Vik Guitars Discussion

[mnemonic]

Since Elq posted that Vik hadn't emailed him about his guitar being at NAMM, was Vik lying to leonardo7 about emailing him without any replies, or did leonardo7 just make it up? Or am I reading this whole situation wrong?

I'm confused.

 

[narad]

Since Elq posted that Vik hadn't emailed him about his guitar being at NAMM, was Vik lying to leonardo7 about emailing him without any replies, or did leonardo7 just make it up? Or am I reading this whole situation wrong?

I'm confused.

Perhaps gmail is now classifying any Vik email as a phishing attempt Check your spam folder, Elq ;-)

 

[JayT]

Since Elq posted that Vik hadn't emailed him about his guitar being at NAMM, was Vik lying to leonardo7 about emailing him without any replies, or did leonardo7 just make it up? Or am I reading this whole situation wrong?

I'm confused.

There are some members that act more like luthiers' groupies but I don't doubt that is exactly what Vik told Leonardo. Of course if I was him I would have wanted to know whether Vik was telling me the truth or not. I wouldn't like anyone using me for spreading lies around.

In the end it could be true that Vik was somehow sending it to wrong address... better to send emails to wrong address than the actual guitar.

Let's hope this all turns out for the best, but anyone who is objective will recognize that at this point it's all about damage control and building your reputation as a business owner from scratch.

 

[narad]

Did you know the average annual net income in Belarus is approximately $6200 USD? I've basically paid Vik an average annual wage in guitar deposits already! Forget about Vik USA - it'd be foolish to mess this arrangement up.

 

[Nightside]

I was wondering when this would finally come up. I know Mayones has to be making a lot of money with the Polish Zloty being like what a third of the Dollar? Not that I wouldn't buy one if I had the money. However, there are a lot of builders in the US that build custom hand-made guitars for cheaper than Vik who do not make nearly as much profit from it.

 

[leonardo7]

An email indicating as much would've saved a bit of "hand wringing". Hell, I could've probably taken a short trip down to the NAMM area (I have family that lives nearby) to pick it up and meet him in person if I was given a bit of notice.

Edited to add, I just want to say that I'm not pissed about this, it's just a bit of a let down.

I wouldn't be pissed either, Id definitely feel let down though. I heard him say he's shipping a guitar tomorrow, Im assuming its yours, your gonna have it on Wed probably. I hope he has your new address. You said that your moving in the emails you posted, obviously your not going to post your new address, but I hope that Vik has it. Man we should take this to PM and the thread should move on. It sucks that its sort of stuck in this spot. Lets move the thread onwards to something better. But before that, heres some info:

Vik brought my ebony topped Saviour 8FF with him but in his last minute scramble at home decided to bring it and install the pickups in his hotel room the night before NAMM since he ran out of time. Apparently he forgot the beautiful Ebony topped angled P90 pickups at home. He showed me pics of the pickups and they look killer! I saw my guitar right there at his booth in its case, I held it, people saw it, Misha held it, Nolly saw it, and it looks totally amazing! Ive been waiting years for it and will post up a NGD when I get it. It just wasn't on display cause it had no pickups in it. He asked me 3 times to try and get ahold of you on facebook and also asked if I know you since we both live in the Bay Area. This was all stuff that he asked me within the first ten minutes of meeting him for the first time on Thursday. He said he cant find you on facebook and that hes having a very hard time getting ahold of you. I dont think he brought your guitar with the intention of having it on display. Im pretty sure he brought it to either hand it over in person or ship it for cheap from the same state.

Im just trying to help the situation here for all. I like Vik, hes a nice guy in person. There is no denying that. There is also no denying that he has a gift for the art of making electric guitars. Its obvious that people like his work and like him. I personally find that his guitars are my favorite, so is my Mayones Regius with the wenge neck and ebony top. The Mayones guys have a factory, they have a crew of guys taking on custom orders. Vik is one guy. Hes working on great things here. Give him some time and you will see more NGDs on here and more happy faces. He reads these threads when he has the time and Im sure he gets the point. For what its worth, Im coming up on 6 years this Feb for my Sherman

 

[thrsher]

for me, nothing will ever change this situation i was put in as customer. the damage has been done and every time some one will ask me(or currently does)or every time i pickup the guitar (when i get it) i will be rushed with all these thoughts and emotions. i don't believe vik deserves a pass on all of this personally. i don't think the thread should move on until all his customers are past this as well. personally, its just another insult to add to the list that he brought your guitar to present to you. that just adds to the pile of BS. why does it appear that guitar isn't on the queue? that's makes 3 vik guitars for you while i still wait, again all of which wasn't even a forethought when i ordered. nolly now has 3 guitars, two of which all after mine and others.

