Weirdest Gear Deal Ever: the Tale of How Severe G.A.S Led a Man to Madness

I think alot of people today assume the 90 day paypal and Wal-Mart returns policies apply to private sales now.

The old you break it you buy and 30 day 30 second guarantee applies in the real world much to the dismay of this new generation of aspiring musicians. I 've been to some very shady parts of the cities to go look at some amps and guitars over the years,( but I have traveled all over the world for work for years) some of those excursions were probably stupid in hindsight but for the most part all were uneventful but I always kept my head on a swivel and try to weed out the weirdos. I get it... these days you could literally be walking into a ambush situation so it's no joke.

My most recent sale I was selling an entire Dime Rig setup earlier this year...the guy called and left a message he was a serious buyer and I called him back and answered all his questions. He wanted me to drag all my shit to meet him halfway in a parking lot or something. I asked how are you going to play the guitar and amp setup to see it it actually works the way I say it does and if you actually like the guitar. I told him there would be no way I personally would shell out this kind of money without playing everything first. I told him that I've driven 8-12 hours sometimes to look at what I wanted to buy and you can drive two hours if you are really interested. He agreed and I set the whole Dime amp setup in the living room plugged it all in and told the guy jam and check everything out no rush make sure it's what I say it is.

He jammed for about a half an hour or so and we shot the shit about the DIME setups and theory. He was a happy with everything and paid me and I helped him load everything into his truck.

For simple guitar trades or purchases I can agree to meeting up just to look at the condition of the guitar but for amps I gotta play them.

I had a guy texting me about a Jeep I was selling one time telling me I had to do PAY for a CARFAX search or he wouldn't buy it, he even texted me the link to do so(that's not suspicious!). I told him even better I had a CARFAX that I paid for when I bought it and I will give it to him when he comes and looks at it. NO he said you must pay for it....I told him to f$uck off and stop texting me and that I was forwarding his number to the police. I guess the scams are everywhere but why do people fall for this shit?
 
harddriver said:
I think alot of people today assume the 90 day paypal and Wal-Mart returns policies apply to private sales now.

The old you break it you buy and 30 day 30 second guarantee applies in the real world much to the dismay of this new generation of aspiring musicians. I 've been to some very shady parts of the cities to go look at some amps and guitars over the years,( but I have traveled all over the world for work for years) some of those excursions were probably stupid in hindsight but for the most part all were uneventful but I always kept my head on a swivel and try to weed out the weirdos. I get it... these days you could literally be walking into a ambush situation so it's no joke.

My most recent sale I was selling an entire Dime Rig setup earlier this year...the guy called and left a message he was a serious buyer and I called him back and answered all his questions. He wanted me to drag all my shit to meet him halfway in a parking lot or something. I asked how are you going to play the guitar and amp setup to see it it actually works the way I say it does and if you actually like the guitar. I told him there would be no way I personally would shell out this kind of money without playing everything first. I told him that I've driven 8-12 hours sometimes to look at what I wanted to buy and you can drive two hours if you are really interested. He agreed and I set the whole Dime amp setup in the living room plugged it all in and told the guy jam and check everything out no rush make sure it's what I say it is.

He jammed for about a half an hour or so and we shot the shit about the DIME setups and theory. He was a happy with everything and paid me and I helped him load everything into his truck.

For simple guitar trades or purchases I can agree to meeting up just to look at the condition of the guitar but for amps I gotta play them.

I had a guy texting me about a Jeep I was selling one time telling me I had to do PAY for a CARFAX search or he wouldn't buy it, he even texted me the link to do so(that's not suspicious!). I told him even better I had a CARFAX that I paid for when I bought it and I will give it to him when he comes and looks at it. NO he said you must pay for it....I told him to f$uck off and stop texting me and that I was forwarding his number to the police. I guess the scams are everywhere but why do people fall for this shit?
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Scams are truly everywhere. That guy would have tried to empty your account with his fake carfax site. every once in a while I watch one of those scam busters on YouTube. He said last month the US received 4.4 billion robocalls, and a huge portion we’re Indian scammers.

The scammers are ruthless. One of the scam busters uses an old lady filter on his voice, and starts off the calls with, “I’m just happy to speak to someone. I’ve been alone for 25 years and I’m so lonely. I am barely getting by so this $400 dollar rebate from you guys is a huge help. My life savings is only $9000 and I’m in trouble. In another year I don’t even know how I will eat!”

