Sims Custom Shop

As a customer that has done business with Pat, I'd like to review Pat's business from two dimensions... Quality of work, and customer responsiveness. Had this review been solely about one or the other, the ratings would be drastically different. But as for quality of work? Pat's work on my instrument was absolutely flawless. I could see the outcome of an artisan that fusses over every aspect of a project in order to turn out a guitar that surpasses his customer's expectation... But that may account for the other dimension of Pat's business: The customer responsiveness. My Music Man Sting Ray bass repaint project was quoted as taking an estimated 14 weeks to finish, when in reality I waited nine months to receive it. What I found most objectionable about this was either non-responsiveness to my follow-ups on progress, or what seemed to be more than one make-believe commitment that it would be going out but never did. Pat ultimately did ship it back to me when it met his quality standard. My take on Pat is that he is a very talented guy who doesn't charge enough for his excellent work, so he takes in as much business as he can, and most likely aware that he is unable to ship work out as fast as work comes in. I'd love to see him do something about this, and for him to understand that a guitar is a precious, personal thing, and people soon develop anxiety that they are never going to see their instrument again, and that they have been ripped off. I do not believe Pat is a dishonest man. I believe he is a superb craftsman that cannot keep up with the demand his business model requires. So... My separate rating for Pat is as follows... Quality - 5 Stars. Customer responsiveness - 1 Star. I would recommend Pat to a potential customer only after making sure they were aware that the project could take months longer than expected.

I was in the market for a custom relic'd Telecaster and started looking around for who I was going to have do it. I stumbled across Sims Custom Shop's website and subsequently their Instagram page and was very impressed by what I saw. I was having a hard time finding someone who could do exactly what I wanted (a custom paint job then have that relic'd (navy blue with vintage white stars & stripes). All the other guys that were doing relic's online were just doing mainly solid colors and were not interested in doing a custom paint scheme, so I contacted Sims with my ideas and after discussing my vision for this guitar I decided to have him do it.

I sent him my MINT 1998 Fender Telecaster to do a custom relic'd paint job on as well as age the hardware and install some Lindy Fralin pickups in it. I was in no hurry to get it back as I was more concerned with the quality of he job than a fast turnaround (I ended up getting the guitar back in about 10 weeks). I would email him every few weeks to get a status update and he was always was prompt to get back to me (sometimes within the hour, sometimes the next day) and sent progress photos anytime I asked.

I got the guitar back right after Christmas and I was blown away by the attention to detail on the paint work, it was really "realistic" looking and didn't look like someone had just done this to it. You would think by looking at this guitar that it was 65 years old. It was exactly what I had envisioned. He also put in new pots, switch, wired in the Lindy Fralin pickups and set it up. It did not need any additional tweaking when I plugged it in, I literally took it that very night to play a gig.

I read some of the reviews posted on this site even prior to sending the guitar, but I decided to take them with a grain of salt and make my own judgement and let me say I'm glad I did. I would not hesitate having him do another one for me.

Guitar Received By Sims: July 6th 2017
Guitar Returned: February 21-23rd 2018 (in transit)

This will be a fair and honest review on my experience with Sims Custom Shop. I contacted Patrick at Sims Custom Shop to get a special paint job done. A design many people will turn down. Patrick was responsive and very helpful during the planning phase of the project and informed me of his plan of action to get the guitar painted. Payment was made in full per Simss terms. Once Patrick received the guitar and payment it seemed to take a while to get started. No worries here, these things take time. After a few months went by Patrick got my guitar sanded, and painted with amazing results. He provided very detailed pictures showing the work.

However due to unforeseen circumstances, the guitar had to be repainted. A complete start over. Please note this was NOT Simss fault. Bad mixture of paint from the store. However Patrick was very apologetic and very professional handling this issue and ensured that this would be resolved with no extra cost to me. About 2 months later I was able to contact Patrick to find that my guitar has been completed and is ready to ship. Patrick provided me pictures of the final results as well as a tracking number as promised.

My biggest complaint throughout this whole adventure would be communication. There was a lot of times I tried to contact Pat and couldnt get a response. However Pat is a one man show and turns around a lot of guitars every week so to me this wasnt a huge deal. I was more or less impatient. And the long turn around time just goes to show how much hard work he puts in to every single build.

The end results of this project were absolutely stunning. Patrick did a A+ job on the paint job and I can vouch for him and say that his work his top notch. Would love to work with Pat again. Dont let the bad reviews fool you.

Pros:
- Amazing quality of work
- Attention to detail
- Kind and friendly service
- Fair price
- Fast return shipping

Cons
- Turnaround time (unforeseen circumstances)
- Spotty Communication

Overall I am very happy with the service Patrick provided.

I am going to break this review down into two categories. Quality of work and customer service.

Quality of work:

Overall I would give the paint job a 9/10 rating. The paint job is flawless EXCEPT there are some inconsistencies/cuts/ chunks around the bolt holes and input jack. BUT, this could just be being nit picky. The colour and craftsmanship was *******% times better than what I expected and better in person than any of the pictures Patrick had sent me over the duration of the job.

Customer Service:

The job was initially quoted and sent off to Patrick August 29,2018. The project was quoted to take 4-8 weeks.

Overall, the process took 8 months. I received the guitar this April of 2019.

THIS being said, Patrick had a couple of unforeseen issues with my particular project. I am an understanding easy going guy, so I always gave Patrick the benefit of the doubt. However, the only thing I would have liked to seen was stronger communication and follow up. I would sometimes be left 4-6 weeks without hearing an update or any news on the project. That being said, I understand I am not the only person with a guitar that Patrick is painting. But still...

Once the guitar was completed and resolved, process went smoothly.

Verdict:

Overall I am very happy with the service Patrick has provided. Although the communication wasn't top notch, the quality of work definitely made up for it. As a first time user with Sims Custom Shop I didn't know what to expect. Now understanding his process and service and timelines, I wouldn't be as sceptical as I once was in sending Patrick another project.

I have plans to send Patrick another guitar in the future.

Hope this helps for anyone looking to send Patrick a guitar!

- Jamie

Worst customer service I've ever dealt with. After talking with him, I figured he'd be a good choice to send my warmoth Jazz bass to. Sent it to him the 2nd week of January and was told 6-8 weeks. Approaching the 8 week mark, I asked how it's looking. His response. "well do you know how long this COVID stuff will last?" Wouldn't give me any update other than "he's working on it". Let it slide for a few more weeks... now he's been affected by a tornado. Ok no problem, I'll wait. Now June comes around. It's at this time that I start reading reviews and see that all the bad reviews are the same. Extremely rude and long wait if they even get it back at all. I tell him I'm sick of being patient and this is getting ridiculous. Send him several messages. Call several times with no response. I then write a review on how bad the service is and how my project is a loss... THEN he messages me, but only to argue about the review I left. Was told that he won't refund me and that he won't steal it because it's a "pos" anyway, and I'll get it when I get it. I tell him he has 3 weeks before I dispute. 3 weeks go by, and "it's almost done". I wait another week. "Almost done" 2 weeks later, I finally receive it. Was exited, until I opened it. Small scratches everywhere. Color is uneven on the sides. Knick in the paint by where the control plate goes. I bring this to his attention. His first response. "I knew you would complain about something since I took so long." He said the color being uneven is because of the material I chose. I explained (then had to prove to him with a screenshot of our previous messages) that I didn't choose a material, just a color. He said I shouldn't worry about the Knick he left because "it should be covered by the control plate anyway". The control plate I wasn't going to use. Then he blocked me from messaging him. Anyway... this has been by far the worst customer service I've ever dealt with.