Advice on a potential dispute with a guitar seller

[archtopeddy]

As a lefty guitarist, I am truly saddened for your loss of a beautiful and extremely hard to find guitar. Again, as a lefty, I know how long it can take to find such a guitar, and maybe never find one at all. Really, my heart goes out to you. And I am also very saddened by the treatment you received from DHR Guitar Experience. There are so few guitar stores that specialize in rare, lefty guitars, it is a loss for all of us lefty players to now know we may need to give pause when considering this dealer for future purchases. It's potentially an even bigger loss for DHR Guitar Experience since there are so few of us lefties who are interested in, can or willing to spend the type of money involved in purchasing these rare and expensive guitars. As many have noted here, ordering guitars on-line is potentially troublesome, but IMO the way it was packaged for shipping is inexcusable and their failure to properly communicate and immediately step up to the problem was unprofessional and unacceptable.

Meanwhile, I see you have a rare lefty Aria L1000 posted in another thread. Here's to hoping it can be reasonable hold-over until you get that guitar of your dreams!

[boatheelmusic]

This horrible thread makes me very wary of buying any guitar shipped by an unknown seller, sight unseen.

[vinlander]

...
On arrival I opened the case to discover the neck broken at the nut, the classic Gibson break. It appeared to have been shipped under string tension. There was no packaging inside the case at all. Nothing to protect the headstock, no packaging between the rosewood bridge and the guitar body. As the neck was broken the bridge was rattling loose inside the case.
...

Reputable seller maybe, but clearly not a professional packer...The guy could learn a trick or two from some of our private sellers here...
Do they always ship their instruments this way (and oversea) and cross their fingers ?

[Phil B]

I read this and it made me so mad that I joined the forum.


If I were the OP, here's what I'd do now. (And this isn't legal advice.)


You (the OP) should consider yourself a rare customer that all guitar companies and luthier fight over. A person who can and will spend $10,000 USD on a guitar.


I'd contact Gibson's custom shop by phone. Tell them the exact model and model number of the left handed guitar that you want as well as the finish, the case, pickup, and all other details of the guitar you want and think is so rare. Tell them that guitar they deliver must be a new, custom build and covered under Gibson's warranty program. (If they don't make archtops, the odds are high that they will just subcontract the build out to someone who does and authorize them to place Gibson's head stock logo on the guitar.) They will quote a price. If is is more than $10,000 - tell them that the guitar has to be $10,000 or less and stand your ground. (They know you will go to some other company for the build.) If you don't want to negotiate with them, then get a close friend to do if for you. But I bet they will take your business and be very grateful for it. The reality is that there just aren't that many people out there who spend $10,000 for a guitar.

[AlsoRan]

Wow.

Call me crazy, but looking at those photos made me sick to my stomach for a minute. What a fine guitar, a piece of art, forever compromised (unnecessarily, may I add) and will never be the same again.

Shameful.

[Dr_turkey]

Damn near heart breaking you're still out the better part of a grand for nothing but a headache. Hope you find a good deal soon OP

[Woody Sound]

If you want to see some photos of the guitar please see here:
Super 400 CES Left Handed - Damaged - Album on Imgur

The shots of the case with bubble wrap inside are what I did on preparation for the return, not how it arrived to me.

Maybe I missed a pic of the "severed" head. Was it demolished/splintered, or broken off in one clean piece? Just curious. It's interesting that the line/shape of the break seems to slightly follow the curl wave of the maple.

[Alter]

Man, super 400 and a lefty one... i feel you, a tragic story and fate for this guitar (and your £700)..

This seller is amongst the biggest ones in left-handed guitars worldwide, i have contemplated buying a couple of guitars in the past. You should post your experience in the leftyfrets forum if you haven't already, it would be a service to left handed players. The guitar was listed there for sale also..

That's the ad
Ultra Rare Mint LH Gibson Super 400 !!!!!!

[Woody Sound]

DHR Guitar Experience. And what an experience they provide!

[wintermoon]

Sorry to hear this.
I've only dealt w Dale once when I bought a blackface Fender Twin from DHR about 20 yrs ago and it has been my main gigging amp ever since.
Good communication and packing.
But of course every deal is different....

[don_oz]

If you want to spend money on a guitar, especially $10k to buy a gibson, you could just get a custom made archtop by this guy Trenier Guitars

[QAman]

This guitar is a recent build (2015) and certainly worth saving. Based on the rarity of this “lefty Super 400”, the prudent repair choice in my opinion would be a complete re-neck by Gibson. They will do it correctly and touch up the finish perfectly.

Sure- the guitar will depreciate in value but some lefty player will wind up with a terrific Super 400 at a bargain price with a brand new neck and documentation from Gibson.

In this particular case, I personally would feel more comfortable buying this guitar with a new Gibson neck - as opposed to a Luthier repair.

The insurance company will certainly pay for not only the repair, but also the affect on depreciation - this is common practice with musical instrument insurance. So - the dealer will likely receive a satisfactory settlement.

So stay tuned - this story is far from being over and I suspect we will see this guitar back for sale in the not too distant future. Who knows , maybe after DHR recovers the insurance claim it might be acquired in “ as is” for a few thousand dollars if someone makes an offer.

It reminds me of an 8k Manhattan Benedetto that Bob shipped to Japan in 1995. I was at his house having dinner one evening and he told me the story of this guitar sitting in his living-room returned by the buyer .

UPS mis- handled the guitar and the pick up broke off and left a cluster of dings on the top. Bob refused to spend the time fixing it - so he put in a claim and received a satisfactory settlement.

Then UPS was scheduled to pickup the guitar from Bob’s house and send it to a UPS auction . When Bob informed me of this practice I contacted UPS - offered them $3500, which they gladly accepted . I met UPS at Bobs house and gave them the check and left with the guitar

A month later John Monteleone did me a favor - and over the course of several weeks he drop filled all the little dings - polished out the area - and it was like new.

A year or two later someone came to my house looking to buy a Campellone I was selling . When the gentlemen saw the Benedetto he fell in love and wanted it desperately. I wasn’t selling it - but couldn’t refuse the $8500 he offered for the guitar .

True story - and It was a real good sounding guitar.

I have a feeling someone is going to score on this guitar just like I did. For those interested in pursuing this guitar - find out the cost of a re neck from Gibson - factor in the depreciation ( ask jabs ) and make an offer to Dale - you never know.