Members Foulacy Posted September 6, 2008 Members Share Posted September 6, 2008 Dear Harmony-Central users, Recently I bought a sparkling used (but new to the core) RG2550 at a local shop. The guitar was new but the frets definitely needed to be leveled. My first mistake was taking my guitar to Guitar Hospital in Los Gatos, California. Owned but not operated by Keith Holland. Absolutely DO NOT GO to Guitar Hospital. Keith Holland is an inconsiderate, demeaning, stuck-up luthier who DOESN'T WORK ON THE GUITARS. He has teenagers working a summer job do things that cost people FORTUNES. I came back to the store after the work was done on my guitar and he demeaned me and said I didn't know how to play guitar. I went to other luthiers to make sure I wasn't insane and they agreed with me that the frets needed work and many of them weren't level. I came back a second time complaining about the poor worksmanship on the repair. He threatened to call 911 if I didn't leave his store because I kept showing him what was wrong with the guitar. I know my guitar repair stuff, and showing Mr. Holland the problems with my guitar, after he had some 16 year old take a giant metal file to my frets, earned me a trip out of his shop. I used his horrible tool to easily show him a high fret, "hear that click mr. holland as I press down on this side?!?!?!" Also, they orginally misquoted the price of the repair and called me a week later with a $50 markup. I was FINE with it and said "as long as the guitar is perfect!" Too bad the guitar came back worse than it went in. AVOID GUITAR HOSPITAL AT ALL COSTS. Please, I am a 100% honest, considerate and understanding person. I had the absolute worst experience I've ever had in ANY store. Keith Holland took NO responsibility for the work done in his shop and had NO knowledge of true guitar repair. He doesn't even have the necessary straight edge rulers to work on the frets of a guitar. I pray that this post makes someone avoid this shop. Remember, Keith Holland DOES NOT WORK on the guitars that are in for repair. He sits in the back building his own bad guitars to sell out front and lets horribly inexperienced teenagers do all the guitar repair work on your priceless guitar. I can complain about more specific things via PM. Thanks for reading this guys! You reading this is the closest I can come to getting a refund from this prick! I am posting this in every forum I read! PS. If this is the wrong forum section for this, lemme know, thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members shred4life Posted September 6, 2008 Members Share Posted September 6, 2008 lets mail him some cat {censored} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SrDeMaFp Posted September 6, 2008 Members Share Posted September 6, 2008 lets mail him some cat shit :lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Foulacy Posted September 6, 2008 Author Members Share Posted September 6, 2008 im all in on that one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members schoolie1 Posted September 6, 2008 Members Share Posted September 6, 2008 Sorry you had such a bad experience there! Next time, let a robot level the frets. There's only one shop in the bay area that has a Plek....Gary Brawer. It's expensive ($220) and it's a long wait, about 3 weeks because they're busy, but it's worth it. Just my opinion, but I've had bad fret work from good techs. A file can't grind each fret so it's perfect. Summary: Fret robot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ashasha Posted September 6, 2008 Members Share Posted September 6, 2008 Yeah, that sucks man. I'll never use the prick, but than again I don't use anyone because I am cheap and untrusting. Sounds like you know what to do, just get a few tools and do them yourself. If you can get a decent crowning file the rest is pretty easy to scrounge up. Can't be worse than having old {censored}bag dork up your guitar while taking your money and then threatening you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ashasha Posted September 6, 2008 Members Share Posted September 6, 2008 Sorry you had such a bad experience there! Next time, let a robot level the frets. There's only one shop in the bay area that has a Plek....Gary Brawer. It's expensive ($220) and it's a long wait, about 3 weeks because they're busy, but it's worth it. Just my opinion, but I've had bad fret work from good techs. A file can't grind each fret so it's perfect. Summary: Fret robot Not bad advice, as long as the guys setting up that machine know what they are doing. I've heard mixed feedback on the Plek machines the last few months. Granted its been on guitars varying from totally screwed up (with mostly happy results) and guys with pretty good guitars (tend to be disappointed). I think that a good setup is a good setup and while a machine can technically do a better job; if someone does a very good fret level that the difference isn't that measurable. I just took one of those Plek'd LP Standards for a spin the other day and while it was good fret work there was still a bit of buzzing if you really dug in and it didn't feel any better than my LP at home. Plus the asymetrical neck sucked, but that's a different issue. I do agree that this could be a perfect scenario for a good old fashioned plek'ing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Foulacy Posted September 6, 2008 Author Members Share Posted September 6, 2008 Yea I looked into getting it Pleked up in SF but decided to go with the "human" version down here in San Jose. The problem is, it was hardly any cheaper and was an obsurdly horrible job. Not only could a machine have done better, my little sister could have done better with a piece of sand paper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tomh777 Posted September 6, 2008 Members Share Posted September 6, 2008 lets mail him