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Rants
| Common
Pricing Scam, Watch out for corporate
guitar brands "custom shop" models. They are only slightly better
than their low end imported counterparts. Yet the Pricing can
sometimes be more than triple. When I worked for Gibson in the early
90's the rule of thumb on pricing was,
Overprice the guitar so the customer will assume it's better than
the competition.
(Many Companies Are Catching On To That Scam Today) |
Collectors Make Sure You
Read This, It's Important!
Basic Autograph Intelligence !!!
We get asked for this stuff all the
time!!!!
We will warn you before you buy it !!! We will take your money if you
insist!!!!!
Hello Kiddies, This Is A $99.00
Squire Guitar
No matter what you do to it it's still
just a $99.00 Squire
Wholesale in China approximately $28.00
Look at the price on the bottom right
$4,295.00 "Holy Frickin Shit Batman"
See Below For A Close Up !!!!
I took these pictures in a popular memorabilia shop In Los Angeles.
People actually buy this type of crap !!!!!
If you do you have more money than brains !!!!!
The guitar has been autographed so maybe the guitar is worth $400.00
The frame is worth $200.00 but who wants to frame a $99.00 Guitar.
You can find this crap at Hollywood Blvd ripoff tourist traps etc etc.
NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER BUY ONE OF THOSE CHEAPO AUTOGRAPH
GUITARS !!!!
It is probably the worst investment you could ever
make.
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SMARTER BUYERS WILL LOOK FOR
Medium & Upper quality USA made guitars, minimum $800.00 & up will appreciate
in value, maybe they will never get as high as $4,295.00 but at least you would not be ashamed to hang it in your
office or rec room. The rule of thumb here is'
The higher priced the guitar is
!!! The higher the value of the autograph !!!!
If the guitar actually belonged to the person who signs it
then your investment is much safer. and the value will surely
escalate depending on the fan base of the celebrity.
See Investment Grade Guitars
Here is an example, I have in my vault 2 guitars signed by BB
King, Both of them are Lucille models and both of them are in
perfect condition. Most of the time, The Epiphone will never be
really valuable except for about 2 to 3 weeks right after BB King
passes away.
I don't mean to sound like a ghoul, I am just relating facts. During
the aftermath of BB's death some foolish investor will probably pay
way too much for it. Several years later he may try to sell it and
discover that he will be lucky to get 10% of his money back,
Ouch !!!!
The other one I have is a $5,000.00 "Super
Lucille" from Gibson. It has been signed and numbered. This will
surely escalate because BB King is a very big star, He is a very
well known guitarist. So it's a pretty safe bet that the Super
Lucille is a good investment.
OK, yeah I know !!!
You can't afford the more expensive one.
That is the basic reason the rich get
richer, and the poor always stay poor !!!!!
Either buy something good or don't buy
anything at all !!!! There are
always exceptions to every rule, I am certainly not infallible
even though I have been accused of thinking I am LOL
I am usually right and you would be playing
a good hand if you follow this simple advice.
I repeat !!!
Either buy something good or don't
buy anything at all !!!! |
Currently I have a $1,000.00 Fender Guitar that has been signed by Eric Clapton
The price is about half what the Squire above is selling for.
The guitar below is a 3,000.00 Gibson 61 reissue exactly like
Clapton's Original
There are over 60 hours of hand paint work in 88 colors invested in this guitar
The frame is a far better frame than the one above
This is selling for $5,900.00
This guitar is a real conversation piece,
it is as high quality as Gibson makes and it screams Eric Clapton
The original 1968 copy of Disraeli Gears is signed by Clapton Bruce & Baker
Still an expensive instrument but not a bad investment !!!!!
We supply these to numerous
Hard Rock Casinos Around The World
We Do Player Models, Exhibition Models & We Will Even Paint Yours If You Like
!!!
