Feb 8, 2012

The Downfall of Builder Brian Estes and RnB Custom Guitars

The man in the video above is Brian Estes, aka Big B Smiles, and he was/is the builder behind RnB Custom Guitars.

In August of 2011, I came across Brian’s youtube videos of some of his guitars. Since I was in need of a Strat for the purposes of pedal demos, I decided to do some research on Brian and RnB guitars. I found a bunch of wonderful things people had to say about his craftsmanship and the sound and playability of his guitars. His guitars were touted as just as good if not better than a Fender Custom Shop guitar for a fraction of the cost. At the time, Brian was offering a discounted price on his guitars via Ebay auctions. He and I emailed back and forth for a few weeks and I was finally able to pull the trigger and send him about $1,300 for a custom RnB Strat with jumbo headstock and tweed case.

At the time of my purchase, the guitar was promised to me in about 6 weeks, which seemed extremely reasonable for a custom built guitar. He told me he would put a rush on it.  Being that I like to showcase new equipment and builders when I can, I had decided to hold off on doing a rather big demo for musicradar.com until I received my new guitar.

Fast forward to Sept 30th. I had yet to receive any correspondence from Brian, so I decided to reach out and inquire about the status of my guitar. Brian wrote…

“Hi Fuzzy, got you in the paint shop now. The EPA came in today and I have to move all my chemicals out to another city zoned for industry. Your most likely looking at 4-5 more weeks there Fuzzy Girl. It will well worth the wait and I will go all out to make sure this one is full of Mojo for your video’s. Sincerely, Brian”

RnB Strat

I decide to just let the man have some time because I know it has to be very difficult to keep up with orders the closer we get to the holidays. I hear nothing from Brian for the next few weeks. So, I decide to reach out on Nov. 15th to see how he is making out. Brian wrote….

“Almost there Fuzzy, the cold spell we have had has set me back a few weeks of spraying clearcoats. You are in the sanding stage and will be coming up to the bench here soon for assembly and relicing!”

Great! My guitar will soon be ready.

About two weeks after that correspondence, I was involved in a hit and run accident and was left bruised and battered and temporarily paralyzed…. so, the guitar was then far from my mind.

Many weeks go by as I am recouping and my mind begins to drift back to the guitar. I begin to wonder why I haven’t received any word from Brian. It is now January 13th….. if my guitar was in the sanding stage in November, one would assume it would be done. I reach out to Brian once more and ask for an update. A week goes by and I receive no reply.

At this point, I started to get very nervous. I decided to visit Brian’s site to see if perhaps there is any news or updates posted on his site. I type in the address in my navigation bar…… but all I am taken to is a white page with the words “This account has been suspended”. Hmmm…. maybe I typed that in wrong. I tried again….. same response. I’m on a lot of meds at this point, so maybe my eyes and hands just aren’t coordinating correctly. I figured I would go through the link to the store from his videos. I do so and I come to the same message.

At this point, I am now freaking out. I sent this man $1,300 5 months ago for a guitar and I have nothing to show for it AND now his website is gone?!?!?!?

This prompted me to do an online search….. and that is where I found a blog post on rhythmicguitar.com by Jeremy about his custom RnB guitar….. and how he had to fix it!

I urge you to read his two articles here… Rhythmic Guitar.com

Jeremy had ordered a guitar from Brian on January 19th, 2011 and his blog post was dated Nov 7th 2011…. about 10 months after he ordered his guitar. After finally receiving his guitar, he posted the following pictures….

Neck Joint

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

String Tree Placement

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuner Placement

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Guitar was shipped overseas with the whammy bar screwed in..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As Jeremy says in his posts, the trem block was broken, the string spacing was completely off, there was a piece of plastic/cardboard from the nut packaging cut to the shape of the neck heel, it was supposed to be a shim to angle the neck, the tuners are off, the paint is damaged, etc, etc. Again, I recommend you read Jeremy’s posts, especially in regards to how he fixed everything and how much he paid for each item….

Rhythmic Guitar.com

Oh and did I mention that Brian refused to refund Jeremy any money?

