I had a terrible experience with their customer service too. They made a mistake on a guitar I ordered and I got to speak to Jeff himself. Instead of making it right, he told me to “feel free to sell it and buy another one.” Steer clear of this company.
erik, holy sh*t, are you kidding me???? Why am I not surprised? I'd never even consider a Kiesel and I have a 65 guitar stable full of beautiful instruments. Some actually came to me brand new with pretty serious flaws. The difference is they bent over backwards to make me happy. I'll never ever complain about good customer service. BTW, not being a bragger, none of my guitars are super high end stuff.
Yeah I don't buy this. I've never seen Kiesel be anything but incredibly helpful, except for the one big controversy in like 2018 that made them overhaul their support.
@@Prometheus4096 But you don't always have that option dude lol A lot of Kiesels are NO RETURNS dude. Do some research before commenting and looking stupid
I lost all respect for Jeff Kiesel when I saw a video he made where he berates a customer for complaining about the neck he ordered, not being correct. You might be able to find the video on the RUclips channel KDH.
This started out well enough, and then turned into an excuse video to make yourself feel better about your purchase and the lack of true resolution to your problems. And to not piss kiesel off for some reason? Obviously it's just my opinion. But when they offered to remake it, you should have stuck with that. Otherwise they'll just keep doing this stuff and getting away with it. If nothing else, it will be interesting to see how the color ages versus the bright white pickups. Good luck bud.
Anything over 1000 dollars i expect zero technical issues. Obviously as price go up you're going to get certain perks but the 4 digit mark is where i expect a fully functional instrument with zero issues and decent hardware. Kiesel have way too many issues to be worth the gamble.
I have a Kiesel, well...Carvin...DC800. Ordered it shortly before the name change. Arrived here in Canada about 8 weeks after ordering. My volume knob had a sharp burl on it. Customer service had a replacement couriered and at my door in a couple of days. A couple of years ago, I was looking to build another. It would have been quite custom, so I called the guys. The guy who took my call was an absolute ass. Apparently they can't do any custom work, and I'm an idiot for asking. I was irate, so called back and talked directly to Jeff about it. He was great. He was apologetic for the previous call, and fully explained what they could and couldn't do, and tried to brainstorm some ideas for what they couldn't (or wouldn't) do. I've had my DC800 for 10 years now, and it's been bulletproof. Zero issues. I didn't end up ordering my other custom though, as couldn't get exactly what I wanted. Overall, I've been super happy, and wouldn;t hesitate to order another.
I once had an issue with a kiesel that ended up requiring a rebuild. It was my second guitar from them. I felt i hadn't gotten what I had ordered and I contacted them. The person I spoke with was friendly and understanding and after a short phone call and a few emails they started the rebuild as a "rush order", and I received the new guitar about a month later . Obviously it was super frustrating when I first opened the box, I had waited for months and the disappointment was real. But ultimately anyone can make mistakes and it's about how you address them. In my case kiesel made it right and I've since bought two more *I had not selected any "non returnable" options
Something is very wrong with Kiesel when this many people are being repeatedly disappointed AND there are also repeated accounts of the owner of the company being this alleged smart a**.
I ordered a JB200C and received it back in August 2021 and it arrived in perfect condition. It's the best guitar I own, it plays so awesome, feels so great! No flaws. I live in the north east USA and the summers are hot and humid and the winters are brutal cold!!! So far since having and playing on the JB200, I still have not had to adjust the truss rod or make any other adjustments. They, "Kiesel" in my opinion make the best necks in the industry!
Wow, I wonder if yours got bonked real bad in shipping. I've ordered two Kiesels (a Zues acoustic electric and a Leia) and they both came in flawless condition, and even in tune. Both mine are hardtails, and I just live a couple states away so maybe that also is a factor. Personally, I love my two and would definitely consider a third. I truly hope you get yours sorted out ok!
Brass? the more I hear about those stupid headless guitars they make the happier I am that I've never considered buying one. You can't use brass for a locking nut you can only use steel. Those zinc units are probably harder than brass and might actually sound better. Steel has some excessive high end and can be thin sounding but it's still the best material.
Despite the issues you had, I think the fact that even though they were going to do a rebuild for you, but you decided you liked it so much that you kept it anyway, speaks volumes. I have 8 custom builds , 2 in stocks, and 3 used Kiesels. They are all fantastic guitars. Of all of them, I had one issue and it was a 5w switch that went bad a day after getting it. They straight away sent me a switch, and Flock gave me $100 off my next build since I replaced it myself. I have four headless as well. While I have never had any issues to date, I do wish the head piece was made from a stronger metal than brass. I worry about the set screws stripping out some day. I am careful not to over tighten, but it worries me anyway. Brass is such a soft metal.
I'd be very wary of Kiesel rebuilding or fixing issues because in many reported cases, not only some of the reported issues are not fixed, they often go back with new issues the guitar didn't have before.
Jeff reminds me of a tech-company hypeman. None of this surprises me, as one of my friends has had their share of issues with a custom shop he ordered.
So sorry your first Kiesel experience had those problems :( I have a preowned from Reverb and this year I did my first custom in the Aries BVD run and I am in love. I can't wait to keep ordering. I hope you love the guitar, I hope they make you whole on any other remaining problems, and I hope you continue to shop with Kiesel as they are truly a unique company.
I spent about 2 years engulfed in the Kiesel cult and I have a nuanced view of the company (even though I'm on the BANNED list) that it is POSSIBLE for them to make a great guitar but the front "wall" of the company is seriously f#$%kd up and it puts a stain on the skilled builders in the shop. The QC performed on your Vader was an absolute joke and I've had the same happen to me. They also forgot to place the foam protector under the Hipshot trem on an HD6X I had sent back for repair and the finish got damaged by the barrel tuners while in transit. This and other Kiesel shenanigans ultimately led to me getting banned from ever placing an order with them ever again. TREM DISLOCATION The deafening silence you heard after the talk of a return label was them shitting themselves when they were faced with having to pay for TWO MORE International shipments, UK to CALI and back again. The trem should NEVER be popping out from the bridge posts regardless of where the bar is pointing when you dive it. I can't exactly tell from that still shot but the bridge looked like it was sitting crooked in the route. I'm thinking the bridge pivot pin that is supposed to be seated in the curve of the bass side height post may have snapped or completely popped out. The post is supposed to be resting on the pin and NOT the bridge chassis directly. If you don't see a horizontal pin attached to the bridge, resting against the height post, it broke and flew away. Besides the dislocation issue and possible subsequent tuning problems, that could also cause the trem to rub against the finish of the body. Whatever the cause of the problem, again, that trem pop-out should NEVER happen.
I have had only great experience with Kiesel…have had about 10(half used to test the brand and models at a cheap price and 5 custom orders). I currently have 3, just cause I like a lot of other brands too. So far, no issues! But could just be luck.
IMO, Kiesel's White White has always been a bit warmer than a super pure white, especially like their bright white plastic pickup bobbins. Their classic white is *much* warmer in comparison. I think they would do well to reformulate the White White color to be a brighter white, though. One note: maybe it's just on my end, but the audio at the end of this video glitches out with all sorts of static and artifacts. Not sure if that was intentional or not, ha!
to add to that there were several comments further down the FB group post pointing out how the White White "mellows" over time so i figured I may as well not worry about it!
Sorry you had issues, I've had nothing but great experiences with Kiesel. All my builds came out awesome with only two issues so far and they both got resolved quickly with great service.
Fellow English Northerner here mate! Got an Aries with a floyd last year using the online builder. Arrived in 6 weeks. Immaculate guitar except one ultra tiny sharp bit on a fret. 3rd fret bottom side. 2 scrapes with fret file and done. Can't fault anything about the guitar at all now.
Tbh I'm surprised at how negative some of the comments here are. I thought I was being as positive as possible! And subscribed to your channel. One more for the North!
