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Ace - Budokan Les Paul - Status update!


Tenacious T

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I've had the Epiphone Ace Frehley Budokan Les Paul on pre-order since Feb 1st. Ship date was supposed to be April, now I see it's moved back to November. What in the world is going on with these guitars Epiphone! How about a little status update for those who lined up to buy these things.

 

Does anyone from Epiphone actually read this board? Certainly it's not to difficult to update your consumers is it?

 

Waiting...

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I paid for mine the second I saw them go on sale online on January 28th. I learned after multiple phone calls that I'm 5th in line from the place I bought it. When I get an email from them saying that the item I ordered is backordered, I go in to look at the order. The original ship date was March 23, then April 27, then May 17, then July 17. Now it says November 7. I'm furious. I paid in full the minute I saw it on sale through PayPal so they can't say they never charged my credit card. They've had my cash since January and it seems like I'm never getting the guitar. What could seriously be the holdup? The place I ordered it from was set to receive 67 Ace Epiphones and they've gotten zero. I'll be happy that they just get 5 and I'd be covered. Why hype a limited guitar of a run of 1,000 and put it on sale without them being built and probably oversell it and then on top of it all never build them and ship them out. The only one I've seen out on the internet is the picture of Ace holding one from when the guitar was announced. This waiting is ridiculous. I didn't have the money in the late 90's when they first started making Ace guitars. Now that I do, I might just pull the order for the Epiphone and buy the $2300 Gibson instead. This sucks.

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I've had the Epiphone Ace Frehley Budokan Les Paul on pre-order since Feb 1st. Ship date was supposed to be April, now I see it's moved back to November. What in the world is going on with these guitars Epiphone! How about a little status update for those who lined up to buy these things.

 

I feel your pain. I've had one on order since late Jan/early Feb too, though through a local guitar shop. They've confirmed with Epiphone twice (including in the past week) that the order is still there and valid, but can't get a solid ship date.

 

It wouldn't be so bad if Gibson hadn't managed to ship three (count 'em - three!) versions of this guitar in the meantime.

 

I continue to sit patiently and hope it arrives eventually.

 

eusa_boohoo.gif

 

Fred

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I've been keeping up with my order thru Musicians Friend & they still have the first batch arriving July 10th, shipping to customers on or before July 17th.

 

Also, I did get a reply from Gibson customer service telling me that Epiphone still has delivery set to retailers in mid July...so, that would look to be on par with what I'm being told by Musicians Friend.

 

Anyhoo...Time will tell. I'll just keep calling, & making sure my order is current & ready to go.

 

I'm gonna wait em' out till I get the damn thing!

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I had not seen much about the Budokan until I read this thread, but there are a TON of angry folks waiting for this guitar.

 

It's true that a number of folks have run out of patience and cancelled their orders, to the point where some retailers are taking orders again.

 

I think a lot of the problem is that some online retailers have bizarre backorder policies - folks were seeing their orders cancelled after 30 days unless they specifically called to "reset" them. The other problem was the retailers were pretty random in their promises of delivery dates. When I ordered mine at the end of January, my local retailer said the feedback from Gibson was "end of May", but I saw online sites promising them in April and even March. So, customer expectations are all over the map.

 

Now of course the end of May has come and gone and I still don't have my guitar. It would be nice to have another official update. A simple "We had a problem with the production run and are having to do them over" would go a long way toward making people feel like they knew what was going on. In the absence of information, people will fill in the blanks with the most pessimistic guesses, up to and including "The whole thing's been cancelled." That's a lesson I learned a long time ago.

 

Fred

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I'm so fed up with this- I had backordered mine, and heard that they were canceling many of the back orders I canceled mine, then I heard Ace is selling signed Epiphones for $1500.00?!! Guess where half of the back orders are going?!!

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  • 4 weeks later...

Just got off the phone with Musicians' Friend....again.

 

They were expecting arrival on July 10th....nothing is showing on the CSR's screen that they didn't arrive, but it's not showing that they did. The rep. told me it usually takes a day or two on such a large order to get unloaded & in the system for shipping. She did mention that they would be receiving more guitars than they had orders placed & that filling all the pre-orders would not be a problem. Finally, the rep. told me she expects them to ship in the next day or so...maybe even today.

 

I placed my order on 2/1/2012 & here we are on July 13th...& still, we don't have a clue where these guitars are, or if & when they will be shipped.

 

Whomever is in charge of the Budokan's at Epiphone should be put on double secret probation. How about a little information to customer's who have committed funds & are paitiently waiting.

 

Sheesh already!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Interesting topic, as I was just talking to my dealer (E.M. Shorts), in Wichita, on Friday.

He mentioned, in the course of our discussion, that he's had 6 of the (Epiphone) Budokan LP's, on order,

since last February 2nd. (Cutoff time, for dealer orders, was February 28th, according to his Gibson rep)

He kept checking on his order, and they kept "back ordering" it, and finally they (Gibson) deleted

his order, entirely. When he checked on THAT, they said he'd ordered them "too late!" So, he got on

the horn, with Gibson, sent them the various e-mails, he had sent them, over the months, showing his

initial order to be well within the cutoff time, and they "magically" reinstated his order! He STILL

has NO guitars, and has no shipping confirmation, on any that are on order (as of this past Friday,

July 20, 2012). He had 2 of the 6 already "spoken for," but they've long since "bailed" on him...

got sick of waiting, and not having ANY shipping information, from Gibson/Epiphone. The new "Phan-to-matic,"

Wilshire's seem to be in the same "loop," for then, for some reason, as well. So, he's not too

happy, with Gibson's delivery/communications, right now. "Shorts" has always been a great dealer, and

Good Gibson client, so...??? [unsure][confused]

 

CB

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Finally! Mine was shipped Friday and should be here on Thursday the 26th! Only took 7 months!

