Sims Custom Shop

Contacted him in June of 2020 paid him $400+ dollars for a refinish of a guitar body that was supposed to take 10 weeks. About 12 weeks in September 2020, I followed up, only to get a reply it was a going to be a few more weeks. That was the last reply I received from him until April of 2021. I left this initial bad review here along with a BBB complaint in March of 2021. About a month after that I received an email stating the work was completed and would be shipping back to me. The finish job was great, and I'm happy with the finished project. If he had responded to my emails and actually completed the job in a reasonable amount of time I would certainly recommend him. He has awful customer service so as long as you accept that up front, you might be okay. There are plenty of better options out there so I'd still avoid this guy when I'm looking to have this kind of work done again.

Oddly enough, he does actually send me emails and even texts now, specifically about this negative review, wanting me to update it which I did. Everything I stated above is correct, and I'm not saying he ripped me off, just that it was an awful experience and his customer service is very bad and I refuse to erase that fact from history now that he seems to have remorse for being such a bad businessman.

Do not send money or your product to Patrick. During phone consultation, he touted superior workmanship over others and curbed me from a lacquer job that was insisted upon for my Gibson re-finish. I did not use the friggin' internet to see the previous horror stories. Once you pay & ship the guitar... you are held hostage. I was quoted 15 weeks maximum turn time & Patrick stopped responding to emails & calls at around week 18, which is when my comms were STARTED. I was trying to be patient. Around month five, the excuses began. "I was at NAMM", etc.
Upon researching what county he lived in & getting the local police involved during month eight, which included a visit to his home by local deputy (being I live in south Florida), comms resumed. Imagine that! More excuses followed, with no apologies. Guitar was completed roughly two months after that and returned, with not one display of personal accountability for the extreme delay. Guitar re-fin completed & returned to me in ten months.
Regardless of what appears to be an overall higher cost by other service providers out there... please go ahead and exercise them. This country bumpkin will have your guitar setting in the corner of his shed for a long time. You better have a backup guitar while you wait for him to get out of bed & finish your contracted job!

I had Pat refinish a Strat I had a couple years ago and was totally pleased and impressed with the results. A few months later I contacted Pat about building me a Sims Single Cut custom guitar. He said sure, he would build me one. We talked over the phone going over every detail multiple times to be sure we were in agreement for colors, wood, neck, pups etc. Pat sent me several pictures of the quilt tops he had in stock. I chose one and the build was on. Pat would contact me regurally keeping me updated with what was complete periodically sending pictures. After a few months I received a unbelievable picture of this gorgeous guitar he had completed. All that remained was the setup. Within the next week I received the guitar and again, it is incredible. I looked over and over the guitar and could not find a flaw anywhere. I was so happy I called Pat and told him I wanted him to build me a Sims Tele. It is currently being built and look forward to receiving another masterpiece. To Pat... Thank You!

I had originally contacted Patrick because I had a natural colored Suhr Modern Satin that I absolutely loved, but wanted refinished.
Obviously with this guitar being in the 2-2400 price range, I was looking for someone who would do the job right the first time, and pay extra attention to detail.
I had originally been deciding between 3 different colors (Daphne blue, pearl white, or shell pink) and Patrick called me on the phone and took the time to explain the pros and cons of each color, his experiences refinishing guitars in each of these colors, and the pros and cons of Satin / gloss finishes.
With Patrick's help, we decided on a satin Shell pink, and it turned out immaculate.
I also had Patrick replace the original pickups with the same Suhr Pickups (but in white)
His wiring was incredible and clean. (See photo)
Patrick never ships out a guitar he isn't 100% satisfied with, because it's his work on display.
Needless to say, Patrick was friendly, kind, always willing to call you and explain the process or any details of the job / hiccups (if any) encountered along the way.
Patrick is a true artist and a master of his craft. His work is some of the cleanest i've ever seen, and I was 100% blown away by the results. His work exceeded all of my expectations.
Patrick is busy, but rightfully so. If you're thinking of getting a guitar refinished, have the patience to send it to Patrick and get it done right the first time. You won't regret it!

