ViK Duality 7 QM

[Workhorse]

Can anyone here comment on how friendly vik as a person is? Beautiful guitars nonetheless.

 

[thrsher]

Can anyone here comment on how friendly vik as a person is? Beautiful guitars nonetheless.

2 years ago, seemed genuine and humble, now not so much and i feel like everyone is afraid of stepping on the guys toes by being open and honest with him about things. seems like he has developed an ego

 

[narad]

2 years ago, seemed genuine and humble, now not so much and i feel like everyone is afraid of stepping on the guys toes by being open and honest with him about things. seems like he has developed an ego

Well, as a customer, the days of frequent photo updates to the forums and quick lengthy email responses are gone (though he did get back to me rather quickly lately). But you're asking if he's friendly as a person? Yea, he's never been anything but friendly to me. I think most of the people who have orders now had high expectations regarding customer service, because that was the precedent he was setting, and in all the recent success this has definitely suffered. Still, I don't want to conflate the disgruntled complaints many of us have voiced to claiming he's a tyrant. He's always been a cool guy, he's just way behind and processing his build queue in an order that's not respecting the order we paid our deposits in.

 

[TIBrent]

That Vik is seriously theee nicest guitar I have ever played, PERIOD! This makes every other big name professional build seem like a toy! In fact, all of my guitars are toys compared to this. Amazing, AMAZING guitar.

 

[Workhorse]

I know Mehtab sold his guitar immediately after he received it. Thats says a lot.

 

[Danukenator]

I know Mehtab sold his guitar immediately after he received it. Thats says a lot.

You're new around these parts aren't you...

 

[TIBrent]

I know Mehtab sold his guitar immediately after he received it. Thats says a lot.

All it says is that he bought another guitar just to turn it out around & immediately sell it at more than he paid. Pretty common unfortunately.

 

[asfeir]

Can anyone here comment on how friendly vik as a person is? Beautiful guitars nonetheless.

Very nice and cool with me, and also not materialistic/greedy at all concerning the deposit. I don't want to go into details about this but he was very nice with me that's why I don't understand most of the bashing he takes in here.
The problem with the wait-list is something else now.

A bit unrelated, but the nicest luthier I talked with was David Myka. Seemed like a genuinely nice and accessible guy.

 

[GXPO]

You guys all need tea. Tea solves everything.

Seriously though, I hate to see Vik fall from grace like this so publicly as I was genuinely astounded by his work when I first saw it. I can't even begin to comment on it as I've had 0 involvement in the product (BUUUUUUT ). If what you guys are saying is true however, whether he's an arsehole or not, he's screwing his customers. Defend him all you want, he's screwing his customers on an objective level with measurable statistics and tangible examples (years of waiting and price rises, others having guit-fiddles in their hands).

Something about this forum (all forums I guess) breeds sensationalism and I'm ashamed to say that I almost fell for it once upon a time. Despite all obvious and reasonable argument I somehow had gained the idea that I needed a custom guitar made for me in order to properly Djent. Laugh all you like, it's laughable. But if this can happen to me, someone previously and self professedly immune to such exageration of a product, then it can happen to nearly anyone who joins this forum. My point being, guys like Vik get elevated and their honest crust turns to trampled bread and everyone is left crying about it.

I hope everything works out for you guys in the end. I'd hate to see Vik turn into another BRJ.

 

[HighGain510]

2 years ago, seemed genuine and humble, now not so much and i feel like everyone is afraid of stepping on the guys toes by being open and honest with him about things. seems like he has developed an ego

Really? When he first came on here he had a bit of an attitude and IIRC was banned a few times for stepping out of line. He tried to knock that off for a bit but it seems like he never kicked the habit, and now that he has guys handing him $5K at a time, I don't see that helping things honestly. That ego will keep inflating until he pisses off the entire customer base and has a Rico-esque meltdown.

I know Mehtab sold his guitar immediately after he received it. Thats says a lot.

I wouldn't base your thoughts on any piece of gear on Mehtab's comments or buying/selling habits. Hard to take anyone seriously who flips guitars for profit all day long, not to mention many of them while they're IN TRANSIT. "BEST GUITAR EVER.... HAVEN'T RECEIVED IT YET, ASKING $6K DUE TO RARITY!!!" Nooooope.

 

[WickedSymphony]

I hope everything works out for you guys in the end. I'd hate to see Vik turn into another BRJ.

Seeing this repeated a lot in here, and I really hope this doesn't happen for the sake of those involved. Unfortunately, I'm one of the guys that got burned by BRJ (yes I know, should've done my homework, lesson learned, etc. thank god for charge backs at least), and the way he's treating some of you guys doesn't seem to be too far off. At one point I thought about going for a Vik too, but now I'm sure glad I didn't.

Honestly, I think the behavior of these guys has made me a lot more cautious when it comes to customs. There are some things I really like about them - the aesthetics the builders offer, picking out your own specs, and also just having it be a more personal instrument. These are things you can't always get from something off the shelf (unless of course a production model happens to already be everything you want, though I'm sure many of us who have been playing a long time have grown a bit picky with our preferences ). Personally, I just wanted a custom for these reasons. I might go for one in the future with a bit more focus on the personal part, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried at all about the process after my experience so far. I guess that could mean it's just not for me anymore.

Also, practically speaking, I can't imagine that custom guitars would play so much better than another high end guitar from a major manufacturer that it's worth dealing with all the headache, waiting, and risk. At a certain point, barring a flawed instrument, all guitars should be fairly close in craftsmanship and a good setup will go a really long way, at which point things just come down to preference. Just something to keep in mind.

 

[thrsher]

Really? When he first came on here he had a bit of an attitude and IIRC was banned a few times for stepping out of line. He tried to knock that off for a bit but it seems like he never kicked the habit, and now that he has guys handing him $5K at a time, I don't see that helping things honestly. That ego will keep inflating until he pisses off the entire customer base and has a Rico-esque meltdown.

well for me, back when i ordered, 29 months ago, i was not heavily involved here on the forum and wasn't really aware of Vik dealings here, and only caught wind of his behavior over time. my dealings, via email and facebook were fairly pleasant, when little bits of work was done, he would update me and if there were delays, he would tell me. now everyone is just a guess in the wind.

also, to add to the point off people handing him large amounts of cash, great point. Paul and Alain have given vik over a combined 20k in what, 1-1.5 years? of course they get excellent customer service and are buddy buddy with the guy!

 

[Workhorse]

You're new around these parts aren't you...

I am not part of the whole gear-hording culture, I prefer to stick to guitar playing and trying to improve my ability, not my instagram.