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Sims Custom Shop Reviews Summary
Sims Custom Shop has a rating of 4.2 stars from 135 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally satisfied with their purchases. Reviewers satisfied with Sims Custom Shop most frequently mention paint job, guitar body and customer service. Sims Custom Shop ranks 2nd among Guitars sites.
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Its getting way past the expected time on a body I sent to be painted. Communication was great before I sent the body... and payment... not so great since. I've been dread to attempt to bother Pat with questions but this is getting ridiculous. If it wasn't a carefully chosen 30 year old piece of wood I'd cut my losses and move on. I will gladly update this review if I ever get the body back. At this point I don't even care if its painted.
I paid Sims Custom Shop for a guitar refinish. The guitar turned out beautifully - exactly how I wanted - but the turnaround time was very slow. I was quoted a 6-week turnaround time on the phone when I first placed my order, but I did not receive my guitar for 16 weeks, about 4 months! If I had been given an accurate turnaround estimate up-front, my review would be 5-star. I can recommend Sims Custom Shop to other customers, but I would suggest that you get the completion estimate written and signed in writing before paying.
Thank you for your review and we’re glad you were pleased with the paint job we did for you.
I just wanted to mention for the record that the type of finish we did on this customers guitar was a very custom job and a first for us... we had NEVER done this finish before (a crackle paint job) and we did make the customer aware of that prior to accepting the order. We had no idea when the order was initially placed that it would be as time consuming of a job as it was to get flawless, which was the reason for the longer turnaround time. We did however stay in communication with the customer during the process.
Now that we have done and completed one of these finishes & have seen how difficult it is to get flat & smooth we will not quote a 6 week turnaround time in the future on crackle paint jobs.
A YouTube video of this guitar can be seen at the following link:
https://youtu.be/rUGjZgIs_AE
The best guitar finish I have ever seen PERIOD!
Turned a seemingly boring oil finish into a magnificent show piece. Worth the wait, I will be using them again.
I had Pat refinish a Strat I had a couple years ago and was totally pleased and impressed with the results. A few months later I contacted Pat about building me a Sims Single Cut custom guitar. He said sure, he would build me one. We talked over the phone going over every detail multiple times to be sure we were in agreement for colors, wood, neck, pups etc. Pat sent me several pictures of the quilt tops he had in stock. I chose one and the build was on. Pat would contact me regurally keeping me updated with what was complete periodically sending pictures. After a few months I received a unbelievable picture of this gorgeous guitar he had completed. All that remained was the setup. Within the next week I received the guitar and again, it is incredible. I looked over and over the guitar and could not find a flaw anywhere. I was so happy I called Pat and told him I wanted him to build me a Sims Tele. It is currently being built and look forward to receiving another masterpiece. To Pat... Thank You!
I brought Patrick Sims my 2001 beat up Fender Mex Strat with a great neck and he turned it into one of most beautiful guitars. Bright white with a touch of gold sparkle. This was 3 years ago and it is still one of my favorites. Defiantly will use him again.
Pat painted my pj bass body as my old 79 Trans Am Atlantis blue. Perfect, it is gorgeous. Thank you Pat
I couldn't be happier with the zakk Wylde red bullseye paint job on my Gibson Les Paul. It is identical and the finish is like glass! It's beautiful and I've could not say enough about the amazing detail and great price point!
Pat... The guitar arrived. Its even better in person! Thank you for the unbelievable paint job! I appreciate your insight and desire to see my vision come to life. This is definitely one of those instruments that will be handed down from generation to generation! Thank you Sims Custom Guitars!
Patrick does amazing work. I contacted him with an idea (polka dot Explorer), and he executed it to perfection. The quality of the finish is amazing. Not only is the finish he did fantastic, but he was a great person to work with. If youre on the fence about using Sims Custom Shop, get off the fence and do it.
Sims Custom Shop will do you right! I had some serious battle damage and they made the guitar body like new and gave me a super new color. Could not ask for anything more. Highly recommended!
Patrick did a great job on my guitar. I could not be happier with how cool my guitar looks. You have to be patient some of these difficult paint jobs can take time to cure, but its well worth it. I will be sending more guitars to Pat in the near future!
You simply can't trust what Pat says regarding when you will get your instrument back. It took almost a YEAR to have my guitar returned. I would call or text to inquire about status, and got an ever expanding set of lies and stories as to why my guitar was not complete. It took me calling and texting daily to finally get my guitar shipped. Stay AWAY!
Sept 15th 2017 received we received this customers guitar.
