I made a mistake on the timeline of events. The post about the customers brother passing was posted after Jeffs live video and I confused it. Jeff only knew the customer was going through bs. He didn’t know the finer details. This doesn’t excuse the rest of his actions and he knows this, but I can’t point out other people’s mistakes without owning up to my own. Ive edited out those few seconds from the video.
I think you have to edit and repost, you can’t leave such a serious misrepresentation in the video but with a disclaimer comment. He could actually sue you for this.
Would editing even matter? The video has been up for a day now, long enough that it's done its damage with the thousands of people who've already watched, and long enough that someone copied the original. If there was a potential lawsuit, I'm sure Kiesel will have the original video.
@@crummockiphail9720 I don't really think he would have much to go on in terms of sueing tbh. It's not like it's the only part of the video that shows he has a shitty personality.
If only jeff had put even half of the effort he puts into roasting his customers into actually roasting his fretboards this specific issue could've been avoided lmao
@@marcell9437 Yeaaa, and that sure makes an ass load of sense. Jeff is the only person that recieved $2,500+ to make this CUSTOM guitar. I believe you're working with that "Jeff common sense".
@DISGRUNTLED DEWEY exactly, never had a problem with Harley either, both guitar and people behind the company, and that's the thing I'll get shit on because someone's will say " bUt hE aPoLiGiSeD dUmBaSs" yes he absolutely did but only after being called out he didn't stop to think oh shit hey maybe that was fucked up or yaknow maybe that wasn't right, the guys got. A history of it too and there's proof of that the dudes a man child and I have fuck all respect for him, that being said I admire his company and the work they do yaknow when they actually do it, he knows what he's doing Guitar wise and there's nothing me or anyone else can do to take that away from him but I'll never ever ever buy a keisel as long as I live, I considered buying a custom made Ultra V a while ago but that's loooong gone lol
You all sound so bitter. If you can't afford a Kiesel, stop trying to say a Harley Benton is better. I own both. They are both good for what they are for. But a Harley Benton will never be better than a Kiesel. Lmfao
Scottish Trendkill you sound like you apologize for everything you do in life. Lmfao. People make bad decisions. Apologizing after getting called out isn't a bad thing to do. You act like you're morally superior to everyone else and it's such a cringe thing to read.
I ordered a Suhr. I was originally told it would take 8 months but it turned into 12. However when that 12 months came along I asked my dealer how things were going. After a call to Suhr my dealer told me that although my guitar had been completed the final QC check had been failed. Apparently a tiny amount of dye on the flamed maple top had run into the scraped binding and John Suhr himself had decided that wasn’t good enough and my guitar took another month as they built me another body from scratch. That’s customer service
@@nobodyimportant76467 If Suhr offers what you want and you have a lot of cash, sure. Once they make a flat fretboard ergonomic headless with low output pickups, I will be interested. Especially if they have a natural figured wood top. But they don't. If you want a cookie cutter superstrat, they are the way to go. But I would try a Vigier as well.
"If you get what you want, great, if you don't, don't be a baby" Listen if I'm buying something for that price I'd expect to get what I wanted, but I guess that's just my common sense
For real. A 2 thousand " boutique" guitar better be flawless and if not okay shit happens sometimes but you better fix that shit and not try to charge me additional hundreds of dollars to fix _your_ mistake and try to publicly shame and humiliate me to thousands of your followers because you're so much of a pretentious, condescending fucking TOOL who can't have a shred of empathy for your customers- even life long customs. Smh
Just wanted to post an update on things. Jeff made a public apology video and I think made a whole new guitar free-of charge for that guy he humiliated. In the apology video he went in depth explaining and showing the different woods/maple fretboards and changed the ordering process so you get exactly what kind of wood you're looking for. It's a shame it took this much and this long for things to change but I'm glad it got resolved. He should of had this now- new way of ordering things all along. Still doesn't excuse his actions and shitty behavior at all and I still would never buy a Kiesel though. Just wanted to share this however.
@@JustAdude291 That was great and all, but in my opinion, the fact that he said he didn't even know who the guy was, and in his apology stated 'someone who I NOW find out is a lifetime supporter' is dogshit. Once you and your team have been dealing with someone for that many years, built them that many guitars, had personal contact with them, you should know who that person is. So if he really cares that little about whose buying the guitars, and just cares about selling them, then I dont want to support you. The customers keep your business alive and they very much matter.
His post alone destroyed his reputation. Imagine spending 4k on a custom build they fuck it up then tell you to suck it up and belittle you when you own 20+ of their guitars. The mind boggles
Didn't you hear Jeff? His brother's death doesn't mean shit because other people have problems too! Next time something bad happens to Jeff, I hope he remembers that he said this.
American laws seem to be bullshit. As a luthier in Germany I'm liable for the built quality of my guitars. If I built a faulty guitar like the one with the inappropriately mounted fretboard (which is undeniably the luthier's fault), then the customer is entitled to a refund or a flawless guitar in exchange and I as a luthier may only fall back on repairing instead of exchanging or refunding if there's is a valid reason for that, such as disproportionate costs. So in most cases the customer will get his refund or exchange. I'd be ashamed to give such minor quality to customers.
Actually, the laws are probably not that different. The only difference is that maybe Germany allows for easier recourse for the consumer. I'd be willing to bet that if one was to sue Kiesel in small claims court, they would come out ahead- especially since they operate in California. Quite frankly, if we were to have a law that made it that easy for the consumer- we probably wouldn't have too many companies that could operate in the States. There are just too many unreasonable people here that would try to get a refund for bad reasons. And that is a cost that is passed down to everyone- not just the manufacturer.
There used to be a saying in business school: The 1st Generation builds the business. The 2nd Generation grows the business The 3rd Generation ruins the business. Can we guess which generation we're on now. Few family businesses survive the 3rd generation of owner. I wouldn't be surprised, if, after several more of these displays that Jeff doesn't cash out & sell Kiesel to a private equity firm. Maybe he can stick around...roasting fingerboards or something.
Since the 3rd gen didn’t build or grow it, it was just always around.. some may take see it as family pride. There’s a sense of self-entitlement and not a particular awareness of how easily their business can be damaged by public statements like this. He looks like a baby. I know there are exceptions but it does make sense.
MrDmadness you’re wrong, if you buy anything for any amount of money it better be what you ordered, and if it isn’t and they won’t fix their mistake no questions asked, that company can suck a cock
Dot Connector it’s because these are the few bad stories, for the most part the stuff they put out is top notch. I’ve played a few and they’ve all been great.
@@nathanlockhart3876 -It's how they address issues that arise is the problem. Making the customer pay to fix their errors is concerning. Also how Kiesel publicly demonizes his customers is wrong on so many levels.
Dot Connector he apologized and said he was in the wrong and smoothed things over with the customer. I don’t think it’s fair to say that he didn’t handle it well. In the end he owned up to his mistake
I felt like Jeff doing a live Twitter rant showed a great deal of unprofessionalism. A man owns up and takes responsibility for his mistakes, he doesn’t trash people to try and defend his public image.
Missy Rogers I own a collection of carvins and kiesels, they are spectacular. As good as my us prs’s , if not better. I couldn’t careless about any of this. If Jeff Kissel went on a killing spree tomorrow it wouldn’t diminish the enjoyment I have when playin them. I am not saying any of this stuff is cool, a lot of it sounds sh!tty. But I haven’t had to deal with anything like this and I , being a wise buyer of instruments , have been able to get top quality custom shop instruments that I probably wouldn’t have been able to afford otherwise. Yes, he does seem kind of like a dbag. I would say this though, I have a feeling that a lot of this reaction comes from dumb a$$ customers that abused the return system for years. An example of this, I saw a video from a few years back where a guy was return a nylon string Carvin (the ones equipped with 11 pin synth capabilities, I own one) because it had “a buzz” , he demonstrates this “buzz” and it literally would have took this fool 15 seconds to turn the truss rod one quarter turn , which is standard guitar maintenance anyway, and it would have completely solved the problem . But he was stupid, threw a fit, and was getting the GUITAR COMPLETELY RE BUILT... WHEN IT WOUKD HAVE TOOK LESS THAN A MINUTE, a company go only take it in the a$$ like that so many times and they will cease to exist. I would say incidents like this probably have influenced their re stocking fee. BUT, Jeff Kiesel was a complete bonehead for broadcasting this. Why would he do that? Someone needs to tell this guy to stay off social media. I see the reason that things are the way they are, but JKs response, broadcasting it, was absurd
@@KeepTheGates I'm telling you exactly what the cawksucker posted in his video. It wasnt my guitar, but it was his and thats what he ways saying. He demonstrated the "problem" in the video. For all I know, they didnt rebuild it and instead showed up at his house and shot him in the fackin head. I dont know. Thats not the point. The point is , people abuse the return process and it effects the companies return policies. It also increases the price of the overall instrument.
I know lots of people are going to say this is “petty drama” but communities need to speak up about things like this. He may not agree with the customer being right (but I do), however I can’t imagine it ever being cool having the head man of a company shaming his customers in such a public way.
DMSProduktions ugh I wouldn’t say that. It’s definitely his practice but I’ve had plenty of experience with small or new businesses and addressing issues much different to this. I think this is just showing what happens when people get to into social media and feel untouchable.
As a professional wood worker of 30 years who owns my own company I’m starting to think maybe I should make guitars. Cause these guys have no clue about the way wood works if they think you can simply glue cracking thin fretboards back together.
They don't now shit about electronics either, because they believe the wood changes the tone of an electric guitar! ;-) But the belly feel certainly is different. ;-)
@@thatoneguybones8036 I know what I’m doing. You can do anything you want. Doesn’t mean it’s right. You may get lucky and have things work ok for a while when using incorrectly done procedures. But eventually someone like me will have to fix your mess. Or it will go in the trash.
I worked there before Jeff even picked up a tool. Used to be in sales when I was there. Always been a tool with plenty of common sense. He sure is lucky his dad is rich and gave him a company to run!
Wow... Jeff Kiesel comes off as very whiny and insecure. Also, if he ever comes out and has a problem with your video, remind him that he said he "treats others how he'd like to be treated". Since he's already in the business of putting people on blast on Instagram Live, he shouldn't have a problem with this video. Damn. This is enlightening. I will never support a company who treats a loyal customer like that. That guy probably has over $10,000 dollars worth of Kiesel guitars and he's treated like this? Fucking despicable. I hope this gets a ton of attention. Jeff Kiesel makes Rob Chapman look like a saint. He's done some shady stuff, but at least Rob never treated his customers quite like this. I think Rob means well deep down, but just got carried away with his power and influence. Jeff just seems like a shitbag.
J. Cruise each build costs roughly 2k each depending on options. He probably has closer to 20k in JUST the recent 9 Kissel builds he has. Not to mention the other 20 carvins he has/had. Which is probably another 40k. I really feel bad for the customer.
