Ian Elson Guitars - AVOID!!

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jimcroisdalejimcroisdale Frets: 38
edited June 2021 in Guitar
Hi all,

I'm a guitar tech based in Leeds. A client of mine bought a custom guitar from Ian Elson, a guitar maker from the Norwich area.

All I can say is that it's been a total disaster, and one that I wouldn't want anyone else to have to go through. I've written a blog on my website about it that you can read here:

https://jimsguitarworkshop.co.uk/2021/05/26/avoid-ian-elson-guitars/

TL;DR - AVOID IAN ELSON GUITARS!

Cheers,

Jim
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Comments

  • grungebobgrungebob Frets: 3299
    Blimey. 
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  • JalapenoJalapeno Frets: 6378
    Holy moley !
    Imagine something sharp and witty here ......

    Feedback
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  • stonevibestonevibe Frets: 7080
    He looks like a trustworthy business...

    Win a Cort G250 SE Guitar in our Guitar Bomb Free UK Giveaway 


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  • JetfireJetfire Frets: 1687
    I've been following him for a while on FB and I like the look of his builds, very stripped back and very simplistic but I'll have a read of this
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  • Winny_PoohWinny_Pooh Frets: 7731
    I have seen so many custom/DIY builds that look great in photos and when you pick it up in person it's pretty crude. This is a bit worse than that when you look at the nut and bridge and the top finish edge is the most boggling
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  • uksaint7uksaint7 Frets: 308
    But apart from that it was ok?
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  • GrumpyrockerGrumpyrocker Frets: 4118
    Me opening the thread. "Surely this is just nitpicking and scene drama, I'll just read the link....."

    YIKES what a dog. It looks like I'd made it.

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  • Bennyboy-UKBennyboy-UK Frets: 1710
    That’s blurring the line between handmade and homemade pretty badly.

    The customer facing bullshit lies are the icing on the cake though...
    I'm always looking for interesting USA Hamers for sale.

    At the moment I'm looking for:
    * Hamer Watson, SS2, Vintage S, T62.
    * Music Man Luke 1, Luke II

    Please drop me a message.
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  • rze99rze99 Frets: 2260
    Very poor thank you for the head up.
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  • xscaramangaxscaramanga Frets: 436
    Wow. 

    I actually did my bit to help promote Ian back in 2015. He spammed me on Facebook asking me to promote his brand (we'd had no previous contact). I was a bit annoyed but for some reason I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, and made this thread:

    https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/57197/

    Various builders commented pointing out that it is not economically viable to build quality guitars by hand at the prices he advertised. Something was amiss. These points were made quite reasonably. Ian's replies to these reasonable criticisms were unnecessarily defensive, and I was quite embarrassed that I ever posted the thread.

    And now this. At least we know why they were cheap now.
    My YouTube channel, Half Speed Solos: classic guitar solos demonstrated at half speed with scrolling tab and no waffle.
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  • LogieLogie Frets: 440
    edited May 2021
    I bought a custom build from eBay about 10 years ago and it looked as good in the flesh as it did in the pics from 18” away but up close the build quality was fairly poor and it choked out from about the 10th fret downward. Plus, it weighed just under 14lbs for a double cut which was a bit of a surprise.

    However, I got in touch with the guy and he immediately offered me the money back and would cover the postage. I felt a bit guilty in case I was being too picky ( in hindsight I wasn’t ) so I paid the postage and lesson learnt.

    This guitar looks to be in another class of hacked about driftwood altogether and he sounds like a prize cocknugget to boot.

    If you’re buying a custom build, it’s the height of optimism to rely on pics alone before laying down your wedge. 

    You can pay to do any number of guitar building courses but if you’ve got the hand to eye coordination of Oliver Reed after a two week bender it’s not going to worry PRS.

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  • SkippedSkipped Frets: 2371
    That was a hard read.
    But Jim was right to share this.

    On the original Fretboard thread (about a new UK builder),  @octatonic  gets 12 wisdoms (now 13 wisdoms)  for his advice  and his measured concern about the low price point for a handmade guitar.






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  • octatonicoctatonic Frets: 33725
    edited May 2021
    Skipped said:
    That was a hard read.
    But Jim was right to share this.

    On the original Fretboard thread (about a new UK builder),  @octatonic ;; gets 12 wisdoms (now 13 wisdoms)  for his advice  and his measured concern about the low price point for a handmade guitar.


    Thanks.
    As I said 5 years ago I saw no way to run a business making high quality, hand made guitars for the amounts he was charging without losing money.
    In my opinion something has to give- either the price goes up, quality goes down, or you get into mass production to bring the cost down.
    I wrote a dissertation about this specific issue, use PRS as a case study.

    As an aside, I got out of guitar building because of these issues- I won't go into specifics but it was at least in part because I couldn't charge what it cost me to make in terms of labour and I didn't want to invest in CNC/automation technology without having an established business.

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  • Yes, I saw that old thread as well, around the same time. I think that's when I started to follow him on Facebook etc too. As others have said, they look okay from a distance, but up close it was another story.
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  • SquireJapanSquireJapan Frets: 696
    edited May 2021
    Hi all,

    I'm a guitar tech based in Leeds. A client of mine bought a custom guitasr from Ian Elson, a guitar maker from the Norwich area.

    All I can say is that it's been a total disaster, and one that I wouldn't want anyone else to have to go through. I've written a blog on my website about it that you can read here:

    https://jimsguitarworkshop.co.uk/2021/05/26/avoid-ian-elson-guitars/

    TL;DR - AVOID IAN ELSON GUITARS!

    Cheers,

    Jim

    Wow.

    If I'm honest, before I read the blog post, I'd assumed it was case of a bit of bad experience, with someone venting.

    How wrong I was!

    Even I can tell that's a complete mess of a "guitar shaped object".

    What a shame
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  • skunkwerxskunkwerx Frets: 6838
    Holy moly. Yeah I’d have sent that straight back!
    The only easy day, was yesterday...
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  • SupportactSupportact Frets: 895
    Well done Jim for raising this and for helping out your client.
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  • mendymendy Frets: 171
    edited July 2021
     B)
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  • stickyfiddlestickyfiddle Frets: 26749
     I must admit I assumed the OP's blog post was going to be an unnecessary hatchet job but so many failings on a single instrument make you wonder how the guy is happy to send out something with that many things fundamentally not right. 

    Sadly doesn't seem to be a surprise given the general naivety shown in the old thread here.
    The Assumptions - UAE party band for all your rock & soul desires
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71956
    I was worried it might be a case of buyer's remorse or needing to hear both sides of the story too, but the guitar speaks for itself.

    Appalling. Worse than most DIY builds and 'luthier course' guitars I've seen... not remotely acceptable as a commercial product he's charging money for. There's also a horrendously bodged fingerboard inlay dot in the first pic, which seems to have been overlooked in the catalogue of other faults.

    Add shady business practices and outright lies on top and it really isn't a good picture.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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