He was told by the store owner Eddie Bell (then a big Gibson Dealer)NYC to leave the store.
I followed him down the street,,and lo and behold,,he was carrying a funny looking triple neck guitar with a name I have never
heard before,,,the name was FENDER. This was
used as a sample and was defective as far as
the pickups were concerned. It was then that
I wrote to this company Radio-Television Equipment Co, and spoke to a Donald D. Randall. He explained that this was a salesman's sample. From that moment on,,,my life was changed.All because I bought a used
guitar from an unknown person and a never heard of company.

The mans name was Jack Douglas,,obviously trying to sell Fender guitars and finding it very difficult if not "impossible".

If it were not for Jack Douglas,,,I would have never known Leo Fender and Donald Randall,,,,so you see,,,not all stories are
"tales of Horror. This was my LIFE's beginning. To BE Continued in my "Upcoming Fender Book" and many more,,, The year????
1948. The Time?? The Right Time.

------------------
Copyright(c) 2002 by
Jody Carver "All Rights
Reserved

[This message was edited by Jody Carver on 03 March 2002 at 05:18 PM.]

George Gruhn

Ed Naylor phoned mr Gruhn and told him that the guitar was in perfect working order. This was not true. It is because of this phonecall that Mr Gruhn did not want to make good on his deal. All he was prepared to do is pay $250 for repairs.

The South African customer (me) received a guitar that could not hold its tuning at all, because the changer was completely gunged up. Then some of the pedals were not connected at all. The guitar pedals played extremely heavy. Then it was not possible to play on the first few frets because one of the roller nuts was the wrong size. It was clear that this guitar had been mistreated. It also became clear WHO mistreated it. This person is doing everything in his power to tell everyone that this guitar is fine (obviously because he worked on it).

The South African victim wanted to "change the tuning". This again is a misleading statement. He just wanted to put the guitar back in its original condition and setup. The fact that this guitar has been mistreated meant that he had to strip it completely and rebuild it. It is not surprising that he had to obtain information from the forum how to do this.

The forum members have been absolute stars with their support and advice. Thank you all! You are incredible! It is for this reason that the South African customer asked Mr Gruhn to send his $250 to the Forum as a donation. This he has done (see b0b's smiley above). Thank you Mr Gruhn. And thank you b0b.

We know NOW(!) that Mr Gruhn is not a specialist in steel guitars, but it was pretty clear that even a novice could see that this guitar was not working. Much later, AFTER the deal was done, a Gruhn staff member sent an email to the customer in which he admitted that he quoted a very high shipping cost to discourage the purchase. Why would he have done such a thing? You draw your own conclusions about pre-meditation.

The guitar is still not in a playable condition. However, THANKS TO THE SUPPORT OF THIS FORUM this guitar may be in good playing condition soon. This has been a long ordeal (3 months) and the victim has learned an awful lot about the mechanics of his guitar.

Jody, thank you for your wonderful story and your previous support.

Ed Naylor has promised to send parts to South Africa for NO CHARGE AT ALL.
(He stated above that he has sent them. I have not yet received the parts.)

Hope this makes everybody see the whole picture.

Peter
(copies of relevant emails are available on request)

-Peter-

[This message was edited by Peter on 10 March 2002 at 07:23 AM.]

With regards to the authenticity of this guitar, I suggest you take this up with all the forumites who declared that this guitar is not a Remington. I am sure you know who they are, so there is no need for me to pass on this information.

Best Regards and thanks again,
Peter

------------------
Steve Stallings
Bremond, Texas

Some of the wood-screws, nuts, collars and nylon tuning nuts are exactly "what the doctor ordered". However, the lever-stop, bellcrank and crossbar bushings are not related to this guitar at all and I won't be able to use them without making a mess.

In addition, you mentioned that the pickup is a new Lawrence pickup. But according to an email from Lawrence, the pickup in my guitar is NOT a Lawrence. Forumites tell me it is a Danny Shields pickup (and it sounds great). On close inspection I established that this pickup has been in this guitar from the beginning; it has not been added at a later stage, and it is certainly not new.

Ed, could this mean that the guitar in question is not the same guitar that you are talking about? I mean, the parts are totally different and the pickup is not what you say it is. Maybe this guitar is not a Remington after all. How would I be able to tell? Emailing Herb Remington did not answer this question, so maybe you can tell me how I would recognise a genuine Remington. Someone stuck 3(!) Remington decals on it, but that won't make the guitar genuine.

Ed, you did not send roller nut replacements. What would be the best set to replace them? A set of gauged roller nuts or a set of roller nuts that are exactly the same for all strings, like the early Emmons guitars? And where can I get these?

I just need to take out the final "flaws" by trying to find proper parts.
The parts you did not send me are now made by a local machine shop. The roller nuts I will have to find somewhere else, and I'll order the broken tuning keys from Stewmac.