The Pimentels are obviously master luthiers as well as artists! Pimentel guitars are beautiful to look at and sound amazing! I am so fortunate to own some of their guitars. The Pimentels are an absolute New Mexico treasure!
As a side note... at seven minutes into this video is the guitar that the Pimentel family is building in honor of my father Benjamin Perea who passed away April 15th 2017. Thank you Rick, Robert and Victor. My father absolutely admired your family and the guitars that you build. This guitar will be cherished for generations to come.
MY PIMENTEL NIGHTMARE I have received three Pimentel guitars in making two purchases (one of a Requinto and the other a Grand Concert Classical) and two arrived with serious problems. The first Requinto they sent me had serious problems with intonation, making it play out of tune. It had other problems, too, which I enumerated in an email to Rick (8/23/18, 7:13 am) and I sent him a photo (which I still possess) of the biggest flaw (a crack - of which I have photos): "Disappointing...Bad news Rick [Pimentel]...I opened the case this morning and something heavy is loose inside and there’s a crack on the side..." So I sent it back as unacceptable. It came back to me repaired but it still had a serious problem, which I documented on 9/27/18: "Rick - I’m sorry to say this otherwise nice sounding and looking Requinto has intonation problems. I’m not a technician but as you know this could reflect a problem with the nut, bridge or frets...It’s out of tune, my friend." They apologized and told me they had a replacement available, which turned out to be acceptable, so I kept that replacement. I regret having made the second purchase, of the Grand Concert Classical, which has lead to a nightmarish battle with Pimentel that continues to this day, over a refund they at first refused to give but later offered to give minus $1,000. They still owe me $5,250 (not counting the $1,000 they refuse to return). I ordered it on 10/24/22 (as the Invoice shows) with the stipulation it HAD to arrive within four months (2/24/23 at the latest), because I required it for my next album project. Rick wrote "4 Months" at the top of the Invoice, promising me it'd be in my hands in time for the record project. Had I known it would NOT, I would NEVER have ordered it - and he knew it. In addition, I was shocked that, after putting down $5,000 on this $15,500 guitar, the Invoice to follow said "No Cash Refunds" - an unacceptable stipulation I would never have agreed to had Rick been honest up front about his desire not to give refunds under any circumstances. The guitar didn't arrive until 5/4/23 - too late for the album I'd wanted it for, which was already recorded by then. And it had numerous flaws and construction problems - including the fattest neck I've ever seen (so I couldn't play certain barre chords I like to play) and a wide fretboard, in spite of the fact I'd told them in ordering the Requinto I desire and need "thin" necks and fretboards. So I sent it back but they refused to give me a refund at first. After MONTHS battling over this - and informing them there were Federal and State Consumer Protection Laws and Lemon Laws that required them to provide me a FULL refund on this lemon of a guitar - they agreed to provide me a refund MINUS $1,000. Well, I'm still awaiting $5,250 of that refund (not counting the $1,000 they desire to withhold), more than two weeks after our agreement stipulated that it was due and Rick doesn't answer my emails anymore, after having spent the last two weeks making lame and unacceptable excuses as to why he hadn't paid me the remaining $5,250 he was required to pay me (not counting the $1,000 he was refusing to refund). Buyer beware.
This guy is the nightmare for Luthiers, he orders according to his ideas and then finds something that he is not happy with or makes up a story about flaws and cracks and wants his money back . When he ordered a guitar we let him know that there are no refunds on custom orders but we would do anything in our power to fix the instrument or replace it with another. We received the guitar back from him for repairs but found that there were no problems to repair and told him that there were no refunds , he became a headache and we decided he was not worth fighting with and refunded his money even though we did not have to with his promise to remove all bad and frivolous reviews . He has since broken his promise but we are satisfied we kept ours. Currently that same guitar was purchased by a great musician who can actually play and enjoy quality guitars and was also played by three other concert artist who also thought the guitar was amazing without flaw. We stand by our guitars and work and have for the last 72 years. The Pimentel`s since 1951
The Pimentels are obviously master luthiers as well as artists! Pimentel guitars are beautiful to look at and sound amazing! I am so fortunate to own some of their guitars. The Pimentels are an absolute New Mexico treasure!
