Not impressed with Suhr or their dealers (a rant)

I just received an image of the guitar body after paint and there's a very noticeable discoloration - a dark area - on the bengal burst quilt pattern just below the bridge. It looks like an anomaly in the wood that became more pronounced by the paint. Don't know if it was caused by the lighting in the photo, or if that's really how it looks. I'm waiting for Suhr to get back to me on this. Right now I'm on the fence on whether to just cancel the order completely and be done with it. When my PRS arrives later this week, it may make that decision much easier.

Wow ... I have been getting custom Suhrs for years and I was never sent a prenatal picture of my guitar from suhr or dealer. I think that is pretty cool.

I'm waiting for Suhr to get back to me on this. Right now I'm on the fence on whether to just cancel the order completely and be done with it. When my PRS arrives later this week, it may make that decision much easier.

How can you cancel an order for a guitar being built to your specifications -- especially after the build process starts?
 
How can you cancel an order for a guitar being built to your specifications -- especially after the build process starts?

I could regale you with a half-dozen snarky replies, but suffice to say when all else fails, a call to the credit card company always works for me. Hopefully it won't come to that. Still waiting to hear back from Suhr on my last inquiry (waiting two days now).
 
There's a weird phenomena going on among some certain brands like Suhr, FAS etc. Like... if I get bad service and experience that I don't want a particular service there are people that feel the need to try and change my opinion. But why? Because they use this brand? I still don't see the motivation behind it. Do we need to get confirmation from the outside that our choices have been correct? I dunno. I play PRS guitars and I love them. I know people that don't love them but I couldn't live without them. Let's just say that I've sold every Ibanez and Gibson I've ever owned but I've never sold any of the PRSs I've bought. Still I don't feel the need to change other people's opinions if they don't like PRS. When they ask me how I get my tones I can point at the PRS. That's enough for me. :D BTW here's a comparison I made of Suhr vs PRS vs Music Man. Some really sloppy playing though. :D

 
There's a weird phenomena going on among some certain brands like Suhr, FAS etc. Like... if I get bad service and experience that I don't want a particular service there are people that feel the need to try and change my opinion. But why? Because they use this brand? I still don't see the motivation behind it. Do we need to get confirmation from the outside that our choices have been correct? I dunno. I play PRS guitars and I love them. I know people that don't love them but I couldn't live without them. Let's just say that I've sold every Ibanez and Gibson I've ever owned but I've never sold any of the PRSs I've bought. Still I don't feel the need to change other people's opinions if they don't like PRS. When they ask me how I get my tones I can point at the PRS. That's enough for me. :D BTW here's a comparison I made of Suhr vs PRS vs Music Man. Some really sloppy playing though. :D



On music forums if someone starts a thread about a bad experience with a company, the topic typically is about experiences people have had with said company.

If someone shares a good experience they have had with that company and shares it on that thread, it doesn't mean they are trying to say that the other persons bad experience is any less valid. They are just discussing the thread topic.

You don't like Suhr. I get it. If I'm not mistaken (and I am way to lazy to look it up) you have made that clear on other threads. Perhaps I am confusing you with someone else. Doesn't really matter.

I on the other hand am a Suhr fan boy. I generally chime in on Suhr threads because that happens to be the brand of guitar I own the most of (I have 4 guitars, 2 Suhrs).

I have no PRS, nor any desire to get one (at this moment, I reserve the right to change my mind), so I generally don't chime in on those threads.

People tend to chime in on the gear and company they know about. And the people who tend to know the most about specific gear, are the ones who own it.
 
Suhr is great. Personally I think it's a bit over-hyped. To me their modern shapes look like Ibanez which to me will always be a cheapo manufacturer so I will not pay that much for a guitar that looks cheap to me. And for a Fender shape I'd choose a Fender. :) Still many players I respect use Suhr like f.ex. Pete Thorn.
 
I could regale you with a half-dozen snarky replies, but suffice to say when all else fails, a call to the credit card company always works for me. Hopefully it won't come to that. Still waiting to hear back from Suhr on my last inquiry (waiting two days now).

Well good luck with it.

Hope it all works out for you.
 
I think it's pronounced "Suhr", not "Sure" or "Shure"...?

I also think a good builder here is saying Suhrs are indeed "a decent guitar," but overhyped.
Not 100% Suhr though... ;)
 
Guitar happiness is very subjective. I build a lot of them, but not everybody likes them. I tend toward very large frets, fairly hot pickups, and Wilkinson bridges. Some would say they're less than desirable. Others sing praises. Whaddaya gonna do?

I'm sure Mr. Suhr builds fine instruments. I've seen/played them. He wouldn't be in business otherwise. So... why bitch? Find what makes you happy and go from there.
 
There's a weird phenomena going on among some certain brands like Suhr, FAS etc. Like... if I get bad service and experience that I don't want a particular service there are people that feel the need to try and change my opinion. But why? Because they use this brand? I still don't see the motivation behind it.

I think your are spot on. I think there is a large segment of the population that buy "expensive" things to join the club and then feel it is their solemn duty to defend the club colors at all costs. Then there is a smaller segment of the population that genuinely questions (with sincerity) certain components of a transaction that do not come close to their experience. If you are someone that makes multiple purchases of a particular brand you want to know if the bad experience was the result of an idiot dealer or if it is the beginning of a company trend.

From my perspective, I have ordered many custom spec items (Suhrs, Andersons, Collings, Victor Baker, Bludotone, Fuchs etc) and never had an issue. I all cases I either dealt with a trusted dealer or the builder/designer himself.

