EddieG

I twisted for ages on snapping that up myself, but I really don't need a 4-string. But a Rivoli-style would be a good one to noodle about on.

100% sure, so keep hold of your money till then.😉 And yes, it is based off of the orange prototype that was doing the rounds (and was recently sold on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/812157104198329/).

I'm not sure what I've done to you in order to warrant personal jibes, but thanks for your comment.👍🏻

There's no risk of any psychological or financial harm, I can assure you of that much. I think when this is all done and dusted, it will make sense.😉

I've got it on extremely good authority that Harley Benton are bringing out a Rivoli-style semi-hollow short scale later in the year. I'll definitely be snapping one of those up, even though I don't need it!🤣

Thanks to everyone who's contributed to this so far.😉 I'm really quite surprised to see a few people suggesting that I deserve what's happened etc. Everyone's entitled to their opinion, I suppose. In response to that, I would point out that my initial intent was only to clearly make public what had gone on between Jon Letts and I to that point. It was Letts who, following my posts asked me for the chance to rectify matters between us, and it was an opportunity to illustrate almost in real time whether he had turned a corner or was still conducting himself and his business in exactly the same way. Because no matter how this ends, the ball is in his court how he comes out of this looking; better, or much worse. And particularly since he was reinventing himself on YouTube and other social media, I felt it would be appropriate for potential customers to be aware of what kind of luthier he is now, and not just back then. I wish I'd had that kind of info available to me when I first contacted him.

To be fair, I did say when Letts offered a resolution that I would post the developments; I feel that it benefits the bass community to know whether a luthier (who has previously taken others for money and been guilty of extremely dubious business practices, but who is still currently trading to unsuspecting buyers) has actually turned a corner or is still conducting himself in the exact same manner. If that doesn't have any value to you, that's fair enough, I get it. You could just scroll on though. Thanks for your input all the same.

So, further to my post of the other day, there was an email from Jon Letts on Monday. Seems peculiar to me that he wouldn't want to finish it quickly and have things done and dusted, and I emailed as much in reply. Btw chaps, a large motivation for making this public is to draw attention to Jon Letts in particular as a luthier and supposed "business owner", but also to encourage this kind of behaviour to be called out publicly and hopefully eradicated. So if anybody has any other corners of the internet they fancy sharing this to, you'd be doing me a big favour.😉 Stay tuned for more updates!

Perhaps there are "worse things that can happen", but when you're someone who has two disabled children, and really can't afford to hand £1.5k to a thief, I can't really think of much worse than a man who knows all that and would accept the money, and then refuse to provide the instrument. You may see things differently though.👍🏻

👍🏻😉👍🏻

Cheers for that.👍

Hey all! Been a bit busy with family stuffs, but a quick update for you. In the last episode, we were at the stage of Letts glueing up the centre blank and leaving it to settle. So I emailed him late last month to see where we were at with progress. So, promising; Letts has stated he's glued it up at least. Anyway, I left it a fortnight, then emailed again for an update. This time, I got no response. Getting a bit of deja vu here.... As I said, been busy with family stuff etc. But I noticed on Facebook he'd been recently posting about builds, and he's still active on Reverb, so given that it had been a fortnight and no response from him despite assurances otherwise, I decided to leave a comment on his most recent Facebook post, which he responded to. But at of 3pm today, I'd had no response from Letts. So I sent him another email. So as of today, that's where we're at; Letts is avoiding responding to me (most likely he hasn't done anything) and I'm having to chase him again with messages. So what does everybody reckon; has Letts glued up the neck as promised, or is he taking the piss again? Will he actually burn me for the second time, in PUBLIC this time, and almost certainly irreparably wreck his business reputation? Surely not!! Stay tuned for more Happy Days!😂 (Btw chaps, you'd be doing me and the bass community at large a big favour by sharing this out or raising awareness if you can. Jon Letts had a chance here to make amends and rebuild trust in his business, as it stands it seems he doesn't want to do that.)

I'm going to wait and unveil it when it's done.😉 But like you, I hope this is Jon "screwing the nut" as we say in Scotland, and improving the way he conducts his business as well as his luthiery.

So folks, as promised some updates. As I previously mentioned, Jon had agreed to make the bass I wanted to my specs. After a bit of back and forward and faffing around it was clarified that this needs to be completed within a reasonable timescale, so all of the details were sorted, and the wood has arrived. It's going to be a neck-through singlecut 5-string, 33" scale, ash wings with a maple neck and rosewood fretboard. Jon is glueing the neck blank up over the next couple of days, and it's early days but I hope this is the start of regular updates I can make on this project.

Hey folks. Just to keep everyone in the loop, Jon Letts emailed this morning and agreed to accept and adhere to a proposal for a bass. Not a demand for a Stradivarius or anything over what I'm owed, but not a cheap option to get him off the hook either. Now, I know that a lot of folk will be hanging their heads and saying "he's f**kin' mad" , and the Stockholm Syndrome comment did make me laugh!🤣 All I can say out in the open just now is even though it may not look like it, there's a definite method to this madness, having weighed all the factors both past and present and knowing exactly how this could have ended up. And when this finally has ended, I will break things down in detail on these boards. I've no doubt most of you will agree with this action once it is all done and dusted. Just stick with me and trust me here, guys. No matter what happens, it's going to be worth it.😉 And thanks to you all for the support, between here and TB, it really has lifted my state of mind very much. It's easy to get caught in a loop of expecting the bad and being surprised at the good.