What should I look for in a builder?
This is a question we see online quite frequently. The best advice we can give is do your research. Do a google search on them. Do you see all sorts of forum posts with issues? Search them out on social media. Do you see people saying what a wonderful experience they had? Or do you see a bunch of people asking where their stuff is at? You see, the information is there in black and white. People that have good experiences are likely going to be proud of what they got and are more willing to show it off. Versus someone that got something less than acceptable, and they don't want to be criticized by their peers.
Case in point, we have had to address issues with other companies work on more than one occasion because the customer's were afraid to send it back in fear they would never see it again. Obviously that is not right. It's a shame when someone waits weeks/or months beyond the promised ship date and what they get is....bad.
The point of this post isn't to toot our own horn. It's simply to bring awareness to what is out there, to save you time, money, and aggravation. Companies that continue to put out shoddy work only give the good guys a harder mountain to climb because someone who got burned will be skeptical.
The good companies aren't hard to find. You will find hundreds upon hundreds of results on social media/web searches/etc. This is especially important in the age we are living in. Many people are affected by Covid-19, they want a project to do during quarantine but money is tight. Just be smart. Even if we aren't able to help you with a project, we want to help you get exactly what you want even if that's not from us.
Take a look at the photos below. This ladies and gentlemen is NOT what you should expect. Tear-out, lack of sanding, neck pockets that have steps in them, neck pockets that are the wrong shape, lack of tremolo holes even though you ordered it with tremolo holes, holes too small for hardware, frets with gaps, burn marks, just overall poor quality.
Till next time-