Pat is a great guy to work with, he explained the entire process clearly. I was able to contact him a request a change in the type of finish at the last moment and he accommodated it. My bass was refinished flawlessly, and looks stunning after I reassembled it. Highest recommendation!
Its getting way past the expected time on a body I sent to be painted. Communication was great before I sent the body... and payment... not so great since. I've been dread to attempt to bother Pat with questions but this is getting ridiculous. If it wasn't a carefully chosen 30 year old piece of wood I'd cut my losses and move on. I will gladly update this review if I ever get the body back. At this point I don't even care if its painted.
I recently had a guitar painted by Sims Custom Shop. I'm glad I contacted them. From start to finish, the experience was great.
They exceeded my expectations. I highly recommend Sims Custom Shop to anyone looking to have theirs guitar painted.
I bought a guitar body that had previously been swirled and clear coated by someone else (not Sims Custom Shop). The clear coat that was on the body wasn't great though. I had Sims Custom Shop re-clear the body, buff it and polish it. The results were literally fantastic! The body looks absolutely perfect and the clear coat is like glass, literally. Perfectly flat. Perfectly smooth.
I was so impressed that I sent Sims one of my other guitars for a full refinish, which I'm so excited to see!
Communication was on point. I was kept in the loop the entire process. Shipping was fast. The work is flawless.
Pat Sims takes your guitar and makes you prepay. B\Very nice before that, once the guitar is there, you end up in a black hole. He does not respond to inquiries nor does he return your guitar. Despite him stating "Guitar has been painted and is currently hanging up curing. "Our turnaround time is generally in the 3 month range for something such as this." after three month of having the instrument, another three have elapsed. He won't respond to emails and have yet to get my guitar back! Do not send your beloved instrument to him. He is a scam artist.
Guitar arrived right on time... he thinks bc he’s a Dr he deserves “special treatment.”
After looking at C Steiger’s reviews online, with a trail of negative complains posted from patients, he really doesn’t have any place to be criticizing anyone...
He’s left this review simply in retaliation for the fact that we did not insure his guitar and pay for signature delivery, even though he never requested it to be insured nor paid for insurance. Attempted to hold us personally responsible (Unsuccessfully) when FedEx delivered his guitar to the wrong address (which was recovered by them and redelivered the very next day).
Guitar was completed and turned out absolutely flawless. Video of the completed instrument can be seen at the attached link:
https://youtu.be/-yYt80gC3Mw
His response via email when he received the guitar: “I am happy to tell you that the guitar made it my doorstep tonight. The guitar looks great, and I have no issues with the quality of your workmanship.”
FedEx tracking #: 396121809943
I received my telecaster back from Sims today and the quality of work blew me away. Working with Patrick every step of the way was a pleasure—he's a pro and an artist. I recommend him to anyone wanting to upgrade or restore the finish on their guitars. I hope to work with him again on a Jazzmaster or Gretsch. Wonderful process and product.
Very responsive to emails until he gets your money. He had my guitar for much longer than I was told and he's got an excuse for everything. Stops responding to emails shortly after he receives your guitar and portrays that he did repair work when he did not, he was only doing a paint job. Got my guitar back and he blocked me on everything possible. STAY AWAY!
Placed an order for a custom body in swamp ash. Patrick was in constant communication throughout the process and provided pictures when asked. The turnaround time for the body was under three weeks, which also included the time necessary to order the wood. I am very pleased with the final product and hope to do business with him again in the future.
I finally got My guitar back after 3 years and 3 months. It looks nice in the picks but close up the Quality is not the best. I believe the only reason I got it back now is because I posted comments on this site. I have nothing to gain by putting False information out here. Patrick Sims has some good skills, but lacks in customer service.
I will now have to send it back out to be refinished by someone who can do it right!
I have a large guitar collection and could have been a repeat customer, but my business will be going somewhere else.
Scott
Initially this customer posted a false review stating he had not received his guitar. He flat out refused to remove that review even AFTER receiving his guitar back from us to intentionally make it appear to future readers we had not returned his guitar body. We requested repeatedly for him to remove the false review and his only response was “I’ll have to think about it”.
So, in response to his refusal to remove the misleading & inaccurate review we posted pictures of his completed guitar onto here as well as a YouTube video of the guitar we did for him (a 1992 BC Rich body). He then in response immediately deleted his false review of not receiving the body and posted a new review that it took too long and wasn’t the best.