I think saying that it was well built is the wrong thing to say. If it were well built there would have been no problems with it. What concerns me more is that several people let it leave the factory with those problems. That means that all guitars sent to me or others will probably get the same lackluster inspection. I've gotten better put together sub $200 Chinese guitars from Amazon than your Kiesel.
You are being entirely too nice about this. For the price, you should expect to receive a perfect instrument. I had a similar experience with my first order... Ordered a raw tone white finish on a delos and it arrived with a nasty yellow stain underneath the finish. I know the horrible feeling you felt when you noticed all those issues with your guitar. Kiesel's quality control needs a lot of work to say the least. Don't think I'll buy from them again.
You are way too nice. We work HARD for our money and don’t mind paying the money as long as the company is willing to follow through with their product quality 🤷♂️
I own six Carvin / Kiesel guitars. They are all stellar instruments as far as build quality goes but I had to do a lot of work on my SH7X to get it electronically correct. When they get it wrong it's usually very wrong and they are loathe to admit it.
I have had nothing but terrible experiences with Kiesel. The trem thing happens if the strings are to loose during shipping. I have had a few that did that in shipping. The head piece is ridiculous, but Jeff will probably tell you it’s your fault.
i had a Custom shop Carvin when Kiesel took over... the quality was not in par to price, their customer service was shit. paint marks on the birds eye maple fretboard (under the final finishing lacquer), binding started to peel off and therefore the lacquer started to "bubble". their initial repair did not solve any of these... so i am not sure what they did but it took them quite a time to get the gutiar there and back... The pre-Kiesel Carvins were great though.
I used the Kiesel pickup builder, I ordered an all black Illusionist bridge. They sent me a all white one chucked into a bag. Customer Service was terrible.
its crazy that the YT alg showed me the video from 4 months ago saying that you would get it in 12 weeks i looked down and thoiught oh that should be like now i wonder if he got it then you put this video up 16 hours before. wild
Until you play a headless guitar you don't really know how it feels. I don't like it. I think it looks silly. All of these fanboys with their little desk and computer with monitors and a guitar sim in a daw with their perfect little kiesel headless it's a trend a fad and it's pathetic. Guy's like McRocklin are driving this trend. His playing is amazing but the shit he plays and his guitar sound are shit. They're (kiesel) and other influencers are trying to push some new amp sims and these gaudy ridiculous looking guitars on a salivating market. It's a great business move they can sell millions of guitars and amp sims to fanboys and walk away rich. Not sure if you've noticed but everyone thinks they're a musician now and nobody has any real talent.
I have a Kiesel, I had a "Hipshot" tremelo system installed on mine. It falls out sometimes on mine. I just wrote it off to a floating tremelo. I have seen this before. I just take a bit of scotch tape, and it stays in place, if that is what I want. I go back & fourth with the tape, somtimes I like the floating tremelo. Mine is a LP style model. I love it.-The customer service, I have had heard of problems. Jeff can come off as a jerk sometines.
Are you talking about the whammy bar falling out? If so, have you checked the screw under the bridge? I had to loosen it, slot the bar in, then retighten mine for it to work
That's not the issue with this one. The tremolo keeps falling out of place because either the routing is not the same height, the threaded insert on the bass side was not fully seated so that post screw will always be higher no matter what, the routing is crooked on the bass side causing the top of the bridge to climb on the body instead of staying in the cavity or a mix of two or more issues.
Holy Smokes! Should have stayed Carvin and kept adults in charge. Hopefully, Warmoth will have headless solutions before long. Gotoh, get on the hardware!
One thing that I dislike about Kiesel is their no return or refund policy if you buy any guitar with any custom feature. Only their in stock off the shelf guitars can be returned. So if you have a problem with their custom guitar, they have the right to not accept the return and to not refund your money.
That is not 100% true. There are just specific options that are not returnable. You can order a very nice spec that is returnable but there is a 20% restock fee.
I just have to laugh. Not at you but at Kiesel. This guitar is shit. You can't depress the vibrato all the way down without the whole tremolo dislodging from the pivot? I'd pack it up and send it back. Those guitars are silly. I love my Strat and my Les Paul the most of all my guitars. I have an original Carvin Bolt that I built myself as a kit and it's amazing because I put it together and set it up. The pickups are garbage and got swapped immediately. Maybe good for metal but thin and anemic sounding for rock, blues, funk and classic metal. I used to go to the showroom and buy parts from the kid who runs the place now and changed the name to his name Kiesel. He's the son of the owner and inherited the business when he passed on. Carvin used to be a family run company with the customer in mind and had some great endorsees like Steve Vai. Once he took over the company turned into just another greedy guitar company only interested in making sales. They lost sight of the customer service experience and treat all of us like cattle. I had a dispute with them and their customer service and overall attitude was pathetic. They handled a problem they created themselves horribly and tried to blame it on me and did a couple of slimy things no good company should ever do to a customer. They lied and treated me with disrespect and disregard. I'd be surprised if his company lasts another few years with his attitude and company culture.
Thomann (Harley Benton) refused to honor a warranty claim for me. No more HB guitars. Imagine a set neck guitar with the neck pitched back too much. It made it impossible to play without buzz. The only solution would be to remove the neck and mount it properly. They refused to take it back or replace it after the initial 30 day period. It's got a 3 year quality control warranty. They said it was warped from humidity. It had been kept in my bedroom the entire time in a northern climate controlled house. I didn't play it much because of work. Initially I thought it just needed an adjustment. When I got to it the 30 days had passed. Don't buy from Thomann.
you couldn't have said it better, the boy is an absolute tool, I wish his reign of fantasy factory guitars would be over, his old man would be disappointed of him flexing his skinny arms on instagram & thats not even considering these QC problems.
His cult will keep it going until more and more as is happening come to light without all the fanboys truing to damage control or he wakes up gets a pr person and improves qc. ... Likely like others have said wont happen and hell sell a p.e.f.
Very cool video, very informative. I'm a new subscriber. I've always been a little skeptical of Kiesel guitars. I was even a little skeptical of his dad's company when it was Carvin...To me it just seems a little overblown and exaggerated, especially the cost. Seems like they're just putting something out and charging a lot of money for it and saying that it takes all these in-depth processes to produce such things. I'm a guitar builder so I have a general idea of what. Guitars cost to make and Jeff always seemed a little arrogant to me, like he's thinking he's more than what he really is and his explanation of things and treatment of customers to me seems very wrong. But that's just me. But overall great video, I enjoyed it a lot, thank you so much.👏👏👏👏👏👏
I m waiting for my Vader as well...I have 2 Carvin instruments from 80s and 90s and a Kiesel from 4 years ago. All immaculate instruments. Shit happens I guess. But I would never get a guitar with a tremolo thats not a Floyd.
I'm so sorry that you have a bad experience with a custom shop brand that scks man, but to be honest some years ago I was about to get some kiesels but then I saw all the critiques on forums and some videos complaining about the brand and then decided to stay far away from that brand. Now brands that I do recommend for customs are O.D. guitars, Skervesen, Esp custom shop japan, Vandermeij, Equilibrium, Koca, T's guitars, Ruokangas and Aristides, those are my top to go when order a custom, excelent products and customer service, Esp Japan cs can be a little cold on the trait if you don't know any japanese but they are amazing on what they can do for you in your build, if you have the money you can go crazy on the build specs.
I would be crushed. especially how expensive they can be. I came close to buying one a couple of times . In the builder it would say non returnable so i figured it was too much money to gamble with
That’s unfortunate I hate it for you, but my experience with Kiesel was absolutely amazing. I don’t believe any guitar should be in tune when in shipping, I think all the strings should be slack. I don’t know where the idea that a guitar should be up to tension when in transit is a ‘sign of quality’? But that’s just me. I will admit that their bridge does need some getting used to a specially when changing strings, I decided to go from 9’s to 10’s so I got to reset my bridge settings and once I got the pulling up whammy action set to my preferred setting, I have never been more happy. Yes Fender bridges are way easier to set up, but it’s just patience needed with the Kiesel. All the best my friend, don’t wright off this company. I wish you the best in the future.
