Anyone following the "Taylor McGrath" debacle on TGP?

[GermanCdn]

And now Rogue Guitar Shop has bought TMG.

And the CEOs mom signed up for TGP to tell all the haters that they are wrong (but not after a dozen posts where she pretended she was a satisfied TMG customer).

I can't make this stuff up.  Best comment though was that they should hire Vertex Mason as marketting director.  I put 4-1 odds on that happening, as this can only get weirder.

#mymomsaysimsuccesful

[pickdropper]

It really crossed over into surreal.

The interesting thing is how many fans they still seem to have.  Even if they start running their business in a standard fashion, all of the parts can be purchased easily and made into a guitar for a lot less than $3500.

[aion]

My brain is melted. You just can't stop clicking "next page"... over and over and over.

[playpunk]

It is pretty amazing


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[culturejam]

Even if they start running their business in a standard fashion, all of the parts can be purchased easily and made into a guitar for a lot less than $3500.

Sure, but can you really put a value on labor? 

[pickdropper]

Even if they start running their business in a standard fashion, all of the parts can be purchased easily and made into a guitar for a lot less than $3500.

Sure, but can you really put a value on labor? 

Yeah, I think the real catch there was even mentioned by a former associate of TGP's.  If they are really paying $1500 in parts for each one, adding their labor and then leaving room for their dealers to make a profit, they are going to have a very difficult time being competitive in that market.

I can't imagine their competition (like Suhr or Tom Anderson) pays anywhere NEAR $1500 in parts for one of their guitars, mostly because they do it in house.  Add to the fact that they are known parts that anybody can buy directly from the parts suppliers and you have a very difficult proposition there.

Nash does something similar, but I don't know if he has dealers.  His prices are certainly more reasonable and he's very upfront about what they are and what he adds to the mix.  I think he does his own aging as well, which TMG doesn't.

[LaceSensor]

That idiot 'Headshok' needs to just keep his idiot thought to himself.

That is all! Haha

[Leevibe]

Dang. I just got to the end of the fourth thread in all of its weird glory only to find the link to the side thread that is 36 pages long. I can't not read it, but holy moly!

[GermanCdn]

This has now clearly turned into a rubber necking extravanganza for me as I want to look away, but I just can't.  And it just keeps getting weirder the further you go.

http://jeremyctalbot.blogspot.ca/2014/10/tmg-story-from-inside.html?m=1

I kinda hope this story is not legit, because if you traded a '56 Les Paul to a known fraudster, I have a hard time feeling sorry for you, but nonetheless, it would appear that it became part of the RGS purchase of TMG.

[alanp]

I'm waiting for the post when someone tracks him down IRL, gives him a hiding, and posts it. If I had an original '56, the only way anyone would get to measure it would be with me standing there with a sharp hunting knife, extremely suspicious.

[culturejam]

I kinda hope this story is not legit, because if you traded a '56 Les Paul to a known fraudster, I have a hard time feeling sorry for you, but nonetheless, it would appear that it became part of the RGS purchase of TMG.

I can't believe the general grammar is so bad...and yet the guy correctly uses the oft-maligned and rarely understood semicolon. 

[raulduke]

I can't believe the general grammar is so bad...and yet the guy correctly uses the oft-maligned and rarely understood semicolon. 

I believe I am one of the common perpetrators of that misuse 

I know I should feel sorry for the Les Paul guy'n'all.... but why would you TRADE a 1956 LP for ANY guitars?

If you desperately need cash fair enough. Sell it.

But trading it for a bunch of posh Fender clones that obviously have a far lower intrinsic value (he even helped assemble the f*ckin things). Why Lord Why?!?!

I imagine this Taylor character can sniff out someone ripe for the scamming like a shark can sniff out its prey in the ocean.

[raulduke]

Also, these con artists/scam merchants seem to have an ability to charm and make people believe whatever they want them to believe.

This happened in the village I live in a number of years ago. You really couldn't make it up:

'A former bartender has been found guilty of kidnapping and theft in an elaborate spy con that lasted 10 years.

Robert Hendy-Freegard, 34, of Blyth, Nottinghamshire, conned his victims out of a potential £1m by persuading them they were being hunted by the IRA. '

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4114640.stm

[Leevibe]

I'm thinking that if he ever gets his "Ambrose" guitars he's going to be more stuck than ever. These are going to be the reminders of his grandfather? I do feel genuinely bad for him, but man. How many worst parts to a story can there be?

[Jopn]

I'm thinking that if he ever gets his "Ambrose" guitars he's going to be more stuck than ever. These are going to be the reminders of his grandfather? I do feel genuinely bad for him, but man. How many worst parts to a story can there be?

Hopefully there's something in the contract that prevents them from rebadging a Squire as "Ambrose".