How to protect myself in a transaction?

[Scout26]

It's a custom guitar that's already made.  The build has already been completed.  Check out the picture of it.  

stay safe.

Ummm, no.   Go back and re-read.


ML is asking for a NEW custom built guitar.  Yes, there are currently existing ones.   But that's not what ML wants.  Were that the case, he would buy one of those and pay the appreciation premium on them.    He wants Hamilton to build him build him a new one and sign that one.


ML,

Draw up a contract with what you want and send it to the SRV fan club president, with a note stating that upon the receipt of the signed contract you will send him (somewhere between 75-90%) of the $6000.   It does sound like Hamilton is one of those "artisan's" who make beautiful objects but their personal and professional lives are trainwrecks.


Or just buy a Strat, beat the crap out of it, put the letters SRV in reflective tape on it, and tell everyone it was his.   


Or buy this for $1699 :   http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/StratSRV3SB?utm_source=MSN&utm_medium=PPC&utm_campaign=none&utm_term=Bing_PLA_All_Products

[Jocassee]

he would give the custom guitar maker 1/2, and he would hold the other half until it's done and shipped to me.

Say what again?

Run away. Run faaar away.

[Monkeyleg]

Okay. I finally talked to Jim Hamilton, the maker. We talked for about three hours. Great guy.

He had the body of one already done, just sitting there. He's going to build one for me for $5500. He will do everything I want: sign, date, write "SRV 30th Anniversary #01", and give me a signed certificate of authenticity. He sent me photos of the body, showing the grain in the curly maple. It should be spectacular.

He's going to send me an invoice detailing all this, and I'm going to send him a boilerplate contract basically reiterating what we talked about.

It turns out he's only made 52 of these over the last 30 years.  The other ones that are on the market are total fakes. He just hasn't had the $50,000 for an attorney to sue his ex-partner, who's been  churning out these fakes with cheap wood, plastic mother of pearl, and just general low quality.

[Fitz]

I once asked on a Van Halen forum how to get a good replica of the frankenstrat (before they started making them)...


Best response was something like this:

"Step one: buy a cheap strat.

2.) Get tired of the pickups. Pull them out. Hear that pickups are louder with more wire from some random guy on sunset strip, so melt the wax and wrap a bunch of bullshit wire around em. Pay no attention to neatness or quality. Dip in wax melted on the stove. Shove back in guitar

3.) *expletive deleted*ck the other pickups , you dont need em. Also, *expletive deleted*ck tone knobs because you dont know how to wire em. Volume knob, jack, pickup. That's it.

4.) Masking tape, spray paint. All over. Runs and overspray are good

5) Take up smoking. Smoke a ton while playing this guitar

6) Toss it into a van 500-600 times

Congratulations! You now have a perfect replica frankenstrat!

[Brad Johnson]

sign, date, write "SRV 30th Anniversary #01", and give me a signed certificate of authenticity

Oh... My... GAWD!!!  

(we really need a jaw-drop smiley)

Brad

[Monkeyleg]

Oh... My... GAWD!!!  

(we really need a jaw-drop smiley)

Brad

Why? He did the same thing with the 2004 20th Anniversary models. Started at #01 and went up. Same thing in 2005. The first "21st Anniversary" model was #01.

If he'd just numbered them #01 through #52, I would have told him to number this #53.

[Brad Johnson]

Seriel number 1, man. Serial number 1.

Brad

[Monkeyleg]

Seriel number 1, man. Serial number 1.

Brad

I still don't get it. Sorry.

[Monkeyleg]

Fitz, SRV's real main guitar, which he dubbed "#1", was a 1962 Stratocaster body with a 1963 neck. The pickups are believed to have been 1959. The "SRV" letters on it were the reflective letters you can buy at hardware stores. Not quite the frankenstrat of Eddie Van Halen's, but not a pristine guitar, either.

The Hamiltone was the only really nice guitar SRV owned. Oddly enough, it was the one he chose to use in the video for "Couldn't Stand the Weather",  in which the band members and their equipment were subjected to torrential rain from a rain machine. Maybe he thought it needed beating up a bit.