Shipped back March 27th 2018
YouTube video of completed guitar posted on March 27th (which was posted over 3+ months BEFORE he left this review...
https://youtu.be/yRJV4seAkqI
This project was finished in 6 months. By my calendar 1 year would not be until Sept 15th 2018. But Kyle Clark knows “almost 1 year” sounds alot worse than “6 months”
Some projects CAN take 6 months depending on:
A.) Our workload at the time the order is placed
B.) What type of work & paint job is being done (A custom paint job, nitro paint job or or swirl paint job is going to be a longer turnaround time than a solid color)
C.) The condition of the instrument (the rougher it is the longer it takes to do.
To date we have painted over 3,000 guitars, of which over 2,000 of them are documented on our Instagram page here:
https://www.instagram.com/simscustomshopguitars
Pat, did a killer job painting my 1000 yard Competition Rifle stock. Pat was able to create this carbon fiber stock to a totally outstanding piece of art. Great Job
Pat. Hats off to you.
Pat is absolutely amazing at what he does and you definitely get what you pay for. My Ibanez RG8 had a really nasty, ugly looking deep crack in the paint running all through the body. I wanted to see where I could take or send it to get refinished but many of the prices that people charge can get to be insanely expensive for a refinish. After searching for awhile I came across the Sims Custom Shop site and was impressed with what the site had for pics of previous refinishes. I got ahold of Pat and discussed sending in the body for a refinish in the original metallic pewter grey finsh and the total ended up being very reasonable for the work. I was a bit worried it would take longer than his given estimated finsh time for the guitar due to me having to move a week after the estimation, but it ended up being done right on schedule and the guitar looks brand new! I couldn't suggest Pat and his work enough and I'll definitely be doing business with him again!
I got my guitar body today after I send it for a custom paint job and I am very satisfied and impressed with the quality of work Pat did. He explain the entire process to me at the begging and I was very clear for the amount of time that the job take in order to be done right, and right it was. What a beautiful work he did! Pat is an artist!
The guitar looks great and sound great as well.
Thank you Pat!
Pat did a custom Van Halen Fair Warning guitar for me.
Amazing tone, playability. The guitar screams!
Pat is a real craftsmen and cares deeply about every guitar he builds, whether just his amazing paintwork, or a full build.
Next step... all VH DLR era guitars to be made by Pat.
Sent my ibanez Rg 2610 to him to strip Mike learn green skull paint job and paint a tiger stripe graphic with a money order for $690 well over 4 years ago. I got a few responses then nothing for 3 years, it has been reported as stolen terrible communication, i have a picture of him holding my guitar in his shop with Mike Learns graphic on it as if he is advertising he painted it, man is a thief beware if he likes your guitar he keeps it thats my experience
This review has so many false statements in it that I don’t even know where to start, I’ll give you the most simplified version I can.
#1- This customer is a self proclaimed “perfectionist” who has admitted he is extremely OCD and very rarely pleased with anything. We have over 45 email back and forth with him and HOURS of phone conversations with this guy (even though he says in his review terrible communication), and is a SERIOUS time waster.
#2- This customer sent us a guitar to REPAINT after paying Mike Learn (world renown guitar painter) $900 to do a very nice paint job on it. When he received it he claimed he “wasn’t happy with all aspects of the finish...”
#3- He then paid us to REPAINT the guitar Kandy tangerine with black tiger stripes which we did. He referenced the tiger stripe paint jobs on our website on other guitars and that’s the stripes we did. Upon receiving pictures of the guitar body painted as requested he told us that “his tastes had changed and he no longer liked tiger stripes paint jobs”. We should have at that point said “well tough luck...” but we didn’t.
#4- While we had NO obligation to do anything further and had done exactly the paint job he requested (and paid for) we ultimately wanted to make him happy if we could. He said he would prefer the guitar to just be repainted solid Kandy tangerine with NO tiger stripes. We stripped the guitar down to bare wood (which is a time consuming job) and painted it kandy tangerine... and get this... FOR FREE. He also tried to get us to set it up for him for FREE prior to shipping it back to him, but we refused and explained to him that not only did he not pay for a setup, nor previously at any point ever requested a setup, but was also never told we even do setups at all. We paint instruments, we are not in the business of doing setups for people on their instruments... to make a long story short the purpose of his request was essentially to try and take advantage of us and try to get something additional for free... as if a $400+ paint job for free wasn’t already enough.
This is where the story gets really unbelievable:
Upon receiving the guitar he sends us an email stating the paint job is “pretty much perfect” except he claims he found a “tiny spec“ of something under the clear coat that he didn’t like in an inconspicuous area and requested a FULL REFUND! He also made the comment that after “taking the time to think about it” he wishes he had just kept it with the tiger stripe paint job we initially did! OMG!
