hippityhoppity

so I'm not being rude and leaving this subject I brought up hanging..........the guitars never arrived from Canada [shipped December 15th] the sender in Canada got them back the first week of January 2023 and I am currently out over $650.00 as UPS [brown] did take the time to collect import fees from me December 28th. I am in email contact with UPS for over a week now and keep being instructed to email someone else. Needless to say this "plan" of purchasing from Canada and using UPS and having to encounter UPS Detroit did not work out. the most seamless purchase I made in December was from Switzerland and that shipper used the Swiss national postal system that handed off to the US Post office once it got to NYC. My two purchases from the Netherlands [fed ex] were held at customs in NJ and Florida an average of 3 weeks but eventually they got through. Lesson learned. I may get money back from UPS [I'm doubting that highly] but of course not the shipping which was $230. Total cost to me $442.15 import duties/us govt tax + $230.00 shipping ='s no guitars for me.😢

just wondering if any body can answer a question for me. I just bought two new sandberg "automotive" series basses and both arrived in either beat up or relic'd condition. one I bought from thomann and one from a shop in the Netherlands. here's the thing - they are not advertised as relic'd basses. I have a fender Wayne Kramer guitar so I know what relic'd is but these two basses were supposed to be brand new and no mention of being relic'd. maybe I missed something. it was a decent chunk of change for a couple of basses that look like they were polished by an 8 yr old using a Brillo pad not to mention one of them has about 20 gouges. so - anyone on here know about Sandberg Germany and maybe can educate me as to how they "finish" their basses? was I supposed to know they'd arrive relic'd? thanks for your time in advance.

Amen to that gardo. UPS Detroit is asking my Canadian shipper for a new form every three days after he asked them for all required forms prior to shipping and they told him "you're good to go". So far he's done Cites, Lacey and another one I can't recall at the moment. UPS Kentucky had my guitar on December 16th and did not begin to ask for forms until December 22nd. FedEx Miami has had a guitar for 5 days now with no notification of requirements to either myself or the shipper. The rub is above mentioned shippers threatening to charge me "warehouse fees of $20 a day" if they have my guitars for more than two days.

having many guitars stopped at US Customs this holiday season even though I understand via internet research that only Brazilian Rosewood and some Pearl inlays are restricted now and that is only in NEW guitars. US Customs is clueless. "homeland security" strikes again for no reason. I purchase guitars for personal use I am not a seller in any way shape or form and in 2022 I was audited by the IRS and flagged by PayPal because I bought so many guitars. so the IRS cleared me and PayPal still suspends my account for 3 months after every overseas purchase of a guitar and tells me it is because of "IRS instruction". I would think there are real criminals in the world to go after besides guitar and bass players............

no - it came with a sweet case and its been in there. it was a guitar that was about a year old [so older new stock] when i bought it new in 2021 from sam ash [i guess these guitars didn't sell too fast]. on other forums i found two people with LP chinese guitars that changed color and they contacted epi/gibson and were told it was a "dye problem" in china and the dyes that they used were defective and therefore would degrade [change color] no matter what. mine was in the case and since i have other guitars i don't see them all every day. this one went about a month in between me getting it out and....... it was purple. if it had turned purple within the return time limits of sam ash i could have returned it but it has happened after i've had it about 90 days. the limits are 45 days and 60 days. it will always be ironic to me that the headstock says "electric blue". i agree with you about underneath the hardware and "light" - i absolutely see that logic. then i wondered if it was sprayed with something in the factory with the hardware on? only thing i can think of besides "light".

i honestly bought it for the blue and the sparkle. now i'm just hoping it doesn't turn any more colors like brown or grey. i will say i bought from the 2019/2020 production run and supposedly they did a separate 2021 production run. as far as collectible......chinese made 8 to 900 dollar guitar?, i pretty much got what i expected [build quality etc] save for the finish changing. i mostly posted in case anybody was thinking about buying one. mine was 100% blue when i got it and it looked great. i was thinking about going to some brick and mortars next year to see some in person and to see if they are holding color. i'm not really a collector even though i keep what i buy. i only ever paid 2500 or more three times. i generally buy guitars in the 300 to 1000 range and then upgrade the electronics and put in pickups that i want to work with. from this experience what i learned was a guitars "finish or appearance" is not covered under warranty - which i should have realized but hadn't ever considered before.

best photos i could get at the moment.

1. wanted to mention that i bought a 2020 tommy thayer electric blue in september 2020 from sam ash and now about 50% of it is purple. i searched epiphone forums and found two people with similar experiences with epi/gibson guitars made in china. one person said epiphone told them it was "dye trouble" and there was nothing they could do for him [not covered by warranty] another person said their blue LP turned brown and another said his turned grey. these seem like very isolated episodes but i just wanted to mention the reality of it as i had a hard time finding any info on the web or in forums about it and quite frankly most folks don't believe its possible. the very odd thing is that the color change happens underneath the final finish [i cleaned the guitar as if it was "varnish yellowing" - no change] but if you take off hardware the original color is still there. i honestly have no idea how this happens or is possible but my guitar is really purple now on the front - still mostly blue on the back and for the most part the "sparkle" is unaffected. its likely i'm keeping the guitar - modding it a bit and hoping that it doesn't turn grey or brown and hoping that in the future these "dye trouble guitars from china" become wildly popular collector items. 2. also wanted to mention i bought a squire strat 2020 from music go round that was actually a factory reject "gold tag" refurbished by MIRC in tennessee and music go round didn't tell me that before i purchased. the "gold tag serial number" is a MIRC number and is not a squire/fender serial number - and therefore the guitar has no resale value anymore. i returned the guitar and music go round refunded my money less shipping. music go round also sells some LP style guitars like that as well with the "gold tag" on the headstock. just wanted to share some experience knowledge.

do you still have the cort? did you finish the rehab? i was interested in asking you some questions - i have a blue barn find cort flying v.