Official Luthiers Forum!

It's your deal to make or break at this point, and you are the only one to make the call.

I am glad that you are so understanding, but feel the need to point out that you should never-ever ship product without payment up front. I have broken this rule and lived to ell about it, but never with as much invested as you have in building a guitar (I am in the audio system field, rather than guitar-building).

Best of luck having this turn out well. k?

_________________
-donh-

Everything is a tone control!

30 years in business says - 50% deposit. (the little dot at the end is a PERIOD!) Send him and email with receipt requested - then you have no obligation to him. Sell it. Ebay - Consignment - what ever. Value your time - you only get to use it once.

Hi Steve,

Don't even lose sleep over it. I'll Paypal you $250 in three payments, and buy it from you. J

I'd not offer a "Payment plan" It'll stress you out when he makes one, skips one etc. THEN he'll have a leg to stand on when you try to back out of the deal, with the argument that he''s making an attempt. Stop the bleeding. Be nice about it, give him the opportunity to back out (protect your reputation, etc. ) but stop the bleeding.

Bright side, he DID however give you an opportunity to add your experience in building, and customer relations. Thank him for that. Then challenge him on raising the bar on integrity, or whatever the issues were. Leave with your head held high, integrity intact, peace in your soul. And remember,

Father knows best.

I was in a situation somewhat similar to this last fall, and Brock gave me some advice that really helped.

As someone who was in college not too long ago, I'm pretty familiar with the mindset. We get into situations without really knowing what kind of contributions they'll take. It isn't malicious, it's just usually a first time learning experience.

My aforementioned situation was with a young illustrator who went mute. Her style is really unique, but I was asking her to work with a different media. She's done books and layouts for large scope publications, but I was asking her to do something she'd never done. She was excited to say yes.

After a few months without contact (a learning experience for me, too), I asked my sister to pose as someone who wanted some illustration done more akin to what she's known for. Catherine got an immediate response, so I asked Brock what to do. He suggested something similar to what he suggested above: let her know it's a tough situation and give her the chance to back out without shame. She didn't respond right away, but she did respond.

Sometimes college students just shut down and hope the situation will go away. I would let him know you understand if the commitment is too big and offer the two options suggested by Brock.

Shutting down on people is one of the most natural defense mechanisms we have when we feel defeated. Just give him some options that he thinks he can take a step on. You mentioned that you want him to have the guitar, so it sounds like a good situation for both of you.

I also had a situation like this. I would of just sold the guitar to someone else but it was a customer designed inlay that wouldn't of appealed to most people. Not that it was bad or anything just personal.
We worked out a payment plan which didn't work so well. I think he eventually just felt too guilty after missing payments and finally payed me off.
It worked out in the end, but I've been thinking about my down payment policy on highly personalized guitars. Maybe 50% for them. I'd be interested in hearing others opinions of this type of down payment schedule.

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com