Exactly and well said about Mr Chapman. Because of Jeff Kiesel’s public videos verifying his stubbornness, the damage far exceeds the price to replace that neck. Now it’s possible to loose tens of thousands of dollars or more annually in decreased sales. This kind of exposure can prevent growth in a business with so much competition. Many of their current and most importantly, future potential buyers will choose another brand. Once he realizes this or is told, I’d expect a public apology. I don’t think he’s the guy to give it unless sales decrease or it blows up even more. He literally made the problem as anyone would have just agreed that mistakes can happen with any manufacturing process. And it’s even an opportunity to build customer loyalty and security by taking care of the problem like a professional. This is why shareholders do NOT like a CEO that’s what they refer to as a ‘peacock’. It always will cause some volatility of the company’s stock due to publications of their behavior.
@@scottydog62 Nah bro go with Paul Read Smith. I'm not dissing Music Man guitars as I haven't played many except the Axis and the JP, but I'm just not the biggest fan of Schecter. Personal opinion but hey that's just me.
"If you don't get what you want, don't be a baby" Dude, that type of talk wouldn't fly in any other customer industry, let alone one where people get neurotic about their wood types
@dairylife8094. And you’ll be out of business. First rule. Customer is always right. U kidzzzz todayyyy. Ohhhh and try that whining in the military. Urs truly a combat vet.
God imagine your boss walking around shouting at his phone on Instagram, what a nutjob. "We're being men" *holds up thin undefined arm with cringe worthy neon tattoos* wow you really showed that customer who just lost a family member.
The issues with customer service run deep at Carvin/Kiesel. I tried to order a high end custom guitar from them when they were still Carvin and was so turned off by my customer service experience I ended up buying from a different company. Years later when they became Kiesel I decided I would give them a second chance and sent an email about possibly doing a custom Holdsworth signature with a fanned fretboard (an option they offer on multiple guitars) and literally got an email response that just said "no". That was literally the whole email. Not "we think it's important to maintain the integrity of the instrument the way Allan envisioned it" or "This would be logistically difficult for reason x,y,z but we have other fanned fret models that we could use the signature AH pickups in if you were interested", just "no" -kiesel employee. I mean, it was kind of funny, but I decided then that I'd never bother with the company again.
Uuh, soulds like you cold emailed them asking them for a true custom guitar when they do an off the menu semi-custom guitar only. The simple answer is 'no'. I don't know why that is rude.
@@Prometheus4096 Not really sure what the alternative was to a "cold" email, I reached out to customer service with a question through the contact section of their website that, you know, actually encourages people to reach out with any questions. Also, Kiesel offers other headless multiscale guitars that normally have a 25 1/2" scale length like the AH signature does normally, so creating the guitar wouldn't actually constitute any great deal of extra work on their part (I've built a few guitars, and specifically built a couple headless fanned fret instruments, so I'm not completely in the dark on this). Lastly, a one word "no" answer isn't necessarily rude, but it is bad customer service, and if you don't understand why that is I would highly suggest you don't do any customer facing work.
dude kiesel still makes amazing guitars some of the best quality, its just that if you do get a dud guitar jeff wont care lol the complains are mostly about customer service not build quality.
Dude, it totally hapoened to me. I ordered a 7 string, spent 3 weeks conveying what I wanted for a top, with pics and all. Jeff picked a top that looked NOTHING like what I wanted! He NEVER TRIED TO MATCH IT, because 2 weeks later someone else got a top (from the same buckeye burl piece of wood) that looked almost exactly like the pic I wanted them to match. They wanted to keep my down payment of $2500, which was half. I fought with them for a week and they finally conceded to refund me. But they blacklisted me from their Facebook page. Jeff IS a little spoiled brat, and unfortunately it looks like its gotten worse. Sad, for the ones who got shafted, like me.
Holy shit, 5k for a guitar and you go through that? For that price it has to literally be perfect, aside from collectors stuff guitars really don't go that much higher than that. Looks like I'm never buying one either, much rather go for a Suhr or a PRS, even if they arent full custom builds.
That sucks man. Kiesel make big claims but can't live up to 4-5k custom guitars. That's Anderson and Suhr territory. You really do get what you pay for in that case.
Yeah that was messed up. The customer should never have to apologize for the mistakes made by a company. If you do that then you’ve just said you’re OK with the product & you accept responsibility.
Ugh! Why did you have to mention that name? His name alone makes my skin crawl! It's been ages now since all shitshow started and not even a hint of remorse let alone apology. And now he has fucked off to whatever place his wife comes from to hide from all this.
I'm glad to see you back at it, I know you went through a hard time after the Chapman video. Please keep investigating and outing the bullshitters in guitar world, you're doing an awesome job. You good man 💪xD
I'm just gonna be honest. This single video of Jeff speaking to a loyal customer that way has made me decide not to buy one. It was the next guitar on the list. And I'm not just saying I'm not gonna never having any plans to buy one. I actually do buy and currently own nice guitars. High end Ibanez, Jackson, USA Wolfgang, currently own a US JP6, I've had an Ormsby, and various other higher end things. Keisel was next on the list. This single video has cost him my money. And my word of mouth through any player I know that might buy one. I run a retail store. You do it right the first time, or make it right. Insulting a loyal customer is pathetic. Fuck Keisel. Have a nice day.
@@thedog121 bro keisel has been around longer then the original Les Paul and in this video there was literally 2 quality control problems. That’s pretty damn good lol. How many has Gibson had? I mean a lot of Gibson guitars your paying the same price but just abou every Gibson sent out has issues. My Gibson showed up almost unplayable with body damage. You call me a simp but you and people like you literally let people on a TH-cam channel form your opinion for you. I have a keisel and it’s by far my favorite. Wouldn’t change anything on it. Also those problems were during Covid where it was a bitch to get anything. I did framing back then and literaly every lumber yard was running out of shit and the shit you could get was like 5x the original price.
@@xaphan8581 no, I think he’s quite right - you sound like a simp: In your first comment you are going out of your way, not adding anything, just to be the snarky white knight for a random company (which is certainly enhanced with your next comment and that cute my-favorite-company vs. boo-boo-company pokemon battle you described) to someone who really just said “hey, this behaviour is pathetic, I don’t want to buy from that guy”… 👏
I was going to order a Kiesel a few years back, but after doing some research into the brand and their reputation, and watching a factory tour video in which Jeff comes across as a complete douchebag, I decided against it and bought an E-II instead.
Solid choice. For my money, I think you'll find more precision and care in a high end Japanese guitar than a US one. Made in America doesn't mean anything anymore.
I am legitimately terrified of what's going to happen when Paul Reed Smith exits his company. Never once heard a customer service complaint about those true beauty queens. Sure, you get QC slips but, they actually fix them
I recently watched this video where a guy sent his PRS back to get an estimate for some finish repair near the frets. PRS refinished the whole guitar...for free. Paul rubs people the wrong way sometimes, but his standards are present on everything from customs to SEs. th-cam.com/video/HusbWzMR5J0/w-d-xo.html
@@michaelmarkel434 I've never heard anybody say he rubs ppl wrong before. You can tell though, you do not want to go to work for that man and start doing shit your own way. Mistakes are one thing but, if you start doing what you want, I suspect PRSh will come unglued on you. I bet he's pretty patient teaching people how to do things and he's probably willing to go to greater lengths for anybody who shows that they want to learn even though they're struggling but, man, I just get a vibe that you do *NOT* want to piss that man off.
@@mr.nobody68 paul is too calm. i feel like he's the type if guy that when he announces that he's going out for a smoke then you know someone is about to get chewed out
Always had an incling kiesel were a dodgy company. They once did a tshirt design "competition" where they had fans design a tshirt for them and if you "won" the "competition" you got a single copy of that shirt that YOU designed. Instead of PAYING people for their work they disguised this con as a competition.
Damn just watched his apology on IG and it was the fakest shit I’ve seen. Jeff Kiesel is a child. He should fixed that fretboard in the very first place and nothing would have happened. Never thinking about Kiesel guitars again.
7:56 "if you get exactly what you want, awesome; if not, don't be a baby" Hot damn! you just don't see excellent customer service like that anymore! Talk about getting you money's worth on a high-end guitar!
KDH, you have really opened my eyes on the subjects of your videos. I was sceptical of your channel at first as most would be but you truly do just speak the truth and let things be known that should be, and for that thank you. KDH for world leader 2020
I’m glad I saw this before buying one. It’s always been on my radar. Not anymore. Too many guitars makers out there that would love my business. Good luck Jeff.
I have of a friend that ordered a Kiesel guitar and they sent him the totally wrong color and they wouldnt return it because they said it was a Option 50 custom color. Lol
I’m in an interesting spot here. I’m a huge Kiesel fanboy. Jeff is actually a personal friend of mine, as or many of the Kiesel employees. I own several and I will defend Jeff and the company. Do I think some people’s gripes with them are unwarranted? Yes I do. However.... Jeff, my friend, is absolutely fucking wrong here. It would go a long way to say to the customer “Hey man. Honestly, I dont think we messed up, but if you aren’t happy with it, then let’s get this sorted out.” That’s all it would take. He doesn’t have to admit he’s wrong, he just has to act like he cares Edit: for anyone who doesn’t know, the problem has be sorted. A private apology to the customer, a public apology to all customers. Jeff sent the customer flowers, a letter and condolences for his late brother. He has also changed the process of picking roasted wood by making sure they match each other. Customers are also now able to order light, medium, or dark roasted at no extra charge. Roasted maple necks and fretboards are also currently free of charge. Does that excuse everything? No. But it’s an undeniable right step forward
Hey Nugly...I admire your post. Have you spoken to him and said that this sh*t storm is going on and he probably should get ahead of it for his own PR?
im glad i just went ahead and made my own guitar. i got exactly what i wanted. after talking to the fender custom shop about how much it would cost for them to do it and it was to expensive! so i started hunting for damaged antique furniture and hit the jackpot! a peace of quilty flame maple book matched at just over an inch thick and mahogany same thickness for the back. it turned out great!
I had about $4.5k tied up across 2 guitars and a bass from Kiesel, all the frets sprouted and started lifting after a little under a year. Same thing happened to some other people (some friends) around the same time, but they contacted Kizzle about it. They were given similarly horrible treatment, and one was even called out by name on social media in a similar manner as this incident. I sold mine off with all flaws disclosed at a huge loss so the new owners could afford to go to a tech and get them properly repaired and washed my hands of them. Fuck Kiesel.
Same. I bought one that was an utter piece of shit. Fortunately I know about their off menu scam and was able to return the tire for a refund. I bought a Suhr....a proper guitar.
