Get a load of this ripoff!

[SGBreadfan]

I got completely hooked on this and compulsively had to dig deeper. My findings

- The "we" referred to in the ad is actually just one guy.
- His wife/daughter, not he, is listed as the owner of this "custom shop"
- There are no business premises like a store or an office, ie there is no Custom Shop
- He's studying to be a pastor
- He's a religious, conspiracy theorist, right wing nut job "We're being overthrown by radical Marxists disguised as Democrats.....Do you understand this yet? Or is your mind still unable to grasp the situation?" - quote from his facebook
- The facebook likes are from family/church members and friends
- He claims to have sold a white SG just like this one for 3150$ in November. And by "just like it" I mean complete with the sh!t job defects
- He's Florida man

I conclude that he is totally honest in his delusion that what he does enhances the value, most likely factoring in the time he put in and the fact that the item is now "rare" into the price. He honestly believes he has a "custom shop" and that this is how a custom shop works, ie, you mod a guitar then sell it as opposed to someone coming in wanting custom things done to it.

Absolutely fascinating!

Haha, sounds spot on to me!

 

[Jack Hammer]

He's open to offers but asks us not to be silly about it. What say we flood him with silly offers?

 

[Zman28]

I also did some digging. Trademark Classics is listed as 34935 Fun Way , in Zephyr Hills Fla. 33541. It is a 742 SQ foot Mobile home in South Hill Mobil park.
I don't know where the "Studying to be a Pastor" reference was found but a good friend rented a home to a "Pastor". Turned out it was a Biker who got his designation certificate online. For 25 bucks. He rebuilt his bike on the living room carpet and any and all garbage was thrown into the finished basement. Took years to get him out. So i would not put too much faith in that. They just use it as a way to get you to think they must be fine outstanding people.
This just sounds like a well worded scam.

 

[Zman28]

This guy is a total scammer. His so called church seeked non profit status but was denied by the IRS. Calls himself a Doctor as well.
He makes all sorts of "Master of" claims as well.
It just proves the internet can be a wonderful tool , for dishonest people. The more I read about this guy, the more I see the word fraud.

 

[Kyle Lanning]

https://reverb.com/item/37112871-fe...m-shop-se-guitar-pro-player-emg-x-electronics

He did the same thing with this "Custom Shop" Strat - Granted $1400 is much lower than what he's asking for the SG, but that ridiculous COA and a custom shop case for a MIM strat.

I do see on the post it says something to the effect of "not a genuine Fender CS" but the problem with these, in my opinion, is similar to the problem of import knockoffs. Granted, these are much nicer - actual brand - guitars than the overseas knockoffs, but with a little sand paper to remove the "Made in Mexico" and a Fender CS decal applied to the tip of the back of the headstock, this overpriced $1400 MIM strat could fool the unsuspecting, and albeit uneducated, buyer on the used market for 2k

 

[Jack Hammer]

I went into Reverb with the intention of asking them to check into this seller. Looked at his seller feedback first and out of 39 ratings in the past six months, he has 38 five star and 1 four star. His reviewers even seem to know he does the customizations himself. To each his own, I guess.

 

[everdying]

I went into Reverb with the intention of asking them to check into this seller. Looked at his seller feedback first and out of 39 ratings in the past six months, he has 38 five star and 1 four star. His reviewers even seem to know he does the customizations himself. To each his own, I guess.

i checked his reverb out too...only 1 of those reviews is from a buyer...
the rest are from sellers...so no idea what he bought...could be more guitars to customize...

its interesting tho how alot of his sales are rickenbackers...

 

[Jack Hammer]

Correction. He's 53 as a seller, 176 as a buyer. Still yet, a 100% rating.

 

[Von Trapp]

"I do NOT own or sell junk....." - boasts one of the ads and I'm thinking; what kind of person would write that? And why? Clearly there's confusion about "custom guitar" and modded guitar as well. But hey, it LOOKS like people actually pay what he asks for them. Weird.

 

[Von Trapp]

[QUOTE/QUOTE]

I don't know if you're joking or not but I think we should stay clear of politics on this forum. I also however agree that we should not encourage any harassment of the seller in question, which is why I haven't posted any links to his personal stuff. It is however out there for all to see, he voluntarily put it there, and I feel that anyone posting their opinions online should be prepared to face the consequences and other peoples opinions. Organized harassment though should not be one of them.

 

[Goldtone]

Aren’t political posts forbidden on this site by forum rules?

 

[Von Trapp]

Aren’t political posts forbidden on this site by forum rules?

They are.

 

[Relic61]

This reminds me of one of the first SG's I bought. It was a late 68 early 69 Standard. Back then, Gibson was making their SG bodies with the large center cavity cut-out that would take 1, 2 or 3 pickups & then, cover the cavity with the large Batwing pickguard.

Anyway, I got the guitar cheap enough because of the bastardation performed on it by someone adding a 3rd pup when it wasn't a Custom and.. it was not in premo condition. Then, I got further money back after finding 2 of the pups weren't even Gibson pups (bridge & neck) & the center pup wasn't original to the guitar either!

Anyway, all I'll say is by the time all was said & done that guitar cost me less then 1G! I then bought 2 more vintage Gibson pups, threw on Embossed Gibson covers & got this...



And honestly, it is a real players guitar that sounds like heaven & actually stays in tune even with Vibrola use! And total cost was under $2,000. Granted that was 8-10 years ago, but could I even expect to sell that for what this guy is asking? I wouldn't think so for a minute! & thats a real piece of 1960's wood.

On the other hand if I did part it out I could make a dang fortune! But that's the reality of Guitars isn't it? You dont take a new guitar, mess with it, change it & have the temerity to ask MORE money for it!

