It's sad because Patrick has the ability to run a very good business and have great customer service, but it's inconsistent. Hopefully your guitar comes out the way you envisioned it.
The story of my Sims Ash DNA JEM String
- Thread starter norrin radcliff
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Scar Symmetry
Ex Whiny Bitch
This is exactly the reason why I will never be buying a guitar from an independent luthier. I'm not saying everyone's like this, but the chance of it happening is much higher.
If I ever go custom, it's ESP or nothin'.
If I ever go custom, it's ESP or nothin'.
Patrick Sims makes those bodies. Might have resulted in a better overall experience, especially if an instock body was purchased....but that's still kind of an ill informed recommendation.
xwmucradiox
sweep.tap.sweep
The DY RG7620 that has been through one or two dudes on this forum was mine and was refinned by Patrick. He said it would be done in 6 weeks and it took a year with loads of lies and broken promises in between. He should be completely shut down as he is the worst person I have ever done business with in my life. He is also the only person I actively go out of my way to recommend people NOT go to.
Fair enough. I really want to get a mahogany RG body swirled. Not sure who to go with.
I really don't have enough experience to praise or fault OOTS, I just know patrick makes the bodies. If they have what you want and the price is reasonable, then it's worth looking into. If you want something custom that isn't in stock, I might stray away from waiting for Sims to ship a custom body to the UK.
Courtney at 2018 customs seems to be the person that people are starting to migrate to for Ibanez replacement bodies. I'm not sure who is doing the best swirls in the US, but I'd just find it a bit expensive to have a body made in the US then ship to the UK for OOTS to paint, then back to the US for you.
If I remember correctly though, that sims warning site mentioned above has a list of alternative painters to Patrick.
kingpinMS3
dumb, but harmless
i don't understand why it's so hard to deliver work you promise on time.
i mean, even according to him he can have a body ready for paint in something like 2 hours. that's all i wanted.
CloudAC
Chaz
Wow thats really crap, im looking forward to seeing your project though.
norrin radcliff
Well-Known Member
Well, here's what I've got so far:
I received the neck and body from Patrick maybe a week or so ago (I requested it raw and unsanded since I figured it would get to me faster).
So far, I've sanded down to 320, put probably 14 coats of Birchwood Casey Tru Oil on it, buffed with 0000 steel wool a few time between coats, hit it lightly again with 320, another 2 coats, and then a final steel wool treatment. I also carved up some hardwood dowels and plugged the pickup routes, as I like the look of direct mount pickups.
Definitely a far cry from a swirl, but I like how it's going and think (as I mentioned before) it looks very organic. I'm calling it my "green" guitar.
The neck was more challenging. It came set up for a top mount nut, so I drilled it for a thru mount. Well, when doing that I noticed that the truss nut was dangerously close the thru holes, so I plugged the holes with walnut and Gorilla Glue, redrilled (less deep on the counter sink), and refinished. It's almost impossible to see the walnut, since the bolt heads cover the dowels. I have about 10 coats of Tru Oil on the neck and have buffed it several times with steel wool. It feels very nice, although the frets need a little finessing.
I have an original Edge 6 in there, and it will have a Strat volume knob when finished. Pickups will be direct mounted (after I get the cavities shielded) with a Tone Zone in the bridge, Evo Single, and Air Norton in the neck. I may either plug the tone hole, or install a kill switch - not sure yet.
Items left to get are the middle and neck pu's, shielding, cavity covers, switch tip, and volume knob...
I received the neck and body from Patrick maybe a week or so ago (I requested it raw and unsanded since I figured it would get to me faster).
So far, I've sanded down to 320, put probably 14 coats of Birchwood Casey Tru Oil on it, buffed with 0000 steel wool a few time between coats, hit it lightly again with 320, another 2 coats, and then a final steel wool treatment. I also carved up some hardwood dowels and plugged the pickup routes, as I like the look of direct mount pickups.
Definitely a far cry from a swirl, but I like how it's going and think (as I mentioned before) it looks very organic. I'm calling it my "green" guitar.
The neck was more challenging. It came set up for a top mount nut, so I drilled it for a thru mount. Well, when doing that I noticed that the truss nut was dangerously close the thru holes, so I plugged the holes with walnut and Gorilla Glue, redrilled (less deep on the counter sink), and refinished. It's almost impossible to see the walnut, since the bolt heads cover the dowels. I have about 10 coats of Tru Oil on the neck and have buffed it several times with steel wool. It feels very nice, although the frets need a little finessing.
I have an original Edge 6 in there, and it will have a Strat volume knob when finished. Pickups will be direct mounted (after I get the cavities shielded) with a Tone Zone in the bridge, Evo Single, and Air Norton in the neck. I may either plug the tone hole, or install a kill switch - not sure yet.
Items left to get are the middle and neck pu's, shielding, cavity covers, switch tip, and volume knob...
Well the first mistake is that ITS MISSING A STRING 
but it actually looks pretty nice. im glad you at least got SOMETHING
but it actually looks pretty nice. im glad you at least got SOMETHING
xtrustisyoursx
Well-Known Member
please go for cream or cream/black pickups!