Group Of Gibson SG's
We have a mint 1965 SG Std for $21,000.00
Guitar is 100% correct no stories absolutely mint
Overpriced You Betcha, Call Ed at the Custom Shop 702-875-4552
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Expensive Versus
Overpriced
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Expensive Guitars: An
expensive guitar would be like a
JET ,
Turner,
Centurion or even an
Abstract. These are
guitars that cost a fair amount of money. You must understand that they are
worth every penny, because they are totally hand made by a
talented Luthier from start to finish.
There are new engineering ideas incorporated, extremely
high end tone woods, all the finest components available & no
expense is spared to make sure these are the finest guitars
available on the planet. The Luthiers, that build all of the guitars
that we choose to call expensive guitars, are driven by the goal of
absolute perfection. (click
here)
These guitars are supposed to make you a better player. That's
what you are paying the extra money for. One of my pet peeves
is that occasionally a chain store like Guitar Center will have
something in stock that is cool and competes with some of the above.
The problem is the setup is usually so bad, the strings are rusty
and corroded and there is never anyone there who knows about
it. So the poor customer gets screwed by virtue of the fact that he
can go into a Guitar Center anywhere and then he thinks he has
checked out the guitar. In reality he hasn't checked out the guitar,
but from his point of view that guitar might not be that great.
Next Time You Go Into A Guitar Center ask the salesman what kind of wood the
guitar is made of. If you get real lucky he might know. If he happens to know
ask him the tonal properties of the woods and why does one type sound better
than another. These are basic simple questions. I highly doubt the
salesman will have any idea what you are talking about.
If you walked into a Ferrari dealer and the car looked like
crap, the windows were broken and the motor wasn't tuned up properly
you might think a Ferrari was a piece of dung. I can
promise you that will probably not happen but a chain store music
store is usually run so badly that that scenario would be
commonplace.
Overpriced Guitars: Are
simply overpriced guitars. Most come from the large mega
corporations that mass produce guitars, they are known to flourish
by putting out limited editions or historic reissues of an
older model guitar.
They will then proceed to sell these average quality,
average looking, questionable quality guitars for incredibly high
prices. The most amazing thing is that the more they charge,
the more value the public perceives they are receiving &
consequently more are sold.
Here at Ed Roman's, we will never give
up trying to re educate the public. Lately it seems we
are finally making a lot of progress. But eventually the
big box stores will win, The consumers today are uneducated they
don't really know what to look for. A real shame !!!!!
In all actuality, the usual basic overpriced guitar will
incorporate worthless plastic inlays, cheap rosewood fingerboards,
plywood or laminate construction, loose neck joints, cheap hardware, fair
workmanship, and no new positive enhancements that could possibly
make the guitar worth even 1/5th of what it is selling for.
These companies rely solely on the false perception that their
advertising represents, without paying celebrities huge sums of
money, These companies would
all drop & die.
(Good riddance)
Some companies are better than others. Fender for example will
charge more for their anniversary models & artist series guitars. In
most cases however there are some definite improvements and they are
not charging an arm and a leg more as say for example some other
companies do.
There is nothing fundamentally wrong with a Japanese or Korean
Guitar. In fact some of them are excellent. I take issue that
some of these companies like ESP for example actually have Japanese
and or Korean guitars that list in the $4,200.00 range. That
is simply insanity. The guitar should sell for somewhere around
$800.00 ! That would allow the company to make a fair markup
and be able to function well. These guitars are priced very high and
they don't even offer simple premiums like tone pros bridges or ebony fretboards.
Another sure fire way to spot a rip-off is to look at the
tremolo system. Don't accept anything with a soft metal bridge
plate, stay away from imported Floyd Rose Licensed trems, Be careful of
cheapo rosewood fingerboards.
Frontloading The Collector or Cache Value:
Never ever ever, buy a guitar from any company that is charging up front for
possible extra value later.
Unless they are only charging a small
token amount more like Fender does. Gibson will charge you for almost 10 times the value when they
release their Artist, Reissue & Anniversary models. The dealers who purchase these
guitars lose their shirts. I have bought over 20 of them used
at way below dealer cost. This should tell you that the investment
was not a good one. Many dealers are stuck with product that
no one will buy. Luckily for the consumer some of these particular
campaigns fail miserably but Gibson's overpriced Historic Reissues
continue to be a huge source of revenue for them.