Funny, but I couldn't help but notice that even back 10 years ago when I first took this picture, I labeled the photo "69 SG 'Customized' Standard". Not SG Custom anything!

Not blowing my horn here. I'm just saying, who are we kidding when pretending things are what they aren't in the hopes of fooling others & maybe in this case, even trying to fool ourselves!

Thing is, this guy just ruined the value on a new(er) guitar by bastardizing it! In all rights it should now be worth less than it was before he laid his hands on it!

But, life is funny & somebody just may like it with money to burn & just not know any better or even care. Hopefully it won't be some unsuspecting person that scraped & saved their money only to get fooled by the crazy deceptive (for a man of God) words used in the add.

 

[Tia]

Thank you for pointing out that shop! There are many problems with used guitars, from the fakes, to the stolen, to the modified and awful 'fixes'. I can agree that old originals sound heavenly, but seriously, how many headaches and anxiety attacks are people willing to subject themselves too for a used guitar? The experience, particularly on Reverb, is as awful as buying a used car!

 

[Von Trapp]

This reminds me of one of the first SG's I bought. It was a late 68 early 69 Standard. Back then, Gibson was making their SG bodies with the large center cavity cut-out that would take 1, 2 or 3 pickups & then, cover the cavity with the large Batwing pickguard.

Anyway, I got the guitar cheap enough because of the bastardation performed on it by someone adding a 3rd pup when it wasn't a Custom and.. it was not in premo condition. Then, I got further money back after finding 2 of the pups weren't even Gibson pups (bridge & neck) & the center pup wasn't original to the guitar either!

Anyway, all I'll say is by the time all was said & done that guitar cost me less then 1G! I then bought 2 more vintage Gibson pups, threw on Embossed Gibson covers & got this...

View attachment 44237

And honestly, it is a real players guitar that sounds like heaven & actually stays in tune even with Vibrola use! And total cost was under $2,000. Granted that was 8-10 years ago, but could I even expect to sell that for what this guy is asking? I wouldn't think so for a minute! & thats a real piece of 1960's wood.

On the other hand if I did part it out I could make a dang fortune! But that's the reality of Guitars isn't it? You dont take a new guitar, mess with it, change it & have the temerity to ask MORE money for it!

Funny, but I couldn't help but notice that even back 10 years ago when I first took this picture, I labeled the photo "69 SG 'Customized' Standard". Not SG Custom anything!

Not blowing my horn here. I'm just saying, who are we kidding when pretending things are what they aren't in the hopes of fooling others & maybe in this case, even trying to fool ourselves!

Thing is, this guy just ruined the value on a new(er) guitar by bastardizing it! In all rights it should now be worth less than it was before he laid his hands on it!

But, life is funny & somebody just may like it with money to burn & just not know any better or even care. Hopefully it won't be some unsuspecting person that scraped & saved their money only to get fooled by the crazy deceptive (for a man of God) words used in the add.

Now that's a b!tchin guitar! (but I resent the "even with the Vibrola" - they're the most boss trems, if the guitar don't stay in tune, it ain't the Vibolas fault, that's a myth)

 

[PermissionToLand]

That's a nice twitter mob you boys are forming up. Let's all pretend to be outraged that some guy hacked a guitar and has it up for sale. So much follow the leader going on.

This part is actually true : "We're being overthrown by radical Marxists disguised as Democrats"

Chinese hack the free world all day. They target emails. They do that to find compromising information on people in positions of power. "Progressive" is just a rebranding of Communist to hide from the bodies of history. BLM are an extensions of this - equal outcome is communism.

Yeah. I know that makes me "crazy" to say these days when everyone is educated by propaganda networks and the president needs to wear a diaper to keep from soiling himself, but them the facts, jack.

- a few days ago :china hacks 30,000 businesses and infectious disease researchers

- from the leader of the free state of Florida re: communist insurrection

Russia are a joke. I have a bigger economy than they have. China is a threat.

And that's enough enterweb forms for another week or so. Have fun, boys!

Holy smokes, I thought liberals were supposed to be the "easily offended" ones!

Thank you for a frightening view into the mind of a radical extremist. Please stay away from the capitol building.

 

[76Standard]

Man, last year I could’ve really used his COA. As toilet paper.
Yes, he sure uses the word “custom” a lot. “I LOVE designin' and buildin' customs” says he. How many times did he badge that SG as a custom? I count at least twice. And so many of his guitars are”rare” “one of a kind” and “elusive” -really? That is the first SG half-face batwing I’ve ever seen. The pickup rings just look so wrong, and the copper foil looks secured by scotch tape. I just hope that anybody laying out that kind of cash know their shlt.

customs.

 

[Goldtone]

His shop affectionately refers to the doctor as “Doc”

Thats a wonderful COA! There’s even a spot for the “Luthier’s signature”

 

[Nortally]

Two thoughts:

1, They're pretty up front."This is a true Custom Shop guitar from the Trademark Classics Custom Shop". "Trademark Classics" ain't "Gibson". When I see 'krab' on the menu, I expect to eat some kind of shredded fish.

2, This does remind me of a story the late, great, Dave Carter told at one of his shows. He took a job driving delivery for a piano company that sold Grand Pianos really cheap, the pianos being upright pianos manufactured by a company named Grand. Dave said that he left the job pretty quick due to encounters with disappointed customers.

 

[Relic61]

Holy smokes, I thought liberals were supposed to be the "easily offended" ones!

Thank you for a frightening view into the mind of a radical extremist. Please stay away from the capitol building.

And that is why we don't make political comments on this forum!