A message from Rains Steel Guitars and Gary Carpenter

Ron Stafford · Post by **Ron Stafford** » 4 Mar 2009 9:16 am

After much deliberation Gary has agreed that we should put an official post here concerning some comments made about Rains Steel Guitars in order to clarify some incorrect information posted. Gary is extremely busy playing shows, doing recording sessions, giving lessons, making sure that all Rains Steel Guitars meet his high standards of quality and workmanship, and most importantly, keeping his customers happy. He’s not an “Internet” kind of guy so he has asked me to do this for him.

A statement was made here on the forum that “the Rains upgrade that they are doing is to fix the problem they had with poor workmanship” and “It’s a rip off to charge a person $225 dollars because of the factory error”. This is not the case in any way, shape or form. The upgrade is strictly an optional enhancement that improves the playability and feel of the guitar’s pedals and knee levers and unless you spend a considerable amount of time playing each and every week the difference would be perceptible but not significant. This is a new crossbar support design that is now standard on all Rains guitars. Gary and his great team are constantly looking for ways to make a great product even better, even if it is only slightly better. The fee for the upgrade (or modification) for older guitars is not a “profit center”, but rather to cover just the material and labor costs to install it.

Each Rains Steel Guitar comes with a Lifetime Warranty for the original owner and this warranty is transferrable for a minimal fee. If a problem should develop with the guitar (which so far has been very rare) the Rains team will do what ever it takes to correct it, quickly.

Gary, Corky Owens and Danny Crelin are all very accomplished and professional players and they take a tremendous amount of pride in their products, service, reputations and relationships with their customers.

We would like to thank the many satisfied Rains owners and friends who voiced their support over this issue by their posted responses and the many phone calls received. We would also like to thank Bob for providing a forum for all steel guitar players and enthusiasts to interact and share useful information and ideas.

If you are coming to the show in Dallas next week please come by the Rains Room and say hello. We would love to see you.

Sincerely,

Ron Stafford
Player Rep
Rains Steel Guitars

Mark van Allen · Post by **Mark van Allen** » 4 Mar 2009 12:54 pm

Very classy, Ron and Gary.
I hope I get to play a Rains some day.

Joseph V. Sapp · Post by **Joseph V. Sapp** » 4 Mar 2009 2:36 pm

Rains pedal steel guitars carry a "Lifetime Warranty"?????,wow,,now that's saying something. Maby the big three auto makers should follow Gary's lead. But regardless,,,,to the entire crew at Rains Pedal Steel guitars,,,,keep up the fantastic work, and raising the bar for others to follow, and for each of us to enjoy.

God Bless

Joe

Ronald Sikes · Post by **Ronald Sikes** » 4 Mar 2009 8:19 pm

"and now you know,the rest of the story"

James Morehead · Post by **James Morehead** » 5 Mar 2009 6:23 am

Does not get any plainer and easier than that.

Chris Schlotzhauer · Post by **Chris Schlotzhauer** » 5 Mar 2009 1:16 pm

From the other thread and dissatisfied customer:

Bill as you no i havent always had a problem with Gary. But with this one i did and i thought he would take care of the problem under warranty as he should of. The guitar i had before that has got troubles with it as well and im going to help the guy fix it. If he could post he would tell you the same thing. But its over with now and look forward Bill to seeing you down the road again. Have a great week.

He's going to fix it himself and apparently will not call Gary and discuss.
I guess this chapter is closed

Hal Higgins · Post by **Hal Higgins** » 5 Mar 2009 6:13 pm

I've had my Rains Steel Guitar for nearly 3 years now, and have yet to have the slightest problem with it. It stays in tune....it plays flawlessly, and the sound is incredible....mine is a 2006 model. I talked to Gary several months ago about updating, haven't felt the need to have it done. I've not found anything about this guitar that's inferior....the craftsmanship is fabulous. I will play this guitar for a very long time. And BTW..I play at least 15-20 hours a week on this guitar, I put a set of Jagwire stainless strings on it about 1 and 1/2 months ago, and have yet to break a string, and the strings sound almost as good now as the day I put them on.......to me that's incredible. Thanks Gary and the staff at Rains for the product that you produce....it is the ultimate in a steel guitar IMHO.

Bo Legg · Post by **Bo Legg** » 5 Mar 2009 7:27 pm

However untactful this disgruntled customer and regardless of his unwarranted comments regarding the quality of the parts, I don’t believe the question that came out of this rant was answered.
If I did own a Rains I would want to know if something broke or I wanted to upgrade could I buy the parts and do the work myself?
It would cost over $100 to ship the steel both ways to get work done by the builder and sometimes a long wait before you get your PSG back. Frankly a life warranty that required me to ship something I love, wouldn’t want out of my sight, expensive, big and heavy as a PSG would not be worth much to me.
All I’ve heard here is how the Rains is perfect and nobody here on the forum has ever had a problem with the Rains PSG. Come on be realistic, no matter how good the product it’s a mechanical thing and something sooner or later is going to go wrong.
Besides your testimonials do not address the real question that arose here “Can I buy the parts to fix or upgrade my Rains”?

James Morehead · Post by **James Morehead** » 5 Mar 2009 7:39 pm

Bo, would YOU offer a lifetime warranty and then send out parts for folk to work on a steel guitar?

As far as shipping your guitar, that's the cost of doing buisness--monetarily and otherwise. Cheaper to send the guitar to Gary than to ship Gary to the guitar.

The real question WAS answered. That was all about Rains Company and Gary Carpenter's integrity.

Bo Legg · Post by **Bo Legg** » 6 Mar 2009 9:55 am

Bo

“Can I buy the parts to fix or upgrade my Rains”?

James Morehead

Bo, would YOU offer a lifetime warranty and then send out parts for folk to work on a steel guitar?

As far as shipping your guitar, that's the cost of doing buisness--monetarily and otherwise. Cheaper to send the guitar to Gary than to ship Gary to the guitar.

The real question WAS answered. That was all about Rains Company and Gary Carpenter's integrity.

Thank you for answering my question “Can I buy the parts to fix or upgrade my Rains”? The answer is NO.

Now let me answer your questions

“Bo, would YOU offer a lifetime warranty and then send out parts for folk to work on a steel guitar? “
My answer would be yes with one amendment. If you wanted to do your own repairs you may do so but it would void the warrantee and you would have to pay for the parts. There are a lot of us out here who want to do our own repairs and mods for reasons of time and shipping issues. Most repair parts would be way less than shipping.

“Cheaper to send the guitar to Gary than to ship Gary to the guitar.”
No it’s cheaper just to send me the parts.

“The real question WAS answered. That was all about Rains Company and Gary Carpenter's integrity.”
I don’t believe the customers rant was about Gary’s integrity and I’m sure no one here on the Forum questioned Gary’s integrity before or after this rant.
The rant was about the customer not being able to except or understand the fact that the company policy was not to sell parts to do your own repairs and was voicing his displeasure with that fact on the Forum stating that he would never buy another Rains.

Some people would not want to buy a Rains due to not being able to get parts for self repairs and this has nothing to do with the quality of the Rains nor the integrity of Gary Carpenter.

The Rains is a fine PSG and well worth the expense and under the same circumstances I would just have some parts made at a machine shop or pack it up and send it to Gary.

James Morehead · Post by **James Morehead** » 6 Mar 2009 12:36 pm

What ever, Bo. Sheesh

admin · Post by **b0b** » 6 Mar 2009 3:26 pm

Topic closed at Ron's request.