When it comes to off the shelf items, I would never in a million years order one online, again, unless I trust the dealer. For example, I recently picked up a 2004 (first production run) Gibson 58RI Cloud 9. The dealer is someone who knows me, the type of music I play and what I expect from an instrument - I spoke with him and he said I would love it -- that is all it took and he was right!

Check this bitch out 58RI #CR84013 making her the 13th cloud 9 ever made. I received her on a friday and did a wedding gig with her that sat!

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Well, the guitar is now assembled and it was explained to me that the inconsistent coloration in the photo was due to the carve top (didn't occur to me at the time, but they way they explained it, it made sense). Suhr assured me the guitar is drop-dead gorgeous. Should I dare to hope that the worst of this episode is in the rear-view mirror...
 
Well, the guitar is now assembled and it was explained to me that the inconsistent coloration in the photo was due to the carve top (didn't occur to me at the time, but they way they explained it, it made sense). Suhr assured me the guitar is drop-dead gorgeous. Should I dare to hope that the worst of this episode is in the rear-view mirror...

Sounds like no matter how good this guitars is, you are going to try and find a fault with it once it arrives. Just my opinion.
I hope you do like it after the long wait.
 
Guitar happiness is very subjective.

This is so true. What one person thinks is a holy grail guitar another thinks is a piece of shit.

After many years of playing and having the privilege of meeting some very gifted musicians, I've come to the conclusion that we all have a tonal center in our brains that feels pleasant and we respond to.

As a result, we tend to "Chase The Tone" by favoring certain pieces of gear like guitars, amps, effects, pickup choices etc that gets us closer to it.
 
Also... I must admit that some arguments I had with FAS back in the day played at least a small part why I sold my Axe-Fx Standard. I just couldn't help it... every time I looked into that black box I remembered Cliff personally being publicly disrespectful towards me. I dunno if that's okay in the US but in EU the first rule in customer service is that the customer is always right.

This is a motto from a time long ago, and while yes the customer is important, they are hardly ever right. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_customer_is_always_right

What's more is when the customer pulls the "customer is always right" card, it's usually that this is a problem customer, because they want more, or feel they were not "taken care of" properly, and our company would tell you so and tell you we don't want your business. I am just a contractor, but have seen it happen a quite a few times in my years with this company.

As for Cliff being disrespectful, things get heated and ya, but you know.... opinions and all that....
 
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Sure the customer is not always right and that's not what that saying means. It's not literal. It means that a good business man/woman is able to but his/her emotions aside and realize that he/she is a representing the image of the company. There is no right or wrong way to do things and the Axe-Fx is such a killer product that I stopped caring a long time ago.

About the Suhr thing however, Suhr does have good customer service and they gave him a public apology:

On behalf of everyone at Suhr Guitars, we want to issue a public apology to Kunu. It is true that we had a number of setbacks with Kunu’s build. We regret the effects of this build on our relationship. We understand that Kunu is upset and we are sorry for the mistakes we made on his build. When something goes wrong, we truly want to do the right thing. We are thankful to you, Kunu, for your business and loyalty over the years, as well as your open and honest communication during this difficult time. It helps us all learn and grow. It’s our sincere hope that, in the future, we will have the opportunity to work with you again, and to rebuild our relationship. We will do everything in our power to find a way to put this behind us and move forward.

That is one way to make it right and do the right thing with the customer. Whether or not that answer is genuine, it serves it's purpose that Suhr cares about their customers which is extremely rare these days.
 
There's a weird phenomena going on among some certain brands like Suhr, FAS etc. Like... if I get bad service and experience that I don't want a particular service there are people that feel the need to try and change my opinion. But why? Because they use this brand? I still don't see the motivation behind it. Do we need to get confirmation from the outside that our choices have been correct?

Still I don't feel the need to change other people's opinions if they don't like PRS. When they ask me how I get my tones I can point at the PRS. That's enough for me. :D BTW here's a comparison I made of Suhr vs PRS vs Music Man. Some really sloppy playing though. :D

But isn't that what you're doing when you do all of these comparisons and polls? :)
 
On behalf of the entire team at Suhr, we want to publicly apologize to JMA for the issues surrounding his build. As previously noted in this thread, we have reached out to some others to apologize and we feel that we owe JMA an apology too. Building a custom guitar should be a time of fun and excitement, and we are very sorry that it has turned into a source of frustration for you. There are many things that may delay the build of a custom guitar, but one thing that we never want, is for our communication to lapse with our customers. Our customers mean everything to us, and we are nothing without them! Please accept our apologies in that we let you down in this regard. From this point forward, we will strive to improve in our communication with you so that you do not feel out of the loop. We are thankful that you have not cancelled your order and we ask that you please continue to communicate with us regarding your build. We will do whatever we can to restore your confidence in Suhr and make things right.
 
On behalf of the entire team at Suhr, we want to publicly apologize to JMA for the issues surrounding his build. As previously noted in this thread, we have reached out to some others to apologize and we feel that we owe JMA an apology too. Building a custom guitar should be a time of fun and excitement, and we are very sorry that it has turned into a source of frustration for you. There are many things that may delay the build of a custom guitar, but one thing that we never want, is for our communication to lapse with our customers. Our customers mean everything to us, and we are nothing without them! Please accept our apologies in that we let you down in this regard. From this point forward, we will strive to improve in our communication with you so that you do not feel out of the loop. We are thankful that you have not cancelled your order and we ask that you please continue to communicate with us regarding your build. We will do whatever we can to restore your confidence in Suhr and make things right.

And yet again, SUHR does not disappoint on their costumer service...
 
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