Every time, without fail, the scammers try to empty the old lady’s bank account. Heart breaking. If it was up to me, the punishment for robbing a senior citizen would be RUTHLESS, Savage in its cruelty. So they never forget what they did.
 
mooncobra said:
Scams are truly everywhere. That guy would have tried to empty your account with his fake carfax site. every once in a while I watch one of those scam busters on YouTube. He said last month the US received 4.4 billion robocalls, and a huge portion we’re Indian scammers.

The scammers are ruthless. One of the scam busters uses an old lady filter on his voice, and starts off the calls with, “I’m just happy to speak to someone. I’ve been alone for 25 years and I’m so lonely. I am barely getting by so this $400 dollar rebate from you guys is a huge help. My life savings is only $9000 and I’m in trouble. In another year I don’t even know how I will eat!”

Every time, without fail, the scammers try to empty the old lady’s bank account. Heart breaking. If it was up to me, the punishment for robbing a senior citizen would be RUTHLESS, Savage in its cruelty. So they never forget what they did.
Click to expand...
Love to watch this guy „scamming“ the scammers. Gives me a warm feeling in the chest :)
 
sivad said:
I to am curious to see who will top that story. I did have a strange audition yrs ago. This band needs a second guitarist so I journey about an hr from were I live. It was at a junkyard and there is a house in the middle of it. Its already dark by the time I get there. Yep its a creepy old place and I am welcomed into a hoarders paradise by a family that would give the Addams family a run for there money. Stacks of junk piled everywhere in this house. Its like being in an old b/w movie for some reason and there is only one light bulb in the living room. We head upstairs to the jam room and its one big room with nothing in it but spider webs, one light bulb and some music gear. The band were actually pretty good but after an hr or so I told them I needed to go. I thought I was a goner but I left on good terms with this strange bunch.
Click to expand...

Junkyard? Did they look like these guys?



latest




You should have thought about joining, they used to have a very lucrative TV gig (though I would have been very weary about drinking anything their manager fixed for you).
 
mooncobra said:
A little long. I know. Let’s hear your guys weirdest or most bizarre gear deals.

This is at least 10 years ago.I listed an amp, the Elmwiod Modena 60 (right around the time they were hitting US shores), and a guy contacted me. He was kind of local. I listed it on Craigslist as well as Rigtalk.

He is very interested in the amp, tells me to hold it for him, he will buy it 100% for sure. So we arranged to meet at a local shopping zone near the bridge.

He shows up and I start getting bad vibes right off the bat. He has brought 7 guitars and he must make sure all guitars, “match,” the amp?? So I asked what he means. Says he needs to play through the amp with his top 7 guitars. So, as a gear hound myself, I guess there is a strange kind of logic to his request. I reminded him we are in a parking lot. No power or cab. Don’t worry, he says, he has it covered. He pulled out this super dangerous looking device (that he hooked up to car battery) that appears to have been sourced from the legend himself, Sir Billy Bladez. Oh boy…….

He sets up the amp, cranks it, and proceeds to play a one man concert at tinnitus levels of sound. He is rocking out, hard, at one point I realize he has left the parking lot and is now brutally rocking wembley stadium. This dude is feeling it.

I just know when he gets to the 7th guitar, it won’t, “match,” and he will decline the sale. So he takes out guitar number 7, and plays with a fury similar to Yngwe. He stops playing, drenched in sweat from jumping and dancing around while playing. Clearly, dudes nuts. But, it was so crazy I found it wildly entertaining as long as I stood far enough away so as not to be thought to be with him and a part of his madness.

He loudly shouts, “I will take this baby,” while fist pumping. He pulls out an enormous amount of money(much more than amp price) and pays me, doesn’t try to negotiate, just pays. He says it’s one of the best amps he has ever played. Over the next two months, he sends many messages praising the amazing tone he has achieved.

Another month passes and I get an email from him. This is what it says:

Name the time and place to meet, you have to buy the amp back!

WTF………..

I ponder this message and am
Very curious as to his reasoning so I decide to respond. I will not buy the amp back. But I am curious to hear his reason for this?

