Refinish gone bad... what would you all do?

mystixboi1

mystixboi1

Kick Henry Jackassowski
What would you guys do? A few months ago, I found a person on FB that refinishes guitars. He recently went full time with this and is starting his business so he was eager to take on my project. I asked around got his references. He has some great reviews via different groups on FB. All looked good to go!

He told me it would take about 8 weeks to refinish my strat to a metallic purple. He got the guitar body on March 9th and had it back to me by early June.

It had a bunch of issues right out of the bat. When I took the body out of the box, it was wrapped in bubble wrap, and the bubbles imprinted into the clearcoat. But even worse, the body itself had dings all the way down to the wood. I could buff out the bubble imprints, but the dings down to the wood were a different story.

When I asked him about it, he said "I had a mild heart attack and was hospitalized for over a week. I had a friend of mine do some wet sanding for me while I was done. He must have burnt through on those 2 spots... trying to keep the business running without me has been difficult... sorry".

I told him that I was sorry to hear about his issues and I we agreed on a 25% refund of my cost. At the time, I thought I could somehow fix the spots, or take it to someone to fix the spots. I would have even been ok with treating them so they wouldn't get bigger.

Unfortunately, the next day I noticed the next day that the spots did get bigger. When I reached out to him, he told me that it would need a full repaint and recoat. I agreed to that.

A week after he received the body back, I reached out for an update. He told me he fixed the spots and just needed to clear coat. He did NOT repaint it. He mentioned the heart attack again stating that it put him behind schedule.

A few weeks later(this morning), I asked him for an update. He said that his doctor doesn't want him painting or clear coating until he gets the green light. He offered to send me back the body if I felt comfortable with clear coating and I could keep the money he already refunded me.

Or I could wait until he gets better and have him finish... which we have no idea when that will be.

I think I know what I will do... I want to be fair here.

What would you do?
 
Given that it took eight weeks to get the body back initially, I don't think a couple of weeks more given his health situation is too terrible a time to wait, but I would ask for a firm estimate on when he'll be able to get it back to you.
 
Why does everybody with shitty customer service always have a stay in the hospital? Then somehow that becomes an excuse for years and eventually you become Joe Morgan and are just a shitbag.
 
He may not be lying about the heart attack, but at this point it is a lost cause, once a business like that falls behind and ships mistakes, it's over. He'll just keep digging himself deeper into that hole. He wasn't really ready to go full-time.

I would have asked for a full refund and/or written it off as a bad investment. Either way, the cost to have a real pro strip the body probably outweighs the body's value.
 
Last edited:
Wyatt said:
He may not be lying about the heart attack, but at this point it is a lost cause, once a business like that falls behind and ships mistakes, it's over. He'll just keep digging himself deeper into that hole. He wasn't really to go full-time.

I would have asked for a full refund and written it off as a bad investment. Either way, the cost to have a real pro strip the body probably outweighs the body's value.
Click to expand...


all of this. good money will be lost chasing bad money.
 
Here is the latest update… I asked him just to send me the body back in a full refund. He said that he has a friend finishing up the clearcoating this weekend. I told him to send me the pictures when he’s done and then we would talk about the next steps.
 
This is a tough one. He had good reviews, which to me says he can do the work and has done it well. That makes me tend to believe him about the heart attack, which sucks. If it were me, I'd let him try to make it right. It isn't like that is your only guitar and you are stuck not being able to play. Hopefully when he sends you the pics, you'll be happy with it. If not, hopefully he makes it right with giving you a refund.
 
The whole thing sounds henkey. He may very well be telling the absolute truth, but his problems should not be YOUR problems. What kind of rank amateur wraps a freshly painted guitar body in bubble wrap? From the original turn around time reported, there's absolutely NO WAY that finish had gotten anywhere near fully cured. No way. So you take that still soft finish and wrap it in fucking bubble wrap that not only creates a gazillion little pressure points, but also seals in moisture and promotes condensation. If he's not baking the finished bodies in a proper professional curing oven, they're going to take many weeks to fully harden. Any moron off the street probably knows that from learning the hard way. I know I did.

I've had guitar bodies that I thought were fully cured FUBAR themselves several weeks after the last coat was applied. Simply picking them up left imprints.

I don't know John, this guy or his buddy helping him should have known better. As a businessman trying to make a good name for himself, he pretty much did everything wrong. Everything.

His immediate response should have been to offer a full refund or a complete strip and refinish at no additional cost to you.

Now you're kinda stuck waiting to see how his latest effort to "fix" it will turn out. I know you, I'd bet the ranch you won't be happy with it. If that becomes the case, then what? Will you give this assclown yet another opportunity?

On the extremely off chance the finished body passes muster upon completion and your thorough visual examination, LEAVE IT ALONE. Don't touch it, don't wrap it, don't let it rest on ANYTHING. It will need to hang freely long enough to properly cure.

But... here's where it gets REALLY shitty: If he just put new coats on top of any he had already applied... it will NEVER cure. The top layer will, but the undercoat will be forever soft. Six months from now, you'll go to pick it up on a hot day (que the jokes about not keeping it that long), and find that you just left a perfect and permanent thumb print in the finish.

Been there, done that.

Good luck.
 
Guitars are meant to be played, not looked at.... Play it until the finish chips, flakes, wears off, and it REALLY looks rock and roll. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top