ryanstewartguitar
Junior Member
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2012
- Messages
- 2
- Reaction score
- 24
Hello!
I just had an unfortunate dealing with Bill Callaham of Callaham Vintage Guitar Parts and I’m feeling the need to make known how I was treated. If you’re not familiar with the company, they essentially make extremely expensive guitar hardware out of stainless steel. I’ve been interested in trying one myself so I finally bit the bullet and shelled out $150 for their ABR-1 Tune-o-Matic Bridge.
Well, to keep it short, I felt a slight improvement in my guitar (a 1974 Gibson ES-175) after I got the bridge installed by my tech, compared to the original 1974 Gibson TOM. It was not life-changing as his website describes, but I did enjoy the bridge and was happy with purchasing it, with one huge exception – the thing rattled like an old pickup truck on a dirt road. Seriously, compared to all the other TOM’s that I own, this thing was noisy. So, naturally, I emailed the company and asked if he knew of anything I could do to fix the rattle issue. Here’s my original email, copy and pasted right from the thread:
"Hi there!
I was hoping you could help me fix an issue I'm having with your ABR-1 Tune-o-Matic bridge. I purchased one of these for my 1974 Gibson ES-175 that previously had a wooden bridge on it. While I enjoy the tone and convenience of your TOM bridge, I'm having one serious problem and that it is rattling quite a bit.
I've had it for about 2 months now, and the problem keeps coming back every time I fix it. I've noticed that the screws on the saddles of this bridge are quite looser than the ones on my other guitars (Gibson and Tonepros). If I screw it a bit further in/out I can usually find a point where the rattling ceases (at the expense of intonation), but within a week it always comes back! Very frustrating, makes the bridge pretty useless! For the record, I'm talking about pretty loud, noticeable rattling.
I did some googling and found this to be a fairly common problem with your bridges, but I can't seem to find any solutions. So I was wondering, is this a normal/expected issue with your bridge? If not, do you think I may have a defective bridge? Are there any tricks to fixing this issue permanently? And finally, what is the warranty/return policy on this item?
I just acquired a new ES-335 that I'm looking to upgrade some of the hardware on, and I'd like to get the Callaham Bridge/Tailpiece combo, if I can feel confident that it won't have rattle issues.
Thank you for your time and help!
- Ryan Stewart
Ryan Stewart"
I will say, he certainly responds quickly, which is appreciated, but it ended up with him, A) insulting my guitar tech, who I absolutely love, and B) asking me to send the bridge back into him so that he could swap the saddles. My initial thought was, how in the world would that stop the rattling? But I paid for shipping both ways (about $15) and did it anyway.
Upon receiving the bridge back, I put it on the 175 and was upset to find that the rattle was…worse. I mean, I’m not talking about a small buzz when you hit a chord hard, I mean rattle that’s literally as loud as the note that’s being played. I could adjust the saddles and find certain places where the rattle was minimized, but that was at the expense of intonation, and I’ll take a rattling guitar any day over an out-of-tune guitar. However, since I paid about 6x the cost of an average bridge for this fancy schmancy piece, I sent him another email, asking if he could help me out any more.
His response, and note that I’ve been talking to Bill Callaham himself the entire time, ended with this:
“I'm being patient with you because I have a son your age. But my patience can wear thin.”
Essentially, shut up and stop bugging me.
So here’s my beef. When you buy a product, you pay for the materials, the workmanship, a company’s profit, and basic CUSTOMER SERVICE. I understand he doesn’t sell products that can be installed by any random guy with a guitar, but apparently two email threads, which I’m sure totaled up to under 10 minutes on his part was “wearing his patience thin” on a customer who spent $150 on his little piece of metal. I was polite and respectful in my email, and don’t get me wrong, I’m aware that I don’t know near the amount about guitar hardware as this guy does. That’s why I didn’t say, “your bridge is broken and I want my money back”, but instead, I asked, “do you think I may have a defective bridge? Are there any tricks to fixing this issue permanently?”.
And beef #2: “I'm being patient with you because I have a son your age.” Seriously, Bill? I’m 20, not 14. I’m a professional guitarist in Los Angeles attending USC as a Studio Guitar major = I’m your future market, and everyone I interact with on a daily basis are your most likely customers. It baffles me from a business perspective why someone would ever find it a good idea to patronize and essentially shoo away a paying customer, especially one who could be a lifelong customer, and refer so many others to his products. But, that’s what he said…and I’m just feeling the need to share it.
I just got a new ES-335, and it’s going to be enjoying a nice TonePros Bridge and Tailpiece here real soon. Callaham Guitars has certainly lost my business forever. I can tell you that in my experiences their customer service is as poor and unprofessional as their products. I’m not saying that Bill Callaham is a bad guy, and I’m not saying he runs a bad company - I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that I caught him on a bad day, and that he wouldn’t usually treat a customer like that. However, that was my experience, and I wish I could have it all back.