Guitars are designed to withstand far more tension than the strings generate, so that's not an issue, especially considering the standard gauge when they first appeared was 018.
I think that your hard-earned business should be highly respected! Send the guitar back don't settle for anything less than what you paid for. KIESEL MAKE IT RIGHT ASAP. TO THINK I ALMOST PULLED THE TRIGER ON A BUILD MY OWN HEADLESS; MYSELF! SMH
I don't know why people buy these expensive guitars. For the price of that thing, I think thier are way too many QC issues. And they messed your order up in regards to the colour. I wouldn't be happy at all....
This started out well enough, and then turned into an excuse video to make yourself feel better about your purchase and the lack of true resolution to your problems. And to not piss kiesel off for some reason? Obviously it's just my opinion. But when they offered to remake it, you should have stuck with that. Otherwise they'll just keep doing this stuff and getting away with it. If nothing else, it will be interesting to see how the color ages versus the bright white pickups. Dug the Original Post up. Thanx @JoeR203
I really wish people would catch onto this. Kiesel makes guitars that look great on social media, assuming they aren't of the overly done monstrosity variety, but they just aren't nearly worth the prices they're charging. Jeff Kiesel is a self-obsessed baby man manchild who acts like he invented the electric guitar. He spends more time self-aggrandizing than doing any real innovation in terms of form and function of the instrument. He isn't an innovator, he isn't respected in the industry, and he wouldn't be working a buffing wheel at any other company had his daddy not handed it over to him. Do yourself a favor and stay away. If you want a high end guitar - a real high end guitar - go with Suhr, Tyler, Anderson, or Music Man. If you want a headless, go Strandberg or even Ibanez. Kiesels are great if you want to customize every little thing, but in the end they're way over priced and way overrated for what they really are behind the surface.
I own lots of ibanez and my Tom Anderson was my number one for a long time but I can't put the Kiesel down. It plays so well and sounds great. Have you tried one?
@@leonbrownmusic I have two pre-Kiesel Carvin guitars from 2012 that I love, but have relegated them as backups because I have a Tyler and a Suhr as my main #1s (in different tunings). The Carvins, each the discontinued C66 model, are really nice guitars. I got them as part of an artist's pricing deal from the Hollywood store when it was still open. They were my main stage guitars for almost a decade. I've played some newer Kiesels and they are really good guitars when they're done right. I've heard/read/seen way too much inconsistency, customer service issues, and now I can't conceive a world in which I put money in Jeff Kiesel's pocket. I work way too hard and way too much to see my money go to that Napoleonic, self-obsessed, petulant baby man. I've dealt with him directly on upwards of five occasions and he's absolutely insufferable. I would love to buy a customized Kiesel 7 string in my specs, but again, I'm not putting money in that dude's pocket. If one comes up on Reverb that's close enough to what I'm looking for, I'll pounce. But it'll be a very chilly day in Hades before I buy a new guitar directly from them.
This is one of the more middle ground stories I’ve heard about Kiesel. I own 2 one from reverb one from their guitars in stock, both are great. I’ve heard farrrrrrr too many stories of QC issues and the Kiesel team telling people tough sh1t when they have valid complaints.
They were better as Carvin. Once the patriarch was gone and Jeff took over, the vibe changed. I'm not sure why they skipped over his dad and went straight to him. As a person who runs a business, I know that it's all about the details. Sure, there are problem customers, but... You have to take actual problems seriously, and you have to really stay on top of everything obsessively, or things will start slacking off. Which is the smart thing to do, because you're not just making problems for customers, you're making more work for yourself and losing money.
I’ve had 4 friends build out kiesel’s over the last couple of years and everyone had pretty major issues and a horrible experience with customer service. Regardless I was going to give them a shot. Until I saw a video of Jeff kiesel berating a customer over a genuine issue which was the final straw.
What a shame for you , I bought a schecter dream machine I the late eighties it cost £800 when the first American strat plus was under £400 it wouldn't stay In tune for a single song even if you didn't touch the locking trem ( schecters own) the screws holding the trem spring plate had split the wood as the pocket was too big and there wasn't enough wood for support, also the finish had cracked at the neck pocket, I was so disappointed,all the guitar mags were raving about this pile of crap, I took it back and they wouldn't give me a refund but I could exchange it for any guitar in the shop for the same value, I settled on the new strat plus , black with maple neck spertzel star tuners, fender gold lace sensors tbc tone control, Wilkinson roller nut, the quality of construction put the schecter to shame , and the trem was terrific, up to g down to slack and back to tune, wow! My main guitar for twelve years, the guitar business has changed so much now in the cheaper end of the market the the instruments are brilliant
Looks white white to me. could be yours isn't a gloss finish and you're comparing to a gloss finish on the web site? also, colors on a web site vs real world may not look identical... all that said, I'd expect better QC than this; still better than Gibson tho' thanks for sharing your customer experience. I've been considering a Holdsworth model for awhile; think I'll stay with my Ibanez Q, and see if they add a trem model.
I don’t often comment on RUclips but this is really disappointing to hear and I certainly wouldn’t have put up with those issues on a high value US-made instrument. Each to their own, if the guitar makes you happy. But Kiesel already bomb on the used market as it is, and you will be the one held accountable for some of those issues if you ever decide to sell it to someone else. If anything this video has certainly reinforced for me that it isn’t worth taking a risk on Kiesel’s QC or customer service, especially outside the US.
"That I can live with..." For the amount of money you spent and the time you had to wait, you shouldn't have to live with much of anything - especially what seems like Stockholm Syndrome.
It would be a big improvement if Kiesel took much MORE time to build their guitars with good quality control instead of rushing through the orders. Customers should have some patience.
The Kiesel headless design is actually wrong, from a technical point of view. I can't really get into it in the comments section, especially not without visuals, but I've had a few Vaders on my bench and I can say with absolute certainly that it is not a good design. Few of them start developing hairline fractures, splitting the wood grain around the holes for the mounting screws. It's just a bad headless design.
I agree that fixings in end grain are never the best. They do use inserts that seem to be resin bonded in on laterodels. This is vastly stronger than a screw into the same end grain but the inserts can only be 10mm or so long. It does spread the load but there is still only a small cross section of timber. I can only guess that they do it this way because it looks a lot better than a dumpy "headstock" with a locking nut surface mounted?
@@leonbrownmusic Adding any kind of metal components to any piece of wood, will always weaken the wood. In my opinion, the bushings are the exact opposite of what the solution should be, as they are larger in diameter than the older wood screws used to be and thus more material removal is required. I don't have any faith in the use of epoxy resins to secure those bushings inside the large holes. History shows that epoxy resins have a high rate of failure in instrument construction. We just have to look at the aging of Ovation guitars. There are simple and structurally sound solutions for headless guitars, but the folks at Kiesel have not though of them. I am not saying that all Vader guitars will fail. I am saying that I've only seen a handful of them and that I did observe a high rate of failure, even with guitars that are not that old. Vader owners are not even aware of it. In fact, that is why Kiesel changed the design, because they are aware of the problem. And from all the Vader guitars I've had on my bench, not even a single one of them had the headpiece installed in good alignment. The other issue is their use of a traditional nut on a headless guitar. That detail is also a problem.
Yea I agree there are better ways to do it. I am guessing they use a nut so that it's easier to offer more than one fingerboard radius without stocking multiple headpieces.
People, no need to spend thousands on a 'custom' guitar only to risk BS like this. We live in era where there are loads of great guitars for around the 1000 dollar/euro mark (and even much lower!) that are superb quality. Don't be manipulated by modern marketing!!
i have had bad experiences with kiesel. im not the biggest fan, sorry about what you had to deal with but they did better for you than they did for me.