Wow that's amazing I'm almost kind of glad I didn't get one of these now I mean I bought a cheap Korean Warwick Jack Bruce Bass well it wasn't cheap but they consider it the cheaper brand the Korean models and it was wonderful I love this bass guitar so I guess I avoided a bullet
@@kma6881 As far as I can tell it was after the rebranding. My first purchase from them was a 50 piece DC7X run through Guitar Porn (now Wired Guitarist), there's a video of me using it on my channel. It was right after Jeff took over and right before the full rebranding, its been a while but iirc they were the first guitars with the Kiesel logo. There are plenty of guys who still have them and love them from that run, but there were also several who had serious issues with frets sprouting, lifting (as did mine did), and one or two even had frets literally pop out. These were also the first run to have the stained fretboards offered (i opted for zebrawood so i never had the next issue) and the same friend who lost frets also had the die fade out of the fretboard. The second was a DC6 with very similar specs to the Lee McKinney sig which had just launched. It had two small air bubbles in the finish, which i honestly didn't mind much, but then the frets sprouted pretty bad. I was messing with getting into luthierie and had some files so I was able to file the ends down myself but for $1600 that shouldn't be an issue. My bass was a VK5 which had the most pronounced case of fret sprouting but was unreturnable due to a custom red to black burst I had done, so I traded it for an '85 Ibanez Star Destroyer that was much in need of more work but at least wouldn't shred my hands which I tried to shred on it.
@@MisterTee Same, I used the money from the guitars to buy a USA Boden 7 when Washburn was still building the USA strandbergs and traded the bass off for a beat to hell but fun to play '85 Ibanez Star Destroyer
i participated in a contest hosted by kiesel several months ago, there was a stark contrast between the amount of votes for those already using kiesel guitars and those using literally anything else and when i mentioned it i was swarmed by employees and representatives who told me that i was just upset because i wasn't in the top 15
I was just looking into this company. I'm staying away because of what the owner himself said, how he behaved and what he is sending out. It's all exceptionally gross.
In the 90s I loved dealing with Carvin- they even made me a cab that was discontinued (212 slant) with no upcharge. When the Becker Numbers guitar came out I was all-in, I had wanted that guitar since I was a kid. So I ordered it as soon as I saw it was available. Waited 4 weeks then sent an email wondering when they would be shipping. I got back a sass-ass one line message that said 'custom guitars take 6-8 weeks'. I responded that I didn't make any alterations, it's a stock order. Got another one-liner back- 'EVERY Kiesel guitar is a custom guitar'. I figured, okay this dude is a tool, but he has my money and my guitar, I'll just wait it out and not respond back the way I want to. So about 3 months later I get a Carvin box at work, I am beyond psyched. Open it up and the action is so high that it's the very first thing that draws the eye. Take it out of the case and I noticed the neck is about the size and shape of a Les Paul- these were supposed to be Charvel thin. I haven't played any others, but that neck was just HUGE, and it had a name on the heel, so I believe it was a custom order neck put on my guitar by accident. The part that sealed it for me was the frets- the Numbers has steel frets. But once I got the action to about 3/32 low E and 1/32 high E it was just fretting out passed the 12th fret. I figured Okay, well I love Jason Becker, but Carvin is just trash now, so I ruined a set of files leveling the frets then sold the guitar at a $400 loss. I sometimes end up on the Kiesel site thinking Ohhhhh that's nice, but I now know not to pull the trigger.
That the customer even apologized and said that nobody should point out flaws rly hurt. (Yes, he said to do it privately, but if the company isn't willing to do what's right, that's definitely no option.) And that mess just prevented me from ordering (ever) from Kiesel, which I was actually thinking about right now.
This is why people buy from well established brands and are afraid to try something new. I have had amazing customer service from Gibson, Fender, Rickenbacker and G&L, even just calling them to ask for some more Custom shop picks or a custom pickguard for my G&L; in one case I was speaking to the department manager and was unaware till the end of the conversation when I informed him that I was going to leave a comment about my great experience. And I always received the exact guitar I wanted in every detail.
I’ve seen and played several of Jeff’s guitars as well as Carvin stuff over the years. Quality was good, sounded great, and the fit and finish seemed to reflect the price point (in these cases) What Jeff and company need to realize is they make boutique guitars and they cover a very very very small part of the market. Customer service should be at the top of the list. I play Sadowsky basses and I have for almost 20 years now. I own four of them. One showed up with a major flaw and I contacted Roger Directly, the issue was taken care of and a new bass was sent out the very next morning. I was sent a tracking number and postage for the damaged instrument. That is the very reason I will never be scared to order number 5 and 6. Customer service after the fact, will increase your sales. Guaranteed.
Yeah I own a vintage Ibanez Roadstar II RB650 bass which I want to mod to be active and Ibanez forums don't know crap about them basses. Ibanez basses sound terrible stock my next bass is going to be a ESP or Warwick because I mostly play Metal. I would love to build my own fretless 6 string Flying V bass with a kahler tremolo to just not buy another bass.
I've owned more than half a dozen Kiesels. That "roasted" fingerboard honestly doesn't look like any other roasted Kiesel boards I've seen... I think it's not up to Kiesel standards. But the big deal here, the most unbelievable thing to me, is that Jeff got on live to mock and belittle a lifelong customer over a complaint. Even if the complaint wasn't valid (it was), this is such a shockingly poor way to handle it as a company in 2020. When you do this to one customer, your customer service has failed once. When you treat a customer that way live, you broadcast to the world that your customer service has left and isn't coming back. I would honestly be bummed if a quality USA builder like Kiesel went out of business over customer service and ego. Hope Jeff also has the common sense to see how bad this looks from the outside. At this point, literally anybody else in the factory could get in front of the camera and it would be better for their PR.
Blake Beaupain I saved up $1800 for my kiesel. Yeah I’m generally happy with it but always noticed Jeff was very aggressive with customers. It was especially weird when he decided to pull neck replacement orders and blame the customers on his live for “not ordering enough of them.” Any time he talks about cool discontinued options he uses the phrase “we didn’t pull it from our options you guys did by not ordering enough.” I never understood that logic lol.
Holy shit the guy has probably spent 15k-30k for their guitars and they won’t fix one. Then he puts the guy on blast. Wow I will defiantly never buy a guitar from them.
Jeeeez. I am so thankful for this video. I was about to order a Kiesel this week! Such a shame, they look amazing. One bad owner can ruin such a good brand.
It's a real shame every time something like this comes up. Former employee of Kiesel here, still love the company, love the people, and love the guitars. The thing that is frustrating about all this is that Jeff does great work, and he works really hard. He definitely isn't just the face of the company, that man works his ass off for it. I just wish he could take a step back and see that this kind of thing is far more damaging, and ends up costing the company way more than if he just ate the small cost of rebuilding the neck for a guy who has supported the company for years. Another really big shame of this is that the guys and gals building the guitars get lumped in with Jeff, as does the Kiesel brand. These people do insanely high quality work, and it's terrible to see that dragged through the mud as well. It's because of them that I still wouldn't hesitate to place an order again. The last thing I will say is that for as much as we hear about quality issues online, they're pretty damn rare, and most just get taken care of with no questions asked. A few like these manage to come through and then Jeff decides that it's his hill to die on that week. Damn shame.
There are a lot of trolls here who just come out of the woodwork to slag anyone any chance they get. It’s nice to see intelligent comments now and again. I am a Kiesel owner myself and see that Jeff does a lot for promoting the brand and generally does very well reaching customers on social media, and obviously a lot of hard work goes into not just building the guitars but every aspect of running a company of that size, not that he does it all alone. That said, I have also seen the posts on FB when the ball has been dropped and this video is going to bring these few occurrences to the attention of a lot of trolls and haters and will affect the company more than Jeff probably expects. Will it matter overall financially to Jeff? I don’t suspect it will much but if anything it will deter new customers more than prior ones. I see some of these people commenting about Jeff being this or that and saying he inherited the company. Aside from the obvious fact that Jeff isn’t the owner, as you pointed out he does work hard, as do the other Kiesel employees, and he’s earned his way. Kiesel is a company that didn’t get where they are today by luck or charity; they build amazing guitars at the most affordable custom-shop prices on the market. I’d be very upset if I were the guy with the roasted-neck and I wouldn’t blame him if he never spent another cent with Kiesel, but I also don’t believe that Jeff is simply an asshole as some of these people are saying. I think he’s just a person like the rest of us who has good days and bad ones and sometimes he fucks up. We all do; fortunately for most of us the world isn’t scrutinizing and watching us when we do. That said, when he does misstep he seems to go the distance with it instead of taking a breath and reassessing.
Kinda what I take from it. I might be more hesitant to buy though now. Which sucks cause, as a broke guitarist, I've dreamed about one day saving enough dough to buy my dream guitar from kiesel. Like I was committed to making it the most expensive guitar I'll eve buy because they're so beautiful and have so many options I love. But maybe small time builders are simply more reliable because they almost always care about their reputation and craft very highly. I feel like if I ordered something crazy, that supposedly they could do, they'll mess important details up and I'll still be down 3-4k.
Illuminati Brain Control, buying used is an option. You don’t have to worry about any mishaps if it’s already built. I know the percentage of these issues is extremely low and the odds are that it won’t happen to you or me but I also realize that $2K is a ton of money for a lot of us. My newest Kiesel was almost six times more expensive than any other guitar I owned prior to a Kiesel. I never imagined I’d own a guitar that cost a fraction of what it cost and I’m going to be making payments on it for more than a year. It’s worth it for sure, but I can’t imagine being committed to a purchase of that magnitude and having it turn out badly. That would be the last time for me.
You're the musicians hero, mate. I've seen you time and again coming to the aid of lambasted and cheated customers. You're content is excellent and well researched, and your honesty and integrity is a beacon in a dark place.
I can't imagine owning a company and then blame, shout and belittle the customers who have valid criticisms of their products. Somehow I never have gotten into Kiesel... guess there was a reason for that...
It's because he doesn't have a passion for making a good product. He just wants the $ and that's it. Very much typical of a son given a successful company, and used to/trying to live a pampered lifestyle.
Uh, boy. I have two Kiesel/Carvins. As a disabled guy, money is hard to come by, BUT I did score a new part-time, ability-appropriate job in January, and was squirreling away for build #3.That's not happening now. As soon as I finish typing this, I'm checking out Suhr and Halo. I can forgive errors in customer orders. I cannot forgive a company leader for being a douche. If I have a complaint, I do not want to be some company leader's social media rant of the day.
Halo made me a sick ass pearl white telecaster i custom built its my favorite guitar in the world, other than my waylon jennings telecaster or my merle haggard tuff dog telecaster jeff can go fuck himself and shove those fucked up necks right up his ass.
Wow... i was really interested in buying a Kiesel. Cause I thought Jeff was a real stand up guy. And what they do is pure art sometimes. What put me of was the returnpolicy and the risks involved in shipping 1 to Europe. Boy am i glad i didnt order one. And ill never will.
