Chris Robbins wrote:This seems to shed bad light on one man operations and i have to say not all one man operations are this way I have bought more than one guitar from Fred Justice and could not have found a more honest and decent man to build me a guitar let alone the fact he builds great guitars.There are great one man builders and Fred Justice is one of them.If your looking for a custom built guitar you never need to worry about Fred
I think the same can be said for just about every builder out there.
Best advise is to deal directly and if possible visit the builder and see what they do.
Ask friends for advise on some you may be interested in or simply search their name here on the forum.
The list of very good & honest builders who are one or two man operations is too long to put here.
Inlaid Star Guitar 2006 by Mark Giles. SD-10 4+5 in E9th; http://luthiersupply.com/instrument-gallery.html
2017 Mullen SD-10, G2 5&5 Polished Aluminum covering. Custom Build for me. Great Steel.
Clinesmith Joaquin Murphy style Aluminum 8 String Lap Steel Short A6th.
Magnatone Jeweltone Series Lap Steel, Circa 1950? 6 String with F#minor7th Tuning.
1956 Dewey Kendrick D-8 4&3, Restoration Project.
1973 Sho~Bud Green SD-10 4&5 PSG, Restoration Project.
Had to file a claim with PayPal, was able to recover only $500 of the $1200 I sent to Carl. I will never send money again via Family and Friends to someone I don't know. Yep, should have known better but life is full of challenges. Lesson learned. Hope no one else gets caught up with this guy.
I guess I got lucky - right before it hit the fan, I sold him $300 worth of parts and got paid - even talked on the phone for awhile. My experience was positive but I guess everyone wasn't as fortunate.....too bad.
2013 Brook Torridge, 2014 Martin 000-18, two homebrew Teles, Evans RE200 amp, Quilter 101R head, understanding wife of 45 years. 'Steeless' at the moment but looking......
he buy cheap tele copies in asia bulk, for around 30, 35 bucks a piece, outfits them with a B bender and resells them for 3-4 hundred dollars. He told me that. Probably still doing it.