ARM OF HAMER Posted March 2, 2019 Posted March 2, 2019 2 hours ago, kizanski said: I've been to Lark Street 100 times and I've bought from "Buzz" once. This is 1. because his prices are always just a little too high, and 2. because of Buzz's tendency to be...let's say...shady. There was one specific time with a GVCG Telecaster that really drove the point home for me. Many of you are familiar with GVCG. I was working in the village when I happened upon Jonathan's shop early on totally by accident. There were a couple of guys playing his Fender relic copies and they looked amazing. Then I saw the prices. He was clearly trying to shoehorn himself in-between the prices Fender's relics (which were thousands less expensive) and real vintage Fenders which had reached astronomical numbers. A few months later the GVCG hysteria revved up, thanks to TGP, and I was hot and heavy for one just like everyone else. Lark Street had a few, and I played them. These were very close to the actual vintage Fenders I had played and owned - they made the Fender Relics look like jokes - so I was impressed. Well, as per usual in these situations, the prices skyrocket seemingly overnight and you're suddenly crossing buying a GVCG off of your future plans. Then, some months later, I see another GVCG Tele at Lark Street, this time with a really low price tag. Literally about $1000 less than he should have been asking for it. Buzz had had many GVCGs go through his shop, so he knows what they're worth, and "new" or "used" didn't make a difference, price-wise, during the crazy times, so I asked him why it was so low. He said some nonsense about it being used, which sounded fishy to me, but I wanted to believe it and wanted the guitar, so I gave him a credit card deposit on the phone right then and there so that he didn't sell it out from under me, since i couldn't get there until the following afternoon. The next day I run there after work like an excited little kid. I walk in the store, and there it is! I play it and I'm underwhelmed. It played fine, but there was something very unbalanced about the ageing job. The body looked great, but the neck looked pretty vanilla. "Can we pop this neck off?" Buzz has his tech loosen the strings, and remove the neck bolts. Inside the neck pocket on the body, I saw exactly what you'd want to see: Jonathan's hand written markings. The neck, however, said ALLPARTS. "Buzz? What the Hell is this?" "That's why it was priced so low." "Yeah, you can reverse that charge on my credit card now." KIZ OH OH! that IS shady!.................... definitely not good to have not disclosed that to you ahead of time............before you put down any money. I have never bought anything from him but the relatives I have that live in the Kingston,Poughkeepsie,Bethel area have and according to them Buzz has treated them right. In any case It pays to know what your looking at as far as what it IS...................... and more importantly what it ISN'T
tomteriffic Posted March 3, 2019 Posted March 3, 2019 On 2/28/2019 at 6:11 PM, ARM OF HAMER said: Nice looking guitar!................and for that money IF I was in the market for one of these I'd pull the trigger................1952 is my birth year. Mine too.
Funky Chicken Posted March 6, 2019 Posted March 6, 2019 On 2/28/2019 at 7:36 PM, Jakeboy said: That thing looks to be in exceptionally good shape. Too bad about thepicups. Nothing Mr. Gravelin can't assist with.
dgstandard Posted March 29, 2019 Posted March 29, 2019 On 3/6/2019 at 2:09 PM, Funky Chicken said: Nothing Mr. Gravelin can't assist with. Quoted for truth - Mr. Gravelin just did
dgstandard Posted March 31, 2019 Posted March 31, 2019 The Special arrived intact - took only four days to ship across customs and the continent via USPS - and is absolutely lovely! Had a terrific transaction with Buzz. CITES was a non-issue. Many thanks to John E for the heads-up!
cmatthes Posted March 31, 2019 Posted March 31, 2019 On 3/2/2019 at 8:05 AM, kizanski said: "Can we pop this neck off?" Buzz has his tech loosen the strings, and remove the neck bolts. Inside the neck pocket on the body, I saw exactly what you'd want to see: Jonathan's hand written markings. The neck, however, said ALLPARTS. "Buzz? What the Hell is this?" "That's why it was priced so low." "Yeah, you can reverse that charge on my credit card now." Could have been one of the infamous "Revelator" pieces of crap with the same story!
kizanski Posted March 31, 2019 Posted March 31, 2019 1 hour ago, cmatthes said: Could have been one of the infamous "Revelator" pieces of crap with the same story! Ugh. Don't get me started with that POS.
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