Les Korn Guitar – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
A few of the flaws:
Well, this is a long story really. This was my first attempt to buy a nice carved top jazz guitar. At the $2500 I paid for it, I thought I was in for an amazing bargain from an up and coming luthier. But, I just could not bring myself to be happy with this guitar and its numerous flaws, and I wanted to post my account so that anybody considering such a guitar had some point of reference.
First, the good. The materials used were clearly top notch. The flame on the back and sides was exquisite. The polished ebony tailpiece was in itself amazing! Ditto the polished ebony pickguard. And the split block inlays. These are certainly the marks of a classy instrument. And most importantly, the tone of the guitar was great. It was very loud acoustically, and quite resonant. Notes leapt from the fretboard.
Unfortunately, there was the bad. The frets were the roughest frets I’ve ever felt, even in comparison to a $99 Fender Squire Bullet. It was like murder trying to slide up and down the fretboard. There were numerous frets which weren’t level. But even these playability issues were overshadowed by the terrible nut, where the G slot looked like it was half an inch wide. I’m sure I’m exaggerating to some degree but it was huge, probably 5 times the correct size. So anything played with an open G sounded like a sitar with the string buzzing in the slot.
Then, there was the ugly. It looked like there was wood filler along the seams. Bits of glue which had gotten dirty and turned black were in the finish. Glue was leaking out from the seams.
So, one of the main reasons I gave this guitar a shot was because there was a return policy to go along with it. I am taking down the actual content of these emails because some time has passed and I want to give Les a break and the benefit of the doubt by assuming he might have changed his ways.
In summary, he fought me tooth and nail to give me a refund which was supposed to be a pretty painless process as promised in the ad. My hope is that he’s gotten better not only in his business practices, but also in his building. From the photos I’ve seen of his recent work, I believe that is most likely the case, but I have no further personal experience to comment on.
Glad to see you’ve put back a comment on the web about your experience with Mr. Korn. I quoted you in my Harmony Central Review but then your lengthy picture filled expose was gone. I am about to put up my Les Korn Guitar for sale complete with 100 Hi Resolution Photos for as long as it takes for that SOB to buy it back, for the $4800.00 he charged me, + the $1500.00 I had to pay to have a luthier fix it, + the 6 shipping charges that Korn told me he would repay me for having to repeatedly ship the guitar back to get it right, over a period of 3 years. The result was an embarrassing unplayable piece of “folk art” that he would not make good on. You should repost your pictures and full article to help other unknowing buyers from dealing with this inept, obnoxious, rip off artist. I will be posting within several days on Ebay, and I will give you the link. Best regards. Peter
I don’t know why you took down the guts of your description about your interaction with Kornball. Have you gotten any money back? Have you gotten an apology? I will proceed with my original plan to post my guitar for sale on Ebay complete with pictures to show his workmanship. A picture is worth a thousand words. Thanks Kevin.
I have had a similar experience with Les Korn. I collaborated with Les Korn for over six months, having him build a jazz purist model to my specifications. During the six months I gave him certain specifications which he ignored. I was very excited on the day it arrived especially because I had a gig that night. The guitar was horrible in every way. It had no tone and although it was pretty to the blurred eye, there were so many detailed imperfections I was dumbfounded. Particularly on the top side where he had used a piece of wood with a knot in it that was actually popping out. I immediately returned the guitar as per his return policy which was just the beginning of an endless battle to recover my investment. Les Korn admitted that there were several imperfections and that he would gladly repair them if I would ship the guitar back. The guitar was so poorly made, I didn’t want to have anything to do with it. Even year later, I still haven’t received all the money I invested back. Les Korn claimed that with the poor economy, sales of his guitars were slow and he didn’t have my money to return to me. I will be taking Les Korn to court soon in Tucson AZ.
Honestly I’d toned down the post on Les Korn in an effort to be fair to Les in the event that he had gotten his act together. I did eventually get a refund from him (minus the shipping), and so while it was a strange and unpleasant experience, I got out of it mostly OK.
I’m beginning to believe that perhaps I should not have been so forgiving in this matter when the problems years later seem to be continuing to occur.
Certainly the reviews on Harmony Central agree: http://www.harmonycentral.com/products/108777
I think Korn is out of business. His web site says, “gone fishing” . This is a fine testament to the power of public opinion when somebody like this guy so blatantly rips off the buyer. Just incredible.