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Hi all,

I thought I would let you all know about a guy named Ian who is trying to scam luthiers out of thier guitars. He contacted me claiming to be from Premier Guitar Magazine and wanted me to send him a guitar to review. I of course found out he is not affiliated with the magazine at all and that I am not the first one that he has contacted claiming this. If any of you recieve similar emails please let Premier Guitar Magazine know.

-John

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John Thiessen
http://www.iszacguitars.com

Thanks for the heads up. If he calls and wants to review one of mine I'll tell him to pay for it, and I'll refund his money when I get it back

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I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said.
http://www.brackettinstruments.com/

Even paying for it is a big if?
I have heard of people overseas sending 'bank drafts' 'money orders' & the like that our banks here don't even realize that they are not authentic & you may not find out for a few weeks or more they are bad.
mike mcnerney

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Mike McNerney

Lance may have input on this... they recently reviewed one of his.
"They contacted me shortly after the Montreal show and asked if they could have one of my guitars for a review. I said sure!
Then after getting it back a month or so later ..."

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Dave
Milton, ON

This guy is in the USA, Washington to be exact..... Charging him was an idea I had, but it was much easier to just write the magazine and ask if he was one of theirs. PG is not very happy about this guy claiming to be one of thiers. Fortunately I had the sense to check this guys credentials before I shipped him a guitar.

On a side note, is it normal when a magazine wants to do a review for them to pay shipping, or deposit or something. I have never been approached for that reason so I have no idea.

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John Thiessen
http://www.iszacguitars.com

How about his name.

His name, if it is really his name is Ian Heimbigner.

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John Thiessen
http://www.iszacguitars.com

Thanks. I got a similar request a couple years back. Also from WA, but not the same name (It does sound made up, doesn't it?). I was probably lucky and didn't (as usual) have anything lying around that I would have sent a reviewer. I never heard back after the initial contact.

My favorite email so far is the guy from Nigeria that wanted 12 of my guitars -about 2 years worth of output- to stock in his 'store'. Well, that and the guy that wanted a double-necked, carved-topped (mahogany and flamed maple) lap steel and had $600 that he was willing to give for it.

Sometimes it's easy to spot the scams, sometimes it's not. I'm currently exchanging emails with a fellow who wants a very specific guitar building (seems to me like he's looking at a picture of the R. Taylor Macassar Ebony/Sinker Redwood beauty in the advert in Fretboard magazine). Of course, he doesn't want to pay full price for it and he wants it ASAP, immediately, and he's willing to pay to bump it up my queue. There are tell-tale hints in his emails that lead me to believe he may not even be a guitar player, but then there are other bits of his emails that feel just right, like he's really doing his homework (that I set him!) and is trying to nail down what his special guitar should be like.

At this time, I'm just going with the flow and replying to his emails with lots of questions about the details he wants. I think I'll ask him for a hefty 50% to start work on it, and see what he says/does.....my gut tells me he'll disappear. I'll probably make the guitar anyway, and just keep it if he turns out to be bogus! He has an email ID that's hosted at umbc.edu - this is a college I believe - maybe he's an alumni, or works there, or is just a wishful student with no money, or.......who knows?

Anyone else heard from someone like this recently? I'd be interested to know.

Cheers,
Dave F.

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

There is an awful lot of info/hits for Ian Heimbigner if you Google him/her/it/them and many of the hits have to do with things of interest for little kids. Ian Heimbigner is also on Facebook complete with picture of a guy, kid and dog.

Whom ever is impersonating a rag reviewer may have assumed the identity of an actual person who really may have this name as an actual name.... Can you imagine a name that weird....

Good on you for being suspicious, John!

UMBC = University of Maryland, Baltimore County

-jd

The school does exist and is a few minutes down the road from here. Using a legit email is a good sign he may not be a scammer - unless he stole the userid and password.

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It's this new idea from recent decades that everyone gets a participation award. - MUX

Or is just a vindictive student who enjoys ripping people off . All aside, I feel bad that you guys have to deal with people like this in an industry based on trust.

A similar post on cigar box nation. he even won some coffee cups. if you do the google search it seems someone by this name has entered a lot of online giveaway contest.

http://www.aromacup.com/giveaways/single-serve-coffee/donut-house-collection-k%11cup-coffee-plus-k%11cup-carousel-%11-sweepstakes/
http://www.cigarboxnation.com/forum/topics/warning-be-on-the-lookout-for

There are some dodgy characters out there. It can happen to the best of us, I remember when Howard Klepper lost two beautiful guitars.

Bill S.

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Dream to be a luthier

Premier Guitar did review one of my guitars. I dealt with two people, Gayla Paul Drake (who did the review) and Chris Burgess (senior editor).

They were great to deal with.

FYI, here is a list of the Premier Guitar Staff.
http://www.premierguitar.com/About/AboutUs_MeetTheStaff.aspx

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com