Here we go.. this is going to detail in short form my experience in getting this Silver Sparkle that is now on it's way to EB for a new paint job.
Got a tip off here that a Silver Sparkle was for sale. I checked out the tip and the guitar was located at House of Guitars in San Antonio, Texas. I called the place up and first asked about the price. They told me it had been lowered and was now at $1250. I then proceeded to ask very detailed questions about the guitar such as Stress Cracks, Fitted or Universal Case, Condition, whether or not it had been played very much. I was told the following by an employee named named Sergio after detailing each and every question to him and what he should be looking for.
1) The guitar is brand new
2) No I have it right in front of me and it has no stress cracks
3) I've never seen anyone playing this in the store
4) Yes the case is fitted
So I got the serial and sent it to Scott here.. he came back and told me this:
The actual date we checked again after it arrived was the same exact date but in the year 2002. It was a legitimate mistake.
So I'm thinking it was new and the last of it's kind or something. I thought about it and then called back the next day. I got on the phone with a guy named Michael and he was very cool and helpful. Having already discussed the details with another associate I jumped right into the purchase with Mike. He got the price knocked down to $1105 for me and I decided to order it. I also mentioned to him that I was going to be getting a fully loaded 7-string Petrucci soon and wanted to see what they could offer me on one. I had him quote me on a 'fully loaded Petrucci 7-string in Radiance Red'. He came back and said considering I just bought a guitar from them that I'd be getting a deal and quoted me $1529 on the guitar.
I told him I'd think about it and called back the next day. I had decided to go with the same color that was on the six string I already had (Sapphire Black) and I asked if that would knock the price down $100 for not having a color upcharge. He agreed and quoted me $1429 on the fully loaded model. I must have gotten him to confirm the quote and the order with me 10 times over the course of two more days before I decided to jump on it just to make sure.
After pretty much being convinced by the company that the deal was going throigh I put my brand new sapphire black six string on ebay and sold it that day. I then had the cash to put down on the new 7-string and I called them up to place the order. He took down my info again, got everything ready and we agreed once again on the quote of $1429 for the fully loaded guitar. He needed to verify some things and called me back listing the order, the quote and everything we had discussed in detail except he didn't mention the guitar coming with the custom inlays. I told him to make sure they were on there because a 'fully loaded' model had them and he siad he would call me back.
I got a call back in 10 minutes saying that there had been a price discrepancy and that the best he could do on the guitar was $1849!!!! You can imagine how frustrated and annoyed I got having just sold my other guitar to buy this one!
I of course gave him the third degree and asked about the 'deal' I was supposed to be getting for just purchasing another guitar and the fact that the inlays wouldn't raise the cost by $400. He told me his hands were tied and that the management wouldn't budge. I told him I could beat that price with no problem at Indoor Storm and he said he would try to match it. He called back about 15 minutes later telling me that the management simply would not even match the price and would go any lower than $1849.
I was VERY PISSED off at this point and just put my order in at Indoor Storm.
Now a few days later my Silver Sparkle arrives and the first thing I do is inspect it for stress cracks. BAM! they are there on both sides of the neck. Along with that the case was not 'fitted' as he told me and the guitar looks like it's been played more than lightly. The strings were wound around the pegs to boot! I was about to explode when I called them back and demanded a refund on my purchase.
I wanted to keep the guitar because I had searched for a sparkle for quite a while and negotiated a $200 refund on it bringing my price down to $905.
I just sent it to EB to get the stress cracks addressed. I'm also having them do the neck seal and fret level and also tweak the action down to 1/32". I can't wait to get it back because despite the problems that guitar felt the best out of the three others I've owned!
Anyway.. the kicker is that the employee Michael called me on his cell phone raising hell about the management putting a 22 year old in charge that has no idea about selling guitars. He also ranted and raved that they never would let him cut any deals and that they were always bitching about the store being a ghost town 95% of the time. He said he was putting in his two weeks after this incident and apologized to me profusely for everything for about 30 minutes!
So.. be very aware if you ever deal with that particular dealer!
Here are pics of the stress cracks and the guitar. And Jonzguitarz I know your a busy guy, but please fix her up nice so I can play! I am out a guitar for a month and all I have right now is an electric acoustic! I'm really looking forward to getting it back and being blown away by all of the great things I've heard!
