WARNING: Oscar Prat Basses

[somebrains]

Always sad. Sadly, seldom surprising. Luthiers are artists and prone to all kinds of quirky crap.
Not making excuses, just so many stories like this.

I'm sorry, but find someone that thinks of themselves as a gear mechanic.
Gear goes out to clear the racks so invoices get paid.

I had my own experience with one of those prima donna artist $ sucking jokes as a kid.
Guy was a Chandler employee, promised kids the stars + moon, older guys all tell us what a joke the guy is.
That dude is the reason I got my first gear wrenching job, bc he screwed my boss on a bunch of parts he never delivered on.
I hunted the dude down and made him break down and cry.
Went to Chandler back when they were in the Peninsula and told him the side hustle his employee had going with his materials and machine time.

I was out looking for this guy constantly.
I realized I'd bought myself a lesson, that doesn't mean that dude ever got square with me.

These leeches feed on giving people pipedreams and delivering nothing.

Do what I did, learn to build junk into something for yourself.
Just do it over and over and over to a clock until you know what you can hammer out in an hour.
That way if you have to pay someone you know if they're sliding you a lunch size order of work for a dinner price.

 

[4sight]

Wow, that's horrible. I hate reading threads like this on TB, it seems to happen all too often.

Hope you can work it out.

 

[benjobass]

Oh man, hadn't even thought of it that way. I was just pissed...like...I don't want a different bass. Finish mine.

It's a good thing you didn't take the "housed in the USA" bass he offered you. Since he has your deposit, he could have possibly sent you that bass, claimed your deposit was a payment in full for THAT bass, and completely disappeared.

 

[InnerBass]

I’ll add Mike Lull to the group of reputable luthiers - gem of a talented guy.

 

[malthumb]

So sorry to hear this. Other than the well-knowns like Alembic, Fodera, Lull, Sadowsky, Smith etc, some affordable and excellent quality / customer service custom builders not mentioned yet include:

• Hanewinckel (hguitars.com)
• Devon
• Shawn May
• Better Mousetrap

All have proven results, and some awesome instruments delivered. The first two I have owned. The last two I know personally, as they are local to me. My “bass buying days” have passed or I would most definitely purchase from one or both.

 

[mellowgerman]

Sorry to hear about this mess, but also happy to say that if you google "oscar prat bass", the second search result is this thread (even before his facebook page)!
Pretty remarkable that TB gives people such a strong voice. He will be sorry that he jerked you around like this.
Either way, I hope the situation gets resolved for you.

 

[baltodoc]

I will add Ales Vychodil from the Czech Republic of fantastic, independent foreign luthiers. His work is outstanding and his communications are first class. I've had two custom-builds from him and have nothing but praise for his work.

 

[groooooove]

so sad to hear these types of things.

my experiences with custom orders have always been good. not as "custom" as a one man show, but stories like this make me appreciate a company like carvin (yeah yeah, Kiesel, I know). they're a big-small operation. big enough to produce the basses in house, small enough to customize options, and the QC is always great.

I hope this resolves itself eventually.

 

[Roaddog77]

Man. I haven’t logged into Talkbass in ages and I come back and here’s another builder doing this to people. You think these guys would learn after Darren Huff and Jimmy Copollo.

I hope you get a resolution and I hope this post stays up like the earlier one. At least in some cases people get results from these threads in here and they serve as a warning.

If you don’t get some sort of resolution I’d move on. It’s tough to get money out of someone. Even if you take them to court and get a judgement it’s still no guarantee.

 

[nonohmic]

I will add Ales Vychodil from the Czech Republic of fantastic, independent foreign luthiers. His work is outstanding and his communications are first class. I've had two custom-builds from him and have nothing but praise for his work.

Really intrigued by his take on the P bass - wonder what the price point is though.

 

[Booty Shaman]

I’ll add Mike Lull to the group of reputable luthiers - gem of a talented guy.

I am going to second Mike Lull - great communication, built and delivered on time, absolutely beautiful bass. And also Rob Allen. Both of these luthiers are trustworthy. I truly believe in supporting independent luthiers so it is very disturbing to hear these stories. And preying on musicians is about as f'ed up as it gets. I remember Lowendmafia's thread from last year and how adamantly Pratt defended himself. Really sorry you got ripped off.

 

[baltodoc]

Really intrigued by his take on the P bass - wonder what the price point is though.

I'm not sure, but I have heard his P basses are exceptional. He is a great luthier.

 

[kesslari]

Adding Alan Cringean (ACG basses) as another great, responsible luthier.
And I feel so sad to hear about folks getting screwed by guys like Prat. Or by prats like Oscar.

 

[benjobass]

I am going to second Mike Lull - great communication, built and delivered on time, absolutely beautiful bass. And also Rob Allen. Both of these luthiers are trustworthy. I truly believe in supporting independent luthiers so it is very disturbing to hear these stories. And preying on musicians is about as f'ed up as it gets. I remember Lowendmafia's thread from last year and how adamantly Pratt defended himself. Really sorry you got ripped off.

Yeah, I had placed my order before lowendmafia even posted his experience. By the time I was made aware of his post I was in way deep with poor communication...

 

[Metropolis_488]

Add Cliff Bordwell to the list of guys you can trust. I had Cliff build two basses for me. He was great to work with both times

 

[PaulJSmith]

Wow. I've been "friends" with Oscar on Facebook for quite a while. Seems like a pretty nice guy in every conversation I've ever had with him. I love some of his ridiculous bajillion-string bass designs, and actually had considered having him build one for me (as if my 6-stringer wasn't already enough). Sorry to read that he's jerking customers around like that. I remember when he moved back to Spain, and disappeared from FB for awhile. Never thought much of it, but it did kind of turn my attention away, as I pretty much lost interest in what would now be an international deal.

Sorry you've had such a bad experience, benjobass.

 

[pingvuiini]

I would like to add Rob Green of Status Graphite as a stand up builder.

 

[lowendmafia]

I wonder when all the people that tried to discredit me and call me names in my thread will show up to apologize...

 

[JRA]

i've had two custom built instruments in my playing experience --- both built by the same luthier and local to me at the time. i got to pick the woods from slabs and i got to 'advise' in every phase of the build: it was a great experience and i learned a lot about the instrument and how to do maintenance/setups/yada yada. if i cared to have another custom build = i'd certainly do it again, but: not one of his self-proposed timelines was ever accomplished (his 6 months turned into fifteen months on the first one of them!). so: on the second ax, i told him i had no timeline in mind. i paid him half upfront (as expected), but i told him i'd pay a 'tip' if he completed the work on time (according to his own estimate). he presented me with a great instrument 6 weeks before his own goal/estimate. i guess money talks.


OP: good luck with your experience on this one...i hope you get your issue(s) resolved!

 

[PaulJSmith]

I had a great experience with my Fishbone build back in '03. Great guys, great communication, great instrument. They even took it back recently and refinished it for me free of charge (I gave them a healthy tip anyway) because they found a better finish process. Can't say enough good things about Fishbone Bass Guitars.