*BUYER BEWARE* *SCAM ARTIST* My wife had this guy "custom make" a tom delonge replica guitar for me…read moreas a surprise gift. (For around $1000) (we live in arizona so he probably thought he could get away with it) within minutes of receiving it in the mail, I was Horrified! I contacted him on every platform I could and barely got a response..I gave him a huge list of what was wrong with the guitar ~~(half tightened screws,missing screws,stripped screws,loose pickgaurd, loose & uneven pickup, loose neck plate, loose backplate, protruding & bent volume knob, filthy and scratched bridge with crap all over it & missing parts, only 3 strings,loose, paint was chipped on back, old backplate with hole in it, only 1 spring inside guitar and it wasn't even connected, he used some random neck that he already had and put that on body, the tuning pegs were rusted, and had a stain on the back of head stock, no strap buttons, cable wouldn't fit into output jack, bad soldering job,all metal pieces were scratched up)~~ as well as sent photos and videos. Out of about 26 emails, he probably responded 5 times. When I asked why certain things were messed up or not done at all!? He just wouldn't answer me , would just tell me how he "knows the guitar was perfect". The only thing he answered to was when I said he's trying to just give me the run around and he said "I promise I'm not giving you the run around, if you have questions on something specific, ask or send pics of vids." To which I did, MULTIPLE times! He was just stalling.. I even asked for a refund and he never responded to that. He did however say "I'll just send you some strings and screws" (since the strings were missing! And my wife paid to have it stringed.and screws were either stripped, missing, wrong size, or not even screwed in all the way) in 1 email he said "I could send it back to him to fix" but for $1000 it should have already been ready to go! why would I send the guitar back to him if that was a half ass job that was done in the first place?? My wife even paid 100$ for fast shipping!, which he was LATE on sending! And when my wife asked why he didn't send it on time ( because she saw with the tracking number exactly when it was sent) he sent her pictures of his "deceased infant" saying how he is a trustworthy guy and wouldn't lie about something like that. (which who the hell does something like that anyways???) But we found out that was obviously a lie! She also paid for a brand new guitar for him to go pick up and customize in the first place, ($250) but not 1 thing on the guitar was original! It was all used parts! So not only did he do a completely horrible job but he didn't even use the guitar that was bought! he kept the new guitar! *THIEF* and just put used parts on a already finished body (he claims he painted the body but after taking it into somebody who has been in the business 40 years, he told me he most likley bought a prefinished body and just put on used parts, and just kept the new guitar) I Had to pay another $300 to have everything fixed that he didn't do correctly. And got told it shoulda been $450 because it was more complicated than he thought after getting into fixing it. we've already reported it as fraud through venmo (the app we paid him through) I have no idea why somebody would risk their own buisness to do such an awful thing but this guy has no moral fiber in his body and will say ANYTHING to scam you. DO NOT BE A VICTIM! (I have photo and video evidence of all claims made) I just can't wait to forget about this guy. Karma is real.

Had the headstock snap off a guitar after a fall and found my first Luthier, Dan. The short version…read moreis he did quality work and my son is enjoying the very first guitar he purchased with his own money. My son's teacher originally considered the guitar not salvageable and was later impressed with Dan's craftsmanship. Dan is passionate about guitars, and he's a talker who can be disorganized. He also seems a bit OCD. This is great for repair detail, but leads to so much detail you start to question if he's really fixing your guitar, or has sold it on the black market and is stringing you along. He fixed the guitar, and it looks and sounds great. Be specific with what you want. With any Luthier, repairs vary in time, and work. Be specific on your price range, and how any decisions you make may impact the cost. Dan will stay in contact with you, mostly about your guitar, and his progress. He's a musician, and the better musicians think in a style that us common folk can misunderstand. So be clear, be patient and place structure on your needs to help the process if you're a task master.