Anyone following the "Taylor McGrath" debacle on TGP?

[slacker775]

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.

This is the part I have hard time understanding.  Granted, a good con can convince you of anything but if you already know that you have something worth about 35K, how can you possibly feel that swapping it for four guitars allegedly valued at 3-4K would be a fair trade?  If you really needed the money, you sell that thing for cold hard cash.  If you don't, you hold onto that sucker as long as you can.

[stellablue]

Wow.  Days Of Our Lives, relic guitar edition.

All that's left is for the real Antonio/Taylor to wake up from a coma and realize that his evil twin has stolen his identity.

[culturejam]

All that's left is for the real Antonio/Taylor to wake up from a coma and realize that his evil twin has stolen his identity.

Wow, we've attracted stellablue to the forum. Nice. 


I did notice this thread is about the 5th listing when you google "TMG guitars". We're almost famous!

[culturejam]

Also, why in the world would a Les Paul need to be destroyed in order to "clone" it? The general specs of the 1956 guitars are well known. What am I missing here? Or was that just part of the con?

[GermanCdn]

Also, why in the world would a Les Paul need to be destroyed in order to "clone" it? The general specs of the 1956 guitars are well known. What am I missing here? Or was that just part of the con?

Part of the con.  If the story is true, the guy from RGS got the guitar intact as part of the deal.

[stellablue]

All that's left is for the real Antonio/Taylor to wake up from a coma and realize that his evil twin has stolen his identity.

Wow, we've attracted stellablue to the forum. Nice. 


I did notice this thread is about the 5th listing when you google "TMG guitars". We're almost famous!

I saw this thread as I was looking at mudbunny builds. You can't say shit on TGP without pissing off Ward Cleaver or one of the other mods. During my most recent 6 month suspension I started building some pedals. I started with Jack Orman's SOS. I have about 6 drive and fuzz pedals under my belt. I just received two mudbunny boards. The parts are out for delivery right now. In the past I've just used this site for reference material, but now I guess I'll jump in with both feet. I'll check back on TGP in a few months to see who makes the most accurate klone and find out which overdrive is most transparent.

[pickdropper]

Also, why in the world would a Les Paul need to be destroyed in order to "clone" it? The general specs of the 1956 guitars are well known. What am I missing here? Or was that just part of the con?

Part of the con.  If the story is true, the guy from RGS got the guitar intact as part of the deal.

I'm really curious how this whole saga affects RGS, if at all.  Lots of folks on TGP said they won't give Rogue any business because of the association, but once the coupon codes come out, people tend to buy the cheapest option they can.

[aion]

A fool and his vintage guitar are soon parted... keep in mind, this guy first engaged with TMG AFTER all the controversy started. I'm glad he's the first to admit that he deserves what he got for being so naive, but still a sad story

This is the part I have hard time understanding.  Granted, a good con can convince you of anything but if you already know that you have something worth about 35K, how can you possibly feel that swapping it for four guitars allegedly valued at 3-4K would be a fair trade?

If he was still enamored with Taylor's celebrity status at that point, he probably saw them naming a line of guitars after his grandfather as a better legacy than the guitar itself. Still sounds crazy, but that's the only thing that makes sense.

[culturejam]

I just received two mudbunny boards. The parts are out for delivery right now. In the past I've just used this site for reference material, but now I guess I'll jump in with both feet. I'll check back on TGP in a few months to see who makes the most accurate klone and find out which overdrive is most transparent.

Welcome!

This is a very easygoing, friendly forum. There isn't an infraction system, and we've never needed one. Different kind of place altogether.

No need to by shy at all. Jump right in. 

[GermanCdn]

My completely unsubstantiated theory on the whole RGS taking over TMG is this.

RGS was one of the larger TMG dealers.  Probably had a pretty big backlog of orders.  Scamboy doesn't deliver, RGS is fully exposed to the extent of deposits/payments received from clients and deposits/payments made to TMG.  If TMG folds, RGS is out of a pile of money either way.  RGS absorbs TMG (a goodwill/brand for debt trade) to try and limit their damage exposure.  Doesn't shed the TMG name in order to try and resurrect the brand in the theory that they can get everything back on track and build the brand (probably a mistake, as the deeper the story goes, the worse of an idea it appears to be).

How will it affect RGS?  Meh, probably not that much.  If it weren't for the TGP threads, which probably represent a minute fraction of the guitar buying public, few people would know about this fiasco (so, in that case, TGP has actually done the gear world a favour) who weren't directly affected by it.  And let's face it, the guitar addict who walks into a store and sees exactly what he wants will quickly forget about any opinion he had about the store prior to walking in the door.  I know, I've done it before.

But I'd drop the TMG name and boot Antaylorio out.  He's clearly destructive.

[pickdropper]

A fool and his vintage guitar are soon parted... keep in mind, this guy first engaged with TMG AFTER all the controversy started. I'm glad he's the first to admit that he deserves what he got for being so naive, but still a sad story

This is the part I have hard time understanding.  Granted, a good con can convince you of anything but if you already know that you have something worth about 35K, how can you possibly feel that swapping it for four guitars allegedly valued at 3-4K would be a fair trade?