Sullen
In misery we rest
WOW! At least I have my bodies, because after reading all this I'm in shock! My story: I was navigating through ebay looking for seven string bodies to start some custom builds of my own and try and sell them later. I find these beautiful bodies JEM style in Alder and Maple being sold by ebay member: neosporinme and I was astonish by the craftsmanship judging for what I saw in the pictures, the thing is I decided to contact the seller first and that's where I find out about sims custom shop because the web site was listed in the seller's profile. I went to the web site and gave it a look and saw the bodies listed there too so in one of the many question I asked the seller I asked him this:
Dear neosporinme,
Nice bodies! This is the same as Sims Custom Shop?
To what he responded:
Dear misantrophia,
Same as Sims Custom Shop?
- neosporinme
I was like, ok! I thought that maybe it was some sort of connection ebay did between the two because of the items being sold were alike or whatever, funny right?
I ended up doing business with the seller and bought two bodies, at first communication was great and constant, he told me he had to make the alder one because he had sold all of them already and that it would take him a couple of days to finish it, and I agreed. After two weeks without news whatsoever I decided to ask for progress and no reply at all, I live in Puerto Rico and I received a package sent parcel post for some wood blanks I bought the same day I bought the bodies and parcel to here takes a lot of time, so go figure. After a couple of sort of mad emails I sent I finally received a dry and cold response with just the tracking #, no thanks, no apologies, no nothing, 
I was like bleh! At least I'll have my items. After all that BS the package arrived sent by Patrick Sims from TN and simscustomshop.com, the bodies even signed by him, so why the f*&^ he opted to lie to me? So here's my experience with the 
"almighty" Patrick 
Patrick XD
My only real regret is had given him a positive feedback with only complains on shipping time. Oh! me and my good heart...
Dear neosporinme,
Nice bodies! This is the same as Sims Custom Shop?
To what he responded:
Dear misantrophia,
Same as Sims Custom Shop?
- neosporinme
I was like, ok! I thought that maybe it was some sort of connection ebay did between the two because of the items being sold were alike or whatever, funny right?
I ended up doing business with the seller and bought two bodies, at first communication was great and constant, he told me he had to make the alder one because he had sold all of them already and that it would take him a couple of days to finish it, and I agreed. After two weeks without news whatsoever I decided to ask for progress and no reply at all, I live in Puerto Rico and I received a package sent parcel post for some wood blanks I bought the same day I bought the bodies and parcel to here takes a lot of time, so go figure. After a couple of sort of mad emails I sent I finally received a dry and cold response with just the tracking #, no thanks, no apologies, no nothing, I was like bleh! At least I'll have my items. After all that BS the package arrived sent by Patrick Sims from TN and simscustomshop.com, the bodies even signed by him, so why the f*&^ he opted to lie to me? So here's my experience with the "almighty" Patrick Patrick XDMy only real regret is had given him a positive feedback with only complains on shipping time. Oh! me and my good heart...
Hollowway
Extended Ranger
Well, here's what I've got so far:
Wow, man, that sucks that you had to settle for a totally unfinished guitar instead of your swirl. This guy is just ridiculous. That bedspread, on the other hand, is totally cool!
HAHA FAIL:
BBB Review of Sims Custom Shop in Ooltewah, TN
Its really sad, this guy's work was very promising back in the early days of Jemsite.
BBB Review of Sims Custom Shop in Ooltewah, TN
Its really sad, this guy's work was very promising back in the early days of Jemsite.
norrin radcliff
Well-Known Member
Good point...since I don't really give a s#$t anymore about this guy - the story I got was that he had a 4 wheeler in his "shop" (aka barn/shed). He started it up and left it idling and went into his house or something.
When he came back, the "shop" was ablaze and it only took the fire department 5 minutes to get there, but everything was lost. Mind you, this was his "paint/finish" shed. All of his tools and whatnot were safe in another building.
As I was telling people this story (and as I heard it from him), all I could think was - this guy is either incredibly unlucky, a f-ing idiot, or a complete scam master. In the end, I honestly think it was all a scam to collect on the insurance money for the shed contents, then placate whatever customers he had to keep it quiet. Well, I guess that didn't work
. To clarify, I am not accusing anyone of arson - I just personally think the circumstances surrounding these events are incredibly strange.I completely forgot one part of this whole thing:
When I was trying to track Patrick down to figure out what was going on (around February, when I threatened to sue him), I found 2 interesting Ebay sellers: hillbillysims and neosporinme.
I sent them both questionsasking if either one of them was Patrick, since I was having a hard time getting ahold of him. hillbilly sims had a rebel flag painted Jem listed that had the same "peg board" reflection that can be seen in some of Patrick's photos. When confronted with that, he admitted that he was Patrick's brother and that he had gotten the body in exchange for something, and that he was selling it, not Patrick.
My exchange with neosporinme was much more entertaining. I jumped in with both feet on this one...After this I mysteriously got a call from Patrick (who never did come clean as neosporinme)....
It goes backward, so start from the bottom. The more I think about this, the more pissed I get about the blatant dishonesty/shadiness of the guy...but hey, I do have a new guitar in process...