Stress Cracks
Silver Sparkle Gallery
Sorry for the long post!
Got a tip off here that a Silver Sparkle was for sale. I checked out the tip and the guitar was located at House of Guitars in San Antonio, Texas. I called the place up and first asked about the price. They told me it had been lowered and was now at $1250. I then proceeded to ask very detailed questions about the guitar such as Stress Cracks, Fitted or Universal Case, Condition, whether or not it had been played very much. I was told the following by an employee named named Sergio after detailing each and every question to him and what he should be looking for.
1) The guitar is brand new
2) No I have it right in front of me and it has no stress cracks
3) I've never seen anyone playing this in the store
4) Yes the case is fitted
So I got the serial and sent it to Scott here.. he came back and told me this:
The actual date we checked again after it arrived was the same exact date but in the year 2002. It was a legitimate mistake.
So I'm thinking it was new and the last of it's kind or something. I thought about it and then called back the next day. I got on the phone with a guy named Michael and he was very cool and helpful. Having already discussed the details with another associate I jumped right into the purchase with Mike. He got the price knocked down to $1105 for me and I decided to order it. I also mentioned to him that I was going to be getting a fully loaded 7-string Petrucci soon and wanted to see what they could offer me on one. I had him quote me on a 'fully loaded Petrucci 7-string in Radiance Red'. He came back and said considering I just bought a guitar from them that I'd be getting a deal and quoted me $1529 on the guitar.
I told him I'd think about it and called back the next day. I had decided to go with the same color that was on the six string I already had (Sapphire Black) and I asked if that would knock the price down $100 for not having a color upcharge. He agreed and quoted me $1429 on the fully loaded model. I must have gotten him to confirm the quote and the order with me 10 times over the course of two more days before I decided to jump on it just to make sure.
After pretty much being convinced by the company that the deal was going throigh I put my brand new sapphire black six string on ebay and sold it that day. I then had the cash to put down on the new 7-string and I called them up to place the order. He took down my info again, got everything ready and we agreed once again on the quote of $1429 for the fully loaded guitar. He needed to verify some things and called me back listing the order, the quote and everything we had discussed in detail except he didn't mention the guitar coming with the custom inlays. I told him to make sure they were on there because a 'fully loaded' model had them and he siad he would call me back.
I got a call back in 10 minutes saying that there had been a price discrepancy and that the best he could do on the guitar was $1849!!!! You can imagine how frustrated and annoyed I got having just sold my other guitar to buy this one!
I of course gave him the third degree and asked about the 'deal' I was supposed to be getting for just purchasing another guitar and the fact that the inlays wouldn't raise the cost by $400. He told me his hands were tied and that the management wouldn't budge. I told him I could beat that price with no problem at Indoor Storm and he said he would try to match it. He called back about 15 minutes later telling me that the management simply would not even match the price and would go any lower than $1849.
I was VERY PISSED off at this point and just put my order in at Indoor Storm.
Now a few days later my Silver Sparkle arrives and the first thing I do is inspect it for stress cracks. BAM! they are there on both sides of the neck. Along with that the case was not 'fitted' as he told me and the guitar looks like it's been played more than lightly. The strings were wound around the pegs to boot! I was about to explode when I called them back and demanded a refund on my purchase.
I wanted to keep the guitar because I had searched for a sparkle for quite a while and negotiated a $200 refund on it bringing my price down to $905.
I just sent it to EB to get the stress cracks addressed. I'm also having them do the neck seal and fret level and also tweak the action down to 1/32". I can't wait to get it back because despite the problems that guitar felt the best out of the three others I've owned!
Anyway.. the kicker is that the employee Michael called me on his cell phone raising hell about the management putting a 22 year old in charge that has no idea about selling guitars. He also ranted and raved that they never would let him cut any deals and that they were always bitching about the store being a ghost town 95% of the time. He said he was putting in his two weeks after this incident and apologized to me profusely for everything for about 30 minutes!
So.. be very aware if you ever deal with that particular dealer!
Here are pics of the stress cracks and the guitar. And Jonzguitarz I know your a busy guy, but please fix her up nice so I can play! I am out a guitar for a month and all I have right now is an electric acoustic! I'm really looking forward to getting it back and being blown away by all of the great things I've heard!
Stress Cracks
Silver Sparkle Gallery
Sorry for the long post!
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