If he was still enamored with Taylor's celebrity status at that point, he probably saw them naming a line of guitars after his grandfather as a better legacy than the guitar itself. Still sounds crazy, but that's the only thing that makes sense.

Are you sure?  I thought he got started with them back in Australia before the whole thing blew up.  But the whole soap opera has so many interlocked parts that I am not totally sure what is what.

It seems absurd that he would trade a '56 Goldtop (even a refinned one), but there wouldn't be so many stories of successful con artists if there weren't so many easy targets out there.

[pickdropper]

My completely unsubstantiated theory on the whole RGS taking over TMG is this.

RGS was one of the larger TMG dealers.  Probably had a pretty big backlog of orders.  Scamboy doesn't deliver, RGS is fully exposed to the extent of deposits/payments received from clients and deposits/payments made to TMG.  If TMG folds, RGS is out of a pile of money either way.  RGS absorbs TMG (a goodwill/brand for debt trade) to try and limit their damage exposure.  Doesn't shed the TMG name in order to try and resurrect the brand in the theory that they can get everything back on track and build the brand (probably a mistake, as the deeper the story goes, the worse of an idea it appears to be).

How will it affect RGS?  Meh, probably not that much.  If it weren't for the TGP threads, which probably represent a minute fraction of the guitar buying public, few people would know about this fiasco (so, in that case, TGP has actually done the gear world a favour) who weren't directly affected by it.  And let's face it, the guitar addict who walks into a store and sees exactly what he wants will quickly forget about any opinion he had about the store prior to walking in the door.  I know, I've done it before.

But I'd drop the TMG name and boot Antaylorio out.  He's clearly destructive.

I actually wouldn't be surprised to see TMG survive.  There seems to be an assumption that they will close their doors.  But if the RGS dude actually gets them producing guitars, they may get some of the P&W crowd into their guitars again as they don't seem to have lost all of their endorsees and it appears that there are many out there already willing to forgive them and give them a second chance.  Time will tell.

[diablochris6]

The P&W crowd can get pretty weird with their gear and extremely brand loyal. It even gets to a point to where if I see a random pedal board, I can usually tell if it belongs to a P&Wer because they all buy the same stuff. Many would balk at my homemade pedals and self-assembled Tele played through my late '80s Fender solid state Pro 185!

I think that the majority of players, P&W or otherwise, won't really care about (or know about) business drama as long as they have their cool-for-the-moment gear. The griping hasn't hurt JHS, from what I can tell, and if TMG keeps making their guitars with the same amount of hype, they will get by in some form.

[aion]

A fool and his vintage guitar are soon parted... keep in mind, this guy first engaged with TMG AFTER all the controversy started. I'm glad he's the first to admit that he deserves what he got for being so naive, but still a sad story

This is the part I have hard time understanding.  Granted, a good con can convince you of anything but if you already know that you have something worth about 35K, how can you possibly feel that swapping it for four guitars allegedly valued at 3-4K would be a fair trade?

If he was still enamored with Taylor's celebrity status at that point, he probably saw them naming a line of guitars after his grandfather as a better legacy than the guitar itself. Still sounds crazy, but that's the only thing that makes sense.

Are you sure?  I thought he got started with them back in Australia before the whole thing blew up.  But the whole soap opera has so many interlocked parts that I am not totally sure what is what.

It seems absurd that he would trade a '56 Goldtop (even a refinned one), but there wouldn't be so many stories of successful con artists if there weren't so many easy targets out there.

In the fourth paragraph he says he first got the idea to email Taylor by watching the interview video... the one that was created as a hurried response to accusations that TMG were scammers. Kind of ironic that they could use an apology to perpetuate the thing they were apologizing for.

He does say that he didn't first come to TGP until after he was already working for them, so if he was only following their Instagram then he would have gotten a very different impression of the company—TMG was deleting every comment that was even remotely negative. But still.

[pickdropper]

A fool and his vintage guitar are soon parted... keep in mind, this guy first engaged with TMG AFTER all the controversy started. I'm glad he's the first to admit that he deserves what he got for being so naive, but still a sad story

This is the part I have hard time understanding.  Granted, a good con can convince you of anything but if you already know that you have something worth about 35K, how can you possibly feel that swapping it for four guitars allegedly valued at 3-4K would be a fair trade?

If he was still enamored with Taylor's celebrity status at that point, he probably saw them naming a line of guitars after his grandfather as a better legacy than the guitar itself. Still sounds crazy, but that's the only thing that makes sense.

Are you sure?  I thought he got started with them back in Australia before the whole thing blew up.  But the whole soap opera has so many interlocked parts that I am not totally sure what is what.

It seems absurd that he would trade a '56 Goldtop (even a refinned one), but there wouldn't be so many stories of successful con artists if there weren't so many easy targets out there.

In the fourth paragraph he says he first got the idea to email Taylor by watching the interview video... the one that was created as a hurried response to accusations that TMG were scammers. Kind of ironic that they could use an apology to perpetuate the thing they were apologizing for.

He does say that he didn't first come to TGP until after he was already working for them, so if he was only following their Instagram then he would have gotten a very different impression of the company—TMG was deleting every comment that was even remotely negative. But still.

Interesting.  I thought they had already moved to the US by the time they released that video.