Down and Out in NYC
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The review of the instrument will be added as time permits
Its actually not new guitar day, I've had her in my possession for about a month now. Heres a quick rundown of the process the build and a review of the instrument.
The order was placed in August of 2005. I was told by Joe that due to his backlog the build would most likely take about 3 1/2 years. I decided to move forward anyway. The guitar as originally spec'd was to be built with a mahogany body and neck, a brazilian rosewood or cocobolo fingerboard and a koa top. Joe had no koa top available at the time the order was placed. I volunteered to source the koa top myself. Approximately 6 months later around Feb of 2006 I found a piece of koa. It was HUGE. More than large enough to build multiple guitars from. The specs where changed. The guitar would now have a solid 1 piece koa body and neck. The fingerboard and headstock overlay were also confirmed as customer supplied brazilian rosewood. Joe offered to let the wood season/dry at his shop. We never discussed how much time this would add to the build although he did estimate the wood would need about a year to get to a workable point. I'm just assuming completion would be sometime between 2009 and 2010.
Fast forward about a year. I contact Joe, who took multiple attempts to reach, to see how the lumbers looking. He tells me it isn't ready yet but will be real soon. I let some time go by, 4 maybe 6 months. I reach out again, multiple times. I am told the wood is perfect. He says he will have some pics for me by the weekend. The weekend never comes. Over the course of approximately the next year numerous phone calls and e mails to Joe go unanswered. I finally get in touch with Joe on the phone, he sounds enthusiastic telling me my wood is finally dry. My head practically exploded.
Ya know what, this is way to exhausting trying to do this from memory. Any e mail communication between Joe and I prior to 08/30/2012 was on computers that are long gone, I failed to resave them whenever I replaced my computer. Long story short. August 2012, I still havent seen any progress on the guitar ordered in August of 2005. Communication the entire time was spotty at best. Whenever we would finally speak or he would respond to an e mail it was either I'll have something for you by the weekend or a never ending cavalcade of excuses that tended to repeat themselves more than once. On more than one occasion I had requested a refund, which Joe told me would not be an option.
At my wits end over this situation I started a thread seeking advice. This thread opened up the line of communication between Joe and myself. Within days of the thread work had begun on my guitar. The first pics I received where of the neck in its early stages of construction.
Two days after that , another pic. This time of the headstock being glued on.
As work is moving along on the instrument Joe agrees to give me a written timetable scheduling work on the guitar and assures me I will have the guitar by Xmas 2012. A complete list of specs is finalized. 4 months to complete. Not bad. I never received that written timetable.
Lots of progress pics in Sept of 2012. Here's a couple of em
I don't believe I received any updates in October although communication remains good. November Joe Had multiple videos of various phases of the neck and body carving posted on you tube. Heres the links
If anyones interested you can find 3 other videos on you tube.
I believe they are two of the neck being cnc'd and 1 of the back of the body.
To be continued
( Part 2 to posts below )
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Its actually not new guitar day, I've had her in my possession for about a month now. Heres a quick rundown of the process the build and a review of the instrument.
The order was placed in August of 2005. I was told by Joe that due to his backlog the build would most likely take about 3 1/2 years. I decided to move forward anyway. The guitar as originally spec'd was to be built with a mahogany body and neck, a brazilian rosewood or cocobolo fingerboard and a koa top. Joe had no koa top available at the time the order was placed. I volunteered to source the koa top myself. Approximately 6 months later around Feb of 2006 I found a piece of koa. It was HUGE. More than large enough to build multiple guitars from. The specs where changed. The guitar would now have a solid 1 piece koa body and neck. The fingerboard and headstock overlay were also confirmed as customer supplied brazilian rosewood. Joe offered to let the wood season/dry at his shop. We never discussed how much time this would add to the build although he did estimate the wood would need about a year to get to a workable point. I'm just assuming completion would be sometime between 2009 and 2010.
Fast forward about a year. I contact Joe, who took multiple attempts to reach, to see how the lumbers looking. He tells me it isn't ready yet but will be real soon. I let some time go by, 4 maybe 6 months. I reach out again, multiple times. I am told the wood is perfect. He says he will have some pics for me by the weekend. The weekend never comes. Over the course of approximately the next year numerous phone calls and e mails to Joe go unanswered. I finally get in touch with Joe on the phone, he sounds enthusiastic telling me my wood is finally dry. My head practically exploded.
Ya know what, this is way to exhausting trying to do this from memory. Any e mail communication between Joe and I prior to 08/30/2012 was on computers that are long gone, I failed to resave them whenever I replaced my computer. Long story short. August 2012, I still havent seen any progress on the guitar ordered in August of 2005. Communication the entire time was spotty at best. Whenever we would finally speak or he would respond to an e mail it was either I'll have something for you by the weekend or a never ending cavalcade of excuses that tended to repeat themselves more than once. On more than one occasion I had requested a refund, which Joe told me would not be an option.
At my wits end over this situation I started a thread seeking advice. This thread opened up the line of communication between Joe and myself. Within days of the thread work had begun on my guitar. The first pics I received where of the neck in its early stages of construction.
Two days after that , another pic. This time of the headstock being glued on.
As work is moving along on the instrument Joe agrees to give me a written timetable scheduling work on the guitar and assures me I will have the guitar by Xmas 2012. A complete list of specs is finalized. 4 months to complete. Not bad. I never received that written timetable.
Lots of progress pics in Sept of 2012. Here's a couple of em
I don't believe I received any updates in October although communication remains good. November Joe Had multiple videos of various phases of the neck and body carving posted on you tube. Heres the links
If anyones interested you can find 3 other videos on you tube.
I believe they are two of the neck being cnc'd and 1 of the back of the body.
To be continued
( Part 2 to posts below )
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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