Ed Roman

[kaleb]

This dude ( or dragqueen) bugs me so friggin' much. He won't stop complaining about Gibson and most of the stuff he says is a big lie. He says that Gibsons arent even made in the USA anymore! Can you beleive that? What an A-Hole. I hope you guys do something about him, has starting to make me very madddd!!!!! He has a guitar called the WANGCASTER. I don't think I have to explain. I hope Gibson Customer Service comes by this and replys, I WANNA TALK TO YA. SEE YA DAMORROW'. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

[FennRx]

i've read some interesting things about the guy. his rants are entertaining if nothing else.

[BigKahune]

He's been doin' that for years.

 

Try to chill.

 

 

 

 

 

I somewhat agree with the neck/headstock angle rant. Gibby did use a volute in the 70s, but then dropped it.

[TP]

I have no idea what originally got his undies in a bunch over Gibson, but he is relentless... .kind of like a small child when upset.

 

Don't sweat it, most people (even not here on the forum) understand he is an a-hole.

[LPguitarman]

Yes, he's a big jerk, but some of his rants are funny.

[kaleb]

You should check out Harmony Central's reviews on his guitars. TERRIBLE. HAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAA!

[mrktwn]

I've been to his store in Vegas. Its kinda poopy. I got a sales pitch from him about a '60s flying V(refinished orange)that had all

kinds of issues besides( replaced parts, cracked headstock that wasnt fixed, etc.) He told me that it belonged to Jimi Hendrix at some point. Having read his rants online, it was interesting to see him in person. Hes HUGE! From the rat terrier-like rantings, I expected

somehow for him to be smaller physically.

[turtle]

used to see him at eastcoast music mall in danbury ct> wow he was something> he has his opinions> i was way younger then> he used to do alot of copies of guitars> he had a bunch of eddie van halen looking kramers he did > i think hes kind of a fraud> but none the less an obvious successful guy> i do find him quite amusing though lol

[heymisterk]

He used to be a big fan of Heritage guitars but then turned on them too.

[DOGGONE]

I used to make his store one of my must go to places whenever I'm in Vegas, but he has closed the store and only does on-line sales and appointment only custom work. I had a tour of his facility,including his custom shop, a few years back when he had his large store and it was something to see. If you need a BC Rich, he's the guy to go to. It seems he's run into some legal problems with Gibson which has gotten him fired up. I personally have no problem with him, it's a free country, for now, anyway, so let him say whatever he wants. I've had my Gibson for 37 years and I know what it is.

[Gibsonfreak909]

Funny thing is he used to have a huge store and was basically endorsed by Billy Gibbons. Those days are gone. I think he's bipolar seriously.

 

He speaks about guitars like it's his first time picking one up (read the noobie questions he sent PRS "1. When and WHY did PRS go to that VERY LARGE BULKY uncomfortable neck heel?" for example, I mean come on isn't that just a matter of preference? Yeah he hates them too), he states "facts" that aren't true, he acts like he's being neutral when clearly he's trying to move the guitars he makes (btw there's a vid of him making custom Gibson copies on youtube, he chops off the body of a LP and uses the neck for a more "sleek", easy access to higher fret (gibson did that),and a "necessary" belly cut? like what? Just tell any tele purist a belly cut is needed man seriously. He states Gibson LP's are clunky, well that's why they are tone demons and we all love them). But here's the funny part, he say it's a shame to cut up a Gibson but he needs the neck to make a Gibson copy (then he says all Gibsons specs are wrong and his is better).

 

If you listen to anybody demoing his guitars they sound high pitched and weak. He shows a strat body he made (rear routed) and states the "fact" that fender do a universal route on all their strats so you can change pickups (hum, single) in and out and that routing takes a lot of tone wood making them sound thin. Ok first off only some Jap models I know of are made in this way, secondly he routed out a lot of tonewood in his rear routed control cavity, much more than a universal pickup front route, and his has a maple cap? Hello maple adds high pitch to a guitar.

 

Anybody who is bought by him clearly needs to learn more about guitars. He often says one thing, then turns says the opposite of what he had just said if he's trying to sell a different product.

 

I say he's bipolar. By all means read his website, but beware it should be considered comedy. I hope anybody googling him thinking of a purchase will see this thread. ;)

[tlsmith]

He has a very interesting diatribe about Mosrite guitars (which haven't been made in the US since I don't know when).

Funny thing is he used to have a huge store and was basically endorsed by Billy Gibbons. Those days are gone. I think he's bipolar seriously.