I can't stand Jeff, but there's simply no denying they make outstanding guitars. I'll never buy one because the guy just rubs me the way. Like all guitar manufacturers from time to time you'll see a dud. It goes back as far as history....nature of the beast type of deal.
That's a shame. I was going to buy a guitar from Kielsel. I am now going to forget about that idea. I do not want the guitar coming to me that is not quality controlled. Sorry Kielsel, no order from me.
good that they would have replaced it (in the past who knows) but it's absurd that it left the factory with a a bad paint job, misaligned headpiece, and no foam which likely damaged the trem. I have 3 kiesels but I'd never buy another new one -- they're not worth the money and Jeff is a clown to put it nicely.
I've bought two Kiesels. They are fantastic and I've only had great customer service interraction. My first one was a headless Delos. It's super light and comfortable. Great guitar but I'm not a fan of the hipshot trem. They are not terrible but the tuning stability isn't as good as other trems and it's a real bitch to restring. The trem arm socket is good though, as the tighting screw under the bridge is the best design. I had to google it to find it though LOL but this design is great at eliminating "loose swing". These Kiesels don't come with any papers or instructions, which surprised me as the hipshot bridges are not intuitive at all. My other guitar is a headed Delos and it's the best guitar i have in my collection of seven. It's got a Gotoh510 and I think these are the best trems in the world! Works just like a floating trem but with all the tone, and power and punch of a hard-tail. Stays in tune really well and no need for a locking nut. You can pull up and dive bomb and flutter etc. Easy to restring, too. Unfortunately they are not available on the builder anymore : ( The Kiesel/hipshot version looks similar though.
Thr color of your guitar is mot an issue. I have a classic white Kiesel bass and I assure you your guitar is white white. If you read the print at the bottom of their website and the builder, they tell you that colors may very as the photos are only representative. Theres no way the photo will be exactly as the real thing.
It’s unfortunate to hear that you’ve had a bad experience with kiesel as from my experience I’ve never had any issues at all. Imo they are the best playing guitars out there. As someone who has played a private stock PRS, Strandbergs and a Guthrie govan Charvel. My custom kiesel as well as having had the chance to play Josh Meader’s personal collection, I reckon they all play phenomenal. To me I can’t recommend them enough but as they say. The customer is always right in the matters of taste.
I had a headless and HAVE a V Kiesel. I didn't like the headless. I don't think the Hipshot stuff is up to par with the old fashion Floyd Rose. I need that beefy headstock for my sound and I HATED changing strings on the headless because if you tighten down the stubby nub headstock too much it will CUT THE STRING!! Its a pain in the ass. I sold it to Guitar Center and now I have a regular one I love
I have a Strandberg. They have issues with their trem bridges as well. And I actually had to return my first Strandberg for issues with Tuners and fretts. 2nd one arrived perfect.
Hipshot bridges are pure overpriced garbage, poor QC, sharp corners on a critical touch point, very cheap materials, the paint is subpar for the price of the hardware saw whole and the nail in the coffin is the fastner quality they use is the 0.001 cent chinese stuff. The reason almost every manufacturer picks hipshot over other brand such as gotoh is beyond my understanding. I own a kiesel was shipped out to me with 1 screw lacking on the rear cover, even though i got no answer from them over mail magically a replacement screw arrived at my door later on. I agree on woodworking, fretjob quality of kiesel its great, also the balance of the guitar is superb. Also the fact that their designs is kinda fresh and not just a strat/lp copy especially in headless market.
Agree. I had a Hipshot trem and it was horrible. I absolutely am flabbergasted why it is so hyped and played by guitarists. As if they are in some kind of hypnotic trance denying the reality. Gotoh is way better.
@@chocolatecookie8571 Because their designs look very good on Instagram and sell a lot so all the artist signatures try to push it down your throat. When you try to live with the products you start feeling all the cut corners: sharp protruding screws, bad paint, very soft metals.
I can’t completely put my finger on it, but those Kiesel Guitars seem to be totally subject to me. They could be a turd. I know some of those horrendous colors they have with the guitars that have bevels look disgusting. Not to mention the natural wood grains and crazy forms they come in aren’t for me. Sidebar I do really love the Holdsworth model that I’ve wanted one for close to 20 years. To finish up Jeff Kiesel, Kiesel Guitar will NEVER be the guitar that Vigier Guitar are NEVER
I bought a Left handed 8 string aries recently. They had the pick up switch backwards, there was a burn/melted spot on battery housing, they left an allen wrench loose in the case where the body of the guitar sits (causing damage to the backplate, no key to lock the case, poorly installed kiesel plackard (on case) The guitar came with damage to the case, and missing paint on the headstock. IT TOOK A HARD DIVE IN THE SHIPPING PROCESS. SINCE THEY ONLY GOT $100 FOR THEIR INSURANCE CLAIM... They did not want to rebuild my guitar because it is a lefty. They told me we repair it or you can go with another builder and get a refund. I chose to get a refund. They are trash guitar builders with a pretentious attitude towards customers. DO NOT BUY KIESEL GUITARS
I had a terrible experience with their customer service too. They made a mistake on a guitar I ordered and I got to speak to Jeff himself. Instead of making it right, he told me to “feel free to sell it and buy another one.” Steer clear of this company.
erik, holy sh*t, are you kidding me???? Why am I not surprised? I'd never even consider a Kiesel and I have a 65 guitar stable full of beautiful instruments. Some actually came to me brand new with pretty serious flaws. The difference is they bent over backwards to make me happy. I'll never ever complain about good customer service. BTW, not being a bragger, none of my guitars are super high end stuff.
Yeah I don't buy this. I've never seen Kiesel be anything but incredibly helpful, except for the one big controversy in like 2018 that made them overhaul their support.
I still recommend a late era Carvin. @@TheRange7
You always have the option to send it back and get all your money back.
@@Prometheus4096 But you don't always have that option dude lol A lot of Kiesels are NO RETURNS dude. Do some research before commenting and looking stupid
You're way more gracious than me. If I bought a new guitar at that price point with that many problems, I'd have sent it back.
Yes this is unacceptable. Even at a lower price range.
You're right. But he still thinks it very very well built, lol 11:16
Jeff wont let ya lol
I just got my Kiesel build and it turned out fantastic. That’s my experience.
I lost all respect for Jeff Kiesel when I saw a video he made where he berates a customer for complaining about the neck he ordered, not being correct. You might be able to find the video on the RUclips channel KDH.
Yup, dude's a bafoon.
Jeff that is 😊.
This started out well enough, and then turned into an excuse video to make yourself feel better about your purchase and the lack of true resolution to your problems. And to not piss kiesel off for some reason?
Obviously it's just my opinion. But when they offered to remake it, you should have stuck with that. Otherwise they'll just keep doing this stuff and getting away with it.
If nothing else, it will be interesting to see how the color ages versus the bright white pickups.
Good luck bud.
@@TheAquaponic1 You might want to post this on the "Add A Comment" line. The uploader probably won't see it under my comment.
@@JoeR203 Posted from phone ... Didn't see where it went.
Thanks for the heads up and your post.
Interesting, I was going to move the post and all of a sudden, your comment was Highlighted in an Edited form.... Missing my post....
Anything over 1000 dollars i expect zero technical issues.
Obviously as price go up you're going to get certain perks but the 4 digit mark is where i expect a fully functional instrument with zero issues and decent hardware.
Kiesel have way too many issues to be worth the gamble.
I have a Kiesel, well...Carvin...DC800. Ordered it shortly before the name change. Arrived here in Canada about 8 weeks after ordering. My volume knob had a sharp burl on it. Customer service had a replacement couriered and at my door in a couple of days. A couple of years ago, I was looking to build another. It would have been quite custom, so I called the guys. The guy who took my call was an absolute ass. Apparently they can't do any custom work, and I'm an idiot for asking. I was irate, so called back and talked directly to Jeff about it. He was great. He was apologetic for the previous call, and fully explained what they could and couldn't do, and tried to brainstorm some ideas for what they couldn't (or wouldn't) do. I've had my DC800 for 10 years now, and it's been bulletproof. Zero issues. I didn't end up ordering my other custom though, as couldn't get exactly what I wanted. Overall, I've been super happy, and wouldn;t hesitate to order another.