Awesome craftsmanship.
As a side note... at seven minutes into this video is the guitar that the Pimentel family is building in honor of my father Benjamin Perea who passed away April 15th 2017. Thank you Rick, Robert and Victor. My father absolutely admired your family and the guitars that you build. This guitar will be cherished for generations to come.
What a fabulous tour of your shop and I love the guitars you're building.
How much is one of your ukuleles?
MY PIMENTEL NIGHTMARE
I have received three Pimentel guitars in making two purchases (one of a Requinto and the other a Grand Concert Classical) and two arrived with serious problems.
The first Requinto they sent me had serious problems with intonation, making it play out of tune. It had other problems, too, which I enumerated in an email to Rick (8/23/18, 7:13 am) and I sent him a photo (which I still possess) of the biggest flaw (a crack - of which I have photos): "Disappointing...Bad news Rick [Pimentel]...I opened the case this morning and something heavy is loose inside and there’s a crack on the side..." So I sent it back as unacceptable. It came back to me repaired but it still had a serious problem, which I documented on 9/27/18: "Rick - I’m sorry to say this otherwise nice sounding and looking Requinto has intonation problems. I’m not a technician but as you know this could reflect a problem with the nut, bridge or frets...It’s out of tune, my friend." They apologized and told me they had a replacement available, which turned out to be acceptable, so I kept that replacement.
I regret having made the second purchase, of the Grand Concert Classical, which has lead to a nightmarish battle with Pimentel that continues to this day, over a refund they at first refused to give but later offered to give minus $1,000. They still owe me $5,250 (not counting the $1,000 they refuse to return).
I ordered it on 10/24/22 (as the Invoice shows) with the stipulation it HAD to arrive within four months (2/24/23 at the latest), because I required it for my next album project. Rick wrote "4 Months" at the top of the Invoice, promising me it'd be in my hands in time for the record project. Had I known it would NOT, I would NEVER have ordered it - and he knew it. In addition, I was shocked that, after putting down $5,000 on this $15,500 guitar, the Invoice to follow said "No Cash Refunds" - an unacceptable stipulation I would never have agreed to had Rick been honest up front about his desire not to give refunds under any circumstances. The guitar didn't arrive until 5/4/23 - too late for the album I'd wanted it for, which was already recorded by then. And it had numerous flaws and construction problems - including the fattest neck I've ever seen (so I couldn't play certain barre chords I like to play) and a wide fretboard, in spite of the fact I'd told them in ordering the Requinto I desire and need "thin" necks and fretboards. So I sent it back but they refused to give me a refund at first. After MONTHS battling over this - and informing them there were Federal and State Consumer Protection Laws and Lemon Laws that required them to provide me a FULL refund on this lemon of a guitar - they agreed to provide me a refund MINUS $1,000. Well, I'm still awaiting $5,250 of that refund (not counting the $1,000 they desire to withhold), more than two weeks after our agreement stipulated that it was due and Rick doesn't answer my emails anymore, after having spent the last two weeks making lame and unacceptable excuses as to why he hadn't paid me the remaining $5,250 he was required to pay me (not counting the $1,000 he was refusing to refund).
Buyer beware.
Sounds to me like you are a crybaby customer
This guy is the nightmare for Luthiers, he orders according to his ideas and then finds something that he is not happy with or makes up a story about flaws and cracks and wants his money back . When he ordered a guitar we let him know that there are no refunds on custom orders but we would do anything in our power to fix the instrument or replace it with another. We received the guitar back from him for repairs but found that there were no problems to repair and told him that there were no refunds , he became a headache and we decided he was not worth fighting with and refunded his money even though we did not have to with his promise to remove all bad and frivolous reviews . He has since broken his promise but we are satisfied we kept ours. Currently that same guitar was purchased by a great musician who can actually play and enjoy quality guitars and was also played by three other concert artist who also thought the guitar was amazing without flaw. We stand by our guitars and work and have for the last 72 years. The Pimentel`s since 1951