After finding this website, I began reading all of the comments…. and lo and behold, there are many, many people that have been waiting months and months for their guitar from Brian…. and the excuses these people are posting from Brian are the exact same excuses I was receiving….. only they had been receiving them for many more months than I had. One gentlemen has been waiting since 2010 for his guitar from Brian!!

So at this point, I am extremely worried, having already sent him $1,300 and am just now beginning to see the scope of what is happening. This is besides the point that after being in the accident, I could use the $1,300 to pay towards medical bills..

On January 26th, Brian finally writes me back….

“I am sorry for not getting back to you sooner. I have been very ill. I have a life threatning heart condition and have fallen behind in my guitars. I assure you that I have not forgot your large headstock Strat. They say they cannot operate on my heart what I need is a heart transplant. I am taking the meds they prescribed and have a pacemaker’defibulator implant to try and keep it going. I am working on guitars and though I have been overwhelnmed lately I have not forgot you! It will come! I promise!
Sincerely, Brian”


Now, I can completely understand someone being sick or ill and having issues with completing work. Given my current situation, I COMPLETELY understand that. I’m not that much of an insensitive bitch :) However, I can’t help but realize that he has many other individuals that have been waiting months and in some cases, over a year or almost two years for their guitars.

Something is fishy here….. something just does not sit right with me. Why did he promise me my guitar so quickly? Why were the excuses I was receiving the exact same excuses others have been receiving for months? Why did he message another buyer in November that he was out on the West coast playing some big paying gigs? Why is his website account suspended? Why has paypal suspended his account? Why will he not refund his buyers money?

After thinking about it, I decided to ask Brian for a full refund of my money. If he did order the custom neck, I would eat that cost and just ask for the neck to be mailed to me and for the remainder of the money to be refunded. I was told… “If I had it to send to you I certainly would.” 

Since the money was sent via paypal, I decided to open a paypal case against him….. however, little known fact here, paypal will not investigate anything that is over 45 days. Being that the guitar was promised in 6 to 8 weeks, that built in 45 day period of protection would expire before the guitar was even supposed to be completed.

In reading over the comments on Jeremy’s blog, I found that some buyers began contacting the authorities in Brian’s home town. The police stated that a detective was sent out to Brian’s home and that he had agreed to complete the remainder of his orders….. however, based on what I had seen from Jeremy’s pictures, would I even want the finished product?

Now that brings us up to the present. I have contacted the authorities in Brian’s town and lodged a complaint and I have also submitted a fraud case through my credit card company, however, since it was about 6 months ago, I am not very hopeful.

In the end, I am not looking to be vindictive here. I am not looking to completely tear down the reputation of a builder here…. from all of the comments from older buyers, Brian used to build some excellent guitars. The reason I went to him and wanted to buy one of his guitars was because they sounded amazing and people had nothing but excellent things to say about what he did.  I am just not sure what happened or where things went wrong for RnB Customs.

My concern here is that I am not the only one….. not by a long shot. Brian should have never taken my order or I should have been informed about his current condition and just how backed up he was in regards to the guitars. I am not sure what believe in regards to the correspondence I have thus far received from Brian.

My goal now is to create a hub for anyone that has paid for a guitar from Brian that will most likely never show up. If we join together, keep each other posted on any new happenings, post any emails we each receive from Brian, etc…. I am sure we will be able to come to some sort of resolution. And that is basically all I want……a resolution.

If you are one of the many that have paid Brian and have not be able to come to a resolution, please contact the Volusia County Sheriff’s office to lodge a complaint..

Volusia County Sheriff’s Office
L.E.S. – District 3 (Holly Hill)
999 3rd Street
Holly Hill, FL 32117
386-323-0151

Also, there is a thread over at The Gear Page in regards to this, if anyone needs any further information…TGP RnB Thread

Again, I feel that this is extremely unfortunate and when I see that there are others receiving the EXACT same excuses and updates as I have been…. well then there is something not quite right here.

In the end, we sent Brian money to build our dream guitars…. and that is exactly what we all got…. just a dream.

By fuzzboxgirl Music News, Resources 25 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,