TIBrent
Drop Z regular
I don't think he is a scumbag at all in any way shape or form.
Vik Guitars Discussion
- Thread starter leonardo7
- Start date
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Hollowway
Extended Ranger
Of course, he's your friend. I mean, look, he's going to have people who like him. No one would even know who he is if he didn't have supporters. Even Hitler and Ted Bundy had friends, so someone like Vik isn't going to literally have the whole world against him. But there's no denying that 1) he's not shipping people's guitars to them, 2) he's unilaterally canceling their orders, 3) he doesn't like gay people and thinks nature will eventually kill them off, 4) he is either misogynistic, or has a terribly unfortunate language barrier that seems to only show up on social media.
Bottom line is he has effectively taken himself off the short list of worthwhile luthiers.
TIBrent
Drop Z regular
1) I watched him ship two customers guitars myself just the other day
2) He doesn't want to sell guitars to the masses, he wants them to go to a select few people who he feels will love them & get the labor of love that went into them, not to someone who will bash him or his practices. (Now that is not how I roll, but I get it, & that is his business plan & his right, much like if you were selling a product you may only want to sell to someone who you feel truly believes in it, especially if was as labor intensive as what he is doing & people may fault you for that or disagree but it would be your right...again not my thing but his choice 'quality over quantity'). We can argue that til the cows come home but it won't change how he does things.
3) I have never witnessed an ounce of homophobia, racism, bigotry in person, none...I have heard a lot of jokes but I can clearly tell when someone is joking around
4) Can't argue that
Look I am not looking to try to defend him here... you either dig what he does, or ya don't & if ya don't I say move on to a company that you do & save yourself the heartache.
StevenC
Needs a hobby
1) Which two? I'm guessing the ones at NAMM? The contest guitar, the year(s) late Nolly Duality or the guitar he built for NAMM instead of one of the many orders he has?
2) If he doesn't want to sell to the masses, why has he taken so many orders and tried to start a production series?
3) This thread is full of homophobic and bigoted things he's said. Maybe over the internet, but he's had many chances to go back on them and instead reinforced them. Funny guy...
flint757
Well-Known Member
2) That's incredibly unprofessional and in fact makes him a monumental douche no matter the reason. If he feels he needs a certain sort of clientele then he needs to determine that prior to essentially conning them into giving him money. Once he has received the money he becomes both a tool and a hypocrite (since he obviously feels his opinions should be valued fairly) by cancelling orders. If I'm not mistaken most of the cancellations were due to people complaining about his sub-par business practices anyhow. People have a right to complain about such things and any business that tries to shut that down borders on unethical territory (if not already there). Someone needs to maybe look into an ethics course or maybe a few business classes if that doesn't jump out at them as rather obvious.
3)Jokes in bad taste are jokes in bad taste. A lot of his follow up responses, and simply where he lives (some people here have implied that where he is from isn't the most 'open minded', I personally have no clue
), would lead me to believe you're simply wrong. Not that you care since you're likely a straight guy. What do you care if you yourself aren't the butt of the joke (insult?).I sometimes watch a show called Bar Rescue. #3 happens a lot in jobs where people don't tend to take the business side of their business seriously. What leads from that is a piss poor reputation and bad press. Doesn't really matter the reason or who they really are or what they think. What is presented is all people get and it's bad business. The fact that he obviously hasn't put two and two together (given all of his after hour activities on his BUSINESS page) leads me to the assumption that he is clearly not a bright man when it comes to business and PR.
There are loads of bigots and asshats in the world. In the real world you often don't notice as people put on a front because that is the SMART thing to do no matter ones personal beliefs/opinions. Sometimes people forget that the bridge between the internet and the real world is often not that long, especially when your face and business are directly attached to both.
leonardo7
Banned
The guy went to law school and Im pretty sure he passed the bar in his country too. He's actually extremely bright.
StevenC
Needs a hobby
Wait... Is this the same guy who was crying about people using his unprotected designs?
flint757
Well-Known Member
Have to disagree.
Smart people don't tend to make that many dumb decisions...
In any case, I added a qualifier after that as I can't speak for his intellect outside of his business obviously.
Plenty of actual smart people are horrible at business, public relations, people, or just existing in society at all. Being good at one thing doesn't mean they can't be incredibly dumb at countless other things.
Shimme
Wants a Seven String
Plenty of smart people believe incredibly dumb things and act appropriately to their belief.
Being talented in one skill set doesn't necessarily mean that you are intelligent skilled in other areas of life.
Pick one.
TIBrent
Drop Z regular
I can completely agree with you on that point
I have an order from nik huber That was supposed to be done in december but wont be until april according to them, And they are extremely reliable. Im Not compalining at all, but This Is the reality of luthier made guitars..
Danukenator
Kane's Bane
Normal People: "Isn't it shady that ViK does all these shady things? Like not shipping out guitars, repeatedly misquoting times, and refusing to work on particular guitars out of spite? Oh and he's a homophobe who also posts sexist/creepy things on social media sites."