Watching the way he behaved in the video is really all that you should need to see. no one else's comments or issues should be required. why would you ever do business with this person? Why would you ever give somebody like this your hard-earned dollars?
Damn...I just happened to stumble upon this video randomly, glad I watched it. Wasn't interested in Kiesel before, now I have a reason to keep others away too.
I own several Carvin and Kiesel guitars. I love them all. However- this guy is right. Jeff's attitude is wrong. They should have taken care of not just this customer, but all customers. After seeing how they have treated a guy with almost 30 of their guitars, I'm done buying because with only 5 in my house I know that I will not be treated well if there is a quality issue. I'm happy with the selection of Carvin/ Kiesel guitars that I have. I'll continue to buy from Dean Zelinsky or Fender because I know that things will get fixed if needed and nobody from the company is going to call me names during a televised shop walk. EDIT: Jeff has since issued a very humble apology, and is working with the customer to address it. While it was a HUGE blow-up on social media, it all stemmed from a few bad things happening on both sides. Once there was an understanding, Kiesel is making everything right.
Rory Gentry Totally agree. I too have five Kiesels and don’t have any quality or fit and finish issues but after watching this, it only confirms my opinion of Jeff that I formed while watching a few of Jeff’s factory walk thru videos. Rad, sick, sick, rad.
Wow the interesting thing about this is that imo Jeff Kiesel is the perfect example of how to do promotion for your products and how not to. I was initially drawn to the brand because of his factory tour videos and I actually liked the way he presented his company there. Now this is exactly the opposite.
I've recently inherited an AM7 from a friend. It's a magnificent machine and I fell in love with it very quickly and because it was my friend's specs that went into this guitar, I'll never truly have any say in regards to Jeff's treatment of his customers or his quality control , as I've never custom ordered a guitar from Kiesel like most of you have. However, what I do know is that good business practice comes from experience. Jeff Kiesel is not his daddy. Although his guitars were a product of legacy, his business model was not. He threw himself into uncharted territory. If you think about it, Kiesel Guitars' business methods and business models are all built on a very new, very sensitive and very unique concept that most guitar companies would never even dare to try and experiment with. This means that Jeff is probably the first guitar company owner that decided to make mass-produced custom made guitars. If you were to miraculously manage to get ahold of a CEO of any major guitar builder company, let's say Ibanez, Fender, Gibson.... Etc. And asked them to mass-produce custom guitars, chances are they'll laugh at you and tell you that no guitar company out there will be stupid enough to take that kind of risk. Which is why many of us got stuck with a guitar that was built out of someone else's imagination instead of our own. If my memory serves me well, Kiesel Guitar Company (not Carvin) hasn't been around all that long, probably less than a decade I'm guessing?? In that short amount of time, the company has released thousands of custom made, high quality guitars to customers worldwide and for such a reasonable price too. When I was in my 20's this sort of thing was a fantasy that I could never afford. I know this video is pretty old by now, as well as the original "whining and complaining" video by Jeff Kiesel. And I'm sure that by now they've long since updated their term and conditions and other legal crap. The reality is, they're still standing and they've set the standards for not only their own business model, but the business model of so many other future guitar companies.
This part. Most of these weirdoes commenting in blatant detest of a cokehead they've never met or purchased from is just the same immature nasty kind of weird as Hollywood worship.
man, at 6:40 it's total projection. "people can be really really smart in life, maybe have great businesses and things like that, but maybe they don't have common sense".
WOW as a lifelong carvin fan, this really hurts. What a punk this guy is! I had an issue with a single Carvin and was sent to him and man, that was a 100% promise I would never buy a Keisel, but had no idea he would go on social media and attack his customers
Jeff Kiesel is the quint essential "Dude-Bro" of the guitar world. Which is kind of ironic because Kiesel is such bourgeoisie brand only PRS could compare.
@@wrongfuture The Carvin stuff was really solid though before Kiesel bought them up, I have a 100 watt V3M and I love it. It's just apparent that Jeff doesn't have a clear grasp on how to actually run the Kiesel/Carvin brand, and is deflecting blame onto the customers.
@@josephgraf2167 Yes and no, so they changed the name to Kiesel due to their founder passing away, but they shut down the factory that was producing all of the Carvin products.
@@josephgraf2167 Kiesel and Carvin split into two different companies. Jeff and his Dad bought the rights to Kiesel guitars, and Carvin remained the amp company that eventually went under. So, they did more or less buy Kiesel from Carvin by separating the companies.
As a one time kiesel owner. Go ibby you won't be disappointed, I ended selling my kiesel very shortly after getting it due to qc issues and got a reiver and charvel
I made a mistake on the timeline of events. The post about the customers brother passing was posted after Jeffs live video and I confused it. Jeff only knew the customer was going through bs. He didn’t know the finer details. This doesn’t excuse the rest of his actions and he knows this, but I can’t point out other people’s mistakes without owning up to my own. Ive edited out those few seconds from the video.
I think you have to edit and repost, you can’t leave such a serious misrepresentation in the video but with a disclaimer comment. He could actually sue you for this.
@@MR-um9ck he's already edited the video, you can edit using youtube studio. That part of the video isn't in anymore.
@@MR-um9ck If that's true and seeing how much of a douchebag jeff is, editing and reposting would be the best move.
Would editing even matter? The video has been up for a day now, long enough that it's done its damage with the thousands of people who've already watched, and long enough that someone copied the original. If there was a potential lawsuit, I'm sure Kiesel will have the original video.
@@crummockiphail9720 I don't really think he would have much to go on in terms of sueing tbh. It's not like it's the only part of the video that shows he has a shitty personality.
If only jeff had put even half of the effort he puts into roasting his customers into actually roasting his fretboards this specific issue could've been avoided lmao
Solid.
you could've just roasted the guys fretboard instead of jeff
@@marcell9437 Yeaaa, and that sure makes an ass load of sense. Jeff is the only person that recieved $2,500+ to make this CUSTOM guitar. I believe you're working with that "Jeff common sense".
@@Dreammule Lmao I made a joke, I obviously didn't ask the guy to ACTUALLY roast the fretboard. Have you ever heard of puns?
Dam this is best comment I've seen all year, well done sir 👏 🤣
When Harley Benton has a better roasted neck than a high end guitar company you know you have a problem.
@DISGRUNTLED DEWEY same here 😂
That's because Harley Bentons owners aren't Adult Children
@DISGRUNTLED DEWEY exactly, never had a problem with Harley either, both guitar and people behind the company, and that's the thing I'll get shit on because someone's will say " bUt hE aPoLiGiSeD dUmBaSs" yes he absolutely did but only after being called out he didn't stop to think oh shit hey maybe that was fucked up or yaknow maybe that wasn't right, the guys got. A history of it too and there's proof of that the dudes a man child and I have fuck all respect for him, that being said I admire his company and the work they do yaknow when they actually do it, he knows what he's doing Guitar wise and there's nothing me or anyone else can do to take that away from him but I'll never ever ever buy a keisel as long as I live, I considered buying a custom made Ultra V a while ago but that's loooong gone lol
You all sound so bitter. If you can't afford a Kiesel, stop trying to say a Harley Benton is better. I own both. They are both good for what they are for. But a Harley Benton will never be better than a Kiesel. Lmfao
Scottish Trendkill you sound like you apologize for everything you do in life. Lmfao. People make bad decisions. Apologizing after getting called out isn't a bad thing to do. You act like you're morally superior to everyone else and it's such a cringe thing to read.
I ordered a Suhr. I was originally told it would take 8 months but it turned into 12. However when that 12 months came along I asked my dealer how things were going. After a call to Suhr my dealer told me that although my guitar had been completed the final QC check had been failed. Apparently a tiny amount of dye on the flamed maple top had run into the scraped binding and John Suhr himself had decided that wasn’t good enough and my guitar took another month as they built me another body from scratch. That’s customer service
I’m glad you got your perfect Ax man!
When you spend $2000 - $4000 and wait 6-12 months, it had better be perfect. We're not talking about a Squire here.
A Suhr is way more expensive than a Kiesel. They also don't have the same business model.
@@Prometheus4096 In the case of Suhr vs Kiesel I’d say that you get what you pay for and the price difference is well worth the commitment to quality
@@nobodyimportant76467 If Suhr offers what you want and you have a lot of cash, sure. Once they make a flat fretboard ergonomic headless with low output pickups, I will be interested. Especially if they have a natural figured wood top. But they don't. If you want a cookie cutter superstrat, they are the way to go. But I would try a Vigier as well.
"If you get what you want, great, if you don't, don't be a baby"
Listen if I'm buying something for that price I'd expect to get what I wanted, but I guess that's just my common sense
Or lack thereof
For real. A 2 thousand " boutique" guitar better be flawless and if not okay shit happens sometimes but you better fix that shit and not try to charge me additional hundreds of dollars to fix _your_ mistake and try to publicly shame and humiliate me to thousands of your followers because you're so much of a pretentious, condescending fucking TOOL who can't have a shred of empathy for your customers- even life long customs. Smh
And even more if it's a custom model...why ppl would buy a kiesel instead from a luthier
Just wanted to post an update on things. Jeff made a public apology video and I think made a whole new guitar free-of charge for that guy he humiliated. In the apology video he went in depth explaining and showing the different woods/maple fretboards and changed the ordering process so you get exactly what kind of wood you're looking for. It's a shame it took this much and this long for things to change but I'm glad it got resolved. He should of had this now- new way of ordering things all along. Still doesn't excuse his actions and shitty behavior at all and I still would never buy a Kiesel though. Just wanted to share this however.
@@JustAdude291 That was great and all, but in my opinion, the fact that he said he didn't even know who the guy was, and in his apology stated 'someone who I NOW find out is a lifetime supporter' is dogshit. Once you and your team have been dealing with someone for that many years, built them that many guitars, had personal contact with them, you should know who that person is. So if he really cares that little about whose buying the guitars, and just cares about selling them, then I dont want to support you. The customers keep your business alive and they very much matter.
Jeff kiesel got roasted but he doesn't look dark enough.
lol good one XD
who?
Jeff Kiesel
@@user-yv2cz8oj1k who?
💯
His post alone destroyed his reputation. Imagine spending 4k on a custom build they fuck it up then tell you to suck it up and belittle you when you own 20+ of their guitars.
The mind boggles
And says he doesn’t know this particular customer
My kid bought a clean electric car for under 4k! Fuck those guitars! 🤣
Jeff's attitude will ensure that I would NEVER buy his product.
OPTION 4 - AVOID THIS COMPANY!
anthony baltusis you got that right.