I respond and he just says, “you have to buy the amp back, let me know time and place. You MUST!”

I respond, “I will not buy the amp back.”

He sends messages, “you MUST buy the amp back, let me know a time and place.”

I respond, “sorry, I will not buy the amp back.” (I no longer respond after my second refusal)

Over the next two months his messages devolve into the ramblings of a madman. But he is still dead set of getting me to buy the amp back. He starts sending messages asking why I won’t buyback the amp. He says it’s provided him with huge amounts of fun, but something happened and he could no longer even look at it. (Did he hit someone over the head with the amp and severely injure/kill someone? Trying to pass off damning evidence on me?)

I am so curious as to what this could mean that I contemplate responding. My imagination proceeds to run wild as to the meaning of this mysterious message, but I hold strong and don’t respond.

This goes on for a few more months and he starts saying, he has my phone number and with that, he can acquire my home address.

Great. Wonderful news. When he was initially trying the amp holding his parking lot concert, he also mentioned he was a master of the dark arts within the martial arts. I was like, “uhhh, cool man.”

He sent his messages for a few more months demanding that I MUST buy the amp back, that I have no choice and the sooner the better. WTF??

I continued to ignore him and around 10 or 12 months after he started demanding I buy the amp back he no longer sent messages or threats. He never showed up at my house and never heard from him again. But I always kept an eye out at places like guitar center, or a big guitar show, etc. for a long time i kept an eye out for this lunatic.

Definitely the weirdest gear deal I’ve ever had, thought of it today for the first time in years.

I’m sure someone has weirder than that, let’s hear them!!
Click to expand...



Lolololol this is incredible :LOL: :LOL: :LOL:
 
mooncobra said:
Dude, I wanted to tell him no, but all I could muster up was a, you break, you buy.” He was so unsettling and menacing!! Have any of you guys been around an unhinged meth head? It was that dark kind of vibe. His movements were very fast and frantic. His words were almost unintelligible. It was like I had to learn and decipher a new language on the spot.
Click to expand...

Was he a legit badass player?
 
Devin said:
Was he a legit badass player?
Click to expand...



I’ve rarely if ever seen someone open up the workshop of shred like him. He had enormous meatpaws that were probably human hands at one point.

Despite that, his fingers moved so quickly and with such dexterity that every once in awhile, I would forget about his whole scene and become mesmerized by a true master at work. Yeah, he ripped.

The dude was a total anomaly. Totally oblivious to the world around him (obviously) gifted musician, coordination of highest levels, and barely hanging by a tiny thread to humanity.

something happened somewhere along the line and he………changed?? I thought of him for the first time in a long while a few days ago. Hence, the thread.

I was left with many questions. My friend used to joke that he was a cybernetic organism.
 
mooncobra said:
A little long. I know. Let’s hear your guys weirdest or most bizarre gear deals.

This is at least 10 years ago.I listed an amp, the Elmwiod Modena 60 (right around the time they were hitting US shores), and a guy contacted me. He was kind of local. I listed it on Craigslist as well as Rigtalk.

He is very interested in the amp, tells me to hold it for him, he will buy it 100% for sure. So we arranged to meet at a local shopping zone near the bridge.

He shows up and I start getting bad vibes right off the bat. He has brought 7 guitars and he must make sure all guitars, “match,” the amp?? So I asked what he means. Says he needs to play through the amp with his top 7 guitars. So, as a gear hound myself, I guess there is a strange kind of logic to his request. I reminded him we are in a parking lot. No power or cab. Don’t worry, he says, he has it covered. He pulled out this super dangerous looking device (that he hooked up to car battery) that appears to have been sourced from the legend himself, Sir Billy Bladez. Oh boy…….

He sets up the amp, cranks it, and proceeds to play a one man concert at tinnitus levels of sound. He is rocking out, hard, at one point I realize he has left the parking lot and is now brutally rocking wembley stadium. This dude is feeling it.

I just know when he gets to the 7th guitar, it won’t, “match,” and he will decline the sale. So he takes out guitar number 7, and plays with a fury similar to Yngwe. He stops playing, drenched in sweat from jumping and dancing around while playing. Clearly, dudes nuts. But, it was so crazy I found it wildly entertaining as long as I stood far enough away so as not to be thought to be with him and a part of his madness.