These Guitars
Appeal To Counterfeiters
If you stop & think about it sensibly for a period of just two
minutes, You might then realize, that these reissue guitars are
designed solely for the purpose of appealing to a counterfeiter,
These maggots who
may be planning on distressing it to give it the appearance of being
original. The appeal lies in the fact that the guitar could then be
sold to another unsuspecting consumer as an older original model.
Consumers have been known to spend insane amounts of money, trying
to join the exclusive club of people, who truly own the original
vintage guitars. These people are usually long on money
& short on self esteem or brains.
Personally, I am not into joining any of those little cliques,
I would rather invest my money in guitars where the workmanship,
quality & designs separate them from the rest of the pack.
Ed Roman
July 2006 |
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Examples Of
Overpriced Guitars
If you want to add to this list please contact me
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BRAND |
MODEL |
SOLD NEW FOR |
ACTUAL VALUE |
| Gibson |
Doubleneck, Jimi Page |
$27,500.00 |
$3,500.00 * |
| Gibson |
Joe Perry Boneyard |
$5,000.00 |
$1,895.00 |
| Gibson |
335, Eric Clapton |
$12,000.00 |
$1,995.00
* |
| Charvel EVH |
Frankenstrat Striped |
$25,000.00 |
$4,000.00 * |
| Gibson |
59 Historic Reissue |
$5,900.00 |
$2,295.00 |
| Gene Simmons |
Import Punisher Bass |
$1,900.00 |
$899.00 |
| Gene Simmons |
Axe Bass Spencer Gifts |
$4,000.00 |
$1,200.00 |
| PRS |
Dragon |
$13,500.00 |
$4,000.00 |
| Parker |
Fly |
$1,500.000.00 |
Check it Out |
|
Actual value is taking
into account the cache value of the artist associated with the Instrument.
The EVH guitar I have made it $4,000.00 because Eddie is entitled to make
a profit. The actual guitars including the art series of 2006 were all
ridiculously overpriced. They didn't even play well. I have it on a good
source that Eddie hated them himself. Another major Rip-off is
the corporate slime that provides Guitar Center with exclusive Crap-ola
guitars that sell for STUPID money simply because they have a monopoly on
the unit. I think this borders on the illegal and it is certainly
unethical. Witness the Jimi Page Doubleneck and The Eric Clapton plywood
constructed 335.
What can you do to
protect yourself
Common sense is the only way. Use your head man !!!!!
When I sell a J. Frog, George Lynch Skull N' Bones for $4,400.00 you must
take into account that it takes a skilled carver the better part of a week
to hand carve all those bones. By these numbers a company like Gibson
would have to charge $40,000.00 to realize the same percentage of profit
that they would make on the Jimi Page & Eric Clapton Models.
Currently there is a guy on the internet selling horribly incorrect
J Frog copies for under $2,000.00. They are even worse than those cheap copies ESP
made back in 1998. Of course he is not paying any royalties like we do and
of course he is using a CNC machine. He doesn't even have the headstock
right. What a Putz.
I repeat COMMON SENSE is your best
friend. look at the instrument carefully. Is it made from real wood, are
the inlays made from real Mother of Pearl or are they Mother of Toilet
Seat. The famous Gibson 1959 1958 Reissues are all inlaid with Real
Jenuewhine Latrinium. Unbelievable but 100% true!!!
Latrinium is an affectionate name for "Mother of Toilet Seat"
AKA " MOTO" On this page I have assembled a
couple of pertinent articles, you may find interest in. I
realize the above article will probably piss off more than just a
few people. I also assume these are people who either have real, or
think, they have real vintage guitars, I am sure I will piss off the
counterfeiters & manufacturers that knowingly take part in
these scams. I welcome your comments and letters, I will print
any and all of them. If you disagree with me please try to refrain
from calling me names and stick to the issues at hand. I present
these articles in the spirit of educating the customers and I mean
no direct insult to the people who may or may not have already spent
a ton of money on what they thought was an exceptionally good guitar.
