What do you think of this situation?

They mention it was a rebuild? Did they have to strip and old finish off a guitar or did they start with a fresh piece of wood? I'd also have to see the piece of wood they started with in order to judge it properly. It looks to me like it's two totally differ wood gran patterns. The stain is not going to create the same effect unless it's the same wood grain pattern. Some things just shouldn't be put together whether it's an option or not.
 
Wood is -- by definition -- an inconsistent medium, and expecting one piece of wood to be able to match precisely another in terms of its figure, color, absorption of stain, etc. requires the sort of faith in wood that only a Druid would have...
 
From what I can tell:

1) Buyer is 100% in the right. Color is nowhere near what he asked and paid the upcharge for. It doesn't matter the circumstances behind the first fucked-up guitar (of which there were several issues unrelated to this second build).
2) Kiesel should at least offer to refinish at no additional charge, or offer a refund of the upcharge.
3) A company their size should not have the/one of the owners also acting as customer service rep when it appears his skills in that area are lacking. While I am in no way a knowledgeable Carvin/Kiesel fan, it appears that from others the company has taken a serious PR hit in the last year or so from similar issues and responses. Jeff Kiesel needs to GTFO of the customer relations side of things before he buries his company.

If I am paying someone $2400 to build a custom guitar, and any particular detail I ask of them approaches anything near less than a 100% likelihood, let alone guarantee, then they better make sure I know damn well in advance that what I ask for probably won't happen, so can we adjust the order, or do something different, or call it off before we go any further, etc...?
 
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I agree with CBHScott, Kiesel should refinish it at no cost. Jeff Kiesel does some builds himself, doesn't he? He should step up and do this himself, or at least be there with his best paint guy.
 
Jbird said:
I agree with CBHScott, Kiesel should refinish it at no cost. Jeff Kiesel does some builds himself, doesn't he? He should step up and do this himself, or at least be there with his best paint guy.
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He posted in the thread to claim he did the finish himself, and that "we" all agreed that it looked great (the "we" meaning the others in the shop).
 
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CBHScott said:
He posted in the thread to claim he did the finish himself, and that "they" all agreed that it looked great (the "they" meaning the others in the shop).
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Ah! I only read the first 4 or 5 pages of that thread. I probably missed it.

To be fair, I think the better pics of the guitar with more natural lighting, it doesn't look like a bad guitar at all (to me). But it most definitely isn't close to what the guy wanted. Option 50's can be returned, but only for a playability/obvious defect issue. For something like this (option 50 color) they should email the customer with a good pic of the finished body, and if it isn't pretty close, re-do it before it ever leaves the shop. Just my 2 cents worth, anyways.
 
Yeah, ever since the Carvin to Kiesel thing started happening I saw the writing on the wall. People that nobody fucking cared about started being all over the place. They built their fame on the Carvin brand, which was still a bankable brand, and said "Nah, we're gonna change the name, and kill our good customer service." It makes no sense.
 
Jbird said:
I agree with CBHScott, Kiesel should refinish it at no cost. Jeff Kiesel does some builds himself, doesn't he? He should step up and do this himself, or at least be there with his best paint guy.
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I am also in agreement.

Though that guitar is nothing that I desire, I would never get that company to do any work for me.

In fact, I'll take Gibson's customer service over that!! cop0


One final note though...the photo of the finish that he wanted had grain and he ordered a burl top. Burl doesn't have those defined grain lines, it has more random designs and random levels of light/dark in it. The finish was destined to 'not' look like the photo.
 
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Keisel fucked up royally. They’ve been around long enough to know better than to attempt to color match photos from the internet. They should have told the guy to go to Home Depot and send them a paint swatch so they’d have an accurate color to match.

That said, if that guy thinks MIA guitars are always quality and MIK are hit or miss he’s clueless and probably guaranteed to be a bad customer anywhere.
 
That's a $2400 custom build......not a $299 balsa wood and spit special.

I'd expect a little more consistency paying that kind of money than settling for "Well, it was $300, so who cares?"

That's a lot of money to not get what you wanted, were promised, and paid for in good faith.
 
I wouldn't get one right now. They are in the middle of expanding and have more employees now than at any time, plus they are in the midst of moving to a larger facility.

I still would like a HH2 at some point (the headless Holdsworth, with 2 pickups). I just want natural wood and a few basic options. Nothing crazy and no option 50s :embarrassed:
 
I think that's an interesting position for Kiesel to take on a forum that probably is a sizable chunk of their target demographic.
 
CBHScott said:
He posted in the thread to claim he did the finish himself, and that "they" all agreed that it looked great (the "they" meaning the others in the shop).
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Here's his post, #123:

"Hey guys,
I did the finish myself and attached is what it actually looks like, because this customer selected a wood (Burl) that is much darker and more brown in color than the flamed maple used in the original image - it can't be matched 100%. But we all were very happy with my match. This guy has talked with three of my guys and one of them several times last week. We will not be refunding this and if he does not like the guitar he can sell it and move on. We do our best and we stand behind our work, all photo matches are our best attempts and I stand behind this one. Thanks for reading my side.

Jeff Kiesel"

It doesn't match.
He's qualifying the results because of the wood selected by the customer. If, in his experience, this choice presents an obstacle, he needs to mange his customer's expectations...which they failed to do. Then implying the customer is a PITA (which he very well may be but don't say it) and basically saying, 'tough shit. if you don't like it, sell it'. That's a great way to tell anyone not infatuated with your brand to stay away from you. Even closing 'thanks for reading my side' is positioning 'us vs the customer'....not a great place to be if you want to grow your brand.
 
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