I once had an issue with a kiesel that ended up requiring a rebuild. It was my second guitar from them. I felt i hadn't gotten what I had ordered and I contacted them. The person I spoke with was friendly and understanding and after a short phone call and a few emails they started the rebuild as a "rush order", and I received the new guitar about a month later .
Obviously it was super frustrating when I first opened the box, I had waited for months and the disappointment was real. But ultimately anyone can make mistakes and it's about how you address them. In my case kiesel made it right and I've since bought two more
*I had not selected any "non returnable" options
Wow, first off, I cannot believe they shipped it like that. I would have sent that back immediately. I am glad it turned out good for you in the end.
Something is very wrong with Kiesel when this many people are being repeatedly disappointed AND there are also repeated accounts of the owner of the company being this alleged smart a**.
I ordered a JB200C and received it back in August 2021 and it arrived in perfect condition. It's the best guitar I own, it plays so awesome, feels so great! No flaws. I live in the north east USA and the summers are hot and humid and the winters are brutal cold!!! So far since having and playing on the JB200, I still have not had to adjust the truss rod or make any other adjustments. They, "Kiesel" in my opinion make the best necks in the industry!
Check out James Tyler, his necks are the best I have ever felt by far
Wow, I wonder if yours got bonked real bad in shipping. I've ordered two Kiesels (a Zues acoustic electric and a Leia) and they both came in flawless condition, and even in tune. Both mine are hardtails, and I just live a couple states away so maybe that also is a factor. Personally, I love my two and would definitely consider a third. I truly hope you get yours sorted out ok!
I had to replace the headpiece on my Vader 4 times and they are not cheap.
Brass and locking screws dont go well together.
Brass? the more I hear about those stupid headless guitars they make the happier I am that I've never considered buying one. You can't use brass for a locking nut you can only use steel. Those zinc units are probably harder than brass and might actually sound better. Steel has some excessive high end and can be thin sounding but it's still the best material.
Despite the issues you had, I think the fact that even though they were going to do a rebuild for you, but you decided you liked it so much that you kept it anyway, speaks volumes.
I have 8 custom builds , 2 in stocks, and 3 used Kiesels. They are all fantastic guitars. Of all of them, I had one issue and it was a 5w switch that went bad a day after getting it. They straight away sent me a switch, and Flock gave me $100 off my next build since I replaced it myself.
I have four headless as well. While I have never had any issues to date, I do wish the head piece was made from a stronger metal than brass. I worry about the set screws stripping out some day. I am careful not to over tighten, but it worries me anyway. Brass is such a soft metal.
I'd be very wary of Kiesel rebuilding or fixing issues because in many reported cases, not only some of the reported issues are not fixed, they often go back with new issues the guitar didn't have before.
@BrunodeSouzaLino if I had one that needed it, I would send it back with no reservations. Their customer service has been top notch.
Jeff reminds me of a tech-company hypeman.
None of this surprises me, as one of my friends has had their share of issues with a custom shop he ordered.
So sorry your first Kiesel experience had those problems :( I have a preowned from Reverb and this year I did my first custom in the Aries BVD run and I am in love. I can't wait to keep ordering. I hope you love the guitar, I hope they make you whole on any other remaining problems, and I hope you continue to shop with Kiesel as they are truly a unique company.
I spent about 2 years engulfed in the Kiesel cult and I have a nuanced view of the company (even though I'm on the BANNED list) that it is POSSIBLE for them to make a great guitar but the front "wall" of the company is seriously f#$%kd up and it puts a stain on the skilled builders in the shop. The QC performed on your Vader was an absolute joke and I've had the same happen to me. They also forgot to place the foam protector under the Hipshot trem on an HD6X I had sent back for repair and the finish got damaged by the barrel tuners while in transit. This and other Kiesel shenanigans ultimately led to me getting banned from ever placing an order with them ever again.
TREM DISLOCATION
The deafening silence you heard after the talk of a return label was them shitting themselves when they were faced with having to pay for TWO MORE International shipments, UK to CALI and back again. The trem should NEVER be popping out from the bridge posts regardless of where the bar is pointing when you dive it. I can't exactly tell from that still shot but the bridge looked like it was sitting crooked in the route. I'm thinking the bridge pivot pin that is supposed to be seated in the curve of the bass side height post may have snapped or completely popped out. The post is supposed to be resting on the pin and NOT the bridge chassis directly. If you don't see a horizontal pin attached to the bridge, resting against the height post, it broke and flew away. Besides the dislocation issue and possible subsequent tuning problems, that could also cause the trem to rub against the finish of the body. Whatever the cause of the problem, again, that trem pop-out should NEVER happen.
I have had only great experience with Kiesel…have had about 10(half used to test the brand and models at a cheap price and 5 custom orders). I currently have 3, just cause I like a lot of other brands too. So far, no issues! But could just be luck.
IMO, Kiesel's White White has always been a bit warmer than a super pure white, especially like their bright white plastic pickup bobbins. Their classic white is *much* warmer in comparison. I think they would do well to reformulate the White White color to be a brighter white, though.
One note: maybe it's just on my end, but the audio at the end of this video glitches out with all sorts of static and artifacts. Not sure if that was intentional or not, ha!
to add to that there were several comments further down the FB group post pointing out how the White White "mellows" over time so i figured I may as well not worry about it!
Sorry you had issues, I've had nothing but great experiences with Kiesel. All my builds came out awesome with only two issues so far and they both got resolved quickly with great service.
What's up with the audio at the end of your video?
This is why I’m never getting a Kissel. Don’t want any trouble with the guitars I buy.
The color on the guitar I would actually call maybe an ivory instead of white.
Its their Classic White but yea good description
That's what I thought, maybe pearl white,classic white has a bit of yellow to it
Fellow English Northerner here mate! Got an Aries with a floyd last year using the online builder. Arrived in 6 weeks. Immaculate guitar except one ultra tiny sharp bit on a fret. 3rd fret bottom side. 2 scrapes with fret file and done. Can't fault anything about the guitar at all now.
Tbh I'm surprised at how negative some of the comments here are. I thought I was being as positive as possible! And subscribed to your channel. One more for the North!
@@leonbrownmusic your review was totally fair I thought! Cheers enjoy me chugging through cheap software! 👍😁
Poor fretwork is unacceptable. Plus not everyone has fret files at home and the skills to fix errors and should be out of the question.
@@chocolatecookie8571 Mate the fretwork is flawless!
@@leonbrownmusic not my experience!
I think saying that it was well built is the wrong thing to say. If it were well built there would have been no problems with it.
What concerns me more is that several people let it leave the factory with those problems. That means that all guitars sent to me or others will probably get the same lackluster inspection. I've gotten better put together sub $200 Chinese guitars from Amazon than your Kiesel.
You are being entirely too nice about this. For the price, you should expect to receive a perfect instrument. I had a similar experience with my first order... Ordered a raw tone white finish on a delos and it arrived with a nasty yellow stain underneath the finish. I know the horrible feeling you felt when you noticed all those issues with your guitar. Kiesel's quality control needs a lot of work to say the least. Don't think I'll buy from them again.
I pull my new faded tee prs out the box and didnt have one problem, same with all my prs se guitars. Prs has the best qc, imo
You are way too nice. We work HARD for our money and don’t mind paying the money as long as the company is willing to follow through with their product quality 🤷♂️
Yeah, it's like having an abusive wife but overlooking it.
I own six Carvin / Kiesel guitars. They are all stellar instruments as far as build quality goes but I had to do a lot of work on my SH7X to get it electronically correct. When they get it wrong it's usually very wrong and they are loathe to admit it.
