You'd mentioned this in response to my post describing my good luck with e-bay.
Well, that good luck came to an end.
Remember this?
Pretty bitchin' Gibson Les Paul Standard, wouldn't you say?
Regardless, that's the one I bought last week on e-bay, from a dealer in Pennsylvania. That picture there was the picture he used for his e-bay ad. It ended up being a pretty easy deal, nothing too complicated. It's a brand new '06, and I asked the guy before I bought the guitar to make sure all the "case candy" was included inside the little storage department inside the case.
You know, like the truss rod wrench, the warranty card, the pickguard and the hardware for installing the pickguard. (With Les Paul Standards rather than drilling the holes and installing the pickguard at the factory Gibson simply includes the pickguard and its hardware inside the case, knowing quite a few people won't want the pickguard on their guitar, especially if it has a nicely figured top that they won't want to hide with a pickguard. Since it only involves the drilling of two holes Gibson leaves it up to the customer to install the pickguard if they want it on there.)
Anyway, the guy assures me everything is brand new and exactly as it ships from Gibson.
So, I buy it. What could go wrong, right?
Now, remember, again, this is the picture in his e-bay ad...
So, when the UPS shipment arrives I open up the box and unwrap the case and then I take the case out of the box. I open up the case, and this is what I see...
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
It was about the same feeling as when I threw my cheeseburger at the tv after Jeff Fischer bobbled that easy interception and instead of intercepting it and icing the game for USC he tipped it to UCLA's Freeman McNeil who caught it and ran for the winning td...
This fucking blockhead went ahead and drilled holes into the damn guitar and he installed the pickguard...without telling me...even though his pictures show no pickguard...even though I specifically asked him to make sure the pickguard and hardware were inside the storage compartment, not on the guitar.
~ring ring~
"YOU STUPID FUCKING CUNT!! YOU SENT ME THE WRONG GUITAR!! THIS ONE HAS A PICKGUARD ON IT AND WE SPECIFICALLY TALKED ABOUT MAKING SURE THE PICKGUARD WASN'T INSTALLED ON THE GUITAR! I'VE GOT THE E-MAILS RIGHT HERE TO PROVE IT!! HOW COULD YOU BE SUCH A FUCKING DOUCHEBAG AS TO DRILL HOLES INTO A BRAND NEW LES PAUL, WITHOUT TELLING THE BUYER??"
"Sir, at our store we always install the pickguards. You got the right guitar, the same one in the ad."
" http://www.break.com/index/angry_german ... itles.html "
In the end, I received a full refund, with which I bought this...
...which, thankfully, arrived in same-as-described condition. No pickguard. The stuff's in the case, like it's supposed to be. It's fine.
Kinda Santana looking, this one, more classy than flashy. It's now tuned up, intonated, set up and playing perfectly. Actually, it's in my living room just doing nothing but sitting in my guitar rack right now, but whatever...
Just cannot believe that dude...
Btw, while searching for a pic of Albert King for another thread I ran into a combined Albert King/SRV website and on that website they had pictures of all of SRV's album covers.
This one in particular caught my eye...
...since I just knew when I bought this a week or so ago...
..that I'd seen that exact Gibson ES335 in Antique Burst with the more vintage looking deeper black burst edging somewhere before.
Finding out that in fact the place I'd seen it before was on an SRV album cover, well, that sure didn't suck. SRV, with an ES335?
Pure coincidence and all that, sure, but after being so pissed over the LP fuckhead I choose to chalk this ES335 up as now having extra mojo and stuff and oh well, I guess all's well that ends well...