Dear neosporinme,
Sorry man. Just thought I'd let you know that someone was trying to throw you under the bus. You won't hear from me again...
- frucci3277
From: neosporinme
To: frucci3277
Subject: Re: frucci3277 has sent a question about item #120523259107, ending on Feb-25-10 19:13:48 PST - Custom JEM Body - Fits Ibanez RG 550 570 Neck & Parts
Sent Date: Feb-06-10 18:51:16 PST
Dear frucci3277,
Look man I really don't care about your problems with another builder. Stop emailing me
- neosporinme
From: frucci3277
To: neosporinme
Subject: Re: frucci3277 has sent a question about item #120523259107, ending on Feb-25-10 19:13:48 PST - Custom JEM Body - Fits Ibanez RG 550 570 Neck & Parts
Sent Date: Feb-06-10 18:44:44 PST
Dear neosporinme,
Ok, thanks. Sorry for bothering you. I'll just follow up with the local better business bureau and have my lawyer attempt to contact him if I don't hear something by Monday.
Good luck selling your guitars. They look good - if my $560 wasn't tied up, I'd definitely be in the market for sure...
You might want to check out simswarning.com, too. Looks like the guy running that site thinks you're Patrick Sims too. : )
Take it easy.
JF
- frucci3277
From: neosporinme
To: frucci3277
Subject: Re: frucci3277 has sent a question about item #120523259107, ending on Feb-25-10 19:13:48 PST - Custom JEM Body - Fits Ibanez RG 550 570 Neck & Parts
Sent Date: Feb-06-10 18:35:27 PST
Dear frucci3277,
I know of him, but have never dealt with him.
- neosporinme
From: frucci3277
To: neosporinme
Subject: Re: frucci3277 has sent a question about item #120523259107, ending on Feb-25-10 19:13:48 PST - Custom JEM Body - Fits Ibanez RG 550 570 Neck & Parts
Sent Date: Feb-06-10 18:14:06 PST
Dear neosporinme,
Sincerest apologies. I'm just dealing with a past due project (60 days late), poor communication, and a bank account that's currently out almost $600 - with no delivery date in sight. Lesson learned I guess. Do you have any knowledge of Patrick Sims?
- frucci3277
From: neosporinme
To: frucci3277
Subject: Re: frucci3277 has sent a question about item #120523259107, ending on Feb-25-10 19:13:48 PST - Custom JEM Body - Fits Ibanez RG 550 570 Neck & Parts
Sent Date: Feb-06-10 18:07:56 PST
Dear frucci3277,
There are several custom guitar builders in Chattanooga, me, J Backlund guitars, Warrior Instruments and a handful of others.
- neosporinme
From: frucci3277
To: neosporinme
Subject: Re: frucci3277 has sent a question about item #120523259107, ending on Feb-25-10 19:13:48 PST - Custom JEM Body - Fits Ibanez RG 550 570 Neck & Parts
Sent Date: Feb-06-10 16:36:51 PST
Dear neosporinme,
Apologies.
I jumped to a conclusion based on the fact that you're from the same place as the person who is working on a custom guitar project for me; who also happens to produce Ibanez replacement bodies and used a similar rationale regarding the quality of $99 bodies. Weird coincidence I guess.
- frucci3277
From: neosporinme
To: frucci3277
Subject: Re: frucci3277 has sent a question about item #120523259107, ending on Feb-25-10 19:13:48 PST - Custom JEM Body - Fits Ibanez RG 550 570 Neck & Parts
Sent Date: Feb-06-10 12:13:54 PST
Dear frucci3277,
??? I think you have me confused with someone else??
- neosporinme
From: frucci3277
To: neosporinme
Subject: frucci3277 has sent a question about item #120523259107, ending on Feb-25-10 19:13:48 PST - Custom JEM Body - Fits Ibanez RG 550 570 Neck & Parts
Sent Date: Feb-06-10 09:02:11 PST
Dear neosporinme,
Patrick -
Have you received my recent emails? I've tried to call you on several occassions and your voicemail is full.
I'd like to talk to you about getting a refund on the DNA Jem Project. We are now working on being 2 months past the original delivery date. I'm really disappointed, since I felt like I was going out on a limb to pick you for the project.
Please contact me as soon as possible.
John Frucci
- frucci3277
I love when a business owner pretends to not be himself because he has such a negative reputation at so many different places. Isn't that the point where you either give up or find a way to make things right and start over?
Sullen
In misery we rest
The coolest part of all this is when the package arrive sent by Patrick Sims of Sims Custom Shop
with the bodies signed by him 
To top it off is how he's very aware of his rep that me being a regular buyer with no knowledge on the issue whatsoever he denied being related to Sims Custom Shop, but of course! He doesn't know what I might know, just that his name and rep are worth nothing in the guitar business, poor dude...
BenEllerGuitars
Well-Known Member
i am the only other person to have a SIMS project completed (my mahogany RG7 body)... although it did come with a fair amount of excuses and stuff in tow. The guitar looks amazing and sounds fantastic, but he really has screwed over TONS of people. if someone has been banned from at least 3 boards that i know of, something is very wrong with the way their business is run.
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