You're absolutely right in that small mistakes (in a paint job) will happen with any one. We are all human and no one is perfect but the true measure of one's character is how they handle these mistakes when they do happen. Will they rise to the challenge or will they become defensive, argumentative and abusive to the customer?

I will even quote Patrick (Sims) as saying "There is no such thing as a perfect paint job" because he's right - there isn't - but in some instances what they customer orders and what they receive are far different.

For example, a customer wants a forest scene hand painted on their guitar. What they receive is a guitar that's been covered in essentially a high quality decal that 's been clear coated. Does it look nice? Well, that's subjective but IMHO there's a big difference between hand painting and covered a guitar in a decal.

I stopped using Patrick (Sims) as my painter for a few reason and one reason was because I wanted to work with someone that was truly an artist in the traditional sense. What I had in mind for guitar finishes was beyond his capability. There's a technical aspect to painted a guitar well and then there can be an artistic aspect to it as well. If you just want a guitar painted in a single color, that's one thing but if you want custom graphics, that requires a whole different skill set.

Patrick (Sims) has been doing this for years and that zebra is not going to change his stripes.

As I stated in a previous post, there are other painters out there - you just have to take a little time and look for them. Patrick (Sims) gets a lot of work because he puts himself out there for everyone to see which results in him taking on more than he can handle.

Patrick (Sims) often states "My finishes are slick like glass and better than anyone else". Speaking from personal experience, his finishes are slick as glass but he's not the only that can do that. They are folks out there who have been painting guitars longer than Patrick has been alive and the quality of their work is just as good. Getting a "slick as glass" finish is not rocket science.

If you choose to use Patrick Sims as your painter of choice, the end result will very likely be very high quality though there is a chance it may not be and you also may wait a very, very, very long time for something that other painters would get done in the fraction of the time (Patrick is infamous for making delivery dates that he never keeps). But be forewarned that if you inquire of the status of your paint job too often, it very well may get pushed to to the back of the line and if there are complications, heaven help you and get a good lawyer.

One last thing. I have established various criteria for myself when it comes to selecting a custom painter and one thing I go by now is I will not, under any circumstances, work with a painter who requires all the money up front. When you consider that most of the money for a paint job is labor, there is no reason whatsoever to require that the work be paid for in full up front. The fact is once a painter has all your money, where is the motivation for getting your guitar back to you in a timely fashion?

Andy thats a good thing. I for one dont believe that everyone does get bad service from SimsCustom. Thats just not how things go. The big problems (like paying before service and not receiving your guitar for 2+years) are probably quite few. Unfortunately problems like that cause the worst of complaints. If you get 10+ complaints like that and you can pretty much kiss a internet business goodbye.

Its a superb service for customers on your doorstep. I think it needs planning and very careful consideration before you go worldwide on it. The logistics of shipment are bad enough for newly painted guitar bodies. Never mind can you keep up with the workload.

Shame the guy does good work. But your only as good as your last job these days, reputation doesnt seem to carry much into the future. A little slip can ruin you if you've a particularly nasty customer. Never mind misplacing someones guitar body.

_________________
No no and no

It's a crap shoot. My first paint job with him went relatively smooth but the second one, not so much and after I read some of posts of his interacting with other customers, I refused to do business with him.

Your paint job was technically simple Andy so I'm not surprised it was trouble free but the more complex the paint job requested is, they longer it will take (again, exponentially longer) and the greater the chance of there being complications and problems the later of which Patrick does not handle well.

Consider this. I had a guitar custom painted with custom graphics by someone else, it only took 6 weeks and the end result was amazing. Compare that a guitar that Patrick (Sims) refinished with fabric that took 5 months. Heck, I had the same guy that did the custom graphics make me a completely custom guitar (with a very complex graphic and custom inlays) and that only took 3 months.

You are correct in that most paint jobs go off without a hitch but when a problem does occur, it's a nightmare.

At this point, Patrick's style of handling customer service issues has resulted in him being banned from (3) internet forums and (2) of those have pretty large memberships.

It's more than all of that. It's also about accepting and living by the creedo "The customer is always right" and based upon some of Patrick's posts on various internet forums, he obviously does not practice this.

Unfortunately, most folks don't do enough research on who they are dealing with which in some cases results in massive headaches for them.

Matt

Its a real shame, it sounds like the guy has too much work and its got ontop of him.

_________________
No no and no

I'm sorry too but it's far more than that.