Customer states he has nothing to gain by posting a false review... the truth is while he may have nothing to gain financially by doing that, he gets some self satisfaction of posting up a false review bc we didn’t finish it as quickly as he would have liked. We did exactly the paint job he requested. Essentially the purpose of his review is to be vindictive.
To date we have painted over 3,000 guitars, of which over 2,000 of them are documented on our Instagram page here:
https://www.instagram.com/simscustomshopguitars/
Pictures & video of his completed guitar so you can judge for yourself:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BhFULhvDImi/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BhFUP24jaNT/
YouTube video of completed guitar:
https://youtu.be/7zXOPUxDjHA
I'm still waiting. 3 Years and 2 Months now !!
I finally got a short response saying my guitar body would be done next week. He even asked to confirm my shipping address. That was months ago!!!!!
I have been a guitar collector/ repair technician for 30+ years. sent my guitar to Pat in Jan 2015, it is now Jan 2018. He won't respond to my E-mails, doesn't answer the phone. I did get one response back in Sept 2017, he said" I will have your guitar shipped out in two weeks." I'm still waiting! At this point, I just want it back, finished or not! 3 YEARS is too long to wait with no communication!
I have been waiting for my guitar to be refinished for 3 years now! Once he gets your money, its gone! He wont reply to emails, or answer the phone AT ALL EVER! It's too bad he can't run a business.
STAY AWAY FROM THIS GUY!!!
I had pretty high expectations about the new paint design I had in mind for my Warwick GPS Corvette. After talking it over with Patrick I was pretty confident he understood exactly what I was aiming for. I couldn't wait to see the results. I wanted a rock&roll retro look on a German bass. Well I just got the body back and I was blown away by just how Patrick at Sims Refinishing was able to nail my vision. They even exceeded my expectations and I'm already getting ready for my next project. I recommend Sims Refinishing to anyone that is looking for the highest level refinishing on your guitar or bass. And yes, they hand cut and painted the checker binding pattern. Excellent
The paint job turned out fantastic! Just what I expected. It did take a few months to get the bass back, but Pat had tornados go through and take the power down along with knocking a tree down into his roof. Took a few weeks to get power restored and things cleaned up to start refinishing again. Pat stayed in contact with me the entire time. So once again, Great Job!
I experienced the same exact thing with no return emails. Patrick had my guitar for 16 weeks and I don't think I would still not have it back unless I contacted the Better Business Bureau. I actually got him on the phone and told him I was contacting the local police if I didn't get it shipped back within 3 days. I got it back it was painted and cleared and would have looked fantastic but their were marks from the shipping plastic. I had no problem with that because I was happy to get it back but I did pay an additional $37 up front to have it returned in laptop box that was padded so that didn't happen either. The website gives you an impression it's a first class outfit but it is not. Do yourself a favor and hit the pass button. Check out Psychotic Air in Batavia Illinois. I took the guitar there to get the marks from shipping buffed out and when I seen some of their work I was amazed. Mark is a super cool guys and cares about customer service.
We sent this customer, Shane Popovich, 17 emails, all of which I still have copies of.
3/24/14 - 1st email sent to him with a price quote, shipping info, etc
The dates of the following emails are:
3/26/14
3/29/14 - Notified him he sent payment for the paint job, but did not pay the return shipping charge. Notified him that would need to collect that before the guitar could be shipped back.
3/31/14
3/31/14
3/31/14
3/31/14
3/31/14
4/1/14
4/1/14
4/2/14
5/29/14
7/2/14 - Informed him the guitar was finished and ready to ship. Sent multiple pictures of it painted. Requested him to send the $37 shipping fee that he did not send with the initial payment.
7/22/14
8/6/14
8/6/14
8/7/14 - Fedex tracking # sent
He stated in his review he was “happy to pay the additional $37 to have it returned in a lap top box”, but the reality is when he sent a PayPal payment initially he only paid for the price of the paint job ($290) even though I quoted him $327 ($290 + $37 return shipping).
I would not ship the guitar to him until he paid the $37 shipping. This infuriated him. He threatened that if i did not ship it in “3 days” he would: Call my local police and file a negative review for me on the BBB. I informed him if he did those things that i would inform the police when they contacted me that he had not paid the return shipping yet and I would tell the BBB the same thing. I was never contacted by the police, but he did file a negative review with the BBB stating I had stolen his guitar and refused to ship it back. I responded to the review stating he had not paid the $37 shipping charge which we had actually requested to be paid in the beginning. The guitar sat here for a long time before he finally paid the shipping.