He loudly shouts, “I will take this baby,” while fist pumping. He pulls out an enormous amount of money(much more than amp price) and pays me, doesn’t try to negotiate, just pays. He says it’s one of the best amps he has ever played. Over the next two months, he sends many messages praising the amazing tone he has achieved.

Another month passes and I get an email from him. This is what it says:

Name the time and place to meet, you have to buy the amp back!

WTF………..

I ponder this message and am
Very curious as to his reasoning so I decide to respond. I will not buy the amp back. But I am curious to hear his reason for this?

I respond and he just says, “you have to buy the amp back, let me know time and place. You MUST!”

I respond, “I will not buy the amp back.”

He sends messages, “you MUST buy the amp back, let me know a time and place.”

I respond, “sorry, I will not buy the amp back.” (I no longer respond after my second refusal)

Over the next two months his messages devolve into the ramblings of a madman. But he is still dead set of getting me to buy the amp back. He starts sending messages asking why I won’t buyback the amp. He says it’s provided him with huge amounts of fun, but something happened and he could no longer even look at it. (Did he hit someone over the head with the amp and severely injure/kill someone? Trying to pass off damning evidence on me?)

I am so curious as to what this could mean that I contemplate responding. My imagination proceeds to run wild as to the meaning of this mysterious message, but I hold strong and don’t respond.

This goes on for a few more months and he starts saying, he has my phone number and with that, he can acquire my home address.

Great. Wonderful news. When he was initially trying the amp holding his parking lot concert, he also mentioned he was a master of the dark arts within the martial arts. I was like, “uhhh, cool man.”

He sent his messages for a few more months demanding that I MUST buy the amp back, that I have no choice and the sooner the better. WTF??

I continued to ignore him and around 10 or 12 months after he started demanding I buy the amp back he no longer sent messages or threats. He never showed up at my house and never heard from him again. But I always kept an eye out at places like guitar center, or a big guitar show, etc. for a long time i kept an eye out for this lunatic.

Definitely the weirdest gear deal I’ve ever had, thought of it today for the first time in years.

I’m sure someone has weirder than that, let’s hear them!!
Click to expand...
Hilarious.

I'm not sure what would end up on the R-T Greatest Hits LP, but I'm thinking it would have...
-Steve K's "Hitler Wants His CCV" video
-The Charvel Dan saga (and reappearance as Chester Nimitz)
-Mailman's jean shorts pic
-James Lugo's high gain shootouts
-Bishop5150's gifts from Zakk
-Steve K gifting Mailman the Kamikaze
-The countless "Many men.../I could be a friend to you" lines from DonBarzini
-The Brad King/Mark Day sportscar clip
-Lugo's "Around the World in 30 Days" solo comp
-Barzini using Al Pacino's "Cruising" as a Rickroll link
-The first post of this thread

Sure I'm missing plenty, but that's all I can remember off the top of my head.
 
scriptphase said:
Hilarious.

I'm not sure what would end up on the R-T Greatest Hits LP, but I'm thinking it would have...
-Steve K's "Hitler Wants His CCV" video
-The Charvel Dan saga (and reappearance as Chester Nimitz)
-Mailman's jean shorts pic
-James Lugo's high gain shootouts
-Bishop5150's gifts from Zakk
-Steve K gifting Mailman the Kamikaze
-The countless "Many men.../I could be a friend to you" lines from DonBarzini
-The Brad King/Mark Day sportscar clip
-Lugo's "Around the World in 30 Days" solo comp
-Barzini using Al Pacino's "Cruising" as a Rickroll link
-The first post of this thread

Sure I'm missing plenty, but that's all I can remember off the top of my head.
Click to expand...
Everywhere Charvel Dan posted he was a nearly endless source of amusement - never in the way he would have intended, always at his expense, and for reasons entirely deserved.

If ever you started to feel sorry for the guy, he found a way to mercilessly kill any such sympathy. :LOL:
 
Bardagh said:
Everywhere Charvel Dan posted he was a nearly endless source of amusement - never in the way he would have intended, always at his expense, and for reasons entirely deserved.

