Beware Bill Zolla Guitars

[Carolyn Murray McCollum]

Sadly, I feel compelled to express my discontent with Zolla guitars.

Around August 10th I ordered a custom guitar from Bill Zolla prepaid.
It
is now October 29th and I have not yet seen my guitar or a refund. I
realize that custom orders can take a while but the situation now
is ridiculous.

I ordered a rather stripped down guitar, a steinberger paddle design
for the body, and a headless neck. The bridge was to be a headless
system ordered through allparts. The headless system was specked for
a 1 5/8" nut and I had asked if it might be possible to bend the spacing
out a bit and fit the system on a 1 3/4" neck. So after a couple of
weeks I called to see how the nut fitting had gone and if any kind
of compromise would have to be made.

He said that it should be fine and that the guitar should go out within
a week. I was to hear this same line every Mon. when I called for the
next three weeks. It accompanied things like, I had a friend die this
week, this week was really busy etc. Then he told me he had lost my
piece in the shop somewhere and would have to get back with me. Then
again that it should ship in a couple of days. Then again that he
couldn't find it. Finally he told me he had my order confused with
a headless bass order and he had everything but the bridge and the body.

This meant that he had made the neck. The other parts were screws a pot
and a humbucker that he should have had in a drawer in the shop
somewhere.
So I asked him if I could just get a refund, because I was getting
nervous.
He said ok begrudgingly, then I offered to take the neck since it was
supposedly together in the shop and a partial refund on the rest. Again
it was to go out in a couple of days. I called a week later, his
shipping
guy was out and he didn't know where my account was at. He said the
refund
hadn't gone through the credit bureau because he would rather send a
check
with the neck than do it electronically. I said fine, have it to me in
10
days or this story goes on the usenet and to the better business
bureau. I
called once and talked to him after that, his shipping guy was out again
I
think, I emailed him to remind him and on Mon. this week left a message
on his voice mail reminding him that tues would be the last day to send
me the stuff second day air and get it to me on time.

Every time I called the shop, I talked to Bill himself and he was always
very courteous and apologetic. But I have been screwed before by the
nice and apologetic. I have given him ample warning and time and
patience
and I just don't want anyone else out there to go through what I did.
I don't know if he is headed for chpt. 11 and can't pay the bills or
if his staff walked out on him and he is just way behind what he can
deliver or what. But I would warn anyone who is thinking of doing
business with him to order COD. Feel free to email me to see how
things wind up if you are curious. But I don't know what the better
business bureau will do for me in arbitration since Bill and I both
seem to agree I need my money back.

regrettably,

Isaac Davenport

dave...@STOPSPAM.colorado.edu

[Bill Hatcher]

Carolyn Murray McCollum <mcc...@spot.colorado.edu> wrote:

>Sadly, I feel compelled to express my discontent with Zolla guitars.
>
>Around August 10th I ordered a custom guitar from Bill Zolla prepaid.
>It
>is now October 29th and I have not yet seen my guitar or a refund.

2 1/2 months for a custom guitar! I don't think so! About a year is a
reasonable amount of time for a nice instrument from any busy luthier.

[Guy Incognito]

agreed. 2 1/2 months is not too long at all!
A friend of mine ordered a Carl Thompson...
He was told about 6 weeks by Carl... It took about 5 months..
When Carl called and said it was done; He invited My friend and his family
to come to a jazz club in NYC, have dinner, and pick up the bass... Half
way through dinner Carl got up and asked if he could "see" the bass. The
band showed up and Carl proceeded on stage and plugged the bass in... he
played the whole gig..
This was a big surprise for my friend and his family...in between sets
Carl said he should hear his new bass as "listener" at least once..
My friend said the wait was worth it!
:-)

Bill Hatcher wrote:

--
"Trying is the first step towards failure"
Homer Simpson

[Alvaro Vallejos]

I don't think the issue is if it takes one month or one year, the issue
is the delivery time the manufacturer promises and agrees with the
customer.
If the luthier says one year and you accept it, thats ok. But if he
says one month and it takes much longer than that, then it is not ok.

