Ian Elson Guitars - AVOID!!

OilCityPickups

LionAquaLooper said:

Jonathangus said:

So the Facebook page for Elmore's Guitars, Inc. (that's an American thing, surely?) links to a website belonging to someone completely different?

Following the breadcrumbs it seems to me like Ian Elson, Elmore Guitars and Gary Jackson (BAJ Guitars) are the same entity. 

That seems pretty logical  from the evidence  so far ... 

Philly_Q

LionAquaLooper said:

drofluf said:

Bennyboy-UK said:

https://www.facebook.com/handcraftedelectricguitars

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

If you follow the link the website says theta they're built by a "Gary Jackson".

I don't know anything about him but it seems to be a different person and we should perhaps give the benefit of the doubt and not tar him with the same brush as Ian Elson Guitars

Wow small world. I know this Gary Jackson and BAJ Guitars. BEWARE - he's also not to be trusted. 

LionAquaLooper said:

Jonathangus said:

So the Facebook page for Elmore's Guitars, Inc. (that's an American thing, surely?) links to a website belonging to someone completely different?

Following the breadcrumbs it seems to me like Ian Elson, Elmore Guitars and Gary Jackson (BAJ Guitars) are the same entity. 

So Gary Jackson is actually an Ian Elson pseudonym?  That's getting into seriously dodgy territory.  Like Grant Shapps.

LionAquaLooper

Philly_Q said:

LionAquaLooper said:

drofluf said:

Bennyboy-UK said:

https://www.facebook.com/handcraftedelectricguitars

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

If you follow the link the website says theta they're built by a "Gary Jackson".

I don't know anything about him but it seems to be a different person and we should perhaps give the benefit of the doubt and not tar him with the same brush as Ian Elson Guitars

Wow small world. I know this Gary Jackson and BAJ Guitars. BEWARE - he's also not to be trusted. 

LionAquaLooper said:

Jonathangus said:

So the Facebook page for Elmore's Guitars, Inc. (that's an American thing, surely?) links to a website belonging to someone completely different?

Following the breadcrumbs it seems to me like Ian Elson, Elmore Guitars and Gary Jackson (BAJ Guitars) are the same entity. 

So Gary Jackson is actually an Ian Elson pseudonym?  That's getting into seriously dodgy territory.  Like Grant Shapps.

Other way round. Looks like Gary Jackson is the real person behind it all and is what I knew him as when I had my unfortunate encounter with him a couple of years ago, and is what his FB acct is called (where all his friends and family are connected to him and they all know him as Gary). 

So now the whole Ian Elson story of the OP makes sense to me. Gary isn't a criminal in my opinion and guitars are his passion. But the problem is for any customer - he's an individual who's really financially unstable (either broke or neck deep in debt), of no fixed abode, and unfortunately isn't honest as can be. Google BAJ Guitars and see how many locations it's under. That's not even including when he used to work out of Hatfield and Wales. And now Elmore Guitars in Norwich. He also dabbles as a travelling handyman/builder, guitar teacher, producer (or so he told me). Essentially a one man show who has his fingers in too many pies. So as a customer - he's definitely very high risk to do business with. If something goes belly up, good luck trying to track him down. 

I've blacklisted him but not because he's a crook, but because of the risks involved. Shame because he is a nice enough guy and like us, loves gear and good old rock and roll. 

SteveRobinson

rhinofeet said:

Odd website that. I like the recommendation from frances p corsi.

"Tellus phasellus faucibus eros sapien aliquam si platea in eu. Rutrum efficitur volutpat potenti eget letius adipiscing. Pellentesque nam at egestas montes primis. Molestie habitasse blandit nullam phasellus praesent dignissim consectetur.

He was great in Status Quo, obviously speaks Latin with a band name like that too.

Hurling_Fruitmig

MartinBush said:

Jonathangus said:

So the Facebook page for Elmore's Guitars, Inc. (that's an American thing, surely?) links to a website belonging to someone completely different?

Must be. If you read this bit from the site it sheds a bit of light on things...

Testimonial

What They Say

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.

Eheu!

spark240

@HarrySeven ;

Offset

nero1701 said:

rhinofeet said:

drofluf said:

Bennyboy-UK said:

https://www.facebook.com/handcraftedelectricguitars

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

If you follow the link the website says theta they're built by a "Gary Jackson".

I don't know anything about him but it seems to be a different person and we should perhaps give the benefit of the doubt and not tar him with the same brush as Ian Elson Guitars

Odd website that. I like the recommendation from frances p corsi.

"Tellus phasellus faucibus eros sapien aliquam si platea in eu. Rutrum efficitur volutpat potenti eget letius adipiscing. Pellentesque nam at egestas montes primis. Molestie habitasse blandit nullam phasellus praesent dignissim consectetur.