If ever you started to feel sorry for the guy, he found a way to mercilessly kill any such sympathy. :LOL:
Click to expand...
Was he the guy who posted the video of that dude getting electrocuted and dropping dead, and people called for a ban because they saw it as way to rid themselves of the tyrant charvel Dan aka Chester Nimitz?
 
mooncobra said:
I’m 6 foot, 210, and I once considered myself physically imposing. Then I met the gorilla gang, asked to join, and they laughed at me and I felt small for the first time.

The gorilla gang are indeed mighty.

VIVA LA GORILLA GANG!!
Click to expand...

Wait until you see 1/4 of the gorilla gang PLUS my wet dry wet Larry + rack plus full stack rig in a tiny dive bar for my misfits cover band

Now THATS imposing!

Im pretty sure the last sound guy screamed like a girl and then cummed himself
 
mooncobra said:
Was he the guy who posted the video of that dude getting electrocuted and dropping dead, and people called for a ban because they saw it as way to rid themselves of the tyrant charvel Dan aka Chester Nimitz?
Click to expand...
I don't know, I only lurked here back then. He was a notorious laughing stock/punching bag back on HCAF. Some of his threads were the funniest things I've ever read on the Internet, just because of how ridiculous and lacking in self-awareness he was. He would post shit he would think made him look like a badass and it would be pages and pages of people ripping him apart, but he would only ever double down.

His posts talking about his dating life were golden. He knew the value of a good handshake.
 
Bardagh said:
I don't know, I only lurked here back then. He was a notorious laughing stock/punching bag back on HCAF. Some of his threads were the funniest things I've ever read on the Internet, just because of how ridiculous and lacking in self-awareness he was. He would post shit he would think made him look like a badass and it would be pages and pages of people ripping him apart, but he would only ever double down.

His posts talking about his dating life were golden. He knew the value of a good handshake.
Click to expand...
That guy was absolutely hilarious. This place was never the same after he got banned.
He seriously had no self awareness and the pictures of the amps in his ghetto apartment were pure gold.
The memes that guys here did were priceless too. So much good!
 
scriptphase said:
Hilarious.

I'm not sure what would end up on the R-T Greatest Hits LP, but I'm thinking it would have...
-Steve K's "Hitler Wants His CCV" video
-The Charvel Dan saga (and reappearance as Chester Nimitz)
-Mailman's jean shorts pic
-James Lugo's high gain shootouts
-Bishop5150's gifts from Zakk
-Steve K gifting Mailman the Kamikaze
-The countless "Many men.../I could be a friend to you" lines from DonBarzini
-The Brad King/Mark Day sportscar clip
-Lugo's "Around the World in 30 Days" solo comp
-Barzini using Al Pacino's "Cruising" as a Rickroll link
-The first post of this thread

Sure I'm missing plenty, but that's all I can remember off the top of my head.
Click to expand...
That was a pretty good rundown off the top of your head
 
gtrwun said:
That guy was absolutely hilarious. This place was never the same after he got banned.
He seriously had no self awareness and the pictures of the amps in his ghetto apartment were pure gold.
The memes that guys here did were priceless too. So much good!
Click to expand...
Oh yeah, the least self aware person I’ve ever seen. A true lunatic of the highest order. He was wildly entertaining!

But, I have to admit, when he resurfaced as Chester Nimitz and people realized it was him, I became secretly excited over his glorious return. Against all odds, he triumphantly returned, bolder than ever. The leader of the Friedman army was back, and he meant business.

That dude didn’t mess around. When he launched his salvo, the entire forum shuddered in horror. Everyone knew Charvel Dan was about to start dropping powerful and omnipotent knowledge.

I remember hoping Steve K would come out to play and initiate battle, and trade blows with Charvel Dan. As a wordsmith, Steve K was an adept, the polar opposite to Charvel Dans crude gutter humor. But, every once in a while, Charvel Dan put up a flurry of dazzling nature and ended with a volley of pure creative genius, albeit, crude and lowbrow. But it eventually fizzled out because he devolved into a furious and mumbling primordial troglodyte, then vanished for a few days while off to lick his wounds preparing to fight another day.

But, am I the only one here who dares to dream? I would not even be surprised if Charvel Dan was an online persona constructed by a master of psychology and the human mind because I used to think to myself, “is he for real, does he believe what he is saying and think we believe it? Whoa!?!”
 
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