NGD: B(owes)RJ back from the dead

[Steinmetzify]

This was a great read, and kudos to Brian for finishing it up and making it playable, he’s always seemed like a good dude to me.

Also he has legit one of the best headstock designs in the business.

 

[Edika]

Oh man, how many years has it been since the BRJ debacle! I was so close in putting a deposit for it! I thank my lucky star I decided against it!

Great job by Brian bringing it back to life and HN(O)GD! It seems like it plays great, regardless of any finish flaw from Bernie. You have to give him some credit though for trapping some of Mars in the finish (autocorrect, I know lol).

 

[eaeolian]

Good stuff! Great to see this one resurrected, that neck looks crazy thin just like my Hesperian. The end was a total mess but there are some fanatic BRJ guitars out there.

It would be interesting to see what an actual responsible businessman could come up with by pairing with his Mexican factory.

 

[twguitar]

It would be interesting to see what an actual responsible businessman could come up with by pairing with his Mexican factory.

Those guys are still building themselves, but a much smaller set up than the BCR days and even the Jr era, they got burnt in the fallout too. Ive always thought BCR should be using them for a U-series type set up but there are historic issues there which will probably stop it ever happening.

 

[CanserDYI]

Okay I wasnt around for all this but I'm seeing a lot of vague speech about what happened to BRJ? Did dude actually die, or is it a running joke that he might as well have died because he ghosted?

 

[twguitar]

Okay I wasnt around for all this but I'm seeing a lot of vague speech about what happened to BRJ? Did dude actually die, or is it a running joke that he might as well have died because he ghosted?

He died towards the end of 2020.

 

[Humbuck]

He died. Do a search on here...there are multiple threads about it.

 

[CanserDYI]

He died. Do a search on here...there are multiple threads about it.

oh i've read through a lot of them just always seems to be in jest or like I said, ambiguous on what really happened. I was seeing posts from like mid 2010's about him "dying" and I think those might have been what led me to believe it was a joke.

 

[Randy]

Been following this one on the socials. Still love the specs and lines on these. Now that he's defunct (from the planet Earth), I might have to put one together for myself.

 

[guitar_player4_2_0]

Great looking guitar, glad you were able to get it put together so well.

Question, how much were these Black Friday Special deals that never got finished roughly? And how long ago was it? I remember reading about it years ago, but I can’t recall if that was when it first happened or a bit down the road even at that point.

 

[Thaeon]

Great looking guitar, glad you were able to get it put together so well.

Question, how much were these Black Friday Special deals that never got finished roughly? And how long ago was it? I remember reading about it years ago, but I can’t recall if that was when it first happened or a bit down the road even at that point.

Its been about a decade. I remember reading about it as it was happening. Same sort of thing happened with Mojave amps. DAR amps. Mike Sherman. These dudes just ghosted. Like a whole crop of builders sprung up and then ghosted in a span of less than 10 years. It was wild. The current crop of reputable builders are really struggling right now too. Supply issues are strangling their ability to finish guitars and profit from their work.

 

[Hollowway]

Its been about a decade. I remember reading about it as it was happening. Same sort of thing happened with Mojave amps. DAR amps. Mike Sherman. These dudes just ghosted. Like a whole crop of builders sprung up and then ghosted in a span of less than 10 years. It was wild. The current crop of reputable builders are really struggling right now too. Supply issues are strangling their ability to finish guitars and profit from their work.

Yep. DAR has a Tuzzia I sent them (him) for a switch repair (after buying it used from another forum member). He still has it. He doesn’t seem to care at all about making things right with everyone (after having talking with him on and off for years).

And @guitar_player4_2_0 I can’t remember the exact cost of these. Pretty sure they were a bit under $2000, though. Maybe $1800 or $1600 base, plus whatever upgrades you wanted? I believe there was a thread on here about it.

 

[Thaeon]

Yep. DAR has a Tuzzia I sent them (him) for a switch repair (after buying it used from another forum member). He still has it. He doesn’t seem to care at all about making things right with everyone (after having talking with him on and off for years).

And @guitar_player4_2_0 I can’t remember the exact cost of these. Pretty sure they were a bit under $2000, though. Maybe $1800 or $1600 base, plus whatever upgrades you wanted? I believe there was a thread on here about it.

Unfortunate because those were cool amps.

 

[Hollowway]

Unfortunate because those were cool amps.

Yep. They were. I didn’t actually dig the Tuzzia as much as the Fryette 50CL I got around the same time, though. It seemed considerably looser, so I’d probably have liked the FBM or whatever the other DAR was called.