I'm Just The Messenger, Please Don't Kill The Messenger !!!!
Read On & Please Send In Those Comments !!!!! |
People
Write Me
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Even
One More Unhappy Gibson Guy
Hello Ed..;);)
Greetings from Norway..
been looking at your website for a few hours now and I am
impressed, especially the rants section
as I have some bad experience myself with gibson guitars.
first I owned a Les Paul studio that had several glips
between the fretboard and neck, think they tried to paint
over it or something, didn't work..;);)cost me 12000
kr.(1800 dollars) some 16 years ago ..a lot of money when
you are 14..
now the reason for buying my Les Paul was of course slash of
guns n roses, my hero.. (See
Ghostbuilders, Ed)
and your section on brand loyalty is also very interesting
and very true, as I have been there myself, buying all of
Gibsons B.S. about their "hand crafted" instruments.. I have
found no such thing in my Gibsons..;);)
my second guitar was an Explorer, brand new 2007 model,
and the same damn thing was wrong with the
neck on this one as well. Only the glips was bigger, it
looked like they hadn't even tried to fit the fretboard
right.. it stood out a couple of millimeters from the neck
all the way from 5.fret up to the 12.fret..
poor craftsmanship at best.. I mean even the cheapest of
models from brands like Ibanez etc. you will not find
major flaws like this..
how the hell can they go on making their crappy
instr..??and people are still buying..??
I have now gotten rid of both my gibsons and be sure: there
will never be one in my house again...ever!!!
I am now a proud owner of an Ibanez universe 7 string.. and
it works and sounds better than I could ever imagine..
will not trade that one for any other guitar, the build is
excellent and so far beyond gibson`s sad attempts..
by the way.. any views up`s or down`s regarding Ibanez
guitars..??just curious..;);)
oh and I have to mention the Les Paul slash signature model,
here in Norway the list price is 65.000 kroner.
that should be about $9.500 !!!!!...what does Gibson do that
can justify that kind of prices..??ghost build like you have
mentioned..?? Slash probably gets his share I reckon..;);)
Well thats all from me, Use this if you can/want to on your
website, be sure I will do my bit to convert people into
thinking for and by themselves, not believing all the
commercial stuff they read from major corps. like gibson..
Hans E. Beddari
Stjørdal.
Norway.
Thanks Hans for your
letter,
Who knows, Maybe it
might convince some other 14 year old not to make the
mistake that you and I both made when we were young.
Could be, it's useless
to try and fight the corporate machine that is Gibson !!!!!
I get lot's of negativity slung at me because I choose to
call it the way I see it...
Occasionally when
someone tells me they didn't fall for the corporate BS,
I am elated,
Today in the USA most
people are brainwashed and programmed before they are out of
3rd grade. I guess we can thank the American
Advertising Council for turning our country into a 3rd
world. Of course all the wonderful American businessmen who
only care about making money for themselves that sends all
our wonderful designs to China so they can put all their
employees out of work.
Don't those idiotic
morons realize that no one can afford to buy anything if
they don't have a job... Duh !!!!
Maybe someday our
American culture will mature enough to realize what is
actually happening to us !!!!
I know that my
customers in Norway are all doing quite well because I sell
a lot of very expensive guitars there.
Thanks again for your
letter !!!
Ed Roman
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| Mr Roman I must apologize to you, I
was one of those people who spoke badly of you for your
negative comments on Gibson Guitars. I was foolishly
parroting other people who advised me not to deal with
you. Three plus years ago, I did not buy my Gibson L5S
from you even though your price was $400.00 less than
anyone else. My local dealer told me that I would be
unwise to deal with you.
I'm am now kicking myself for not buying it from you.
The one I ended up with was the biggest piece of Shit I
have ever owned. Perhaps the one I would have gotten
from you might have been better.