I just had an unfortunate dealing with Bill Callaham of Callaham Vintage Guitar Parts and I’m feeling the need to make known how I was treated. If you’re not familiar with the company, they essentially make extremely expensive guitar hardware out of stainless steel. I’ve been interested in trying one myself so I finally bit the bullet and shelled out $150 for their ABR-1 Tune-o-Matic Bridge.
Well, to keep it short, I felt a slight improvement in my guitar (a 1974 Gibson ES-175) after I got the bridge installed by my tech, compared to the original 1974 Gibson TOM. It was not life-changing as his website describes, but I did enjoy the bridge and was happy with purchasing it, with one huge exception – the thing rattled like an old pickup truck on a dirt road. Seriously, compared to all the other TOM’s that I own, this thing was noisy. So, naturally, I emailed the company and asked if he knew of anything I could do to fix the rattle issue. Here’s my original email, copy and pasted right from the thread:
"Hi there!
I was hoping you could help me fix an issue I'm having with your ABR-1 Tune-o-Matic bridge. I purchased one of these for my 1974 Gibson ES-175 that previously had a wooden bridge on it. While I enjoy the tone and convenience of your TOM bridge, I'm having one serious problem and that it is rattling quite a bit.
I've had it for about 2 months now, and the problem keeps coming back every time I fix it. I've noticed that the screws on the saddles of this bridge are quite looser than the ones on my other guitars (Gibson and Tonepros). If I screw it a bit further in/out I can usually find a point where the rattling ceases (at the expense of intonation), but within a week it always comes back! Very frustrating, makes the bridge pretty useless! For the record, I'm talking about pretty loud, noticeable rattling.
I did some googling and found this to be a fairly common problem with your bridges, but I can't seem to find any solutions. So I was wondering, is this a normal/expected issue with your bridge? If not, do you think I may have a defective bridge? Are there any tricks to fixing this issue permanently? And finally, what is the warranty/return policy on this item?
I just acquired a new ES-335 that I'm looking to upgrade some of the hardware on, and I'd like to get the Callaham Bridge/Tailpiece combo, if I can feel confident that it won't have rattle issues.
Thank you for your time and help!
- Ryan Stewart
Ryan Stewart"
I will say, he certainly responds quickly, which is appreciated, but it ended up with him, A) insulting my guitar tech, who I absolutely love, and B) asking me to send the bridge back into him so that he could swap the saddles. My initial thought was, how in the world would that stop the rattling? But I paid for shipping both ways (about $15) and did it anyway.
Upon receiving the bridge back, I put it on the 175 and was upset to find that the rattle was…worse. I mean, I’m not talking about a small buzz when you hit a chord hard, I mean rattle that’s literally as loud as the note that’s being played. I could adjust the saddles and find certain places where the rattle was minimized, but that was at the expense of intonation, and I’ll take a rattling guitar any day over an out-of-tune guitar. However, since I paid about 6x the cost of an average bridge for this fancy schmancy piece, I sent him another email, asking if he could help me out any more.
His response, and note that I’ve been talking to Bill Callaham himself the entire time, ended with this:
“I'm being patient with you because I have a son your age. But my patience can wear thin.”
Essentially, shut up and stop bugging me.
So here’s my beef. When you buy a product, you pay for the materials, the workmanship, a company’s profit, and basic CUSTOMER SERVICE. I understand he doesn’t sell products that can be installed by any random guy with a guitar, but apparently two email threads, which I’m sure totaled up to under 10 minutes on his part was “wearing his patience thin” on a customer who spent $150 on his little piece of metal. I was polite and respectful in my email, and don’t get me wrong, I’m aware that I don’t know near the amount about guitar hardware as this guy does. That’s why I didn’t say, “your bridge is broken and I want my money back”, but instead, I asked, “do you think I may have a defective bridge? Are there any tricks to fixing this issue permanently?”.
And beef #2: “I'm being patient with you because I have a son your age.” Seriously, Bill? I’m 20, not 14. I’m a professional guitarist in Los Angeles attending USC as a Studio Guitar major = I’m your future market, and everyone I interact with on a daily basis are your most likely customers. It baffles me from a business perspective why someone would ever find it a good idea to patronize and essentially shoo away a paying customer, especially one who could be a lifelong customer, and refer so many others to his products. But, that’s what he said…and I’m just feeling the need to share it.
I just got a new ES-335, and it’s going to be enjoying a nice TonePros Bridge and Tailpiece here real soon. Callaham Guitars has certainly lost my business forever. I can tell you that in my experiences their customer service is as poor and unprofessional as their products. I’m not saying that Bill Callaham is a bad guy, and I’m not saying he runs a bad company - I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that I caught him on a bad day, and that he wouldn’t usually treat a customer like that. However, that was my experience, and I wish I could have it all back.
.