Pictures of completed guitar:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/123934152@N07/24731952307/in/dateposted/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/123934152@N07/38891310144/in/dateposted/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/123934152@N07/39599569211/in/dateposted/
I've been handcrafting guitars since 2004 (DC Custom Guitars USA) and feel so fortunate to have finally meet someone who can meet my high expectations in finish quality and customer service. Pat Sims /Sims Custom shop is an expert in his craft and the guitar finishing service he offers is top notch. Stop wasting you money and valuable time with self proclaimed pro painters and get to Sims.\m/
I got my guitar body today after I send it for a custom paint job and I am very satisfied and impressed with the quality of work Pat did. He explain the entire process to me at the begging and I was very clear for the amount of time that the job take in order to be done right, and right it was. What a beautiful work he did! Pat is an artist!
The guitar looks great and sound great as well.
Thank you Pat!
Have a 1972 P Bass that I got when I was 18 years old. I am now 66 and the body has been thru alot of upgrades and had been stripped as well. Really in bad shape. Sent it to Sims and in about 16 weeks I could not believe it was the same bass. Commination was 100 percent thru Messenger & phone. I read some negative reviews on line about the time frame of the work but I never experienced any of that. The work was just amazing and I can not sat enough about the quality of work.
It takes time to paint and cure a guitar. End result is amazing. I couldn't get fender custom shop to make a guitar with the color Sims painted my old guitar. This is step one in turning an old gig guitar into a masterpiece and I couldn't be happier
Patrick just finished painting a Jazz Bass for me in a Highland Bullet Green with ceramic coat. It's absolutely gorgeous and he couldn't be a finer guy to deal with. No, this level of custom craftsmanship is not fast and you shouldn't expect it to be. But if you want the highest level of guitar finishing, this is a great shop to use. Can't recommend his work enough. I'll be sending him more projects I know.
I sent Pat this 1990 Horrible Pink American Standard Telecaster Body I purchased on E-Bay to Pat for restoration. Pat did a fantastic Job. The Body was very ruff. I think someone had attempted to Relic It but all they did was mess it up. I am very pleased with the awesome job Pat and his staff did to bring this American Classic back to life. I highly Recommend them for all of your guitar refinish needs!
After almost 3 yrs I finally got my guitar back. Pat gave me a call and explained everything to me and also his solution to his problem. After being on the phone for a while I was satisfied with his explanation. I can never fault him with his work as he does amazing work. His Isaura was time management and customer service which he both addressed and gave solutions. I am satisfied with the work
Someone contacted me when I sent another follow up and said they just started working with sims and is replying to e-mails, this is the follow up e-mail I got.
I checked on it for you today. They have the body painted & clear coated, but needs to be sanded, buffed and polished. The headstock has been painted and the logo applied, but needs to be clear coated.
That was a month ago, been following up since then and still no news. Really bad customer service and still no guitar.
During some maintenance I foolishly managed to severely damage the finish on my EVH Music Man. I love this guitar. I also have loads of sentimental attachment to it and I was crushed. I was convinced it would never be the same. I emailed Sims some photos and asked for a quote. I was provided with a price I felt was fair as well as an explanation of exactly what would be done to refinish it. At the time I had no idea just how fair the price was. The instrument I received from Sims looked better than it did when I purchased it brand new in 1992.
Knowing my story and my attachment to the guitar Patrick could have easily doubled his price and taken advantage of me. Instead, he charged me a fair price and saved the dang day. I was honestly stunned when I opened the box to see my newly refinished guitar.
His work far exceeded my expectations.
Overview
Sims Custom Shop has a rating of 4.2 stars from 135 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally satisfied with their purchases. Reviewers satisfied with Sims Custom Shop most frequently mention paint job, guitar body and customer service. Sims Custom Shop ranks 2nd among Guitars sites.
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- Chattanooga, TN, United States
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This was completed & sent back within days of this review, but he never came back to update his review... this is also 1 of 2 bodies he sent, the second of which he received about a month prior to this review which he didn’t mention.
The wood was old reclaimed wood from a pier, so it was a bit time consuming of a job due to the roughness of the wood and him wanting a smooth & slick final finish.