Thank you Patrick for the incredible work.

I bought this guitar in 2016 with a poorly repaired tremolo cavity by the previous owner. I took the guitar to a local tech and he removed the messy repair and routed/fit in a maple block and the guitar played like a pro. The bridge area was still an ugly site that over time I just couldn't bear to look at. Way beyond relic.
This is where Patrick Sims enters the story - I sent Patrick pictures and we discussed how to get this guitar back to looking respectable. He told me what his approach to the job would be and I thought the plan he had was solid knowing it would be a lot of work. BTW - I had -2- other guitar shops tell me they didn't want any part of this project. One well known shop told me he would charge over 2x the amount I ended up paying Patrick.
Long story short - after Patrick did the extensive repairs and custom paint and it looks amazing! The paint is in the artist category of beautiful! I opted to have the guitar's final look to be close to original, but it is much better in a subtle way. This old Roadstar used to be fondly called the Rescue by me. I have now renamed it to my Custom Shop Rescue guitar. It's simply beautiful. Patrick is one of the best guitar painters and repair people in the business! I could go on and on, but I'll close with the main point of I'm simply surprised at how much I enjoy looking at this guitar now. She's a beauty! (see before and after below)

Pat was very enthusiastic and thorough with this job. Went above and beyond for the work done on the guitar. Very pleased with the end result

Okay, so let me say up front... if you want a quality product... it takes time. Sims is NOT going to rush a job and put out a sub-standard product. It has his name on it. So don't send him a guitar your gigging with and expect it back in a month or two. He takes his time and produces phenomenal results.

Now, I bought Tele-style roasted swamp ash body with a black korina laminate top from Warmoth that turned out to be a little too dark after the satin finish was applied. (It wasn't their fault, they said it would darken, it was just too dark for my taste). So I began researching custom paint jobs. I came across Sims Custom Shop online and was blown away with his work. So I called him and we discussed a similar finish to a Les Paul he had on his website. The price was right... the results looked fabulous... so I sent him my body. It took a little longer than I was initially told but hey, painting in Tennessee in the wintertime is challenging. So it took a few more weeks. Like I said earlier... Sims is not going to bubble-wrap a clear coat that is tacky. While I was waiting, I saw him post a YouTube video of a Godin with the custom job I was getting and I saw the head stock. So I had to send him mine neck to get the full on custom job. He fit me into his schedule and completely knocked it out of the park. A simply stunning body and neck was returned to me and I am very happy with his work and my new Tele.

Bottom line... Sims Custom Shop is worth the price and worth the wait... SO BE PATIENT. You will love what you receive!

Shawn C.

EDIT - Finally received it back. It looks absolutely amazing. Would have given 5 stars if the lead time hadn't been exceeded by such a great amount and the communication hadn't dropped off here and there. Top notch work though.

Shipped a body to Sims Custom in December of 2018. PREPAID $369 to Sims Custom Shop, never received it back. Seller advised it would be ready in about "7-8 weeks". So, assuming he'd be taking the holidays off, I figured that he'd be shipping it back around March of 2019. On April 1st, he advised that it was "on the list to go out soon." May of 2019 he advised that it "shouldn't be much longer" and thanked me for my patience. Mid-July of 2019 he once again advised that it would be shipping in about 1 week. 7/22/19 was the last email I received from him in a really long time, couldn't get ahold of him. Then I noticed that he'd been posting a lot of pictures of work that he'd been doing on social media, so I hit him up there and in mid-October 2019 he advised that it still needed to be cut/polished, but didn't offer any sort of idea of when it could be shipped. I'd even advised him in an email that I'd take the body back in whatever condition it was in (even if it's unpainted, etc), I just need it back but he's been ignoring me for some time now.

Sims is hands down the best I have seen in the business, top quality work on my custom Twin Tower Les Paul
Thanks Pat

I've received my bass body and couldn't believe how great it looked. Thanks to the folks at the Sims Custom Shop. Highly recommended.

Patrick did a fantastic job of matching the Buttercream color for my telecaster! Simply perfect, and my guitar looks incredible now!