Ian Elson Guitars - AVOID!!

Cols

Maybe I’m being heretical, but wouldn’t it be worth buying it at that price just to strip it for parts?  And we’re having a cold snap, so if you’ve got an open fireplace nothing goes to waste.

elstoof

I think that’s generally the fate of these instruments, to be stripped for parts

Sesh

Offset said:

"I had it built for my 60th..."

That’s the sad thing. I'm guessing the seller wanted a nice bespoke guitar to mark the special occasion. Instead, he got that sloopy mess that he can't shift even for a significant loss. 

Bod

digitalscream said:

BobHillman said:

rhinofeet said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/326019533507?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=LSw6MTheSWq&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=A41FTXKgQ1e&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Look closely at the headstock picture. Is that gaffa tape covering the end of the fretboard?

No, it's tool marks that he didn't bother to sand away and finish properly - you can see that the scratches extend onto the headstock itself.

And that's completely unforgiveable.  It shows a complete lack of attention to basic details.

GoldenEraGuitars

Sesh said:

Offset said:

"I had it built for my 60th..."

That’s the sad thing. I'm guessing the seller wanted a nice bespoke guitar to mark the special occasion. Instead, he got that sloopy mess that he can't shift even for a significant loss. 

Agreed. I know 2 people (personally) stung by this guy. I know I’ve joked in the past about him, his shoddy practices and “building (non existent) skills” but people have laid out their hard earned money time and time again for these guitars. And yet I’m sure he’s still going. 

You wouldn’t even get £50 for the parts either.

boogieman

strtdv said:

At least he's learnt to put a string tree and use a Fender style nut on his guitars. Those neck screws look so close together though I can't imagine the neck being stable

Shame he carved the actual headstock with a spoon though. 

elstoof

I believe the design incorporates a 4th B&Q pozidrive screw underneath the pickup for extra stability

prlgmnr

Fiddlesticks_ said:

"If I get a bid of over £350 I’ll include a semi-rigid case in the deal". They should also include details of the buyer's local mental asylum if they pay over £350 for it!

I'd imagine the seller would be at least semi-rigid if someone were to offer 350+

imalrightjack

The seller is called Eltex2 - quite like the man himself...?

MartinBush

Weighty, and full of great toned

Offset

Sesh said:

Offset said:

"I had it built for my 60th..."

That’s the sad thing. I'm guessing the seller wanted a nice bespoke guitar to mark the special occasion. Instead, he got that sloopy mess that he can't shift even for a significant loss. 

I suspect the seller is now aged 60 and 5 days.

carlos

GoldenEraGuitars said:

Sesh said:

Offset said:

"I had it built for my 60th..."

That’s the sad thing. I'm guessing the seller wanted a nice bespoke guitar to mark the special occasion. Instead, he got that sloopy mess that he can't shift even for a significant loss. 

Agreed. I know 2 people (personally) stung by this guy. I know I’ve joked in the past about him, his shoddy practices and “building (non existent) skills” but people have laid out their hard earned money time and time again for these guitars. And yet I’m sure he’s still going. 

You wouldn’t even get £50 for the parts either.

That's unfair if those really are BKP boot camp pickups. But then again, those are the parts Elson didn't interfere with.

Musicwolf

At that price I'm almost tempted to buy it just so that I can claim to own such a (im)famous instrument.

My quest for an accompanying Phillips Cleartone masterpiece goes on.

Musical_Mystery_Tour

MartinBush said:

Weighty, and full of great toned

The ones full of great toned, am the mostest very bestest guitars.

OilCityPickups

Musicwolf said:

At that price I'm almost tempted to buy it just so that I can claim to own such a (im)famous instrument.

My quest for an accompanying Phillips Cleartone masterpiece goes on.

Strangely I think this does Mr Phillips a disservice mentioning him in the same sentence. :-)
Granted his 'conversions' are pointless, overpriced, ugly and inept, but he does, it would appear, have a strong grasp of getting the action right and making the monstrous and lumpen whole actually work as a guitar. Look at his feedback score on eBay.

Mr Elson would appear to be another animal entirely ... 
If I had to guess I would have said Ian Elson probably built an okay guitar for himself, Garnered well meaning praise from friends and family, then decided this would be a rather good side hustle ... however building a guitar for yourself is a hell of a lot different than building for a customer. A guitar you build for yourself can have imperfections ... but it's your baby and you don't mind. A chisel mark here, a plugged hole ... all little badges of experience and lessons learned ... because you can always build another. You can't do that with a customer's commissioned guitar ... you are working to time and budget constraints and you have to get it right. 
I've watched the coming and going of many fledgling guitar builders and it's a massively difficult and exacting thing to make a business of. You have to be quite a special sort of person: meticulous attention to detail, great people skills when dealing with customers, and the ability not to run away and hide from mistakes, but admit to them and put them right without bad spirit. 
You have to be a dreamer at the core and a cold realist on the outside ... 
If you don't have those qualities and can't deliver damn close to perfection every time ... then go do something else, don't take folks money and run.
 

  

Hurling_Fruitmig

carlos said:

GoldenEraGuitars said:

Sesh said:

Offset said:

"I had it built for my 60th..."

That’s the sad thing. I'm guessing the seller wanted a nice bespoke guitar to mark the special occasion. Instead, he got that sloopy mess that he can't shift even for a significant loss. 

Agreed. I know 2 people (personally) stung by this guy. I know I’ve joked in the past about him, his shoddy practices and “building (non existent) skills” but people have laid out their hard earned money time and time again for these guitars. And yet I’m sure he’s still going. 

You wouldn’t even get £50 for the parts either.

That's unfair if those really are BKP boot camp pickups. But then again, those are the parts Elson didn't interfere with.

As far as we can tell.

Musical_Mystery_Tour

I have to say, that is some of the shoddiest and inept work I've ever seen. That the guy has the brass balls to charge any money at all for such a piece of sh**, says everything about him.

Bennyboy-UK

https://www.facebook.com/handcraftedelectricguitars

There’s even a nifty new offset design for you surfers…

Offset

Bennyboy-UK said:

https://www.facebook.com/handcraftedelectricguitars

There’s even a nifty new offset design for you surfers…

Errrrm... apologies if I've missed something but Elson appears to have renamed his business - Elmore's Guitars??? 

SteveRobinson

Offset said:

Bennyboy-UK said:

https://www.facebook.com/handcraftedelectricguitars

There’s even a nifty new offset design for you surfers…

Errrrm... apologies if I've missed something but Elson appears to have renamed his business - Elmore's Guitars??? 

It's probably because if you Google Ian Elson Guitars the top results are from this thread and similar critques