervesen owner here.
To be honest I can't complain at all. I heard about some flaws, so I inspected everything on mine, but no chance...I couldn't find a single thing(yet).
I hear people complain about the price, and I could never fully understand this. It is a custom guitar, and they are still pretty affordable.
I am thinking about my second build.
Customer Service was quite good. They are polite and nice to talk to, but I have to admit that it could be better, especially the respond time.

 

[BigHandy]

I hear people complain about the price, and I could never fully understand this. It is a custom guitar, and they are still pretty affordable.

I have filled out their custom form with my dream specs (just for curiosity), it came out like 3600€. It looks like it will still be a dream for a 'while'...