Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I recently purchased a 660/12 string(2008 Midnight Blue). It had a slight buzz in the high e strings, so I took it to my luthier (who had worked wonders on my Martin, and my friends guitar in the past). My 660 was as mint as brand new.
Well, he murdered the guitar. There are gouges in the neck (I assume from some sort of vice) and scratches all over the back. There are gouges in the headstock. He broke one of the truss rods. I'm sick. He replaced the nut, and did an amateur Job of that. And it only took him 2 1/2 months.
So I have 2 questions. First, can anybody recommend somebody who can refinish the guitar (preferably in the S.E.)
Second, am I gonna shoot myself in the foot. Does refinishing a Rick diminish the value.
I've tried several repair shops in the Atlanta area. None of them wants to mess with conversion varnish. The one that did gave a quote of $12-1500. And he said there was no way to make it look factory.
I'm beginning to think that my original luthier has purchased himself my 660. Either that or refund me the money I paid for a mint one (there was a VERY played, scratched one I could have bought when I bought mine for $1100 less)

any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated

phord

Sorry to hear about the butchering "repair tech" you have.
Here is who you need to go to:

http://davisguitarworks.com/site/index.php

He'll fix you right up.

Guitar techs are not luthiers. It's like calling an ambulance driver a doctor. That said, tell him to pay to have your guitar returned to its original condition, or get an estimate for the cost of repairs, and take him to small claims court. There are at least a few people known to this forum who can refinish a guitar without charging the arm and a leg you were quoted.

This happened in Atlanta?!?

Hey, Bob. I'm so sorry to hear your disaster story. I really feel for you, as I've had two very bad experiences with techs who came highly recommended, but who just didn't know Rickenbacker 12-strings at all. In one case, my most trusted tech was able to reverse the damage; in the other, I had to sell the guitar at a great loss because it had a massive neck hump from the first to the seventh frets (created, as I later discovered, by the tech over-tightening the truss rods).

I didn't have the proper paperwork to make a small claims court case, but, if you do have a good copy of your repair receipt, that might be one option. Do you have any photos of your 660 from before your tech butchered it?

Larry Davis at Davis Guitar Works in Florida: http://davisguitarworks.com/

1. Lawyer

2. Larry Davis

jdogric12 wrote:1. Lawyer

2. Larry Davis

Lawyer
Larry Davis

The names remain the same.

Haven't seen a response to one of the original questions. If you're talking about a vintage and/or collectible guitar, refinishing will nearly always hurt the value. If a guitar is refinished poorly, it will lose value.

Refinishing a 2008 660/12MID well should have little negative impact on value. If you get it refinished in a cool way (color, burst, etc) which others view as cool, it might increase the value. 660s already have checkered binding, but adding checkered binding to a run of the mill 350 would probably be viewed by most as an improvement - that kind of thing.

And yes, your tech should foot at least part of the bill. I've only had one similar incident. A new guitar I bought had a grounding problem and popped like crazy whenever anything metal was touched. I didn't feel like messing with it, so the store sent it to their tech. His 'diagnosis' was "that's what single coils sound like" and he did nothing - just sent it back. While showing the sales guy the problem, I noticed a big 3-cornered dent in the back of the guitar. The sales guy asked if I was ready to give up and let him order a new one and I said "Yep."

Ric5150 wrote:And yes, your tech should foot at least part of the bill.

Are you a tech yourself or something?

If that moron had messed up my guitar that badly I'd be up his *** kicking footballs.

jdogric12 wrote:

Ric5150 wrote:And yes, your tech should foot at least part of the bill.

Are you a tech yourself or something?

If that moron had messed up my guitar that badly I'd be up his *** kicking footballs.

No, not a tech, but I play one in real life with my own guitars. Perhaps I understated a bit.

In my head, if I had a stock Midnight Blue 660 which suddenly became in need of repair and refinishing, it would probably not end up as a stock Midnight Blue 660, so I was allowing for a little wiggle room on who pays for what. (Nothing against Midnight Blue, I'm just sayin'....). He should certainly pay for what he caused (but I'd probably have to pay for that extra middle pickup route ).

What he should do and what he will do (short of going to court - which may not be worth it) are two different things.

Yes, my first though would probably be to burn down his shop - but I'd hopefully get past that quickly and move on to seeking compensation. Then I'd probably focus my energy on bad online reviews and posting before/after photos on forums - along with his name, address, and phone number - sticking with simple, true, factual statements. Maybe kidnapping his dog.

Ya!!!!......except for the dog part.