 

[Hollowway]

I somewhat doubt the primary purpose for bringing Eric's guitar over was to expect him to randomly show up at NAMM and pick it up. I think the real reason is that Vik only had 2 guitars to show at NAMM and wanted to bring anything else he could to have it not look ridiculous that he only brought 2. Those saddles might not even be fixed at this point. And if he brought it here with "no shipping charges" is he willing to hand it over and give a refund on those charges? I'd doubt it.

And Alain, I know Vik is treating you very well, but I think the issue is that he doesn't treat everyone that way. This is starting to remind me of when Sherman was screwing over Angus, and a lot of people came to Sherman's defense, saying they were treated well. But that didnt help Angus.

 

[themike]

I wouldn't be pissed either, Id definitely feel let down though. I heard him say he's shipping a guitar tomorrow, Im assuming its yours, your gonna have it on Wed probably. I hope he has your new address. You said that your moving in the emails you posted, obviously your not going to post your new address, but I hope that Vik has it. Man we should take this to PM and the thread should move on. It sucks that its sort of stuck in this spot. Lets move the thread onwards to something better.

Just out of curiosity, are you actually working for Vik? Be it cash or discounted instruments? Because I really don't want people/myself to tear into your statements if you're trying to simply help Eric but at this point in the game it basically sounds like you're working with Vik and relaying his side of the argument and if so, you're gonna have a bad time. After the BRJ fiasco, everyone is on red alert...

But after the update everything is still heresay about the guitar. It is "I heard Vik talk about a guitar, assuming its yours". How about Vik reach out to him directly with the email that obviously works? How about someone PMd him on here, you know, the messageboard he posts on almost every day? I bet Vik would have if Eric still owed him money. I mean the guy found out about his guitar being completed by seeing photos of it on public display at a sales event...

 

[elq]

So, Vik emailed me on Friday night from a new email address. He said in this email that he had been trying to get ahold of my for a while. He also mentioned that he tried to get ahold of me via my cell phone.

Just to be clear - I'm a professional computer nerd. I've been paid to write software for nearly 20 years and I'm fairly adept at dealing with computers and associated technology.

I check my gmail spam label frequently (every few days) looking for misclassified email and I've never seen a Vik email labeled as spam. So on the email front, there is no evidence and therefor I have no reason to believe that Vik sent me any email. This does not mean that I don't believe him, it just means that the chance that it's chronic error on gmails part (as we both use gmail) or on my part is so low as to be insignificant.

On the cell front things are a bit different. In the time since I placed my order I've had at least 5 different cell phones from 3 different providers/MVNOs. I don't text, so in those cell phone switches keeping the same contact number has been a low priority and the complexity/pain of switching numbers between providers has only recently fallen below my tolerance to pay for it given it's low utility to me. So, it's almost certain that contact attempts via cell phone would go unanswered from me.


I replied to Vik with a condensed version of the above within an hour of him sending me an email from the new address. I still haven't heard a reply.

 

[Watty]

^ Glad that there's at least an appearance of traction in your case.

 

[leonardo7]

Just out of curiosity, are you actually working for Vik? Be it cash or discounted instruments? Because I really don't want people/myself to tear into your statements if you're trying to simply help Eric but at this point in the game it basically sounds like you're working with Vik and relaying his side of the argument and if so, you're gonna have a bad time. After the BRJ fiasco, everyone is on red alert...

But after the update everything is still heresay about the guitar. It is "I heard Vik talk about a guitar, assuming its yours". How about Vik reach out to him directly with the email that obviously works? How about someone PMd him on here, you know, the messageboard he posts on almost every day? I bet Vik would have if Eric still owed him money. I mean the guy found out about his guitar being completed by seeing photos of it on public display at a sales event...

