NGD: Bittersweet reunion

[bender]

Back when Ash Customworks was still a thing, Adrian made me a Radian Tele out of this rad, lightweight wood called Paulownia. It’s really light, and soft, but rings like a bell. A few years ago, I foolishly sold it, and it’s gone around a few different NZG members since.

I approached the most recent owner about selling it back to me and he eventually agreed to. He wanted more than what I sold it for, and with only the original pickups (I included an extra set of Jess Loureiro pickups when I sold it) but I really wanted it back, so I agreed. He then offered to bring it to Auckland and deliver it to Conway, since he was coming up anyway. I didn’t think to ask what condition it was in and didn’t ask for any photos.

Here’s a couple of pics of the original guitar from my photo archive:


The original config was a custom Widerange Humbucker sized neck pickup that Adrian made for me (made up of 2 separate pickups - a strat style coil plus a wide/flat coil more like a Jazzmaster), and a vintage spec tele bridge pickup, wired up like a strat with a 5-way switch.

Here’s what I received:



One of the previous owners (maybe Molly?) had an aftermarket pickguard made so that they could use standard tele pickups. The original guard and pickups were in the bag with the guitar, but no electronics. The pickups won't fit this pickguard, and the electronics from this won't fit the original guard, so I can't actually assemble a complete guitar out of what I have.

The original Benderbucker pickup has water damage. Haven't tested it to see if it works yet, but cosmetically, it's pretty awful:


Pickguard was just floating- not screwed down, a fair number of the pick guard screw holes have been stripped out (so they'll need filling and re-drilling):


Undisclosed dents from a jack plug hitting the guitar:


More undisclosed dents/damage around the edges and on the back (the first is huge):






The top has a collection of fairly light, but obvious tool marks:


Pickguard is really amateurish with rough and lumpy edges (no offence intended to the person who made it- it’s not easy), and that was also not disclosed:


The damage to the guitar, the state of the pick guard, and the disassembled state were not disclosed prior to making the deal.

He has offered to cover the cost of me sending it back to him, but I don’t want to do that- I have a strong sentimental attachment to this guitar. He has also apologised, but not before trying to brush it off as no big deal, claiming that the guitar was in excellent condition other than the dent from the jack (which it very clearly is not). It’s also not the first time he’s done this- I know of at least 2 other examples of him sending items with undisclosed damage or faults.

I asked him to drop the price to reflect the missing parts, the undisclosed damage, and the time I’m going to need to spend putting it back together, but he wouldn’t. TBH, I’d settle for just having the missing parts so that I actually CAN put it back together, but he wouldn’t even offer to do that. I can live with the dents etc- it's a tele, but the level of damage should have been disclosed first- its' not trivial.

I won’t be trading with this person again, and I think this thread should serve as a warning to anyone else thinking about it. I won’t name him directly, but I suspect it won’t be hard to figure it out.

[sizzlingbadger]

I bought it from you. I put the Jess Loureiro pickups in it and polished the matt body finish, it was a great guitar and in excellent condition when I sold it on. I should have kept it.

[KNNZ]

Sorry to hear that Ben. When I was hunting for a Tele not long ago he offered this to me for $1250 with exactly what you received in the picture. I asked if it was the same one as Molly sold for $750 in this link https://www.nzguitars.com/forum/viewtop ... er#p796551
I then offered $1000 since I knew it was sold around $750 in the past and got no reply but was lucky that I found another Tele that I now own instead of this. I too was not disclosed of all this damage info. Sad really

[bender]

I bought it from you. I put the Jess Loureiro pickups in it and polished the matt body finish, it was a great guitar and in excellent condition when I sold it on. I should have kept it.

It still is a great guitar, or at least will be when I can afford to get the parts to put it back together.

[MogwaiBoy]

Undisclosed dents from a jack plug hitting the guitar:

Wow, I see what you mean about Paulownia being soft!

Sad that these things weren't disclosed. Goes to show, have to becareful letting one-off/custom stuff go - you never know if you might want it back in future, and will other people look after it the way you have?

[TmcB]

That is atrocious behaviour! Name and shame.
That’s what I’d expect from someone on my TM blacklist, not a forumite.


I remember how awesome that was - such a shame to see it so beaten up.

