NGD Rusti Guitars Lotus #1 headless

[DirtyPuma]

In the screenshots provided above you can clearly see how I was told the guitar is "fine" and just not "my taste" which is different from it being flawed. He did not even consider the guitar to be flawed… I can post some more screenshots it even gets more hairy in the next couple ones…

Edit: Since Claudio started to post screenshots of the chat I thought it might be more transparent to send a cohesive number of messages instead of some random bits. His name is known, so I thought it is not needed to blurr it out… Can edit as wished, just let me know. I wanted to keep things transparent and I am not making up this stuff here. I definitely felt "left alone" as a customer in Germany who got a guitar from a workshop in Italy.

 

[tian]

As entertaining as these sort of train wreck threads are, you two should probably find an arbitrator and go from there...

 

[DirtyPuma]

As entertaining as these sort of train wreck threads are, you two should probably find an arbitrator and go from there...

I am not about getting any refund, I just posted my honest review and then am ridiculed once more by the guy who sold me that guitar. And since he started to post these details, I only wanted to set things straight for the record. I am not coming here to "bash people for no reason". I am just providing an honest review from customer perspective. How things went is not my fault. I am the customer. I did my part, I paid the money on time, I was never pushy or tried to get prices down… that is the customer part.

 

[StevenC]

Thread of the year

 

[DirtyPuma]

Thread of the year

I am sorry that it came so far, but you cannot imagine how it feels to be put in the corner as the one to blame, although you were the one who was at loss… Everything I did here is provide a review of my experience. Then some people come and try to talk my experiences down, shifting the blame…

 

[jephjacques]

 

[jephjacques]

it is up to you, the reader, to decide who is the cat and who is the angry lady

 

[Chri]

View attachment 110915

I fucking love this picture of this cat so much. It will never fail to make me laugh

 

[Giest]

OP you can't just threaten to put a builder on blast over forums and call that "friendly" lol. You should only want to get the problems resolved fairly, being adversarial about it is a totally different objective whether your frustration allows you to realize it or not.

Having had the "nothing is wrong with the guitar (because we already have your money)" speech from more than one custom and semi custom builder, and seeing the photos of all the cosmetic flaws in this instance, I'm not impressed with that either. Luthiers shouldn't be treated like Evel Knievel, IMO you don't just get paid for the attempt. Of course that might depend on how the project was pitched I suppose, but I wouldn't put my name on something which displays such unremarkable workmanship in any case.

 

[Matt08642]

Whew, 6,580.92 Canadian Dollars for one single guitar.... I get wanting something super custom but I'd rather buy 6 used Prestiges and call it a day

 

[bigswifty]

Definitely didn't expect this thread to unfold the way it did

Hasn't SSO learned to stay the fuck away from small, boutique, insanely expensive guitar luthiers yet?

 

[DirtyPuma]

OP you can't just threaten to put a builder on blast over forums and call that "friendly" lol. You should only want to get the problems resolved fairly, being adversarial about it is a totally different objective whether your frustration allows you to realize it or not.

Having had the "nothing is wrong with the guitar (because we already have your money)" speech from more than one custom and semi custom builder, and seeing the photos of all the cosmetic flaws in this instance, I'm not impressed with that either. Luthiers shouldn't be treated like Evel Knievel, IMO you don't just get paid for the attempt. Of course that might depend on how the project was pitched I suppose, but I wouldn't put my name on something which displays such unremarkable workmanship in any case.

Just to make this clear: This all happened in 2021. I did not put this to public. Only now after long consideration time I thought my documentation might help future buyers. Sorry it went in this direction in the end. I also must admit that it was quite distressing to be told that all is fine with THAT guitar all the time... that is why I had to resort to these last attempts. My behavior at the end was not the same as when I still had hope of cooperation.

 

[hibernative]

I have 2 questions:
1. If the neck was perfectly straight and the bridge/saddles didn't go lower, what was the action at the 12'th frets high and low?
2. The guitar sounded muted no matter pickups and electronics would suggest "tonewood" has a huge impact on sound. Did it not resonate and kill the string?

 

[wizbit81]

I read the screenshots.....from his he clearly asked you multiple times to send it back so he could look at it, fix it, and then would let you choose if you sold it or kept it. It's clear he spent hours talking to you about this while you went ballistic and threatened him with lawyers and with 'public forums' You refused to send it back and tampered with it via local guys, of course you invalidated the warranty, and screaming in all caps that you didn't and that I am out of my mind for saying so, along with at least one other person and the luthier himself (3 people out of their mind apparently) shows more about you than it does about the situation. The car analogy is perfect, it's not a straw man, both are examples of you buying a complex, often bespoke product, complaining (justified or not) refusing to return the item, taking it apart and changing the setup and hammering frets etc then demanding it be taken back after that. Complaining about 'I felt alone in Germany' is ridiculous. Well boo-hoo Sally, put your big boy pants on, feelings are irrelevant here it's facts that are key, and those screenshots don't show what you think they show. It looks like you were a complete ass from them and he was quite tolerant really.
Fact....you had a complaint, warranted or not.
Fact...OEM offered to fix it if returned to them, as should be done.
Fact...you refused and tampered with it in a number of ways.
Fact...you threatened him with public shaming and lawyers etc.
Fact...you eventually did ship it to him, he did work on it, and then he helped you sell it.
Fact... months later, after you 'cooled down' you did go to a forum and unload.