I have had nothing but terrible experiences with Kiesel. The trem thing happens if the strings are to loose during shipping. I have had a few that did that in shipping. The head piece is ridiculous, but Jeff will probably tell you it’s your fault.
i had a Custom shop Carvin when Kiesel took over... the quality was not in par to price, their customer service was shit.
paint marks on the birds eye maple fretboard (under the final finishing lacquer), binding started to peel off and therefore the lacquer started to "bubble".
their initial repair did not solve any of these... so i am not sure what they did but it took them quite a time to get the gutiar there and back...
The pre-Kiesel Carvins were great though.
Kiesel’s QC sounds like it could use some works. There’s no way I would have kept it. Glad you’re digging it.
I used the Kiesel pickup builder, I ordered an all black Illusionist bridge. They sent me a all white one chucked into a bag.
Customer Service was terrible.
its crazy that the YT alg showed me the video from 4 months ago saying that you would get it in 12 weeks i looked down and thoiught oh that should be like now i wonder if he got it then you put this video up 16 hours before. wild
Until you play a headless guitar you don't really know how it feels. I don't like it. I think it looks silly. All of these fanboys with their little desk and computer with monitors and a guitar sim in a daw with their perfect little kiesel headless it's a trend a fad and it's pathetic. Guy's like McRocklin are driving this trend. His playing is amazing but the shit he plays and his guitar sound are shit. They're (kiesel) and other influencers are trying to push some new amp sims and these gaudy ridiculous looking guitars on a salivating market. It's a great business move they can sell millions of guitars and amp sims to fanboys and walk away rich. Not sure if you've noticed but everyone thinks they're a musician now and nobody has any real talent.
I have a Kiesel, I had a "Hipshot" tremelo system installed on mine. It falls out sometimes on mine. I just wrote it off to a floating tremelo. I have seen this before. I just take a bit of scotch tape, and it stays in place, if that is what I want. I go back & fourth with the tape, somtimes I like the floating tremelo. Mine is a LP style model. I love it.-The customer service, I have had heard of problems. Jeff can come off as a jerk sometines.
Are you talking about the whammy bar falling out? If so, have you checked the screw under the bridge? I had to loosen it, slot the bar in, then retighten mine for it to work
That's not the issue with this one. The tremolo keeps falling out of place because either the routing is not the same height, the threaded insert on the bass side was not fully seated so that post screw will always be higher no matter what, the routing is crooked on the bass side causing the top of the bridge to climb on the body instead of staying in the cavity or a mix of two or more issues.
My first Kiesel was Flawless, the Idea that my coming Kiesel will not be flawless is pure nightmare fuel
Cancel the order and get yourself an ESP bud
Should have just got a Strandberg mate
Holy Smokes! Should have stayed Carvin and kept adults in charge. Hopefully, Warmoth will have headless solutions before long. Gotoh, get on the hardware!
Carvins are so underrated. But that's a good thing for us they are not expensive and are great
It was a sad day when Carvin closed up shop...great old company
One thing that I dislike about Kiesel is their no return or refund policy if you buy any guitar with any custom feature. Only their in stock off the shelf guitars can be returned. So if you have a problem with their custom guitar, they have the right to not accept the return and to not refund your money.
That is not 100% true. There are just specific options that are not returnable. You can order a very nice spec that is returnable but there is a 20% restock fee.
I always see more issues with the headless guitars than the standard guitars.
I just have to laugh. Not at you but at Kiesel. This guitar is shit. You can't depress the vibrato all the way down without the whole tremolo dislodging from the pivot? I'd pack it up and send it back. Those guitars are silly. I love my Strat and my Les Paul the most of all my guitars. I have an original Carvin Bolt that I built myself as a kit and it's amazing because I put it together and set it up. The pickups are garbage and got swapped immediately. Maybe good for metal but thin and anemic sounding for rock, blues, funk and classic metal. I used to go to the showroom and buy parts from the kid who runs the place now and changed the name to his name Kiesel. He's the son of the owner and inherited the business when he passed on. Carvin used to be a family run company with the customer in mind and had some great endorsees like Steve Vai. Once he took over the company turned into just another greedy guitar company only interested in making sales. They lost sight of the customer service experience and treat all of us like cattle. I had a dispute with them and their customer service and overall attitude was pathetic. They handled a problem they created themselves horribly and tried to blame it on me and did a couple of slimy things no good company should ever do to a customer. They lied and treated me with disrespect and disregard. I'd be surprised if his company lasts another few years with his attitude and company culture.
Thomann (Harley Benton) refused to honor a warranty claim for me. No more HB guitars.
Imagine a set neck guitar with the neck pitched back too much. It made it impossible to play without buzz. The only solution would be to remove the neck and mount it properly. They refused to take it back or replace it after the initial 30 day period. It's got a 3 year quality control warranty. They said it was warped from humidity. It had been kept in my bedroom the entire time in a northern climate controlled house. I didn't play it much because of work. Initially I thought it just needed an adjustment. When I got to it the 30 days had passed. Don't buy from Thomann.
Jeff seems like a real jackass. He is definitely greedy and not at all like Carvin.
This only happened because of the headpiece not being securely mounted. When they're properly fitted that, won't happen.
you couldn't have said it better, the boy is an absolute tool, I wish his reign of fantasy factory guitars would be over, his old man would be disappointed of him flexing his skinny arms on instagram & thats not even considering these QC problems.
His cult will keep it going until more and more as is happening come to light without all the fanboys truing to damage control or he wakes up gets a pr person and improves qc. ... Likely like others have said wont happen and hell sell a p.e.f.
I miss Carvin, Kiesel prices are nearly triple the price.
What is all that noise in the final few seconds of this video? 😳
No idea but thank you for watching all the same!
quite a difference between this custom/factory experience and my custom Ritter builds, from start to finish.
Was your Ritter built by one individual?
How long did it take?
How much did it cost?
Very cool video, very informative. I'm a new subscriber. I've always been a little skeptical of Kiesel guitars. I was even a little skeptical of his dad's company when it was Carvin...To me it just seems a little overblown and exaggerated, especially the cost. Seems like they're just putting something out and charging a lot of money for it and saying that it takes all these in-depth processes to produce such things. I'm a guitar builder so I have a general idea of what. Guitars cost to make and Jeff always seemed a little arrogant to me, like he's thinking he's more than what he really is and his explanation of things and treatment of customers to me seems very wrong. But that's just me. But overall great video, I enjoyed it a lot, thank you so much.👏👏👏👏👏👏
Thank you!
Is it really overpriced for an American made guitar?
I had all kinds of problems with my Vader … was beautiful but had lots of problems / spent 2800 and later sold it for 1500 - never again …
I m waiting for my Vader as well...I have 2 Carvin instruments from 80s and 90s and a Kiesel from 4 years ago. All immaculate instruments. Shit happens I guess. But I would never get a guitar with a tremolo thats not a Floyd.
I wonder why you gave it a second chance...
Jeff's such a tool I wouldn't ever order a new Kiesel 😂
I'm so sorry that you have a bad experience with a custom shop brand that scks man, but to be honest some years ago I was about to get some kiesels but then I saw all the critiques on forums and some videos complaining about the brand and then decided to stay far away from that brand. Now brands that I do recommend for customs are O.D. guitars, Skervesen, Esp custom shop japan, Vandermeij, Equilibrium, Koca, T's guitars, Ruokangas and Aristides, those are my top to go when order a custom, excelent products and customer service, Esp Japan cs can be a little cold on the trait if you don't know any japanese but they are amazing on what they can do for you in your build, if you have the money you can go crazy on the build specs.
I would be crushed. especially how expensive they can be.
I came close to buying one a couple of times . In the builder it would say non returnable so i figured it was too much money to gamble with
They should really make that headstock piece out of brass or aluminum. At least it all worked out.
