BREAKING UP NICE OLD RICKS FOR PROFIT...

[Ivan3000]

A customer recently purchased a carcass from gibsondependable on Ebay and had it shipped to me for restoration...

It arrived repackaged by the USPS with a note inside saying that the original box was destroyed and they were sorry for the damage. There was no damage to the instrument, luckily.

Anyway, here's a clue as to how he does what he does.


He purchases complete instruments using his girl friend's name and a separate Ebay account with the handle, allguitarpartsdependable. Her (his) email for this account is brucemellonstone@yahoo.com

He is formerly Ebay seller mellonstone with a checkered reputation:

http://gantzgallery.com/mellon.html

A Google search also turned up this tidbit:

http://www.okcupid.com/profile/Mellonstone

The photo seems to match the voice on my iPhone...and the location matches, too...

His name, as noted before, is Ryan Ingram
Her (?) name is Jennifer Knapp (? is because she may be just a poster on his bedroom door, for all we know... )

This ought to help if anyone wants to exclude him from their Ebay auctions, so their guitars are less likely to get broken for parts.

How do I know? He left all the old labels in the new box!

Thats good, Now we know who not to sell to.

[jdogric12]

A customer recently purchased a carcass from gibsondependable on Ebay and had it shipped to me for restoration...

It arrived repackaged by the USPS with a note inside saying that the original box was destroyed and they were sorry for the damage. There was no damage to the instrument, luckily.

Anyway, here's a clue as to how he does what he does.


He purchases complete instruments using his girl friend's name and a separate Ebay account with the handle, allguitarpartsdependable. Her (his) email for this account is brucemellonstone@yahoo.com

He is formerly Ebay seller mellonstone with a checkered reputation:

http://gantzgallery.com/mellon.html

A Google search also turned up this tidbit:

http://www.okcupid.com/profile/Mellonstone

The photo seems to match the voice on my iPhone...and the location matches, too...

His name, as noted before, is Ryan Ingram
Her (?) name is Jennifer Knapp (? is because she may be just a poster on his bedroom door, for all we know... )

This ought to help if anyone wants to exclude him from their Ebay auctions, so their guitars are less likely to get broken for parts.

How do I know? He left all the old labels in the new box!

Thats good, Now we know who not to sell to.

We?

[jingle_jangle]

Oui.

[collin]

We?

Slice!

Yeah, Ivan....you gotta have one before you can sell one.


p.s nice detective work Paul!

[jingle_jangle]

Thanks, Collin!

Now, does anyone have an ex who we can fix gibsondependable up with? Mwahahaha?

[cjj]

An ex-ecutioner???

[Seans]

Very nice and together example, or will it fall to pieces before us......... http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-1965-RI ... 3a7a21906b

[Ivan3000]

A customer recently purchased a carcass from gibsondependable on Ebay and had it shipped to me for restoration...

It arrived repackaged by the USPS with a note inside saying that the original box was destroyed and they were sorry for the damage. There was no damage to the instrument, luckily.

Anyway, here's a clue as to how he does what he does.


He purchases complete instruments using his girl friend's name and a separate Ebay account with the handle, allguitarpartsdependable. Her (his) email for this account is brucemellonstone@yahoo.com

He is formerly Ebay seller mellonstone with a checkered reputation:

http://gantzgallery.com/mellon.html

A Google search also turned up this tidbit:

http://www.okcupid.com/profile/Mellonstone

The photo seems to match the voice on my iPhone...and the location matches, too...

His name, as noted before, is Ryan Ingram
Her (?) name is Jennifer Knapp (? is because she may be just a poster on his bedroom door, for all we know... )

This ought to help if anyone wants to exclude him from their Ebay auctions, so their guitars are less likely to get broken for parts.

How do I know? He left all the old labels in the new box!

Thats good, Now we know who not to sell to.

We?

Yeah, as a whole, the RRF.

And I own other guitars, that I wouldn't like to see parted out. He doesn't just do Ricks.

[rickenboy]

I have this weird feeling that one of the members on the RRF is going to really pull one on this guy.

Any ideas?

[type79]

I am bumping this because I think it deserves another look. This whole situation with Gibsondependable has bothered me for some time.

Basically he shouldn't be supported, and those who buy from him are enabling him to continue this practice of cannibalism.

As for any criticism of Rickenbacker's official stance on the selling of TRCovers and jack-plates, do you really want a situation like which goes on with bootleg Fender headstock decals? Or one where there is an original body with a replacement jack-plate and the original jack-plate on a non-original body? Which is the real guitar? It's happened with valuable cars.

[jps]

Or one where there is an original body with a replacement jack-plate and the original jack-plate on a non-original body? Which is the real guitar? It's happened with valuable cars.

There are quite a few known instances of a car manufacturer swapping or changing serial numbers on car they made for various reasons, well after the car has been sold, sometimes multiple times.

[railbob]

Having just looked at Ebay, it would seem that it is not just old Rickenbackers being parted out. Among several other instruments, there appears to be a nice 2012 660/6 body on the system. I have to ask: why......and where is the rest of it? This is not a cheap guitar. Why turn a quality hand-made guitar into a Rickenbacker/Gibson hybrid? Perhaps I am being a bit dim here, but Is there really such a large market for high-end project guitars? All sounds a bit dodgy to me.........I shall keep an eye on the 'lost & stolen' list!
One looming problem here is the possible (intentional or otherwise) misrepresentation of guitars offered for sale to the unwary in the future. I cannot imagine that Mr.Hall is impressed with what is going on here: perhaps there could be a case for an additional marking of the serial number on instruments, perhaps directly into the wood under the TRC?

[LenMinNJ]

I have to ask: why......and where is the rest of it?

He sells the parts for a total price that's considerably more than than the unmolested guitar sells for.

Besides the body/neck, he's also listed the other parts too.

If he bought the 660 for between $1300 and $1500, I calculate he'll earn around $300 to $500 profit on the parts.

[tomt3]

This idiot has about 4 rick carcasses listed on e-bay today.

[Grey]

This idiot

You're doing him a disservice. He's not an "idiot" and thinking of him that way is silly, we may not like what he's doing but unlike everyone else trying to sell expensive guitars on eBay right now, this guy is actaully turning a substantial profit and consistently sells his inventory. Do you blame the person providing the service or the people buying from him? It's your perogative not to sell to this person if you don't like what he's going to do with your instrument and I wholeheartedly dissaprove of the cheap tactics he uses to buy from people who would otherwise recognize and not sell to him, however, let's not make cheap shots.