I gotta say dude for me personally, I don't need to see any more, you were out of line, an ass, you did the wrong thing and invalidated the warranty, and you're lucky he continued to help afterwards, right through to taking it and sorting it out for free after you did that, then helping you sell a secondhand guitar. If you had just shipped it back to him at the start none of it would have happened.

I read the details of this with an open mind btw, I didn't come into it pre-decided.

 

[DirtyPuma]

I have 2 questions:
1. If the neck was perfectly straight and the bridge/saddles didn't go lower, what was the action at the 12'th frets high and low?
2. The guitar sounded muted no matter pickups and electronics would suggest "tonewood" has a huge impact on sound. Did it not resonate and kill the string?

1. the action was more or less same as at 24th fret. Maybe slightly less, but still well above 2 mm for E and comparable for e as far as I can remember. Not sure whether I have this documented.
2. I cannot tell why the guitar sounded so dull. Maybe it was the resistance / potentiometer for volume. This impacts the resonance frequency of the electronics, therefore being able to dull up the sound in case there is no resistance (hope it is not the other way round). But the local tech inspected this as well, we could not pinpoint the issue. But it was obviously there. Builder told me this is all within range and just not my taste.

 

[DirtyPuma]

I read the screenshots.....from his he clearly asked you multiple times to send it back so he could look at it, fix it, and then would let you choose if you sold it or kept it. It's clear he spent hours talking to you about this while you went ballistic and threatened him with lawyers and with 'public forums' You refused to send it back and tampered with it via local guys, of course you invalidated the warranty, and screaming in all caps that you didn't and that I am out of my mind for saying so, along with at least one other person and the luthier himself (3 people out of their mind apparently) shows more about you than it does about the situation. The car analogy is perfect, it's not a straw man, both are examples of you buying a complex, often bespoke product, complaining (justified or not) refusing to return the item, taking it apart and changing the setup and hammering frets etc then demanding it be taken back after that. Complaining about 'I felt alone in Germany' is ridiculous. Well boo-hoo Sally, put your big boy pants on, feelings are irrelevant here it's facts that are key, and those screenshots don't show what you think they show. It looks like you were a complete ass from them and he was quite tolerant really.
Fact....you had a complaint, warranted or not.
Fact...OEM offered to fix it if returned to them, as should be done.
Fact...you refused and tampered with it in a number of ways.
Fact...you threatened him with public shaming and lawyers etc.
Fact...you eventually did ship it to him, he did work on it, and then he helped you sell it.
Fact... months later, after you 'cooled down' you did go to a forum and unload.

I gotta say dude for me personally, I don't need to see any more, you were out of line, an ass, you did the wrong thing and invalidated the warranty, and you're lucky he continued to help afterwards, right through to taking it and sorting it out for free after you did that, then helping you sell a secondhand guitar. If you had just shipped it back to him at the start none of it would have happened.

I read the details of this with an open mind btw, I didn't come into it pre-decided.

Sorry, he did not want to fix these issues. He clearly states that he is only going to "set it up" NOT fix it. All the mentioned flaws are not flaws in his opinion, he even says so in the images. Also he wanted me to pay for it, since all the issues were "not wrong" in his book. Against the law, check it yourself or get a lawyer. I did not infringe anything by changing pups and having it checked for minor issues.

Lastly, he only offered this "bad" option after a loooooong discussion about these issues in which he told me I shall try this and that, move the truss rod here and there and whatsoever. It is not against law to get your stuff checked by a specialist before reporting issues. The car analogy makes zero sense, this is a service contract, I did not BUY a product.

 

[jephjacques]

it is very weird that you are only posting about this months after the fact, OP.

 

[nickgray]

The car analogy is perfect, it's not a straw man, both are examples of you buying a complex, often bespoke product

Oh yeah, a guitar is absolutely as complex as a car

 

[jephjacques]

can't play guitar until you get your guitarist license at age 16

 

[hibernative]

1. the action was more or less same as at 24th fret. Maybe slightly less, but still well above 2 mm for E and comparable for e as far as I can remember. Not sure whether I have this documented.
2. I cannot tell why the guitar sounded so dull. Maybe it was the resistance / potentiometer for volume. This impacts the resonance frequency of the electronics, therefore being able to dull up the sound in case there is no resistance (hope it is not the other way round). But the local tech inspected this as well, we could not pinpoint the issue. But it was obviously there. Builder told me this is all within range and just not my taste.

1. 2mm is crazy high for something like that. Was that with the neck perfectly straight? No reason to have any relief if the frets were as good as Rusti claims.
2. Listening to the demo Alessandro Zilio did, it definitely sounds a bit dark but it's hard to know his settings.
I agree that 5k for a guitar where the trem hasn't even been properly installed due to the guitar being a prototype run shouldn't have been sold for the full price. 2,5k would sound reasonable.