That’s unfortunate I hate it for you, but my experience with Kiesel was absolutely amazing. I don’t believe any guitar should be in tune when in shipping, I think all the strings should be slack. I don’t know where the idea that a guitar should be up to tension when in transit is a ‘sign of quality’? But that’s just me. I will admit that their bridge does need some getting used to a specially when changing strings, I decided to go from 9’s to 10’s so I got to reset my bridge settings and once I got the pulling up whammy action set to my preferred setting, I have never been more happy. Yes Fender bridges are way easier to set up, but it’s just patience needed with the Kiesel. All the best my friend, don’t wright off this company. I wish you the best in the future.
Thank you my friend. And on spite of a couple of "bumps on the road" I am really enjoying the guitar.
Guitars are designed to withstand far more tension than the strings generate, so that's not an issue, especially considering the standard gauge when they first appeared was 018.
I’ve ordered three Kiesels so far: a CT6, an A2 7-string, and an A2 8-String. All phenomenal.
Haha what happened at the ending there?
11:16 "very very well built" yeah, right. 😆
I think that your hard-earned business should be highly respected!
Send the guitar back don't settle for anything less than what you paid for.
KIESEL MAKE IT RIGHT ASAP.
TO THINK I ALMOST PULLED THE TRIGER ON A BUILD MY OWN HEADLESS; MYSELF! SMH
I don't know why people buy these expensive guitars. For the price of that thing, I think thier are way too many QC issues. And they messed your order up in regards to the colour. I wouldn't be happy at all....
Thing is a hooptie. No offence. Looks cool though. Let us know how your first gig goes with it.
Wow you kind of got me scared now I was about to buy a guitar that was over 2,000 😮
@@Marteeenxurl do it. I don't regret mine. It's a fab guitar. Review vid to follow soon.
You should be scared.
For the price of guitars today in the mid to high end range, you’re better off going direct & getting one made by luthier.
This started out well enough, and then turned into an excuse video to make yourself feel better about your purchase and the lack of true resolution to your problems. And to not piss kiesel off for some reason?
Obviously it's just my opinion. But when they offered to remake it, you should have stuck with that. Otherwise they'll just keep doing this stuff and getting away with it.
If nothing else, it will be interesting to see how the color ages versus the bright white pickups.
Dug the Original Post up.
Thanx @JoeR203
I really wish people would catch onto this. Kiesel makes guitars that look great on social media, assuming they aren't of the overly done monstrosity variety, but they just aren't nearly worth the prices they're charging. Jeff Kiesel is a self-obsessed baby man manchild who acts like he invented the electric guitar.
He spends more time self-aggrandizing than doing any real innovation in terms of form and function of the instrument. He isn't an innovator, he isn't respected in the industry, and he wouldn't be working a buffing wheel at any other company had his daddy not handed it over to him.
Do yourself a favor and stay away. If you want a high end guitar - a real high end guitar - go with Suhr, Tyler, Anderson, or Music Man. If you want a headless, go Strandberg or even Ibanez. Kiesels are great if you want to customize every little thing, but in the end they're way over priced and way overrated for what they really are behind the surface.
I own lots of ibanez and my Tom Anderson was my number one for a long time but I can't put the Kiesel down. It plays so well and sounds great. Have you tried one?
@@leonbrownmusic I have two pre-Kiesel Carvin guitars from 2012 that I love, but have relegated them as backups because I have a Tyler and a Suhr as my main #1s (in different tunings). The Carvins, each the discontinued C66 model, are really nice guitars. I got them as part of an artist's pricing deal from the Hollywood store when it was still open. They were my main stage guitars for almost a decade.
I've played some newer Kiesels and they are really good guitars when they're done right. I've heard/read/seen way too much inconsistency, customer service issues, and now I can't conceive a world in which I put money in Jeff Kiesel's pocket. I work way too hard and way too much to see my money go to that Napoleonic, self-obsessed, petulant baby man. I've dealt with him directly on upwards of five occasions and he's absolutely insufferable.
I would love to buy a customized Kiesel 7 string in my specs, but again, I'm not putting money in that dude's pocket. If one comes up on Reverb that's close enough to what I'm looking for, I'll pounce. But it'll be a very chilly day in Hades before I buy a new guitar directly from them.
There’s never been great customer service with carvin/kiesel specifically after purchase service.
This is one of the more middle ground stories I’ve heard about Kiesel. I own 2 one from reverb one from their guitars in stock, both are great. I’ve heard farrrrrrr too many stories of QC issues and the Kiesel team telling people tough sh1t when they have valid complaints.
They were better as Carvin. Once the patriarch was gone and Jeff took over, the vibe changed. I'm not sure why they skipped over his dad and went straight to him. As a person who runs a business, I know that it's all about the details. Sure, there are problem customers, but... You have to take actual problems seriously, and you have to really stay on top of everything obsessively, or things will start slacking off. Which is the smart thing to do, because you're not just making problems for customers, you're making more work for yourself and losing money.
I’ve had 4 friends build out kiesel’s over the last couple of years and everyone had pretty major issues and a horrible experience with customer service. Regardless I was going to give them a shot. Until I saw a video of Jeff kiesel berating a customer over a genuine issue which was the final straw.
What a shame for you , I bought a schecter dream machine I the late eighties it cost £800 when the first American strat plus was under £400 it wouldn't stay In tune for a single song even if you didn't touch the locking trem ( schecters own) the screws holding the trem spring plate had split the wood as the pocket was too big and there wasn't enough wood for support, also the finish had cracked at the neck pocket, I was so disappointed,all the guitar mags were raving about this pile of crap, I took it back and they wouldn't give me a refund but I could exchange it for any guitar in the shop for the same value, I settled on the new strat plus , black with maple neck spertzel star tuners, fender gold lace sensors tbc tone control, Wilkinson roller nut, the quality of construction put the schecter to shame , and the trem was terrific, up to g down to slack and back to tune, wow! My main guitar for twelve years, the guitar business has changed so much now in the cheaper end of the market the the instruments are brilliant
Looks white white to me. could be yours isn't a gloss finish and you're comparing to a gloss finish on the web site? also, colors on a web site vs real world may not look identical...
all that said, I'd expect better QC than this; still better than Gibson tho'
thanks for sharing your customer experience. I've been considering a Holdsworth model for awhile; think I'll stay with my Ibanez Q, and see if they add a trem model.
Don't be put off by my teething troubles. It's a great guitar.
Liked and subscribed.
I don’t often comment on RUclips but this is really disappointing to hear and I certainly wouldn’t have put up with those issues on a high value US-made instrument.
Each to their own, if the guitar makes you happy. But Kiesel already bomb on the used market as it is, and you will be the one held accountable for some of those issues if you ever decide to sell it to someone else.
If anything this video has certainly reinforced for me that it isn’t worth taking a risk on Kiesel’s QC or customer service, especially outside the US.
"That I can live with..." For the amount of money you spent and the time you had to wait, you shouldn't have to live with much of anything - especially what seems like Stockholm Syndrome.
It would be a big improvement if Kiesel took much MORE time to build their guitars with good quality control instead of rushing through the orders. Customers should have some patience.
I bet Jeff built that one personally. Keisel needs better QC people
The Kiesel headless design is actually wrong, from a technical point of view. I can't really get into it in the comments section, especially not without visuals, but I've had a few Vaders on my bench and I can say with absolute certainly that it is not a good design. Few of them start developing hairline fractures, splitting the wood grain around the holes for the mounting screws. It's just a bad headless design.
I agree that fixings in end grain are never the best. They do use inserts that seem to be resin bonded in on laterodels. This is vastly stronger than a screw into the same end grain but the inserts can only be 10mm or so long. It does spread the load but there is still only a small cross section of timber. I can only guess that they do it this way because it looks a lot better than a dumpy "headstock" with a locking nut surface mounted?
@@leonbrownmusic Adding any kind of metal components to any piece of wood, will always weaken the wood.