This isn’t a one time thing either, there’s posts from years back with the same attitude
Give it a month or two and it will be business as usual. Douchbags never change.
you weren’t gonna buy one anyways
Tobias Isaac lmao how could you possibly know that
May the customer's brother rest in peace
Very heartbreaking
Didn't you hear Jeff? His brother's death doesn't mean shit because other people have problems too!
Next time something bad happens to Jeff, I hope he remembers that he said this.
poor guy
Jeff sure did a good job of showing how much of a dick bag he is. I'll never support Keisel. Fucking tool.
Jeff looks like a classic high school tool in Hollywood movies. Acting all though, but behind it lies fear.
All though ?????
@@88Nikoli Tough
The word you're looking for is bravado.
They should make one of those discovery tough guys who are behind schedule tv shows with kiesel
And check out his fucked up ears.
American laws seem to be bullshit. As a luthier in Germany I'm liable for the built quality of my guitars. If I built a faulty guitar like the one with the inappropriately mounted fretboard (which is undeniably the luthier's fault), then the customer is entitled to a refund or a flawless guitar in exchange and I as a luthier may only fall back on repairing instead of exchanging or refunding if there's is a valid reason for that, such as disproportionate costs. So in most cases the customer will get his refund or exchange.
I'd be ashamed to give such minor quality to customers.
We have the freedom to rip people off
J. C. Freedom bitch. America 💪🇺🇸
@@birchdaownload412 Sad
FUCK AMERICA. Im from america but FUCK AMERICA
Actually, the laws are probably not that different. The only difference is that maybe Germany allows for easier recourse for the consumer. I'd be willing to bet that if one was to sue Kiesel in small claims court, they would come out ahead- especially since they operate in California. Quite frankly, if we were to have a law that made it that easy for the consumer- we probably wouldn't have too many companies that could operate in the States. There are just too many unreasonable people here that would try to get a refund for bad reasons. And that is a cost that is passed down to everyone- not just the manufacturer.
There used to be a saying in business school:
The 1st Generation builds the business.
The 2nd Generation grows the business
The 3rd Generation ruins the business.
Can we guess which generation we're on now. Few family businesses survive the 3rd generation of owner. I wouldn't be surprised, if, after several more of these displays that Jeff doesn't cash out & sell Kiesel to a private equity firm. Maybe he can stick around...roasting fingerboards or something.
ANd Jeff is doing that every day!
Oh shnap!!!!!
I'm fifth generation in my family business and I'm fucking terrified of ruining it for that very reason hahaha
I'm the second generation and I'm still terrified to
Since the 3rd gen didn’t build or grow it, it was just always around.. some may take see it as family pride. There’s a sense of self-entitlement and not a particular awareness of how easily their business can be damaged by public statements like this. He looks like a baby. I know there are exceptions but it does make sense.
Jeff Kiesel is like the joe exotic of the guitar world
I was trying to think who he reminded me of. Yep!
"If you don't get exactly what you ordered, don't be a baby!" Wow! This dude needs a serious attitude adjustment smack.
Yup, if I order a custom guitar for over 2k then it better be exactly what I ordered.
Straight asinine.
MrDmadness you’re wrong, if you buy anything for any amount of money it better be what you ordered, and if it isn’t and they won’t fix their mistake no questions asked, that company can suck a cock
If I don't get exactly what I ordered I'll be getting my motherfucking money back
It's baffling that Kiesel is still in business while acting like this.
Dot Connector it’s because these are the few bad stories, for the most part the stuff they put out is top notch. I’ve played a few and they’ve all been great.
@@nathanlockhart3876 -It's how they address issues that arise is the problem. Making the customer pay to fix their errors is concerning. Also how Kiesel publicly demonizes his customers is wrong on so many levels.
Dot Connector he apologized and said he was in the wrong and smoothed things over with the customer. I don’t think it’s fair to say that he didn’t handle it well. In the end he owned up to his mistake
@@judsonruddick5240 -It took being called out for his behavior first before he did the right thing, and I'm sure this is not the first instance.
Dot Connector there is a lot of companies that have a great product but management’s is not the best.
I felt like Jeff doing a live Twitter rant showed a great deal of unprofessionalism. A man owns up and takes responsibility for his mistakes, he doesn’t trash people to try and defend his public image.
I’ve never been interested in Kiesel guitars, but after seeing this, I’m not even touching one, let alone buying one
I feel bad for everyone who shelled out for one
Missy Rogers I own a collection of carvins and kiesels, they are spectacular. As good as my us prs’s , if not better. I couldn’t careless about any of this. If Jeff Kissel went on a killing spree tomorrow it wouldn’t diminish the enjoyment I have when playin them. I am not saying any of this stuff is cool, a lot of it sounds sh!tty. But I haven’t had to deal with anything like this and I , being a wise buyer of instruments , have been able to get top quality custom shop instruments that I probably wouldn’t have been able to afford otherwise. Yes, he does seem kind of like a dbag. I would say this though, I have a feeling that a lot of this reaction comes from dumb a$$ customers that abused the return system for years. An example of this, I saw a video from a few years back where a guy was return a nylon string Carvin (the ones equipped with 11 pin synth capabilities, I own one) because it had “a buzz” , he demonstrates this “buzz” and it literally would have took this fool 15 seconds to turn the truss rod one quarter turn , which is standard guitar maintenance anyway, and it would have completely solved the problem . But he was stupid, threw a fit, and was getting the GUITAR COMPLETELY RE BUILT... WHEN IT WOUKD HAVE TOOK LESS THAN A MINUTE, a company go only take it in the a$$ like that so many times and they will cease to exist. I would say incidents like this probably have influenced their re stocking fee. BUT, Jeff Kiesel was a complete bonehead for broadcasting this. Why would he do that? Someone needs to tell this guy to stay off social media. I see the reason that things are the way they are, but JKs response, broadcasting it, was absurd
Same situation here
@@juanvaldez5422 there's no way a company would rebuild a guitar if the only issue was literally a 1/4 turn needing to be done
@@KeepTheGates I'm telling you exactly what the cawksucker posted in his video. It wasnt my guitar, but it was his and thats what he ways saying. He demonstrated the "problem" in the video. For all I know, they didnt rebuild it and instead showed up at his house and shot him in the fackin head. I dont know. Thats not the point. The point is , people abuse the return process and it effects the companies return policies. It also increases the price of the overall instrument.
I know lots of people are going to say this is “petty drama” but communities need to speak up about things like this. He may not agree with the customer being right (but I do), however I can’t imagine it ever being cool having the head man of a company shaming his customers in such a public way.
Yeah, this is super unprofessional.
@@mrcoatsworth429 MODERN business practice now!
Hear, hear.
DMSProduktions ugh I wouldn’t say that. It’s definitely his practice but I’ve had plenty of experience with small or new businesses and addressing issues much different to this. I think this is just showing what happens when people get to into social media and feel untouchable.
@@JosePineda-jn8jk Well SM is a LEAST bullet proof place you can get!
As a professional wood worker of 30 years who owns my own company I’m starting to think maybe I should make guitars. Cause these guys have no clue about the way wood works if they think you can simply glue cracking thin fretboards back together.
You're right about guitar makers not knowing a lot about woodworking.
I'd give you a shot
They don't now shit about electronics either, because they believe the wood changes the tone of an electric guitar! ;-)
But the belly feel certainly is different. ;-)
@@thatoneguybones8036 I know what I’m doing. You can do anything you want. Doesn’t mean it’s right. You may get lucky and have things work ok for a while when using incorrectly done procedures. But eventually someone like me will have to fix your mess. Or it will go in the trash.
I worked there before Jeff even picked up a tool. Used to be in sales when I was there. Always been a tool with plenty of common sense. He sure is lucky his dad is rich and gave him a company to run!
I figured as much of him. Spoiled little prick born into money, and now hes driving a legacy into the ground. Bring back CARVIN!
Only two kinds of people in this world....
hahaha i had a strong feeling that might've been the case! Sorry for your wasted time and hard learned life lesson :(
I think once he took charge and they rebranded their business became way way more successful.
And just like that Kiesel became the TRAPT of guitars
underrated comment
What is that Trapt joke?
Harrysound dude from trap is currently on a twitter rampage go check it out haha
Yea.... They both put out quality shit, they just don't have very professional attitudes.
🤣🤣🤣 Hilarious.
Stevie T play kiesel....it is sufficient motivation to avoid the brand.
So does Jared Dines and Dean lamb 🤮🤮
Well, this guarantees I'll never buy from kiesel. I don't want to buy from a man like that.
Amen
Same here, I really liked kiesel too
@@snop6176 Glad this has come to the light for you. Screw him.
Wow... Jeff Kiesel comes off as very whiny and insecure. Also, if he ever comes out and has a problem with your video, remind him that he said he "treats others how he'd like to be treated". Since he's already in the business of putting people on blast on Instagram Live, he shouldn't have a problem with this video.
Damn. This is enlightening. I will never support a company who treats a loyal customer like that. That guy probably has over $10,000 dollars worth of Kiesel guitars and he's treated like this? Fucking despicable. I hope this gets a ton of attention. Jeff Kiesel makes Rob Chapman look like a saint. He's done some shady stuff, but at least Rob never treated his customers quite like this. I think Rob means well deep down, but just got carried away with his power and influence. Jeff just seems like a shitbag.
J. Cruise each build costs roughly 2k each depending on options. He probably has closer to 20k in JUST the recent 9 Kissel builds he has. Not to mention the other 20 carvins he has/had. Which is probably another 40k. I really feel bad for the customer.
Exactly and well said about Mr Chapman. Because of Jeff Kiesel’s public videos verifying his stubbornness, the damage far exceeds the price to replace that neck. Now it’s possible to loose tens of thousands of dollars or more annually in decreased sales. This kind of exposure can prevent growth in a business with so much competition. Many of their current and most importantly, future potential buyers will choose another brand. Once he realizes this or is told, I’d expect a public apology. I don’t think he’s the guy to give it unless sales decrease or it blows up even more. He literally made the problem as anyone would have just agreed that mistakes can happen with any manufacturing process. And it’s even an opportunity to build customer loyalty and security by taking care of the problem like a professional. This is why shareholders do NOT like a CEO that’s what they refer to as a ‘peacock’. It always will cause some volatility of the company’s stock due to publications of their behavior.
@@bjmarchives he just lost a potential customer with me, I was seriously ready to call him, instead I'll get another Music Man or an upscale Schecter.
@@bjmarchives With how much each build costs, try hundreds of thousands of dollars.
@@scottydog62 Nah bro go with Paul Read Smith. I'm not dissing Music Man guitars as I haven't played many except the Axis and the JP, but I'm just not the biggest fan of Schecter. Personal opinion but hey that's just me.