some cat shit Sig worthy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nuke_diver Posted September 6, 2008 Members Share Posted September 6, 2008 Interesting I've had one of my guitars setup there and another that I punched a hole in repaired. Both were done very professionally. I also purchased my Reverend there and have been very happy with it. I go there because I was told that my strat needed a setup(by my old guitar teacher who had never played a strat) and my wife who knows nothing about guitars brought it in for me. Instead of just taking the money and running he told her there was nothing wrong with it and it was perfectly set up. And over time I found out that indeed it was. I haven't been there for about a year...maybe something has changed but I've always had good experiences Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sk8centilli Posted September 6, 2008 Members Share Posted September 6, 2008 If you ever come to Kalamazoo, I'll be happy to tell you who to stay away from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nuke_diver Posted September 6, 2008 Members Share Posted September 6, 2008 Oh one other thing I don't think he's cheap but he was always honest and had done a good job for me. I think there are probably cheaper guys out there (cause Los Gatos is an expensive place to rent) Sorry you had a bad experience Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members balthazarr Posted September 6, 2008 Members Share Posted September 6, 2008 If you ever come to Kalamazoo, I'll be happy to tell you who to stay away from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members treedroppings Posted September 6, 2008 Members Share Posted September 6, 2008 Yeah, I got the $50 mark-up as well because they had to route the cavity for a pickup change. Sorry about your bad experience. I've been using Jim's Music in fremont to do a setup and neck-relief, he'll do it in front of you if you hang out long enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Foulacy Posted September 6, 2008 Author Members Share Posted September 6, 2008 I would assume someone with as many years of experience as Keith Holland would do a decent job on a fret level, if he was the one who actually did it. On my third trip to the store I specifically asked him to re-do it and he said he wouldn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Highway_61 Posted September 6, 2008 Members Share Posted September 6, 2008 If you ever come to Kalamazoo, I'll be happy to tell you who to stay away from. And I'll do the same for Phoenix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members elsupermanny14 Posted September 6, 2008 Members Share Posted September 6, 2008 That sucks! Next time go to Torres in San Mateo. They always do great work! I've been going there for almost ten years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Foulacy Posted September 6, 2008 Author Members Share Posted September 6, 2008 thanks for the recommendations guys i'm writin all of em down! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mymindsok Posted September 6, 2008 Members Share Posted September 6, 2008 If you want to travel as far as Santa Rosa, you can allways use Michael Dolan. I had to bounce a job or two off of him but now that he understands what I'm looking for and what my standards are, he does a good job for me. He allways goes out of his way to make sure that we are on the same page before he starts a job and he makes sure youre happy before you leave. On the other hand, he IS a little expensive... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nuke_diver Posted September 6, 2008 Members Share Posted September 6, 2008 There are a couple of guys that put guitar repair ads on CL in the South Bay. You might look there. I've never used them so I can't tell you if they are good or not though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members D Carroll Posted September 6, 2008 Members Share Posted September 6, 2008 Report his ass to the better business bureau. Also, try looking in any advertisements for "Satisfaction garnered" or anything... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Foulacy Posted September 6, 2008 Author Members Share Posted September 6, 2008 before this hellish experience I emailed several people from craigslist, but chose to have someone play russian roullette with my frets instead. the craigslist people were all very nice and some had dirt cheap prices. the kids who work at guitar hospital are all overly nice and I trusted them especially after they misquoted the price of the fret mill. then one of them went at my fretboard with a disposable nail file. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Foulacy Posted September 6, 2008 Author Members Share Posted September 6, 2008 Report his ass to the better business bureau. Also, try looking in any advertisements for "Satisfaction garnered" or anything... guitar hospital says all their work was guaranteed which is why i took it back and demanded it be fixed or refunded. Keith Holland claimed there there was nothing "wrong" with the guitar. o I went to another luthier and had him show me how to show Keith what was wrong with the which frets in which specific spots. actually showing keith what was wrong set him off in a BAD WAY. sorry you suck at your job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members D Carroll Posted September 6, 2008 Members Share Posted September 6, 2008 {censored} man... Looks like your out a few bucks... well, BBB, they might help a bit... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BlueJames Posted September 6, 2008 Members Share Posted September 6, 2008 I'm gonna mail him some cat {censored} and go into his store and be a prick! {censored}tard! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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