 

 

joeym-Congratulations! Where did you purchase yours from? Post some Pics when you get it please! Thanks.

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joeym-Congratulations! Where did you purchase yours from? Post some Pics when you get it please! Thanks.

 

 

I ordered mine from Dave's Guitar Shop in La Crosse WI. (http://davesguitar.com) He was great through the whole process and kept me informed on all of the delays. Not sure, but he may still have a couple left, I think he only got 6 or 8 of them.

 

I'll post pics when it arrives...

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I ordered mine from Dave's Guitar Shop in La Crosse WI. (http://davesguitar.com) He was great through the whole process and kept me informed on all of the delays. Not sure, but he may still have a couple left, I think he only got 6 or 8 of them.

 

I'll post pics when it arrives...

 

Great! Thanks a lot for the Reply and the info. Look forward to those pics!

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Finally got my guitar overnighted from Musicians Friend. It was delivered today. It's awesome but, the replica eagle sticker is nowhere to be found. I'm not sure what to do or how to make someone at Musician's Friend or Epiphone believe me that I didn't get it. I don't really need it but it was supposed to be there and after waiting 6 months for the guitar to be built and delivered, I just can't let it slide that it's missing. Did everyone else get their sticker? I've checked everywhere it could be in the guitar case and added paperwork and it's just not there. I have a 2nd one of these guitars coming from Ace that will be autographed so I'll also see if I get one with that guitar. Let me know if you got yours please. Thanks. My guitar is #26 of 1000 BTW.

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...... The new "Phan-to-matic,"

Wilshire's seem to be in the same "loop," for then, for some reason, as well. ....

 

 

Today I was in Sam Ash Lee Road Orlando and they have a brand spanking new Wilshire Phan-to-Matic hanging on the wall.

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Finally got my guitar overnighted from Musicians Friend. It was delivered today. It's awesome but, the replica eagle sticker is nowhere to be found. I'm not sure what to do or how to make someone at Musician's Friend or Epiphone believe me that I didn't get it. I don't really need it but it was supposed to be there and after waiting 6 months for the guitar to be built and delivered, I just can't let it slide that it's missing. Did everyone else get their sticker? I've checked everywhere it could be in the guitar case and added paperwork and it's just not there. I have a 2nd one of these guitars coming from Ace that will be autographed so I'll also see if I get one with that guitar. Let me know if you got yours please. Thanks. My guitar is #26 of 1000 BTW.

I got mine from Musicians Friend today also (2 of them). Neither one has the Eagle Sticker, and believe me I took the Boxes all apart looking for them.. You're right, kinda sux after waiting so long to recieve the Guitars. I am not sure if Epiphone or MF would be responsible for the Stickers, but one of them should be.

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Just got a shipment notice from GC! I ordered it yesterday on a whim after getting a notification that they were in stock and I had a couple days to make up my mind. I admit I didn't really think they'd ship one! I still have one on order from Guitar Showcase, my exceedingly patient local retailer ("What's the status??"), but something tells me I won't have trouble finding a buyer for the second one...

 

The wait's almost over. So, who's going to post pics first? C'mon guys, we want unboxing pictures! eusa_clap.gif

 

Fred

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I got mine from Musicians Friend today also (2 of them). Neither one has the Eagle Sticker, and believe me I took the Boxes all apart looking for them.. You're right, kinda sux after waiting so long to recieve the Guitars. I am not sure if Epiphone or MF would be responsible for the Stickers, but one of them should be.

 

That's just ridiculous that the eagle stickers are missing. I wasn't going to put it on the guitar anyway but if it's supposed to be there then why isn't it there? I'm angry that it's not there but not as angry that it's not only me that they're missing from. Please keep me updated if you find a way to get the stickers sent to you. I even thought maybe they'll mail it once the guitar is registered? Who knows? I finally got the guitar and it sounds and looks awesome but don't show ads all along of what's included in the box and when it finally shows 6 months later, it's not there. Ugh.

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Today I was in Sam Ash Lee Road Orlando and they have a brand spanking new Wilshire Phan-to-Matic hanging on the wall.

 

I'm sure there are many, out there. My dealer, seems to be having some difficuly, in getting orders,

from Gibson/Epiphone, in a timely manner. That's all. They pay their bills, so I don't think that is

the problem. Maybe, they're not "big" enough, being a (nicely stocked) "Family business?" Who knows?!

 

But, thanks, for the "heads up!" [thumbup]

 

 

CB

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I talked to the dealer I got mine from, Dave's Guitar Shop, and told him about the missing sticker. He called Epiphone and was told they would ship them out to him as soon as they get them then he would ship to me. So call your dealer ASAP before they forget about them...

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I got my sticker from Epiphone today. When I sent the email to their customer service I included my address and the serial number. They responded to my original email in one day saying that they would investigate my inquiry, the second email confirmed that I was correct and that they would send it directly to me when they were available.

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