"If you don't get what you want, don't be a baby"
Dude, that type of talk wouldn't fly in any other customer industry, let alone one where people get neurotic about their wood types
@dairylife8094. And you’ll be out of business. First rule. Customer is always right. U kidzzzz todayyyy. Ohhhh and try that whining in the military. Urs truly a combat vet.
God imagine your boss walking around shouting at his phone on Instagram, what a nutjob. "We're being men" *holds up thin undefined arm with cringe worthy neon tattoos* wow you really showed that customer who just lost a family member.
He's an alpha clown!
~50% of his employees are female, so I'm sure they love it.
Wes 225 lol no they are not I worked there bud
here comes a fanboy..or the whole factory is filled with shitbag
He sounds like a cokehead.
The issues with customer service run deep at Carvin/Kiesel. I tried to order a high end custom guitar from them when they were still Carvin and was so turned off by my customer service experience I ended up buying from a different company. Years later when they became Kiesel I decided I would give them a second chance and sent an email about possibly doing a custom Holdsworth signature with a fanned fretboard (an option they offer on multiple guitars) and literally got an email response that just said "no". That was literally the whole email. Not "we think it's important to maintain the integrity of the instrument the way Allan envisioned it" or "This would be logistically difficult for reason x,y,z but we have other fanned fret models that we could use the signature AH pickups in if you were interested", just "no" -kiesel employee. I mean, it was kind of funny, but I decided then that I'd never bother with the company again.
no
@@lun7n no
Uuh, soulds like you cold emailed them asking them for a true custom guitar when they do an off the menu semi-custom guitar only. The simple answer is 'no'. I don't know why that is rude.
@@Prometheus4096 Not really sure what the alternative was to a "cold" email, I reached out to customer service with a question through the contact section of their website that, you know, actually encourages people to reach out with any questions. Also, Kiesel offers other headless multiscale guitars that normally have a 25 1/2" scale length like the AH signature does normally, so creating the guitar wouldn't actually constitute any great deal of extra work on their part (I've built a few guitars, and specifically built a couple headless fanned fret instruments, so I'm not completely in the dark on this). Lastly, a one word "no" answer isn't necessarily rude, but it is bad customer service, and if you don't understand why that is I would highly suggest you don't do any customer facing work.
u r crazy
He's better at roasting his customers than the maple.
This sucks cause I’ve been planning for a Kiesel build and saving for awhile but now will forget about it. A Suhr will be my next guitar.
PDooley Suhr will make you a brand new neck at zero cost.
Get a Solar
dude kiesel still makes amazing guitars some of the best quality, its just that if you do get a dud guitar jeff wont care lol the complains are mostly about customer service not build quality.
You still have Arda guitars, legator, ormbsy, mayones, etcetcetc
suhr owner here, definitely recommend
Dude, it totally hapoened to me. I ordered a 7 string, spent 3 weeks conveying what I wanted for a top, with pics and all. Jeff picked a top that looked NOTHING like what I wanted! He NEVER TRIED TO MATCH IT, because 2 weeks later someone else got a top (from the same buckeye burl piece of wood) that looked almost exactly like the pic I wanted them to match. They wanted to keep my down payment of $2500, which was half. I fought with them for a week and they finally conceded to refund me. But they blacklisted me from their Facebook page. Jeff IS a little spoiled brat, and unfortunately it looks like its gotten worse. Sad, for the ones who got shafted, like me.
Holy shit, 5k for a guitar and you go through that? For that price it has to literally be perfect, aside from collectors stuff guitars really don't go that much higher than that. Looks like I'm never buying one either, much rather go for a Suhr or a PRS, even if they arent full custom builds.
That sucks man. Kiesel make big claims but can't live up to 4-5k custom guitars. That's Anderson and Suhr territory. You really do get what you pay for in that case.
For that kind of money, why didnt you go with Fender custom shop?
@@wmw0702 Sorry, I don't like the way they play. I decided to make my own from scratch. #fkeiselsego
@@josekulik1346 Nothing better than making your own
This sold me on never buying Kiesel. Thanks!
ditto
What a shame the customer felt the need to apologise to Jeff. I guess his internet "power" is on par with Chapman.
He should NOT have done so! He cannot get any satisfaction now!
Yeah that was messed up. The customer should never have to apologize for the mistakes made by a company. If you do that then you’ve just said you’re OK with the product & you accept responsibility.
Ugh! Why did you have to mention that name? His name alone makes my skin crawl! It's been ages now since all shitshow started and not even a hint of remorse let alone apology. And now he has fucked off to whatever place his wife comes from to hide from all this.
@@blkjakk Yeah, bad move! ( PROVES fan boi status!)
@@42ronty Good! The less we hear from him, the better!
I'm glad to see you back at it, I know you went through a hard time after the Chapman video. Please keep investigating and outing the bullshitters in guitar world, you're doing an awesome job. You good man 💪xD
I'm just gonna be honest. This single video of Jeff speaking to a loyal customer that way has made me decide not to buy one. It was the next guitar on the list. And I'm not just saying I'm not gonna never having any plans to buy one. I actually do buy and currently own nice guitars. High end Ibanez, Jackson, USA Wolfgang, currently own a US JP6, I've had an Ormsby, and various other higher end things. Keisel was next on the list.
This single video has cost him my money. And my word of mouth through any player I know that might buy one.
I run a retail store. You do it right the first time, or make it right. Insulting a loyal customer is pathetic. Fuck Keisel. Have a nice day.
Damn, I hope your loss of support dosnt put them out of business
@@thedog121 bro keisel has been around longer then the original Les Paul and in this video there was literally 2 quality control problems. That’s pretty damn good lol. How many has Gibson had? I mean a lot of Gibson guitars your paying the same price but just abou every Gibson sent out has issues. My Gibson showed up almost unplayable with body damage. You call me a simp but you and people like you literally let people on a TH-cam channel form your opinion for you. I have a keisel and it’s by far my favorite. Wouldn’t change anything on it. Also those problems were during Covid where it was a bitch to get anything. I did framing back then and literaly every lumber yard was running out of shit and the shit you could get was like 5x the original price.
@@xaphan8581 no, I think he’s quite right - you sound like a simp:
In your first comment you are going out of your way, not adding anything, just to be the snarky white knight for a random company (which is certainly enhanced with your next comment and that cute my-favorite-company vs. boo-boo-company pokemon battle you described) to someone who really just said “hey, this behaviour is pathetic, I don’t want to buy from that guy”… 👏
I actually manufacture guitars and I couldn’t agree with you more Chris.
You made the right decision.
I was going to order a Kiesel a few years back, but after doing some research into the brand and their reputation, and watching a factory tour video in which Jeff comes across as a complete douchebag, I decided against it and bought an E-II instead.
Solid choice. For my money, I think you'll find more precision and care in a high end Japanese guitar than a US one. Made in America doesn't mean anything anymore.
Good call. ESP’s Japanese stuff is way better than any shit Kiesel.
Those E-II are pretty sweet though
Edward Larionov no cause hes right
Kiesel "We're being men"
*proceeds to whine for 20 min*
He makes some pretty great points and presents the information in a clear way.
The creator of the video.
He skips biceps day
I am legitimately terrified of what's going to happen when Paul Reed Smith exits his company.
Never once heard a customer service complaint about those true beauty queens. Sure, you get QC slips but, they actually fix them
I recently watched this video where a guy sent his PRS back to get an estimate for some finish repair near the frets. PRS refinished the whole guitar...for free. Paul rubs people the wrong way sometimes, but his standards are present on everything from customs to SEs. th-cam.com/video/HusbWzMR5J0/w-d-xo.html
@@michaelmarkel434 I've never heard anybody say he rubs ppl wrong before.
You can tell though, you do not want to go to work for that man and start doing shit your own way.
Mistakes are one thing but, if you start doing what you want, I suspect PRSh will come unglued on you.
I bet he's pretty patient teaching people how to do things and he's probably willing to go to greater lengths for anybody who shows that they want to learn even though they're struggling but, man, I just get a vibe that you do *NOT* want to piss that man off.
@@mr.nobody68 paul is too calm. i feel like he's the type if guy that when he announces that he's going out for a smoke then you know someone is about to get chewed out
That makes two of us.
Always had an incling kiesel were a dodgy company. They once did a tshirt design "competition" where they had fans design a tshirt for them and if you "won" the "competition" you got a single copy of that shirt that YOU designed. Instead of PAYING people for their work they disguised this con as a competition.
It's like that venue owner who wants the band to play free for "exposure".
@@oldmanuserphanThat’s a well known one….”exposure”….yeah right.
Damn just watched his apology on IG and it was the fakest shit I’ve seen. Jeff Kiesel is a child. He should fixed that fretboard in the very first place and nothing would have happened. Never thinking about Kiesel guitars again.
If anything, Kiesel should have fixed the problem BEFORE shipping the instrument.
7:56 "if you get exactly what you want, awesome; if not, don't be a baby" Hot damn! you just don't see excellent customer service like that anymore! Talk about getting you money's worth on a high-end guitar!
KDH, you have really opened my eyes on the subjects of your videos. I was sceptical of your channel at first as most would be but you truly do just speak the truth and let things be known that should be, and for that thank you. KDH for world leader 2020
Now that we’re men 💪💪💪
Manly Men, we're men in tights! Yes!
@@SideGateStudios Meh! Alpha males! WHO needs them?
It wasnt dark enough for you? You think youll pay your hard earned money and I wont fuck you over?
@@inevitableveganfuture3915 That means he's GAY then right?
@@inevitableveganfuture3915 - it's inevitable
I’m glad I saw this before buying one. It’s always been on my radar. Not anymore. Too many guitars makers out there that would love my business. Good luck Jeff.
It's blowing my mind that instead of addressing this head on, Kiesel is deleting and banning customers.
Someone send that Kiesel guy a wikipedia article of the Streisand effect.
I was going to order a custom kiesel but after seeing this I never will, thanks for sticking up for the customer!
His live stream rants sound like that of an angry 14 year old boy who never gets told “No.” Subbed!!!! Great video KDH!
An adult baby whining about a customer with a legitimate complaint and then proceeds to claim the customer is whining. The irony.
@MOsKOn Did your parents drop you on your head?
@MOsKOn small brain easy trigger
I'm glad I found this video, and I am happy you made it. Honesty is everything.
Man I’ve followed Kissel for years and was set on owning one one day. Not anymore.
The customer was treated as horribly as that fretboard. That Kiesel guy comes off as insecure, with his going on about smart people and common sense.
I'd rather have a Steinberger. Jeff has that kind of face that makes you want to punch him even though you never met him.