Shills ITT: "But man, he's so nice in person! I know he does shady things but, look at these new pictures! You should forget he does shady things because I said he doesn't...which means it never happened! ViK would never be two faced!"
Leo and Brent, y'all are killing me here. Leo, can you just be honest here? Answer me this, people have said a LOT of things about ViK and your response is always "he'd never do that!" So, are the other members lying? Are you saying they are liars and they are intentionally misrepresenting the situation? If not, then what? They just don't understand what's going on?
Shills ITT: "But man, he's so nice in person! I know he does shady things but, look at these new pictures! You should forget he does shady things because I said he doesn't...which means it never happened! ViK would never be two faced!"
Leo and Brent, y'all are killing me here. Leo, can you just be honest here? Answer me this, people have said a LOT of things about ViK and your response is always "he'd never do that!" So, are the other members lying? Are you saying they are liars and they are intentionally misrepresenting the situation? If not, then what? They just don't understand what's going on?
Ok seriously guys you can have whatever opinion you want and argue it back and forth as you like, but the next person that's not a moderator that tries to tell people what they should/can post is going to be gone for a LONG time
thrsher
\m/-_-\m/
i got this feeling from him very early on when i ordered my guitar from him. he absolutely shows interest in other builds and/or people. if he doesn't want to work with certain people, he shouldn't take there money. he always made me fell like he didn't want to build my guitar and i was an inconvenience too him. what makes this even more apparent, he never even posted the final build photos of my guitar. he clearly didn't care about the guitar being built for me and it showed. and he did a piss poor job with the clear coat finish.
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It is NOT his right to forfeit the money that he willingly took based on reasons as ambiguous as "they might not want the guitar as much as I think they should".
As far as I can tell, no one signed a contract saying such. If he refunded the money instantly and in full maybe he'd a have a leg to stand on, but that's obviously not the case.
The informal contract entered when a build starts (when money is received) isn't revoked whenever he chooses on whatever terms he wants.
What is his right is to choose who he begins working with from the start, but once plans are ironed out and money changes hands that right is removed.
If he is a lawyer he's either a terrible one or he knowingly skirts legal doctrines for his own gain.
Bullshit. At least have the respect for the members here not to outright lie. You are defending him. It's pretty obvious.
Fred the Shred
Shrederick
There is a lot that can be said about the matter of friendship. Vik is, as many know, my friend. Being a friend doesn't mean that I am bound to agree with his every position or attitude and viceversa in some sort of shill circle jerk, and when asked for my opinion, it is what makes it there. I don't expect him to agree with it or act on it, yet it is what it is.
There are things that are blown out of proportion and perspective around here, while others stems from things that are quite objectively wrong and their consequent disappointment is legitimate. Homophobic / sexist discourse is appalling, yet that isn't the crux of what is actually going south with the operation towards its client base - it's the misleading wait times and the odd unprofessional retort I've seen mentioned here that's objectively not good, and the reason a few people are rightfully concerned. The former is something wrong on a personal level that shouldn't ever become the wrong on a company level (why he insists on doing this is absolutely beyond me), the latter is a very, very slippery slope that, if not corrected, can easily become the stuff of disaster like Sherman before him.
I left BRJ out simply because even before the fiasco a ton of stuff was glaringly obvious (such as the Mexican labour being outsourced for an announced Made in USA custom guitar with price to match), so I don't think it is comparable in that respect - one shady practice followed another and the time came when, much to the dismay of people who trusted that company, the bubble burst and people were ripped off.
There are things that are blown out of proportion and perspective around here, while others stems from things that are quite objectively wrong and their consequent disappointment is legitimate. Homophobic / sexist discourse is appalling, yet that isn't the crux of what is actually going south with the operation towards its client base - it's the misleading wait times and the odd unprofessional retort I've seen mentioned here that's objectively not good, and the reason a few people are rightfully concerned. The former is something wrong on a personal level that shouldn't ever become the wrong on a company level (why he insists on doing this is absolutely beyond me), the latter is a very, very slippery slope that, if not corrected, can easily become the stuff of disaster like Sherman before him.
I left BRJ out simply because even before the fiasco a ton of stuff was glaringly obvious (such as the Mexican labour being outsourced for an announced Made in USA custom guitar with price to match), so I don't think it is comparable in that respect - one shady practice followed another and the time came when, much to the dismay of people who trusted that company, the bubble burst and people were ripped off.
TemjinStrife
Power Metal Cellist
Going to law school and passing the bar is, unfortunately, not proof of intelligence.
My KxK, Jillard and Falbo were bang on time. Ormsby doesn't seem to be having much issues with delays either.
Shit certainly can happen but to pretend that it always happens with every builder is disingenuous at best. Especially if one is going to use it to excuse the unscrupulous business actions of a person.
narad
Progressive metal and politics
I've ordered quite a few custom guitars and I definitely feel like delays are part of the gig, but there's still a range of acceptability to this! You order from a top notch, established act like Nik Huber - you might get a delay, maybe your guitar arrives 4-6 months after estimated. That's night-and-day to what seems to have become an acceptable timeframe for SSO builders.