In my opinion, the bushings are the exact opposite of what the solution should be, as they are larger in diameter than the older wood screws used to be and thus more material removal is required.
I don't have any faith in the use of epoxy resins to secure those bushings inside the large holes. History shows that epoxy resins have a high rate of failure in instrument construction. We just have to look at the aging of Ovation guitars.
There are simple and structurally sound solutions for headless guitars, but the folks at Kiesel have not though of them.
I am not saying that all Vader guitars will fail. I am saying that I've only seen a handful of them and that I did observe a high rate of failure, even with guitars that are not that old. Vader owners are not even aware of it. In fact, that is why Kiesel changed the design, because they are aware of the problem.
And from all the Vader guitars I've had on my bench, not even a single one of them had the headpiece installed in good alignment.
The other issue is their use of a traditional nut on a headless guitar. That detail is also a problem.
Yea I agree there are better ways to do it. I am guessing they use a nut so that it's easier to offer more than one fingerboard radius without stocking multiple headpieces.
People, no need to spend thousands on a 'custom' guitar only to risk BS like this. We live in era where there are loads of great guitars for around the 1000 dollar/euro mark (and even much lower!) that are superb quality. Don't be manipulated by modern marketing!!
Thanks for this PSA. i dont know much about these guitars but definitely will never consider this brand.
i have had bad experiences with kiesel. im not the biggest fan, sorry about what you had to deal with but they did better for you than they did for me.
If somebody told me those guitars were made on Tyneside I'd believe them...every Kiesel vid has lads fay the toon.
Kieseltoon! It's the place to be! 🤣😂
@@leonbrownmusic 😀
I can't stand Jeff, but there's simply no denying they make outstanding guitars. I'll never buy one because the guy just rubs me the way. Like all guitar manufacturers from time to time you'll see a dud. It goes back as far as history....nature of the beast type of deal.
That's a shame. I was going to buy a guitar from Kielsel. I am now going to forget about that idea. I do not want the guitar coming to me that is not quality controlled. Sorry Kielsel, no order from me.
@@braxal6983 don't let my video put you off. The guitar itself is great and I have no regrets in spite of the "teething issues "
good that they would have replaced it (in the past who knows) but it's absurd that it left the factory with a a bad paint job, misaligned headpiece, and no foam which likely damaged the trem. I have 3 kiesels but I'd never buy another new one -- they're not worth the money and Jeff is a clown to put it nicely.
That Hipshot trem is awful - I had a HH with one, the thing loved being out of tune on the G. Gave them another chance with a hardtail, much better.
I've bought two Kiesels. They are fantastic and I've only had great customer service interraction. My first one was a headless Delos. It's super light and comfortable. Great guitar but I'm not a fan of the hipshot trem. They are not terrible but the tuning stability isn't as good as other trems and it's a real bitch to restring. The trem arm socket is good though, as the tighting screw under the bridge is the best design. I had to google it to find it though LOL but this design is great at eliminating "loose swing". These Kiesels don't come with any papers or instructions, which surprised me as the hipshot bridges are not intuitive at all. My other guitar is a headed Delos and it's the best guitar i have in my collection of seven. It's got a Gotoh510 and I think these are the best trems in the world! Works just like a floating trem but with all the tone, and power and punch of a hard-tail. Stays in tune really well and no need for a locking nut. You can pull up and dive bomb and flutter etc. Easy to restring, too. Unfortunately they are not available on the builder anymore : ( The Kiesel/hipshot version looks similar though.
KIesel Guitar wish they were half as nice as a original 1980s Steinberger Guitar. That’ll never happen.
Thr color of your guitar is mot an issue. I have a classic white Kiesel bass and I assure you your guitar is white white.
If you read the print at the bottom of their website and the builder, they tell you that colors may very as the photos are only representative. Theres no way the photo will be exactly as the real thing.
I ordered 2 Kiesels with no issues. They have no trems and I live in California. That might make things easier.
As if no-trem is guarantee for no issues. Many things can go wrong with fixed bridges
It’s unfortunate to hear that you’ve had a bad experience with kiesel as from my experience I’ve never had any issues at all. Imo they are the best playing guitars out there. As someone who has played a private stock PRS, Strandbergs and a Guthrie govan Charvel. My custom kiesel as well as having had the chance to play Josh Meader’s personal collection, I reckon they all play phenomenal. To me I can’t recommend them enough but as they say. The customer is always right in the matters of taste.
I had a headless and HAVE a V Kiesel. I didn't like the headless. I don't think the Hipshot stuff is up to par with the old fashion Floyd Rose. I need that beefy headstock for my sound and I HATED changing strings on the headless because if you tighten down the stubby nub headstock too much it will CUT THE STRING!! Its a pain in the ass. I sold it to Guitar Center and now I have a regular one I love
Should have bought a Strandberg , much better.
I have a Strandberg. They have issues with their trem bridges as well. And I actually had to return my first Strandberg for issues with Tuners and fretts. 2nd one arrived perfect.
😅
They have their issues too. The one I owned had really bad fret sprout.
headless? strandberg it is then
Hipshot bridges are pure overpriced garbage, poor QC, sharp corners on a critical touch point, very cheap materials, the paint is subpar for the price of the hardware saw whole and the nail in the coffin is the fastner quality they use is the 0.001 cent chinese stuff. The reason almost every manufacturer picks hipshot over other brand such as gotoh is beyond my understanding.
I own a kiesel was shipped out to me with 1 screw lacking on the rear cover, even though i got no answer from them over mail magically a replacement screw arrived at my door later on.
I agree on woodworking, fretjob quality of kiesel its great, also the balance of the guitar is superb. Also the fact that their designs is kinda fresh and not just a strat/lp copy especially in headless market.
Agree. I had a Hipshot trem and it was horrible. I absolutely am flabbergasted why it is so hyped and played by guitarists. As if they are in some kind of hypnotic trance denying the reality. Gotoh is way better.
@@chocolatecookie8571
Because their designs look very good on Instagram and sell a lot so all the artist signatures try to push it down your throat.
When you try to live with the products you start feeling all the cut corners: sharp protruding screws, bad paint, very soft metals.
Why would anyone expect an unboxing come tuned?
I can’t completely put my finger on it, but those Kiesel Guitars seem to be totally subject to me. They could be a turd. I know some of those horrendous colors they have with the guitars that have bevels look disgusting. Not to mention the natural wood grains and crazy forms they come in aren’t for me. Sidebar I do really love the Holdsworth model that I’ve wanted one for close to 20 years. To finish up Jeff Kiesel, Kiesel Guitar will NEVER be the guitar that Vigier Guitar are NEVER
OMG!!! 🤦♂😨😓
But it's all good now! 😊
you paid a lot of money and you dont need to fix the guitar you need to play and enjoy.sheme on them.
LMAO to think you don't and won't have a problem like this on Made in Indonesia Ibanez guitars, or Schecter (and Solar--same factory).
Yikes I’m not going to go near one of these. That’s horrible
Sorry this happened based on reviews I have saw I would never buy a Kiesel
Jeff Kiesel just being who he is has ruined Carvin's Legacy. ...Not the amp. #jeffsucks
I bought a Left handed 8 string aries recently.
They had the pick up switch backwards, there was a burn/melted spot on battery housing, they left an allen wrench loose in the case where the body of the guitar sits (causing damage to the backplate, no key to lock the case, poorly installed kiesel plackard (on case)
The guitar came with damage to the case, and missing paint on the headstock.
IT TOOK A HARD DIVE IN THE SHIPPING PROCESS. SINCE THEY ONLY GOT $100 FOR THEIR INSURANCE CLAIM...
They did not want to rebuild my guitar because it is a lefty. They told me we repair it or you can go with another builder and get a refund.
I chose to get a refund. They are trash guitar builders with a pretentious attitude towards customers. DO NOT BUY KIESEL GUITARS
damn jeff wtf
That dude keeps me away from buying one.