I have of a friend that ordered a Kiesel guitar and they sent him the totally wrong color and they wouldnt return it because they said it was a Option 50 custom color. Lol
I’m in an interesting spot here. I’m a huge Kiesel fanboy. Jeff is actually a personal friend of mine, as or many of the Kiesel employees. I own several and I will defend Jeff and the company. Do I think some people’s gripes with them are unwarranted? Yes I do. However.... Jeff, my friend, is absolutely fucking wrong here. It would go a long way to say to the customer “Hey man. Honestly, I dont think we messed up, but if you aren’t happy with it, then let’s get this sorted out.” That’s all it would take. He doesn’t have to admit he’s wrong, he just has to act like he cares
Edit: for anyone who doesn’t know, the problem has be sorted. A private apology to the customer, a public apology to all customers. Jeff sent the customer flowers, a letter and condolences for his late brother. He has also changed the process of picking roasted wood by making sure they match each other. Customers are also now able to order light, medium, or dark roasted at no extra charge. Roasted maple necks and fretboards are also currently free of charge.
Does that excuse everything? No. But it’s an undeniable right step forward
Hey Nugly...I admire your post. Have you spoken to him and said that this sh*t storm is going on and he probably should get ahead of it for his own PR?
Definitely respect your capacity to see both sides of the story as a kiesel fan mate.
He lost a CT sale here, because I live in Canada and can't take the chance of having to deal with that ego after spending over 3k USD on a guitar.
Darren Pagliuca I have not yet. I wanted to wait til it wasn’t so fresh so he doesn’t just get riled up again
Shadow Of Callisto and I respect you too. Much love
im glad i just went ahead and made my own guitar. i got exactly what i wanted. after talking to the fender custom shop about how much it would cost for them to do it and it was to expensive! so i started hunting for damaged antique furniture and hit the jackpot! a peace of quilty flame maple book matched at just over an inch thick and mahogany same thickness for the back. it turned out great!
I had about $4.5k tied up across 2 guitars and a bass from Kiesel, all the frets sprouted and started lifting after a little under a year. Same thing happened to some other people (some friends) around the same time, but they contacted Kizzle about it. They were given similarly horrible treatment, and one was even called out by name on social media in a similar manner as this incident. I sold mine off with all flaws disclosed at a huge loss so the new owners could afford to go to a tech and get them properly repaired and washed my hands of them. Fuck Kiesel.
Patrick Small has this type of behavior been consistent or has it just started since it switched to Kiesel?
Same. I bought one that was an utter piece of shit. Fortunately I know about their off menu scam and was able to return the tire for a refund. I bought a Suhr....a proper guitar.
Wow that's amazing I'm almost kind of glad I didn't get one of these now I mean I bought a cheap Korean Warwick Jack Bruce Bass well it wasn't cheap but they consider it the cheaper brand the Korean models and it was wonderful I love this bass guitar so I guess I avoided a bullet
@@kma6881 As far as I can tell it was after the rebranding. My first purchase from them was a 50 piece DC7X run through Guitar Porn (now Wired Guitarist), there's a video of me using it on my channel. It was right after Jeff took over and right before the full rebranding, its been a while but iirc they were the first guitars with the Kiesel logo. There are plenty of guys who still have them and love them from that run, but there were also several who had serious issues with frets sprouting, lifting (as did mine did), and one or two even had frets literally pop out. These were also the first run to have the stained fretboards offered (i opted for zebrawood so i never had the next issue) and the same friend who lost frets also had the die fade out of the fretboard. The second was a DC6 with very similar specs to the Lee McKinney sig which had just launched. It had two small air bubbles in the finish, which i honestly didn't mind much, but then the frets sprouted pretty bad. I was messing with getting into luthierie and had some files so I was able to file the ends down myself but for $1600 that shouldn't be an issue. My bass was a VK5 which had the most pronounced case of fret sprouting but was unreturnable due to a custom red to black burst I had done, so I traded it for an '85 Ibanez Star Destroyer that was much in need of more work but at least wouldn't shred my hands which I tried to shred on it.
@@MisterTee Same, I used the money from the guitars to buy a USA Boden 7 when Washburn was still building the USA strandbergs and traded the bass off for a beat to hell but fun to play '85 Ibanez Star Destroyer
7:07 20+ Carvins and 9 Kiesels?! The guy literally defecates cash.
Carvins and Kiesels are pretty affordable. Lots of dudes out there with 20-30 vintage 50s/60s Strats and Les Pauls. Not THATS defecating cash lol
i participated in a contest hosted by kiesel several months ago, there was a stark contrast between the amount of votes for those already using kiesel guitars and those using literally anything else and when i mentioned it i was swarmed by employees and representatives who told me that i was just upset because i wasn't in the top 15
Ok guys let me sum it up with a few simple words: "What a prick."
When KDH puts out a video, I strap in, grab some snacks, and cancel my plans.
Thank you for all you do, KDH
Spends thousands on a custom guitar
"It's not my fault you didn't get what you wanted"
I love Jeffs arguments, I'm a first year carpenter in collage and even i know the differences between wood and what a bad roast looks like
I was just looking into this company. I'm staying away because of what the owner himself said, how he behaved and what he is sending out. It's all exceptionally gross.
I didn't like Kiesal as it is but this makes me never want to get one. Glad i got Ormsby instead
In the 90s I loved dealing with Carvin- they even made me a cab that was discontinued (212 slant) with no upcharge.
When the Becker Numbers guitar came out I was all-in, I had wanted that guitar since I was a kid.
So I ordered it as soon as I saw it was available.
Waited 4 weeks then sent an email wondering when they would be shipping.
I got back a sass-ass one line message that said 'custom guitars take 6-8 weeks'.
I responded that I didn't make any alterations, it's a stock order.
Got another one-liner back- 'EVERY Kiesel guitar is a custom guitar'.
I figured, okay this dude is a tool, but he has my money and my guitar, I'll just wait it out and not respond back the way I want to.
So about 3 months later I get a Carvin box at work, I am beyond psyched.
Open it up and the action is so high that it's the very first thing that draws the eye.
Take it out of the case and I noticed the neck is about the size and shape of a Les Paul- these were supposed to be Charvel thin.
I haven't played any others, but that neck was just HUGE, and it had a name on the heel, so I believe it was a custom order neck put on my guitar by accident.
The part that sealed it for me was the frets- the Numbers has steel frets.
But once I got the action to about 3/32 low E and 1/32 high E it was just fretting out passed the 12th fret.
I figured Okay, well I love Jason Becker, but Carvin is just trash now, so I ruined a set of files leveling the frets then sold the guitar at a $400 loss.
I sometimes end up on the Kiesel site thinking Ohhhhh that's nice, but I now know not to pull the trigger.
kiesel fans are the people who criticize gibson but when kiesels quality control is way worse
That the customer even apologized and said that nobody should point out flaws rly hurt. (Yes, he said to do it privately, but if the company isn't willing to do what's right, that's definitely no option.) And that mess just prevented me from ordering (ever) from Kiesel, which I was actually thinking about right now.
i can't wait to see jeff posting his reaction on facebook live!
This is why people buy from well established brands and are afraid to try something new. I have had amazing customer service from Gibson, Fender, Rickenbacker and G&L, even just calling them to ask for some more Custom shop picks or a custom pickguard for my G&L; in one case I was speaking to the department manager and was unaware till the end of the conversation when I informed him that I was going to leave a comment about my great experience. And I always received the exact guitar I wanted in every detail.
Jeff,
Is lucky to sell any guitars with his attitude towards the customers, he forgets they pay his bills, I’ll never buy one !
I’ve seen and played several of Jeff’s guitars as well as Carvin stuff over the years. Quality was good, sounded great, and the fit and finish seemed to reflect the price point (in these cases)
What Jeff and company need to realize is they make boutique guitars and they cover a very very very small part of the market.
Customer service should be at the top of the list.
I play Sadowsky basses and I have for almost 20 years now. I own four of them.
One showed up with a major flaw and I contacted Roger Directly, the issue was taken care of and a new bass was sent out the very next morning. I was sent a tracking number and postage for the damaged instrument.
That is the very reason I will never be scared to order number 5 and 6.
Customer service after the fact, will increase your sales.
Guaranteed.
Yeah I own a vintage Ibanez Roadstar II RB650 bass which I want to mod to be active and Ibanez forums don't know crap about them basses. Ibanez basses sound terrible stock my next bass is going to be a ESP or Warwick because I mostly play Metal. I would love to build my own fretless 6 string Flying V bass with a kahler tremolo to just not buy another bass.
I've owned more than half a dozen Kiesels. That "roasted" fingerboard honestly doesn't look like any other roasted Kiesel boards I've seen... I think it's not up to Kiesel standards. But the big deal here, the most unbelievable thing to me, is that Jeff got on live to mock and belittle a lifelong customer over a complaint. Even if the complaint wasn't valid (it was), this is such a shockingly poor way to handle it as a company in 2020. When you do this to one customer, your customer service has failed once. When you treat a customer that way live, you broadcast to the world that your customer service has left and isn't coming back.
I would honestly be bummed if a quality USA builder like Kiesel went out of business over customer service and ego. Hope Jeff also has the common sense to see how bad this looks from the outside. At this point, literally anybody else in the factory could get in front of the camera and it would be better for their PR.
Blake Beaupain I saved up $1800 for my kiesel. Yeah I’m generally happy with it but always noticed Jeff was very aggressive with customers. It was especially weird when he decided to pull neck replacement orders and blame the customers on his live for “not ordering enough of them.” Any time he talks about cool discontinued options he uses the phrase “we didn’t pull it from our options you guys did by not ordering enough.” I never understood that logic lol.
The guy has just shown everyone that he's an ass and doesn't care if the customer is happy. You can't feel bad for someone like that if they fail.
Thor Gustafson
I believe he’s third generation.
Holy shit the guy has probably spent 15k-30k for their guitars and they won’t fix one. Then he puts the guy on blast. Wow I will defiantly never buy a guitar from them.
Jeeeez. I am so thankful for this video. I was about to order a Kiesel this week! Such a shame, they look amazing. One bad owner can ruin such a good brand.
The most important thing should be do they sound and play amazing….
@@vayabroder729 That qualifier applies to plenty of brands, so support the ones that actually have excellent customer service.
The chosen one returns!!!
Said to bring balance to the guitar world
It’s over Jeff, they have the moral high ground.
Lets hear your take on this, I'm sure it would make for a good video!
Wes 225 covered it on the #GuitArsoles already
Let's hope this video has the same effect as the last call out.
It's a real shame every time something like this comes up. Former employee of Kiesel here, still love the company, love the people, and love the guitars. The thing that is frustrating about all this is that Jeff does great work, and he works really hard. He definitely isn't just the face of the company, that man works his ass off for it. I just wish he could take a step back and see that this kind of thing is far more damaging, and ends up costing the company way more than if he just ate the small cost of rebuilding the neck for a guy who has supported the company for years.