The guitar I bought was a 3 year nightmare till I
finally got completely disgusted and traded it in at a
huge loss at my local guitar center,
Did I learn from my first experience? NO like a stupid
stupid STUPID fool I let them talk me into a Gibson 335
which proceeded to give me the same exact problems that
I had with the first Gibson. (Luckily they felt
sorry for me and took it back) but because I traded my
other guitar in they gave me credit instead of cash.
I ended up losing over $11.000.00 and here I sit with a
$2,200.00 credit from a store that I don't want to do
business with. I really painted myself into a corner on
this deal. Plus I paid freight 4 times to send the
guitar back to Gibson and I cannot remember one single
minute of joy in three years that lemon guitar ever
provided me with.
My first guitar went back to Gibson 4 times in 3
years, Each time it was there for longer than 3 months,
One time they misplaced it and they almost had to give
me another guitar but woe is me they found it at the
last minute.
The binding came off the body the fingerboard
delaminated, 2 of the inlays popped out and one broke.
The replacement ones did not even closely match and when
I got the guitar back the first time the fingerboard had
a 13" crack from the third fret right up the neck.
The replacement binding was again coming loose because
they did not re-spray a clear finish over the binding and
the body wood shrank.
The wiring looked like a monkey had done it, they
were supposed to redo it and they never even touched it.
plus when it came back the first time there were big
gouge marks in the finish at the neck where presumably
someone had hung it on a hook that the rubber was
missing from. This was the first of four times the
guitar had gone back. When I first took the guitar
out of the case in the store the varitone switch was
loose. So when I tried to turn it all the wiring got
buggered up because it wiring wrapped around the base of
the varitone. What a mess.
I sent the guitar back again with careful
instructions for them to repair each item, I expected
them to replace the fingerboard, instead they glued it
and filled the crack with ebony dust. I paid
$12,000.00 plus tax for this POS guitar and I was getting
pretty upset.
If I had bought the guitar from you I would have
saved the sales tax which was over $1,000.00 dollars.
My final receipt was $13,020.00 from the dealer I bought
it from. Your full price delivered was $11,600.00.
I feel like a real idiot. I don't remember your
salesman's name because this happened close to 4 years
ago but he might remember me because we spoke 3 or 4
times. He was very nice and very patient with me. I
really wish I had bought it from you. Cest La Vie'
I have been reading your website quite a bit, I think
I understand now why people say what they say. You tell
it like it is, You are right, you would make a bad
politician, it seems you are too straight forward
and often you will take an unpopular view and run with it.
Based on my further research, I am sure you would have
helped me with my problems. I am not going to mention
the dealer I bought from because I don't hold him
responsible. He just delivered the guitar, I realize it
was my fault that I bought it from him. I feel like you
would not have abandoned me 60 days into the deal and
told me I would have to deal directly with Gibson
myself.
When I saw your R5S by RVC for $6,500.00 I almost had
a heart attack ! What a beautiful guitar !
How can you handmake it for that price? I am pretty
certain I made a colossal mistake by not having you just
build me a guitar in the first place.
The situation with Gibson got so bad that I went to the
consumer protection agency here in Wisconsin and made a
4 page complaint. When and if it finally settles I will
send you a copy of the whole mess. The worst part of the
whole thing was the people at Gibson were anything but
helpful. I would wait on hold for 20 to 25 minutes many
times I would just give up and hang up the phone. When I
Screw Up I really Screw Up !!!!
I am still hoping for some satisfaction but now that the
guitar is gone I doubt I will be able to prove any of
this and I will have to settle for giving them a bad
review with the better business bureau and consumer
protection agency. I still cannot believe what happened
to me. I could not even evoke any sympathy for all the
grief I was going through from Gibson. I swear I
will never again buy any product that says Gibson on it.
I have learned my lesson!
I will be contacting you in September of this year I
have decided I want you to build me a guitar. If I have
a bad experience with you like I did with Gibson I may
just give up playing guitar. I'm 62 years old and I
don't have the strength to fight with anyone anymore.
This Gibson deal has really demoralized me.
