The remake had some flash, but lacked any of the panache of the original, same for the Ocean's Eleven fiasco too.

Hi Twelvebar: if you want to see a bunch of English blokes at their best/worst give them a crate of beer and sit them down in front of The Italian Job. Second only to seeing England beat Germany at football...

[Micheal Caine voice again] " 'ang on a minute, lads; I've got a great idea. ...Er ...er ..."



We'd have shown those Spaniard scammers, eh, Niki?

Cheers - C

Man I have enjoyed this thread Niki. What a story... I was going to say I thought I saw this guitar in November on EBAY... I remember it because the guy took his pictures on the back deck and I think the starting bid was $17,000 US.

I'm no vintage expert but I am in the construction business and my first question is do they build houses with vinyl siding in Spain? Why does the back deck look like late 70' early 80's American design? Oh well you guys are a riot

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I'm not slow... and I'm not fast... just sort of halffast...

Ooooh dont get me started on lager loutism. We'd of certainly 'shown em' and maybe start a international incident too. Its no wonder were not welcome anywhere on the continent is it.

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Hi tdanb2003; we aim to please!

Of course, it's easy to say it now, but I wondered about the cladding on the house too. Not very Spanish, to be sure. But I'm wondering if Spain really comes into this at all, except as an excuse for Niki not being allowed to view the guitar in person. When he offered to fly to Spain the seller was all of a sudden going to America for a month...

It so happens there are sometimes houses that look that way in the UK - and endless miles of decking that looks like that too. So it didn't ring alarm bells at first.

But then for all we know, the originator of the ad is somewhere else in the world entirely. The wonder of the internet - international scamming!

We were out of office hours here by the time I contacted the ad website - but I'll pursue it further if that ad ain't taken down by tomorrow. Who knows if someone has already been relieved of their money?

Thank goodness for the Fender Forum!

Cheers - C

we could all be on watchdog tommorow

On the sellers emails theres a bit at the bottom about innauguration day. And their service provider is AOL as far as i can see. I dont know nor have ever met a english web user that pays for AOL. The whole insistance of pound sterling when i offered any currency they liked to fly out and pay in cash got me worried too. Also their english was deplorable, but not in the same way as any of my italian, french or spanish acquaintances of yore. Kind of like it was put on.

Dodgy bleeders ought to be shot. I thought of emailing them back with a link to this page but thought, why let em know how they've been sussed.
I'm quite peeved, i was hoping for the magical experience of a mythical guitar for not much money. Guess its how these blagards operate, easier to rip 10 people off for £1500 than it is one person for £15k.

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Hi Niki: I know it is insulting to call this kind of thing "the Nigerian Scam", but that country is indeed where a vast amount of this sort of stuff comes from.

In Britain (and I'm sure in other countries too) we have groups of people who work at playing these folks at their own game. Act all dumb and wide eyed like they've been taken in, and then play them for days and weeks. I've seen fabulous pictures where the scammers have been persuaded to get themselves photographed standing on chairs holding silly signs as "proof" to the intended victim that they are who they say they are.

Apparently once or twice they have even been lured to locations in the expectation of receiving big wads of money and so been caught. But mostly the aim is to simply waste lots of their time and effort and make fools of them. The scammer scammed.

In other words, if you can be bothered I think you should play them along for as long as you feel like. Make 'em think they have you hooked and are going to get money out of you. If they are after all in our country we could try and coax them into the open - and then have a reception committee waiting. I'd love to be involved in something like that! Ready and willing...

I was just watching "Hustle" on BBC1. Nice line in it: you have to make the mark believe he has the edge...

Just a thought, anyhow...

Cheers - C

^^ but don't bring em here, Brad has enough nonsense to deal with!

Tdanb.
I'm also in construction, you wouldnt believe some of the rubbish people ask to have in this country.
Infact i've been more or less promised American citizenship on the proviso that i get a stateside job, so if you know anyone who needs a carpenter/plasterer/plaster cast moulder/ drywall man, let me know. I'm time served city & guilds in both forms of plaster work, and NVQ 2 in carpentry.

Ceri.
Now 7-8 years ago you could of easily turned me into a one man vigelante mob, and set me to destroying this god forsaken racket.
Sadly these days it's rare that i'll swing a mood, never mind a punch. I would certainly be very interested in wasting their time but i think i blew that chance with this lot. My last email to them was along the lines of 'p--- off or i'll get the old bill on yer, you blah blah blah.

Twelvebar.
Too true mate we dont want em here, stealing our guitar pic's and conning someone else. I guess Doc, Pete55 and Allstrat have a good valid point in not posting pictures of their stuff. I'm off to delete my gear photo's.

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So I'm late to the party again! My ears were burning too.

A trip to Spain would have been fun. Road Trip!

Anyway, likely scam aside, I'm not convinced that's an authentic 1957. Two things: it's just too clean and the truss rod adjustment nut doesn't seem to be in quite the right place (it's too low, like reissues are constructed). Compare to the picture at the bottom of this page. Or compare to the many '50s Strats found at this very useful site.

While this picture shows rosewood fingerboarded necks, the same thing holds for truss rod placement on maple necks.

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

Niki,
Wait at least 4 years before coming over here... The construction industry is in the tank right now... If it weren't for the commercial contracts we landed last year I'd be in the unemployment line...I run a branch office of a multiproduct subcontracting company... We specialize in insulation, garage doors, fireplaces, and after paint stuff like closets mirrors, hardware etc..

With your plaster experience you could certainly find work in the restoration markets. Thats a specialized field over here. Don't give up your day job yet...

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I'm not slow... and I'm not fast... just sort of halffast...

Niki, there is still a lot of work in New Orleans but the National Guard will have to protect you in some areas!

Niki,
I did a lot of construction related work in New Orleans, and if you know plaster and good old lath and plaster work - that would be a good place for you....
Lots and lots of restoration work to be done there on all those old houses. Good craftsmen can name their rates too.

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Ignorance IS bliss - and I am the happiest person here!

That's a fact you can't find qualified plaster people that can actually do moldings. All they know is flat wall plaster or drywall!

Fhopkins and Tdanb.
Thats pretty much the way it is here. Construction is absolutely dead. Theres a powerstation being built 15 miles from me (which i class as backgarden work being so close). The main contractor has specified 'no british labour', in favour of european labour. Despite Gordon (charlie) Browns promise of 'british jobs for british workers':cry:
The plaster/plaster cast, situation sounds much like it was here some 30 odd years ago. British craftsmen priced themselves out of the market. Their high prices led to premade cove, cornice and ceiling roses. Limiting range options but making the effects available for everyone. I learnt 'casting' when i was 11 from my dad, i started pouring into molds, then progressed to making molds. When i was 18 my incle came from australia to teach me 'on site' forming of cove and cornice.
All in all its a nice skill to have. But i'm lucky to have one contract a year. Not i hasten to add through any kind of reccesion, theres just no call for it anymore. Thats why the plaster carpentry and drywall are my bread and meat.

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