Guthrie Govan Leaves Suhr!!! :S....

MG-Chris said:
I have to disagree here. I bought almost $6000 worth of instruments from them, emailed them twice with simple questions (asking for a wiring diagram for one of my guitars, and if I could buy another one of their chopped truss rod wrenches) and was ignored both times. I love the guitars, but customer service is 0-2 in my book.
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It's amazing to hear a dissenting voice :eek:

I find that most forums where Suhr players predominate have an atmosphere where criticism of the brand is met with rapid responses from the brand police. This always grates on me as no manufacturer, even Fractal, is perfect, it's impossible! But on these forums (and I'm not talking about Suhr's own, where to expect any other behaviour is rather naive) there is no limit to the amount of adoration for the brand and John himself. They treat John as if he were Cliff :D

Seriously though, I have a Suhr which I custom-ordered a few years back via a UK dealer. It's a fabulous guitar and by far my best. But that's why I bought it. However, it was supposed to take three months, and it took a year (they were busy), there was an issue with the finish (we sent photos but it was darker than expected) and with the Floyd (buzz on the A string). Whilst Suhr was helpful, I didn't find the service to be in the 'outstanding' bracket, more like 'ok'.

Frankly, I've found with various premium products that I'm more likely to be disappointed with some aspect of the product or service, precisely because the vendor's quality/service is often built up to unrealistic levels by a small but very vocal proportion of the its customer (fan) base.

Regarding Guthrie, I'm sure it's down to the financial/marketing clout of Fender over a smaller company like Suhr and let's face it, Fender/Charvel is going to get its best luthiers building Guthrie exactly what he wants to standards on-par with Suhr.
 
That's the problem with signature models.:(
Eddy van Halen changed quite often. That must have cost some fans a whole lotta money.
 
Brand loyalty is pointless. Companies don't love you back. Sometimes, because of the intimate nature of instruments, people delude themselves into thinking that the relationship between builder/buyer is somehow more sacred than that of any other company/consumer. It's not. Sorry to burst your bubble.
 
MG-Chris said:
I have to disagree here. I bought almost $6000 worth of instruments from them, emailed them twice with simple questions (asking for a wiring diagram for one of my guitars, and if I could buy another one of their chopped truss rod wrenches) and was ignored both times. I love the guitars, but customer service is 0-2 in my book.
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Potential Suhr customer here. I tried registering on their forums so I could ask general questions before I decided on the options that I wanted. I couldn't register. So I sent an email asking if someone could look into it. No reply. Repeated the process with the same results. Found an announcement that suggested you call in for support instead of using email. I called. I talked with a very pleasant receptionist who sent me to the guy who could help me. Unfortunately, it was his voicemail. I left a detailed msg with contact info. No reply. Doesn't look good.
 
I tried a Suhr for a few seconds. I still liked the feel of my Ibanez RGs better for my style of playing. Maybe I should have played it a bit more but that's my first impression. If I get another opportunity, I'll try them again.
 
protocosm said:
That's the problem with signature models.:(
Eddy van Halen changed quite often. That must have cost some fans a whole lotta money.
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Yeah, funny how that works. When Frank Gambale left Ibanez, his signature model prices practically tripled and people would still buy them. Ditto the John Petrucci " Picasso " signature Ibanez guiars are also still fetching a very high price used too - and he's had many signature models since !
Strange how some signature models lose their value when artists switch brands while others go through the roof !
 
I have a few Suhrs now. Of course, they're in my Axe Fx II, with the rest of my amp "fleet." lol
 
MG-Chris said:
I have to disagree here. I bought almost $6000 worth of instruments from them, emailed them twice with simple questions (asking for a wiring diagram for one of my guitars, and if I could buy another one of their chopped truss rod wrenches) and was ignored both times. I love the guitars, but customer service is 0-2 in my book.
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Funny enough, I also contacted them twice (via their new website) without response.
 
Hysteria said:
Seriously though, I have a Suhr which I custom-ordered a few years back via a UK dealer. It's a fabulous guitar and by far my best. But that's why I bought it. However, it was supposed to take three months, and it took a year (they were busy), there was an issue with the finish (we sent photos but it was darker than expected) and with the Floyd (buzz on the A string). Whilst Suhr was helpful, I didn't find the service to be in the 'outstanding' bracket, more like 'ok'.

Frankly, I've found with various premium products that I'm more likely to be disappointed with some aspect of the product or service, precisely because the vendor's quality/service is often built up to unrealistic levels by a small but very vocal proportion of the its customer (fan) base.
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I find that folks who use the word "whilst" are statistically more likely to be disappointed in general. :lol
 
plexi59 said:
I find that folks who use the word "whilst" are statistically more likely to be disappointed in general. :lol
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Plexi - this is offensive. "Whilst" is the standard word for "while" in many parts of the English-speaking world. The poster is from the UK, and being Australian I also tend to say "whilst" far more often. There is no need for these sort of remarks.
 
MG-Chris said:
I have to disagree here. I bought almost $6000 worth of instruments from them, emailed them twice with simple questions (asking for a wiring diagram for one of my guitars, and if I could buy another one of their chopped truss rod wrenches) and was ignored both times. I love the guitars, but customer service is 0-2 in my book.
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And people like to say I don't have patience, and I wait years to complain LOL wow? Seriously you send 2 emails and that is your conclusion. Those emails for all you know could of never arrive, if they had been sent in the past year or two, this is when they were having issues, off and on from them moving to one shop to another and most recently when they switched email servers. I have no idea what happened in your case, the details you gave are not enough to tell if that is what happened, but I would guess they were sent at one of those times and didn't arrive. All I can tell you is not once in hundreds of emails or the half dozen or so phone calls was I ignored, spanning over 2 1/2 years of contact not once. Since i'm not famous I have to come to the conclusion that is how they treat the average person, which is IMHO the way it should be.

Before I got to know John and his staff, they knew me from no one. Being that i'm an Artist but not famous, they had no clue who I was. So when I had issues, they learned who I was from that only, and in the beginning I was handled by their normal customer service, but when things weren't fixed properly through those channels, John himself took over and took care of me. John was never rude, never condescending, and was VERY helpful, and seemed to me that he cared deeply about his product and his customers.

Like I hinted to above, I have talked with John a half dozen or maybe more times on the phone over the past few years, and have exchanged hundreds of emails with him not only about guitar, but other topics, family, life and he's actually a very cool person to chat with, he loves to engage and seemed to me very easy to make friends with. So out of my issues that I had with my first guitar, he not only helped me, and bent over backwards, but on top of it we grew a strong friendship out of mutual respect, his care, passion and honesty would be hard to match in this business, I haven't seen it yet, I would love to see it more often with other companies that I invest with, which is what I feel I am doing when I purchase their products.

Try emailing travis at suhr.com That should get things moving for you.
 
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kfliegner said:
Funny enough, I also contacted them twice (via their new website) without response.
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They are having issues with the new Website and email, sadly the Website is not out of beta stages, things are not fully completed and so it seems they are still working out those bugs. Try emailing travis at suhr.com That should get things moving for you.
 
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Joe Jaeger said:
They are having issues with the new Website and email, sadly the Website is not out of beta stages, things are not fully completed and so it seems they are still working out those bugs. Try emailing Travis at suhr.com That should get things moving for you.
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Those software issues can be a real pain in the tits.
 
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