I dont like to go on here and try to make a guy look bad unless he has personally screwed me over such as Sherman or S7G did. So don't expect me to say "wow man thats totally messed up". Its not my style. People can read the thread and assess the situation any way they wish, but it needs to be a fair assessement. If you pay attention, yes there are about 3-4 frustrated customers who are being vocal so to speak on here, but there are also about 50+ other customers who are being patient, myself included. I waited over 2 years for my Saviour 8FF and I still dont have it. I got my BRJ Black Friday guitar and while I totally think its supremely messed up how BRJ handled things, I dont think that he had evil intentions of screwing everyone. I believe that BRJ honestly tried his best while being overtaken with a mental illness/Cocaine addiction, whatever!

Vik is a friend of mine now. We met at NAMM, we all had dinner together. I consider him more than a guy who makes guitars for me, I consider him to be a friend. I don't work for him for cash and I certainly don't get discounts. I actually get artist pricing with Mayones at the moment and the same with EMG. I have an 8 string EMG demo coming in a couple months in the EMG TV studio doing an 8 string comparison vid for EMG and Im going to be using a Mayones Regius 8. In all honesty though, I really like my Vik guitars and my Vik pickups. They have a certain resonation and tone I just dont get with anything else.

So, Vik emailed me on Friday night from a new email address. He said in this email that he had been trying to get ahold of my for a while. He also mentioned that he tried to get ahold of me via my cell phone.

Just to be clear - I'm a professional computer nerd. I've been paid to write software for nearly 20 years and I'm fairly adept at dealing with computers and associated technology.

I check my gmail spam label frequently (every few days) looking for misclassified email and I've never seen a Vik email labeled as spam. So on the email front, there is no evidence and therefor I have no reason to believe that Vik sent me any email. This does not mean that I don't believe him, it just means that the chance that it's chronic error on gmails part (as we both use gmail) or on my part is so low as to be insignificant.

On the cell front things are a bit different. In the time since I placed my order I've had at least 5 different cell phones from 3 different providers/MVNOs. I don't text, so in those cell phone switches keeping the same contact number has been a low priority and the complexity/pain of switching numbers between providers has only recently fallen below my tolerance to pay for it given it's low utility to me. So, it's almost certain that contact attempts via cell phone would go unanswered from me.


I replied to Vik with a condensed version of the above within an hour of him sending me an email from the new address. I still haven't heard a reply.

Good! Yeah he actually took out his phone twice, once on Thursday and once on Friday and dialed your number and got confused with no response or something. I was right there with him when he dialed. He also said that you dont have a facebook account, or that if you do he cant find you, and that he absolutely has no way to reach you. Also, his phone battery has been dying half way through the hectic days at NAMM. I saw his battery meter on empty when he was trying to take pics of guys playing his guitars.

Sorry for the shitty blurry pic, but I captured one cell phone pic of a classic scene at the booth. It was like this on and off all day every day. Your first year at NAMM you only get a 10x10 booth in the lower level basement level. There is no way he had room for ten guitars

 

[TemjinStrife]

This is true. Hey Brandon, Vik says your guitar is done. And for everyone wondering, the production stuff is being being made by a diferent company than I was previously told. People will be very pleased. Vik has just made arrangements w a factory who is 100% down to build these guitars. I am very excited. VIk is coming back to California in March to finalize and check out an actual proto I believe. This company will eventually be capable of taking on more options for production which is better for everyone. His booth has been off the hook. Ive been seeing person after person dropping by with big enthusiastic smiles as they play these guitars. People seem to be thrilled with his work here at NAMM. Every 5 mins it seems like some dude drops by talking about how he follows ViK Guitars on facebook etc. Its been really positive for the up and coming production stuff. And Vik does hope to have more than a few customs being shipped real soon he said. It looks like some of the Nolly run guitars are maybe shipping in a couple of months as well, according to plan.

I may or may not be mistaken, but many people in this thread don't seem to give a crap about the production guitars, at least not until ViK can get his ducks in line with regard to his PRIMARY source of business.

People want the guitars they spent thousands of dollars on delivered without transparent excuses and/or bullshit. It's also fairly clear that you're not an objective source of information or data, but rather come off as an apologist who is rationalizing really shitty business decisions.

ViK may be "big on the Internet," but that sort of thing has a way of backfiring very quickly when business practices like these run rampant.

 

[ramses]

I wasn't able to go to NAMM this year, but a good friend did. For now, I have some pictures of ViK's booth. Next week my friend will be back, and he will let me know if ViK's guitars are as awesome as advertised. It is great to finally have someone I trust play a ViK—note that I don't doubt they are great, but I always wanted to know how good they are compared to a Tom Anderson or a PRS.