See you, Alvaro

----------------------------------------------------------------
Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said,
streams of living water will flow from within him." John 7:38

[Muse0000]

<<<2 1/2 months for a custom guitar! I don't think so! About a year is a
reasonable amount of time for a nice instrument from any busy luthier.>>>

Maybe so, *IF* the luthier tells you "up to a year"

Why would you pre-pay the entire amount?

[BPGuitars]

I ordered a 'special order' Rick bass for a guy a few years ago. It wasn't
really all that weird, just left-handed and white.
They did not speculate when it would ship, and would not even enter the order
without a substantial deposit.
I passed this info along to my customer who made the deposit, and the procedure
went forward. Upon receipt, Rickenbacker hazarded a guess at 3 months to
complete and ship, it eventually took about 5 months.
The point of all this is, even though my customer ordered only one guitar, and
had a nice chunk of money tied up in it, if that was all they had to do they
would be out of business. They had to service other customers, larger orders,
etc and try to keep their bills paid until there were enough lefties back
ordered to justify running a batch as opposed to shutting down everything and
building this one guitar.
Smaller shops have much the same problem on a smaller scale, and always a much
smaller staff.
I had a reputable local repair shop do a neck reset on one of my beloved
Hamers, and never asked how long it would take (about a year and a half). It
was worth the wait, and my patience was rewarded with a virtually invisible
repair, and a great playing guitar. Could I have hurried the process with a
campaign of regular phone harassment ? Maybe, but I preferred to let the
luthier take his time and finish the work at his own pace and not remember me
as the guy who called once a week/day/hour to try to hurry him up.
There is a story of another regional repair guy who gives no time estimates,
but supposedly moves your guitar to the bottom of the stack every time you
call.
After nine years of doing minor repairs, and farming out major repairs, I
decided that I should make a guess how long something would take, and then
triple it before opening my mouth. If it was ready sooner, great (although half
the time the customer wasn't financially ready to pick it up) and if it
actually took three times as long as my first guess, my customer thought I was
right on time (and was still only ready to pick it up about half the time)

Patience is a virtue, and is usually better received than suspicion.

Dick Buchholz
Back Porch Guitars
www.bpguitars.com

[ZOLLAGUITS]

I don't know if you happened to see the apology in the newsgroups, but for what
it's worth, the prduct did meet our final deadline.

I do however appreciate your voice in this matter.

Thanks,
Bill Zolla
Zolla Guitars builds custom handmade guitars, basses, necks and bodies. Check
us out at http://www.znet.com/~ngangi

[riots...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, October 29, 1998 1:00:00 AM UTC-7, Carolyn Murray McCollum wrote:

Carolyn, what you are is a nightmare customer for businessmen making quality. I know Billy PERSONALLY and not only is he an exemplary human being overcoming life's hardest struggles, He makes some of the finest quality instrument you'd ever be capable of touching. Another disgusting matter is that you made this post however when all was said an done and you got your instrument you never came back and posted on how rude you were. Anyway, the fact that this is one of the top posts when searching Mr Zolla's name is disgusting and you should be ashamed of yourself as a human being.

Matthew Riot
www.riotseeds.nl

[RichL]

<riots...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:f01dcff2-5d01-430b...@googlegroups.com...

<sigh>

Another Google grouper with no concept of time. This might have been worth
writing in, say, 1998? Just a guess...

[Derek Tearne]

RichL <rple...@yahoo.com> wrote:

> <riots...@gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:f01dcff2-5d01-430b...@googlegroups.com...
>

> <sigh>
>
> Another Google grouper with no concept of time. This might have been worth
> writing in, say, 1998? Just a guess...

I fear he has been consuming too much of his own product...

--- Derek

--
Derek Tearne - de...@url.co.nz
Vitamin S: improvisation from New Zealand http://www.vitamin-s.co.nz/
d'Groove: 12 piece party/covers band http://www.dGroove.co.nz/

[childres...@gmail.com]

Wow,

I know Bill personally also, and he does make one of the best (custom) guitars in the world!