Is that a missy elliot song?

No. Joe Dolce.

Philly_Q

I'm still reeling from the fact that Ian Elson isn't really Ian Elson.  It's like being told that Keith Gannon isn't really the leading benefactor of the musicians of Essex.  Fortunately that'll never happen.

blueskunk

OilCityPickups said:

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.
 

  

I’m Ian Elson!

Nitefly

blueskunk said:

  

I’m Ian Elson!

And so is your wife!

Musicwolf

Philly_Q said:

LionAquaLooper said:

drofluf said:

Bennyboy-UK said:

https://www.facebook.com/handcraftedelectricguitars

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

If you follow the link the website says theta they're built by a "Gary Jackson".

I don't know anything about him but it seems to be a different person and we should perhaps give the benefit of the doubt and not tar him with the same brush as Ian Elson Guitars

Wow small world. I know this Gary Jackson and BAJ Guitars. BEWARE - he's also not to be trusted. 

LionAquaLooper said:

Jonathangus said:

So the Facebook page for Elmore's Guitars, Inc. (that's an American thing, surely?) links to a website belonging to someone completely different?

Following the breadcrumbs it seems to me like Ian Elson, Elmore Guitars and Gary Jackson (BAJ Guitars) are the same entity. 

So Gary Jackson is actually an Ian Elson pseudonym?  That's getting into seriously dodgy territory.  Like Grant Shapps.

So Ian Elson is really Grant Shapps?  It's all starting to make sense.

Bennyboy-UK

Is it really the same guy? That’s crazy if it is.

Heres something from 2015 about the project.

https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/20884456.norfolk-guitar-maker-hoping-kick-start-business/ 

Yorkie

Mr Elson said: 'The biggest problem with big name guitar manufacturers is that they tend to be mass produced and imported from either Asia or the United States’.

Because attention to detail, eh? 

LionAquaLooper

Bennyboy-UK said:

Is it really the same guy? That’s crazy if it is.

Heres something from 2015 about the project.

https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/20884456.norfolk-guitar-maker-hoping-kick-start-business/ 

Well put it this way. The videos on Ian's FB page are the same on the Elmore Guitar FB page.

Then if you click on the URL in the About section of Elmore Guitars it takes you to that website with all the gobbledegook.

At the bottom of that it has the fine print saying guitars are made by Gary Jackson.

Whatever the case may be, it should be enough to deter any potential customers because you just want to buy a guitar without having to enter the Matrix first to see something shady is going on. 

timmypix

Bennyboy-UK said:

Is it really the same guy? That’s crazy if it is.

Heres something from 2015 about the project.

https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/20884456.norfolk-guitar-maker-hoping-kick-start-business/ 

His optimism (naivety?) in that article is almost tragic knowing what we know now.

digitalscream

timmypix said:

Bennyboy-UK said:

Is it really the same guy? That’s crazy if it is.

Heres something from 2015 about the project.

https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/20884456.norfolk-guitar-maker-hoping-kick-start-business/ 

His optimism (naivety?) in that article is almost tragic knowing what we know now.

As a slight aside...he mentions in the article that his guitars will never be more than £850-950. Even if you completely ignore the quality and design problems, that's a massive red flag right there - it's exactly what's been said by every luthier who ever started up, took too many orders they couldn't fulfil, then started paying for current builds with future orders and eventually went bust because their business was completely unsustainable.

drofluf

Looks like I was wrong in trying to be reasonable and separate the 2. Previous post edited

LionAquaLooper

digitalscream said:

timmypix said:

Bennyboy-UK said:

Is it really the same guy? That’s crazy if it is.

Heres something from 2015 about the project.

https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/20884456.norfolk-guitar-maker-hoping-kick-start-business/ 

His optimism (naivety?) in that article is almost tragic knowing what we know now.

As a slight aside...he mentions in the article that his guitars will never be more than £850-950. Even if you completely ignore the quality and design problems, that's a massive red flag right there - it's exactly what's been said by every luthier who ever started up, took too many orders they couldn't fulfil, then started paying for current builds with future orders and eventually went bust because their business was completely unsustainable.

This is almost a carbon copy of what happened to Letts basses.  From the poor workmanship to the disgruntled customers who couldn't get refunds, bad reviews on forums.  At one point there were threats being thrown around and threads were shut down by admins for fear of legal repercussions.  Messy.

bertie

so Ian Elson was Ian Elson in 2015,  but was Gary Jackson, and is again ?  

 Probably find that they're both  MD Philips or triplets

Offset

I'm bloody confused!