 

[JayT]

People can read the thread and assess the situation any way they wish, but it needs to be a fair assessement. If you pay attention, yes there are about 3-4 frustrated customers who are being vocal so to speak on here, but there are also about 50+ other customers who are being patient, myself included.

Sorry, but that's BS.

First of all, it's silly to divide Vik's customers into "vocal" and "patient". I've been patient for years and so have been the rest. I emailed Vik every 4-6 months, asking for update, and probably half my emails never received a reply. The other half received some kind of an explanation to which I said OK. The last explanation I have received, however, I did not accept. I didn't get any real deadlines and I was told that sponsorship guitars and his own personal projects (intended to make him a better luthier) all have priority over my custom order guitars, that had a September 2012 ETA. I suggested a balanced approach of two days per week spent on custom order list - instead of zero days per week - and the rest of the week for his personal projects, to which I received no reply. Even two days per week was too much.

You have no idea how patient I have been and how patient I still am. If it wasn't for his family I would have done some pretty tough actions already and there is a good chance he wouldn't have been at NAMM at the moment. Since you are not related to Vik I will ignore this, but the moment Vik tells me that I am not patient, the real party starts.

Secondly, this 5 to 50 ratio, I'm not sure where did you get that. Not everyone is member of this forum, some of his customers can't even speak English. I personally know of other people that are in same position and they share my opinion, but they just don't want to come out. Fortunately I can afford to lose all the money I paid for the guitar. I'm not a professional musician and I'm financially secure. But many of the customers are not as lucky and they literally paid all their savings to get their dream instrument. Not to mention that they also don't have dinners with Vik and they are kept completely in the dark, afraid of sending him even an email. You are damn right they are not "vocal". I am vocal because I can afford to lose everything I paid or else I'd have kept my mouth shut and pray that maybe in 2018 a miracle happens. I hope that these 4-5 vocal customers will help the remaining customers get their guitars sooner than that as well.

So to summarize. A "patient" customer becomes "vocal" after he had been disrespected one time too many and when publicly expressing dissatisfaction with the service starts looking like the only way of communicating with the luthier. The level of frustration must also grow high enough so that you don't care if the luthier hates you for that, maybe even to the extent when he will never deliver your guitars. A good example is Sherman / angus case that I read in another thread, which to me looks like luthier was not delivering the guitar only because he didn't like the customer.

With that said I don't have problems with your updates. The more information, the better. I personally believe everything you said, but I do have my own interpretations and I do believe that some of your opinions are wrong. You are very close to Vik and that might cloud your judgement occasionally.

ViK may be "big on the Internet," but that sort of thing has a way of backfiring very quickly when business practices like these run rampant.

Let's be realistic - 95% of the facebook fans drooling over his guitars and cheering for him no matter what he does, don't have money even for initial deposit. 99% of them will not decide to buy guitar from him even if they did have approximately enough money, especially at his current prices. So yes, he will always win online popularity contests but those won't pay the bills.

 

[AxeHappy]

I'm interested in the production guitars. Really sad that there is no infortmaion in this thread, about the USA line, about yhe USA line.

I get that you guys feel screwed over (probably because you pretty much have been). But put it in a thread about. ViKs custom shop, and not the production guitars. Nothing to do with them really.

My oersonal business dealings with ViK were fantasic. He bent over backwards trying to give me extra time when my roommates/friends ....ed me over for money and then when he had to sell my spot to get the run going he was a class act about refunding my money.

This doesn't free him from blame for the other issues, but it really bothers me that Vik is being painted as some mustache twirling villian out to .... everybody over.

 

[leonardo7]

I'm interested in the production guitars. Really sad that there is no infortmaion in this thread, about the USA line, about yhe USA line.

I get that you guys feel screwed over (probably because you pretty much have been). But put it in a thread about. ViKs custom shop, and not the production guitars. Nothing to do with them really.

My oersonal business dealings with ViK were fantasic. He bent over backwards trying to give me extra time when my roommates/friends ....ed me over for money and then when he had to sell my spot to get the run going he was a class act about refunding my money.

This doesn't free him from blame for the other issues, but it really bothers me that Vik is being painted as some mustache twirling villian out to .... everybody over.

Thats what really bugs me. Well said. This thread really was intended for the production guitars, not the custom stuff. ViK Guitars USA is a company doing production stuff only

Sorry, but that's BS.