 

He speaks about guitars like it's his first time picking one up (read the noobie questions he sent PRS "1. When and WHY did PRS go to that VERY LARGE BULKY uncomfortable neck heel?" for example, I mean come on isn't that just a matter of preference? Yeah he hates them too), he states "facts" that aren't true, he acts like he's being neutral when clearly he's trying to move the guitars he makes (btw there's a vid of him making custom Gibson copies on youtube, he chops off the body of a LP and uses the neck for a more "sleek", easy access to higher fret (gibson did that),and a "necessary" belly cut? like what? Just tell any tele purist a belly cut is needed man seriously. He states Gibson LP's are clunky, well that's why they are tone demons and we all love them). But here's the funny part, he say it's a shame to cut up a Gibson but he needs the neck to make a Gibson copy (then he says all Gibsons specs are wrong and his is better).

 

If you listen to anybody demoing his guitars they sound high pitched and weak. He shows a strat body he made (rear routed) and states the "fact" that fender do a universal route on all their strats so you can change pickups (hum, single) in and out and that routing takes a lot of tone wood making them sound thin. Ok first off only some Jap models I know of are made in this way, secondly he routed out a lot of tonewood in his rear routed control cavity, much more than a universal pickup front route, and his has a maple cap? Hello maple adds high pitch to a guitar.

 

Anybody who is bought by him clearly needs to learn more about guitars. He often says one thing, then turns says the opposite of what he had just said if he's trying to sell a different product.

 

I say he's bipolar. By all means read his website, but beware it should be considered comedy. I hope anybody googling him thinking of a purchase will see this thread. ;)

[rocketman]

I like the feel of my PRS even with that "big" neck heel. It's actually not in the way at all. I am a bit confused about his clunky Les Paul statement too. Certainly it's not clunky for shredders like Zakk Wylde and Randy Rhodes. He's of course trying to sell his opinion and he's certainly successful. I have to give him that much, even though I don't agree with a lot of his opinions.

[DRIFTER]

Oh crap !!! I was having a good morning until this guys name came on my screen. I lived in Vegas for 15 years and visited that place over the years in all of its various configurations and locations during that time. My first experience was back when he was into the "ultra elite boutique" image. I dropped by the store unannounced and was treated as if I had barged into the holy confines of a hallowed inner sanctum. The guardian of the revered treasure rooms (clerk) looked arrogantly down his nose at me and reluctantly escorted me from room to room allowing me the honor of admiring Mr. Eds' fabulous wares. By the time we reached the second room he marched me up to a guitar and said, "this is the guitar you should buy". When I told him that it wasn't what I was looking for I was immediately told that I should leave now and in the future I would be allowed back by appointment only. No lie - just like that.

 

My second venture into the "Roman Empire" was when he had totally done an about face marketing strategy and had opened a store that was akin to an airplane hanger. Literally hundreds and hundreds of guitars filling the entire wall and floor space. I swear I have never seen so many guitars together in the same place. Gibsons coming out the ying yang. Now here's the kick. Even though (at that time) he was obviously in the business of selling Gibsons in a big way the minute I placed my ES137 Custom on the counter and asked about having a setup done I was told what a piece of crap it was and that the maple neck was notoriously bad. He (tech) then graciously let me know that he would give it a try but he could not guaranty a decent setup since it was basically a flawed design all together. Foolish me. And here I was thinking that a Gibson ES137 Custom was a pretty good guitar.

 

At my last visit it was evident that the "airplane hangar approach" had not gone over that well and he was now reduced to a new location about the size of a "mom and pop" music store stocked with low end beginner and student guitars. Literally not one decent guitar in the place. Keep in mind that he managed to accomplish this fabulous success record in a city that has always been a Mecca for working musicians and, in the 90"s, when Vegas was the fastest growing municipal economy in the Country. Go figure.

 

 

 

THANK YOU MR. ROMAN. IF IT WERE NOT FOR YOU I WOULD HAVE NEVER KNOWN WHAT A PIECE OF CRAP MY GUITAR IS. OVER THE YEARS I'M SURE THERE HAVE BEEN LITERALLY THOUSANDS OF POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS WHO HAVE FELT THE SAME GRATITUDE.

 

 

 

[spiggy]

used to see him at eastcoast music mall in danbury ct> wow he was something> he has his opinions> i was way younger then> he used to do alot of copies of guitars> he had a bunch of eddie van halen looking kramers he did > i think hes kind of a fraud> but none the less an obvious successful guy> i do find him quite amusing though lol

 

 

Well, copies is a nice way to put it : ) In Ct. it was well known that he built copies and sold them at a premium as the real things. He snuck MANY of what can only be called counterfeits in there, along with many others that could charitably called copyright infringements. I was surprised when he became so successful in LV because by the time he left the east coast he was pretty much outed as a shyster. But I guess he picked the right place to go : )

 

The reason he said so many bad things about PRS when they were new is because PRS didn't make lefties and didn't appreciate Roman cannibalizing stock and making replica necks and putting together lefty "PRS" guitars that had 75% PRS parts and were not built by PRS. He's an interesting bloke, because he actually has accomplished much and makes some good points in his rants sometimes. But at the same time he blatantly lies way too often and has over the years taken ridiculous liberties with the facts.