At this point we were beyond fed up dealing with this guy. We told him we would NOT repaint the guitar again, we told him THAT was a FREE paint job that was currently on the guitar anyways & that the one he paid for (the paint job with the tiger stripes) is all we were obligated to do anyways which he decided to have us strip off and paint solid kandy tangerine. We told him not only did he find something to complain about on both paint jobs we did for him, but he also was not happy with Mike Learns $900+ paint job (a well known professional painter in this industry). We basically told him (in the nicest way we could) to not ever contact us again & suggested that he should maybe attempt to learn how to paint guitars himself since no one else can seem to be good enough to please him. He then informed us he “knows how to paint” bc he ”painted fighter jets while he was in the Navy.“ He now works as a security guard for Rue 21...
This guy is a NIGHTMARE customer and I wouldn’t wish him on my worst enemy. By far the most OCD unpleaseable person I’ve ever encountered out of the 3,000+ guitars I’ve done over the last 20+ years.
Here is a YouTube video of the completed guitar: https://youtu.be/50noIKBjNgk
The video is a testament of the quality of work we always HAVE and CONTINUE put out and should further show how RIDICULOUS a request for a refund was. This review he left could not be more misleading, false and intentionally left out of spite. When we refused to refund him for a FREE paint job he then THREATENED he “may just just take us to court!“ I informed him to go for it if he had the time and money to waste, but that it would a very unwise decision on his behalf considering the paint job he was complaining about he didn’t even pay for and that I also have every single email between him & I documenting all of this from beginning to end.
Make a long story short that was the last we ever heard of him.
I finally got My guitar back after 3 years and 3 months. It looks nice in the picks but close up the Quality is not the best. I believe the only reason I got it back now is because I posted comments on this site. I have nothing to gain by putting False information out here. Patrick Sims has some good skills, but lacks in customer service.
I will now have to send it back out to be refinished by someone who can do it right!
I have a large guitar collection and could have been a repeat customer, but my business will be going somewhere else.
Scott
Initially this customer posted a false review stating he had not received his guitar. He flat out refused to remove that review even AFTER receiving his guitar back from us to intentionally make it appear to future readers we had not returned his guitar body. We requested repeatedly for him to remove the false review and his only response was “I’ll have to think about it”.
So, in response to his refusal to remove the misleading & inaccurate review we posted pictures of his completed guitar onto here as well as a YouTube video of the guitar we did for him (a 1992 BC Rich body). He then in response immediately deleted his false review of not receiving the body and posted a new review that it took too long and wasn’t the best.
Customer states he has nothing to gain by posting a false review... the truth is while he may have nothing to gain financially by doing that, he gets some self satisfaction of posting up a false review bc we didn’t finish it as quickly as he would have liked. We did exactly the paint job he requested. Essentially the purpose of his review is to be vindictive.
To date we have painted over 3,000 guitars, of which over 2,000 of them are documented on our Instagram page here:
https://www.instagram.com/simscustomshopguitars/
Pictures & video of his completed guitar so you can judge for yourself:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BhFULhvDImi/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BhFUP24jaNT/
YouTube video of completed guitar:
https://youtu.be/7zXOPUxDjHA
I'm still waiting. 3 Years and 2 Months now !!
I finally got a short response saying my guitar body would be done next week. He even asked to confirm my shipping address. That was months ago!!!!!
I have been a guitar collector/ repair technician for 30+ years. sent my guitar to Pat in Jan 2015, it is now Jan 2018. He won't respond to my E-mails, doesn't answer the phone. I did get one response back in Sept 2017, he said" I will have your guitar shipped out in two weeks." I'm still waiting! At this point, I just want it back, finished or not! 3 YEARS is too long to wait with no communication!
I have been waiting for my guitar to be refinished for 3 years now! Once he gets your money, its gone! He wont reply to emails, or answer the phone AT ALL EVER! It's too bad he can't run a business.
STAY AWAY FROM THIS GUY!!!
Patrick did a beautiful job on the guitar. He exceeded my expectation! His input in the design was extremely valuable. He took the concept I had and created a piece of art.
Placed an order for a custom body in swamp ash. Patrick was in constant communication throughout the process and provided pictures when asked. The turnaround time for the body was under three weeks, which also included the time necessary to order the wood. I am very pleased with the final product and hope to do business with him again in the future.
From the business
The Guitar Refinishing and Painting Custom Shop. Specializing in factory quality guitar finishes and restorations.
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This was completed & sent back within days of this review, but he never came back to update his review... this is also 1 of 2 bodies he sent, the second of which he received about a month prior to this review which he didn’t mention.
The wood was old reclaimed wood from a pier, so it was a bit time consuming of a job due to the roughness of the wood and him wanting a smooth & slick final finish.