First of all, it's silly to divide Vik's customers into "vocal" and "patient". I've been patient for years and so have been the rest. I emailed Vik every 4-6 months, asking for update, and probably half my emails never received a reply. The other half received some kind of an explanation to which I said OK. The last explanation I have received, however, I did not accept. I didn't get any real deadlines and I was told that sponsorship guitars and his own personal projects (intended to make him a better luthier) all have priority over my custom order guitars, that had a September 2012 ETA. I suggested a balanced approach of two days per week spent on custom order list - instead of zero days per week - and the rest of the week for his personal projects, to which I received no reply. Even two days per week was too much.

You have no idea how patient I have been and how patient I still am. If it wasn't for his family I would have done some pretty tough actions already and there is a good chance he wouldn't have been at NAMM at the moment. Since you are not related to Vik I will ignore this, but the moment Vik tells me that I am not patient, the real party starts.

Secondly, this 5 to 50 ratio, I'm not sure where did you get that. Not everyone is member of this forum, some of his customers can't even speak English. I personally know of other people that are in same position and they share my opinion, but they just don't want to come out. Fortunately I can afford to lose all the money I paid for the guitar. I'm not a professional musician and I'm financially secure. But many of the customers are not as lucky and they literally paid all their savings to get their dream instrument. Not to mention that they also don't have dinners with Vik and they are kept completely in the dark, afraid of sending him even an email. You are damn right they are not "vocal". I am vocal because I can afford to lose everything I paid or else I'd have kept my mouth shut and pray that maybe in 2018 a miracle happens. I hope that these 4-5 vocal customers will help the remaining customers get their guitars sooner than that as well.

So to summarize. A "patient" customer becomes "vocal" after he had been disrespected one time too many and when publicly expressing dissatisfaction with the service starts looking like the only way of communicating with the luthier. The level of frustration must also grow high enough so that you don't care if the luthier hates you for that, maybe even to the extent when he will never deliver your guitars. A good example is Sherman / angus case that I read in another thread, which to me looks like luthier was not delivering the guitar only because he didn't like the customer.

With that said I don't have problems with your updates. The more information, the better. I personally believe everything you said, but I do have my own interpretations and I do believe that some of your opinions are wrong. You are very close to Vik and that might cloud your judgement occasionally.


Let's be realistic - 95% of the facebook fans drooling over his guitars and cheering for him no matter what he does, don't have money even for initial deposit. 99% of them will not decide to buy guitar from him even if they did have approximately enough money, especially at his current prices. So yes, he will always win online popularity contests but those won't pay the bills.

Fair enough. I didn't even know that you had one on order. Nice! I hope you get it soon! Your going to absolutely love it. Let us know when you get it

The guy a few posts above you seems to think that hes only big on this forum and you clearly state that he has many customers who aren't on this forum so at this point I will just bow out for a while and poke my head in when I feel I want to. Good luck guys

 

[narad]

If you pay attention, yes there are about 2 frustrated customers who are being vocal so to speak on here, but there are also about 50+ other customers who are being patient, myself included.

There are 50+ other customers who have waited years longer than their promised delivery dates? That's even worse! If not, then their situation is not exactly comparable to the several vocal guys on here, is it?

I would also be less frustrated if I had gone from 0 to 3 Viks all within the timespan of other customers' orders. It's not really patience in the same way, is it?

 

[narad]

Let's be realistic - 95% of the facebook fans drooling over his guitars and cheering for him no matter what he does, don't have money even for initial deposit. 99% of them will not decide to buy guitar from him even if they did have approximately enough money, especially at his current prices. So yes, he will always win online popularity contests but those won't pay the bills.

If only typing "nollynollynollynollynollynolly" was a valid form of currency.

 

[leonardo7]

There are 50+ other customers who have waited years longer than their promised delivery dates? That's even worse! If not, then their situation is not exactly comparable to the several vocal guys on here, is it?

I would also be less frustrated if I had gone from 0 to 3 Viks all within the timespan of other customers' orders. It's not really patience in the same way, is it?

True that I come from a different angle. One was the Vik in a Week and the other was a Messe special that was for sale. Neither was a custom order made for me. I paid big money for them and have sold off many other killer customs to help pay back the hole in my bank account and credit cards. I still havent received my customs, which are the Saviour 8FF and a Nolly sig.

Good luck guys. You will be impressed when you get them and you will get them. Im not the only guy on this forum with two Viks by the way.