My sincerest apologies for being stupid enough to
believe some of this BS I heard about you and your
company. When I read it now, I have come to realize that a lot of it looks like it
was written by the same person. Nowhere can I find
anyone actually who can give an actual instance of
someone getting screwed, Its always I heard, I heard. I
have seen a lot of great things in print about you also,
and most of them seem surprised at the bad reviews.
One thing I have really learned, Never send a guitar
back to the manufacturer to repair it. They are not
repair people and they don't know how to repair guitars.
They are factory workers who build guitars on assembly
lines and have not a clue how to fix any kind of serious
problem.
Like you say on your website, If you buy a Ford and the
air conditioning goes out you simply get it fixed
locally by a competent repairman. Sending it back to the
factory is a really bad idea.
The dealer I bought the guitar from barely can do set
ups in his store, they send all their repair work out.
I'm sorry If I'm rambling but I never even got to
tell you about the other 3 times it went back. When this
is over I will send you a copy of the 4 page complaint,
please print it and maybe someone else might benefit
from my loss.
Again I apologize, I hope to be your customer real
soon, Been looking at the Blues Deluxe, the Quicksilver
looks very interesting. I love the Avanti & The RVC too.
You make a lot of interesting points on your comparison
pages. I wish I had read your website better a long time
ago ! It's obvious to me now that you know
what you are talking about !
My Best Regards
Robert A. Woschner
Wisconsin |
Thank you VERY much
for ripping on Gibson. As a former employee of Gibson I know first
hand at the lack of quality and craftsmanship. There are so many
corners cut at that factory it's disgusting, particularly for a
product that costs on the average about as much as a decent used
car. We need to spread the word about this shady company. And you're
right, most people are misinformed about Gibson and just want the
"vanity" of having one. Thanks once again and let's get more rants
about Gibson.
Benjamin Unwin
P.S. they treat their employees like shit too. |
|
Hey Ed I just wanted to let you know that I
bought a Gibson Les Paul Standard that was supposedly 100% American
made a few months ago at the local Guitar Center. The piece of $hit
was maybe 20% made in America, probably just assembled. I took off
the tuners because they were locking up and wouldn't even tighten or
loosen the string with 30 full turns to swap them with an old SG
Reissue. I got the SG's off and they felt much heavier than the LPs
(that happened to be glued on) and (here's the surprise) they were
made in Asia. For a supposedly quality USA made instrument I would
expect much better. To make it even worse, the SG's tuners wouldn't
even fit in the holes drilled in the LP. They even had the nerve to
put Gibson Deluxe on the back of the crappy import tuners. To make
the Les Paul worse, the fingerboard is very crappily sanded down,
the bridge pickup went dead after a few weeks and the strap button
near the neck fell out of the hole. I did not expect this since I
had such a good experience with my SG. To top it all off,
when I called the Gibson Warranty Claims
office, they basically told me to f**k off. They acted like I had
done something wrong and when I hung up on them, I realized that I
had. That mistake was that I bought a Gibson from Guitar
Center. From the point I got the Les Paul, the only thing I ever
bought at GC was a bulk pack of strings. Both Gibson and Guitar
Center have lost a customer who has spent thousands of dollars at
each company and possibly would have spent several thousand more if
his experience had been better. Just thought you might like to hear
some support for what you're doing and you could add this to a rant
about brand loyalty or the $hitiness of Gibson. Keep doing what
you're doing,
Matt Molter |
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This is a Gibson 100th Anniversary
Explorer
The Retail List Price is $10,000.00 as of 1994
That was truly an overpriced guitar!!!
This guitar is in reality a $1,200.00
that should have sold for $849.00 at the absolute highest
Gibson has preloaded a huge cache to it's price.
Today 13 years later this guitar will
bring $3,200.00 if you are lucky.
Just Because !!!
Just because I think they are
overpriced & don't stand up to many
other brands.
Just because I think the new ones all have
very low resale value.
Just because the necks break like toothpicks.
Just because I don't like the neck
design
Doesn't mean I won't sell them.
It just so happens, I make a buttload of money
Repairing Gibson Guitars!
Ed Roman
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