 

One good clue are his Baker guitars. He bought the Baker trademark at auction. I have never played one and have no opinion about them as instruments. But to hear him tell the story and then Gene Baker..well, someone's full of cr@p and it ain't Gene Baker. That is an example where he actually purchased the rights to use the name, but in other cases he just goes ahead and makes trademark infringing guitars and waits to get sued. EB/MM, Mosrite, etc, etc. Google Ed Roman and lawsuit. Impossible to deal with because he simply lies to suit his need.

[Searcy]

Years ago I wrote him about his Ebay rant and told how 90% is his rant was exagerated and pointless. I got back a very long letter where he told me no less then 4 times that I was an "A55HOLE" for not agreeing with him. Wish I still had that one. It was a classic.

[HeadCase]

Deffo nut-job...

[tc rocker]

I like how he says gibson & fender guitars are so "over priced". Has he looked at his own guitar prices lately?

[dem00n]

Just some guy trying to get by in the world, cant blame him.

[Riverside]

Just some guy trying to get by in the world, cant blame him.

 

Pretty much.

 

I heard he makes a 12 string double cut that looks so much like...

 

Never mind.

[frankh]

I don't mind rants (and he makes some good points) but he unleashes a few laughers.

 

Talking about the PRS neckjoint heels that he finds issue with: "We probably fixed more than 1200 of them in the last 15 years"

 

And this one, regarding thinning the neck pocket profile: "Currently I do this job on the PRS CE Models at least 10 times a month and the custom models about twice a month."

 

I will state this for a fact: Ed Roman's shop has not done 1,200 PRS heel modifications in the last 15 years. Is there anyone who believes that he could have possibly in his wildest dreams done 300 heel modifications of all makes combined in the last 30 years?

 

He also does most assuredly NOT do 10 CE neck pocket profile thinnings a months nor 2 Customs each month. Never happened in any month. He's a liar, which doesn't cause his accusations of other makes to go down too easy. Check out his rant on "Ghost" builders. First of all, most of these are well known, never secret farmed out work. DOES HE MENTION THAT HE FARMS OUT MOST OF THE CUSTOM GUITARS THAT HE PUTS THE ED ROMAN NAME ON???? No, but it's true. He goes so far as to claim their Neptune NJ place did not produce x and x and x of the Kramer lines, which is really funny, because most of the "Kramers" that were bought in Ct back then were bogus Kramers made from (mostly) Kramer parts by Ed, much to Kramer's unhappiness. Just like he says it doesn't matter that Baker guitars no longer are made by Gene Baker, that he's not needed, that Ed makes them better now, he feels that it's perfectly fine to assemble a guitar from Kramer parts in Ct. and call it a Kramer (or PRS, as mentioned above).

 

I noticed that he has begun calling them copies these days, but no matter. Ed Roman is not the manufacturers' worst nightmare, he's the consumers' worst nightmare.

[damian]

Ed Roman..................... [lol] ......

[BigKahune]

.

What I said last year (post #3 on page 1). . . .

[retrosurfer1959]

He is a ego maniac and anything or anyone that doesn't think he's great or doesn't put a huge profit in his pocket he hates and tears apart every chance he gets. He supports builders who he can bully and control, anyone else and he attacks like a 400 pound rabid gerbil which is what he acts like. his own guitars and those he raves about are mediocre or knock-offs that he talks about as superior again to make big bucks off of less knowledgeable players that mistake bragging and volume as knowledge.

 

Several years back me and a few friends were walking through his store just checking it out and he basically said that anybody that had been playing guitar for more than five years didn't know anything about guitars because they were hoodwinked by the old hype and old builders, I chuckled and asked if that included him he said no he didn't mean himself he was a luthier and designer and he kept up with the trends he meant regular players. what a goofball sadly though people listen.

 

Most of the stuff he rants about is based on some percentage of fact fact, as an example Gibson's do have weak necks it's a fact they break fairly easily. Could they fix that? sure they could we might not want to play them anymore but they could fix it.

 

The real question though is it a big problem like he says? Nope not for me I've broken one in 25+ years and it was 100% my fault so I don't really worry about it. He does not because he believes it but because he can't sell that truth.

[WahKeen]

Funny thing is he used to have a huge store and was basically endorsed by Billy Gibbons. Those days are gone. I think he's bipolar seriously.

 

Or as Mr. Sheen calls it, "I'm bi-winner. I win here, I win there.“