[jeremyb]

Paulownia is crazy soft, its almost like balsa wood, this is seriously disappointing

[Mini Forklift]

That's terrible, awful when something like this happens and it completely takes the shine off what should be a really happy experience. I wouldn't feel bad about naming and shaming, at least that way we can all add them to our Blacklist's and stop it happening to anyone on here

[Polar Bear]

Wow. That is beyond shocking Ben. That’s truly dishonest on behalf of whomever flogged it back to you. Whether it was through maliciousness, laziness or most likely, careless disregard for detail, it’s heartbreaking to receive a guitar in such a punished condition.
It will take a while for the bad taste to be washed from it too, as it’s going to need a lot of work to get it back to a useable state, albeit with it continuing to carry the reckless tool marks and battle scars someone else inflicted on it.
I really hope that you find a resolution with the seller, as this is currently a broken husk, and you’ve bought it on the understanding that it was a working entity.
Best of luck, you don’t deserve to have to put up with an unnecessary battle for what is the right thing to do!

[robnobcorncob]

Wait, so you bought it back as a working instrument, no issues disclosed, and it arrived missing all those bits? that's more than a little frustrating. Hopefully you can find a resolution, as it sounds like a guitar worth keeping.

Paulownia is crazy soft, its almost like balsa wood, this is seriously disappointing

It is crazy soft, but that is also quite a dent.

[Mini Forklift]

Bender, FWIW I had a similar experience with a nice old Marshall I sold last year. I had it advertised on TM and I also had it advertised at a lower price on here

The buyer must have got wind that it was being advertised for less elsewhere and asked if I would sell it to him at the 'forum price' (even though he's not on here). After some deliberation I agreed out of courtesy. As a further nice gesture I replaced the old tubes with some nice NOS ones, this cost me an extra couple of hand shandy bucks but I did it because he seemed genuinely excited and passionate about this particular old Marshall. I sent the amp extremely well packaged with the tubes bubble wrapped, boxed and then bagged and sent separately from the amp. Both were packaged well enough that either probably could have withstood a drop from a careless courier

Got a text from him a few days later saying ones of the tubes had smashed and he wanted a refund for what it would cost him to replace with an equivalent tube. I resisted, told him these tubes were above and beyond what he had paid for (not to mention the discount I'd already given him). I asked for a photo and he refused, can't remember why even though I pushed him for proof that it was indeed smashed. Anyhow he wouldn't back down or shut up and was relentless - I ended up firing $100 back just to get rid of him. When the dust had settled he got the amp for $500 cheaper and got $100 back on top of that - and after I sent the money to him I never heard a word. Not even a thank you

Unfortunately this was a while back and I can't remember his TM username, however I have no issue in naming people like this that knowingly do stuff like this

[bender]

Bender, FWIW I had a similar experience with a nice old Marshall I sold last year. I had it advertised on TM and I also had it advertised at a lower price on here

The buyer must have got wind that it was being advertised for less elsewhere and asked if I would sell it to him at the 'forum price' (even though he's not on here). After some deliberation I agreed out of courtesy. As a further nice gesture I replaced the old tubes with some nice NOS ones, this cost me an extra couple of hand shandy bucks but I did it because he seemed genuinely excited and passionate about this particular old Marshall. I sent the amp extremely well packaged with the tubes bubble wrapped, boxed and then bagged and sent separately from the amp. Both were packaged well enough that either probably could have withstood a drop from a careless courier

Got a text from him a few days later saying ones of the tubes had smashed and he wanted a refund for what it would cost him to replace with an equivalent tube. I resisted, told him these tubes were above and beyond what he had paid for (not to mention the discount I'd already given him). I asked for a photo and he refused, can't remember why even though I pushed him for proof that it was indeed smashed. Anyhow he wouldn't back down or shut up and was relentless - I ended up firing $100 back just to get rid of him. When the dust had settled he got the amp for $500 cheaper and got $100 back on top of that - and after I sent the money to him I never heard a word. Not even a thank you

Unfortunately this was a while back and I can't remember his TM username, however I have no issue in naming people like this that knowingly do stuff like this

I vaguely remember you posting something like this. That sucks.

The seller in this case is a very well known forum member. You can work it out if you follow the link that KNNZ posted earlier.

[Kev77]

I have a new pick guard to fit if that helps. It’s the thinline shape without any routs.
Happy to send it to you.

[opsguy]

Sorry to see this Ben. I was an early owner of this gat as well, super nice and crazy light. Hopefully the forum member does the right thing.

[Kev77]

Names please