Ron C.
www.ChildressGuitars.com

[darkn...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, October 29, 1998 at 2:00:00 AM UTC-6, Carolyn Murray McCollum wrote:
> Sadly, I feel compelled to express my discontent with Zolla guitars.
>
> Around August 10th I ordered a custom guitar from Bill Zolla prepaid.
> It

I bought a body and neck from Zolla Guitars in San Diego. Pleased with the purchase as I was I saved enough to purchase 3 more bodies and 3 more necks. In order to save a few bucks I obtained a merchantile license to get an A discount. I was told that after I give him a deposit he would get to work. Well he lied about the continuance of any work and strung me along for nearly a year. First it was a wildfire and he needed to evacuate, then he had to change buildings. It was one excuse after another. Finally he shipped me pieces that were scuffed, had scratches in the finish and even though his site advertises a 9/16" hole for mounting tuners the necks he sent me were barely 13mm. I sent everything back which cost me plenty to overnight and that
#@%&$@@5^ hasn't refunded my money yet. He is disrespectful of his friends, he used McP's visa machine to charge my credit card because he didn't have a visa account of his own, if I had pressed the issue with visa they could've screwed Mr. Mc Parlec and his business for allowing someone to defraud someone in interstate commerce.
If you live in the San Diego area or see his ads published in periodicals don't give this drunken lush a chance.
I thought I'd post this as a warning

[darkn...@gmail.com]

Isaac, stick to your guns, get your money back and find another builder. Bill Zolla stole $1,287.00 from me once while using the Visa machine at McP's Irish Pub in Coronado to withdraw the amount I posted during a transaction when I ordered three bass guitar bodies and three bass guitar necks which I was going to do the final assembly of. Not only did it take him over eighteen months to deliver the parts but it took me calling McP's and alerting the manager that Bill Zolla used his Visa transaction capability to withdraw funds from my account and Bill Zolla did not seem to want to deliver the parts or refund my money. When I received the parts the first thing I did was try the fit between the neck and body. THE PARTS DID NOT FIT !!!! I guess he was pissed I got McP's manager involved. So as soon as I discovered the parts did not fit together I boxed them back together and paid for an overnight delivery and requested a full refund of the cash involved but also for an ABM 3704 gold plated 4 string bass bridge I had sent him to assist him with some measurements. Get your money and run from that drunken lush.

[mark.b...@gmail.com]

On Friday, 15 February 2019 17:32:14 UTC, darkn...@gmail.com wrote:
> On Thursday, October 29, 1998 at 2:00:00 AM UTC-6, Carolyn Murray McCollum wrote:

Over 20 years on, what on earth is the point of resurrecting this thread?

[tsch...@gmail.com]

mark.b...@gmail.com

On Friday, 15 February 2019 17:32:14 UTC, darkn...@gmail.com wrote:
> On Thursday, October 29, 1998 at 2:00:00 AM UTC-6, Carolyn Murray McCollum wrote:

Over 20 years on, what on earth is the point of resurrecting this thread?

........

Oh why not. Lol. Somebody did a search this subject popped up so they posted, I’d guess. Besides. It was something to do.

Over on Talkbass there’s that last no going thread about Huff bass warnings (15 yr wait now) Pratt basses are in question. There’s a few more botique builders who aren’t delivering goods.

The more I read about stuff like this the more I appreciate playing off the hook squires and Ibanez. They work, they’re cheap and readily available....

[petel...@gmail.com]

And now it's April, 2020 and I happened onto this thread because I just discovered I have a Zolla bass. I wanted to know more so I googled. I lucked out and picked this fretless PJ bass up at a pawn shop in North Austin a couple or three months ago. It has a Chandler neck and a Sadowsky jazz bridge pickup. Anyway, I just took off the neck to do a bit of work and discovered the Zolla stamp in the neck pocket with a date stamp of June 11,1988. It's a beautiful P style body that's mahogany with a flamed koa cap. It has unique chamfering in the cutaways and an inset for the jack like a strat but carved nicely right into the top. I replaced the pots and cap and rewired it as someone had messed that up. As soon as I add a slight shim and the new jack that I had to figure out, I can put it back together and play it again!

[tsch...@gmail.com]

Excellent,man. Pawnshop prizes are or at least can be cool.

petel...@gmail.com

[tsch...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, October 29, 1998 at 2:00:00 AM UTC-6, Carolyn Murray McCollum wrote:

BTW and FWIW, Bill Zolla died from cancer this past February.

[tsch...@gmail.com]

OOPS! I was off with the date of his passing.

https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/sandiegouniontribune/obituary.aspx?n=william-john-zolla&pid=195005129