Another really big shame of this is that the guys and gals building the guitars get lumped in with Jeff, as does the Kiesel brand. These people do insanely high quality work, and it's terrible to see that dragged through the mud as well. It's because of them that I still wouldn't hesitate to place an order again. The last thing I will say is that for as much as we hear about quality issues online, they're pretty damn rare, and most just get taken care of with no questions asked. A few like these manage to come through and then Jeff decides that it's his hill to die on that week. Damn shame.
There are a lot of trolls here who just come out of the woodwork to slag anyone any chance they get. It’s nice to see intelligent comments now and again. I am a Kiesel owner myself and see that Jeff does a lot for promoting the brand and generally does very well reaching customers on social media, and obviously a lot of hard work goes into not just building the guitars but every aspect of running a company of that size, not that he does it all alone. That said, I have also seen the posts on FB when the ball has been dropped and this video is going to bring these few occurrences to the attention of a lot of trolls and haters and will affect the company more than Jeff probably expects. Will it matter overall financially to Jeff? I don’t suspect it will much but if anything it will deter new customers more than prior ones. I see some of these people commenting about Jeff being this or that and saying he inherited the company. Aside from the obvious fact that Jeff isn’t the owner, as you pointed out he does work hard, as do the other Kiesel employees, and he’s earned his way. Kiesel is a company that didn’t get where they are today by luck or charity; they build amazing guitars at the most affordable custom-shop prices on the market. I’d be very upset if I were the guy with the roasted-neck and I wouldn’t blame him if he never spent another cent with Kiesel, but I also don’t believe that Jeff is simply an asshole as some of these people are saying. I think he’s just a person like the rest of us who has good days and bad ones and sometimes he fucks up. We all do; fortunately for most of us the world isn’t scrutinizing and watching us when we do. That said, when he does misstep he seems to go the distance with it instead of taking a breath and reassessing.
Kinda what I take from it. I might be more hesitant to buy though now. Which sucks cause, as a broke guitarist, I've dreamed about one day saving enough dough to buy my dream guitar from kiesel. Like I was committed to making it the most expensive guitar I'll eve buy because they're so beautiful and have so many options I love. But maybe small time builders are simply more reliable because they almost always care about their reputation and craft very highly. I feel like if I ordered something crazy, that supposedly they could do, they'll mess important details up and I'll still be down 3-4k.
Illuminati Brain Control, buying used is an option. You don’t have to worry about any mishaps if it’s already built. I know the percentage of these issues is extremely low and the odds are that it won’t happen to you or me but I also realize that $2K is a ton of money for a lot of us. My newest Kiesel was almost six times more expensive than any other guitar I owned prior to a Kiesel. I never imagined I’d own a guitar that cost a fraction of what it cost and I’m going to be making payments on it for more than a year. It’s worth it for sure, but I can’t imagine being committed to a purchase of that magnitude and having it turn out badly. That would be the last time for me.
did you make this account just to comment? I'm genuinely curious
@@phunkymonk131 yes lol
You're the musicians hero, mate. I've seen you time and again coming to the aid of lambasted and cheated customers. You're content is excellent and well researched, and your honesty and integrity is a beacon in a dark place.
Kiesel guitars are just “blogger guitars for the internet”
hahahahaa
Lmfao. That’s literally true
This has to be the most accurate thing I've read all day.
Yup, nothing behind them. No tradition, no anything, none. It's the social media guitar.
I can't imagine owning a company and then blame, shout and belittle the customers who have valid criticisms of their products.
Somehow I never have gotten into Kiesel... guess there was a reason for that...
It's because he doesn't have a passion for making a good product. He just wants the $ and that's it. Very much typical of a son given a successful company, and used to/trying to live a pampered lifestyle.
“option 3, we’ll refund you, part ways and we’ll never sell you a guitar again”
what a prick.
lol, so he's just being like "if we mess up an order, and you complain about it, you're being a baby" ...what?
Thank you for making this. I had heard bad things about kiesel but this has really made up my mind to avoid them all together.
After that, there's just no way i'm buying a Kiesel
Jeff makes almost every other customer support look brilliant and friendly.
@Oliver Amberg
lol.. no shit..
Makes me want to purchase a gibson lp lol
Uh, boy. I have two Kiesel/Carvins. As a disabled guy, money is hard to come by, BUT I did score a new part-time, ability-appropriate job in January, and was squirreling away for build #3.That's not happening now. As soon as I finish typing this, I'm checking out Suhr and Halo. I can forgive errors in customer orders. I cannot forgive a company leader for being a douche. If I have a complaint, I do not want to be some company leader's social media rant of the day.
Suhr are meant to be fantastic guitars.
Halo made me a sick ass pearl white telecaster i custom built its my favorite guitar in the world, other than my waylon jennings telecaster or my merle haggard tuff dog telecaster jeff can go fuck himself and shove those fucked up necks right up his ass.
This was an awesome read and a fantastic decision on your part 👍
You’re doing really good work - these videos must take time to put together - really appreciate the info 👍🏼
Wow... i was really interested in buying a Kiesel. Cause I thought Jeff was a real stand up guy. And what they do is pure art sometimes. What put me of was the returnpolicy and the risks involved in shipping 1 to Europe. Boy am i glad i didnt order one. And ill never will.
Watching the way he behaved in the video is really all that you should need to see. no one else's comments or issues should be required. why would you ever do business with this person? Why would you ever give somebody like this your hard-earned dollars?
Damn...I just happened to stumble upon this video randomly, glad I watched it. Wasn't interested in Kiesel before, now I have a reason to keep others away too.
This video was just removed from the ‘Kiesel guitars Carvin guitars group’. Wow
Of course, it was. No criticism is allowed there. You either comply, or get banned.
I own several Carvin and Kiesel guitars. I love them all. However- this guy is right. Jeff's attitude is wrong. They should have taken care of not just this customer, but all customers. After seeing how they have treated a guy with almost 30 of their guitars, I'm done buying because with only 5 in my house I know that I will not be treated well if there is a quality issue. I'm happy with the selection of Carvin/ Kiesel guitars that I have. I'll continue to buy from Dean Zelinsky or Fender because I know that things will get fixed if needed and nobody from the company is going to call me names during a televised shop walk.
EDIT: Jeff has since issued a very humble apology, and is working with the customer to address it. While it was a HUGE blow-up on social media, it all stemmed from a few bad things happening on both sides. Once there was an understanding, Kiesel is making everything right.
Found it, and like your reply.
Rory Gentry
Totally agree. I too have five Kiesels and don’t have any quality or fit and finish issues but after watching this, it only confirms my opinion of Jeff that I formed while watching a few of Jeff’s factory walk thru videos. Rad, sick, sick, rad.
Subscribed. KDH keep up the good work! The music industry hates those people you call out. You are doing so many people a favor
Keep up the killer vids...it takes serious balls to call out the hypocrisy and I can appreciate that...keep on slaying :)
Wow the interesting thing about this is that imo Jeff Kiesel is the perfect example of how to do promotion for your products and how not to.
I was initially drawn to the brand because of his factory tour videos and I actually liked the way he presented his company there. Now this is exactly the opposite.
I've recently inherited an AM7 from a friend.
It's a magnificent machine and I fell in love with it very quickly and because it was my friend's specs that went into this guitar, I'll never truly have any say in regards to Jeff's treatment of his customers or his quality control , as I've never custom ordered a guitar from Kiesel like most of you have.
However, what I do know is that good business practice comes from experience. Jeff Kiesel is not his daddy.
Although his guitars were a product of legacy, his business model was not.
He threw himself into uncharted territory.
If you think about it, Kiesel Guitars' business methods and business models are all built on a very new, very sensitive and very unique concept that most guitar companies would never even dare to try and experiment with.
This means that Jeff is probably the first guitar company owner that decided to make mass-produced custom made guitars.
If you were to miraculously manage to get ahold of a CEO of any major guitar builder company, let's say Ibanez, Fender, Gibson.... Etc. And asked them to mass-produce custom guitars, chances are they'll laugh at you and tell you that no guitar company out there will be stupid enough to take that kind of risk.
Which is why many of us got stuck with a guitar that was built out of someone else's imagination instead of our own. If my memory serves me well, Kiesel Guitar Company (not Carvin) hasn't been around all that long, probably less than a decade I'm guessing??
In that short amount of time, the company has released thousands of custom made, high quality guitars to customers worldwide and for such a reasonable price too.
When I was in my 20's this sort of thing was a fantasy that I could never afford.
I know this video is pretty old by now, as well as the original "whining and complaining" video by Jeff Kiesel.
And I'm sure that by now they've long since updated their term and conditions and other legal crap.
The reality is, they're still standing and they've set the standards for not only their own business model, but the business model of so many other future guitar companies.
This part. Most of these weirdoes commenting in blatant detest of a cokehead they've never met or purchased from is just the same immature nasty kind of weird as Hollywood worship.
man, at 6:40 it's total projection. "people can be really really smart in life, maybe have great businesses and things like that, but maybe they don't have common sense".
Lil ol freudian slip
WOW as a lifelong carvin fan, this really hurts. What a punk this guy is! I had an issue with a single Carvin and was sent to him and man, that was a 100% promise I would never buy a Keisel, but had no idea he would go on social media and attack his customers
Same, didn't know about their customer service when i bought mine. The guitar ended up great but there's no chance i'm buying anything from them ever.
I will NEVER buy a Jeff Kiesel guitar.
Jeff Kiesel is the quint essential "Dude-Bro" of the guitar world. Which is kind of ironic because Kiesel is such bourgeoisie brand only PRS could compare.
Carvin was the blues lawyer bourgeois brand, Kiesel is the the brand for the Djent kid who's the son of the blues lawyer
@@wrongfuture The Carvin stuff was really solid though before Kiesel bought them up, I have a 100 watt V3M and I love it. It's just apparent that Jeff doesn't have a clear grasp on how to actually run the Kiesel/Carvin brand, and is deflecting blame onto the customers.
Kiesel didn’t buy Carvin, Kiesel is Carvin with just a name change, to the family name of the man who started Carvin.
@@josephgraf2167 Yes and no, so they changed the name to Kiesel due to their founder passing away, but they shut down the factory that was producing all of the Carvin products.
@@josephgraf2167 Kiesel and Carvin split into two different companies. Jeff and his Dad bought the rights to Kiesel guitars, and Carvin remained the amp company that eventually went under. So, they did more or less buy Kiesel from Carvin by separating the companies.
I wanted a Kiesel for years. Also been wanting a prestige I think I'll get instead . Thank you
Always go for Ibanez over Jeff's retarded crap. Ibanez's are proven to be amazing guitars over 6 decades.
As a one time kiesel owner. Go ibby you won't be disappointed, I ended selling my kiesel very shortly after getting it due to qc issues and got a reiver and charvel
I love my prestige guitars, hit up rich at Ibanezrules.com
I love my prestige guitars, hit up rich at Ibanezrules.com