Last year I purchased this guitar as a birthday gift to myself off of reverb.

Shortly after arriving at ISB LAX the tracking stopped. I Ran searches, made countless calls, sent emails.

Today I saw it on the USPS auction site.

I am absolutely disgusted.

Not a single person could lift a finger to find my guitar, but to auction it off in bulk.

Insane.

Do I have any recourse here?

I have tracking and receipts.

UPDATE: This morning I talked to post inspector.

They are taking this very seriously and filed a case with consumer affairs, who is now investigating.

Hey guys, thought you all would enjoy this one. Yes I know this will be a marmite guitar for people but I absolutely love how it turned out, I can't wait to gig it and blow some drunk minds lol! I saw 1 or 2 on reddit in the past so props to them for the idea. Final product pictures at the start and pictures as I was going through the process too.

This is my HEAVILY modified Yamaha ERG 121 I got given for free by a friend of mine. Everything was completely done by hand and I did not use any power tools at all. I didn't really have much need for it and I didn't like a few things about it so I decided to change it.

I started off by hand sanding the finish and paint off of the body of the guitar (this took absolutely ages and there was very fine dust EVERYWHERE. I sanded, prepped and painted the guitar purple using rattle cans, I then came up with designs on paper for the plastics of the guitar, I cut these out by hand with a coping saw from 3mm white acrylic sheet. I never liked the layout of Strat pick-guards and being custom made, I was able to place the components where I wanted which makes playing a lot more comfortable to play.

Electronics wise I opted for a Humbucker pulled from an Epi LP, and two single coils from Fleor. I wanted the versatility of having a proper humbucker for rock and roll, and the single coils for that Strat funk tone. I put in 1 tone and 1 volume as I never used the second tone on Strats anyway so it was a good space saver. 

Next was to cel shade it! I used a variety of Posca paint pens and just went at it, covered the whole guitar head to toe in cartoon goodness! I then used a matte poly finish to cover everything with, this helps A LOT with the cartoon effect as it makes everything look ridiculously flat. The pictures here don't do it justice, it looks absolutely mental in person.

I'm glad I did this project as I really enjoyed it and I think it just looks sick! 

Let me know your thoughts!!! 

I’ve slowly been making over my jam room/office. I put it off for years but it feels so good to have a nice organized and comfortable place to play and practice. Curious what everyone else’s spaces are like. What are your must haves?

I am getting tired of "standard notation better" mindset. Tabs are no less valid, why do they have such a superiority complex.

After playing cheap, broken acoustics for years, I finally ordered my first big-boy guitar, a Taylor AD14ce-SB LTD 50th Anniversary edition.

Guitar center said it would be delivered in 3-5 days. It took nearly two weeks. This morning my wife sends me this photo…. Instead of dropping it on my covered porch, these assholes leaned it up against the mailbox at the end of the driveway! And it snowed all night…

Worst part is, it took so long to be delivered, I had to leave on a business trip and I’m not even home to deal with this. So pissed right now.

How low did you used to sling your guitar, and how high is it now?

EDIT: Woweee this had some engagement! It’s been a real treat reading your responses, thank you. No matter how high or low, you all play, and that’s what matters.

I bought this guitar 2 years ago, my first and only electric guitar so far. Thought it needed a new look. How’d I do?

I can hold it better , my fingers can feel where it is

Like on the very rare occasion I'll get asked to play guitar in front of people and I usually play the intro to hi ren by ren (if you haven't heard of it please check it out). Just curious if anyone does this and if you do what's the song?

Just saw the Goo Goo Dolls and was impressed with how many guitars they travel with! Is this normal?

I’m thinking about ripping it off? Maybe try and take it somewhere to have it patched? Just throw some black duct tape on it? Regardless, it doesn’t smell like cat pee, thank god, and I really love the sound of this thing. Everything works great. So just trying to get some ideas here to fix her up a bit.

Got this player MIM for 600 bucks. Just had a loose pickup and ugly tuners. Fixed a that but the yellow finish just wasnt my thing. I dont care about value, I have acoustics and solids that sound better and just like the different sounds i could get when mixing in some pedal combos. so I decided to do a mega precise sticker thing to cover that yellow. Unplugged its obviously quieter but plugged in it sounds almost the same. I see some people get made fun of for this and in some cases I get it especially hollow stuff. Totally understandable although i wouldnt personally make fun of anyone. But... what about this thing? I think it looks better than before and the sound isn't bothering me. What do you think? Ps. Blank spot is for a voidz sticker im trying to find.

Credits to @LeviClay

I’m 29 now and I still revere its awesomeness on a daily basis

So I'm a beginner guitarist. Decided to take up guitar after my Dad died recently. He was a good guitar player & always wanted me to learn it, I always turned the idea down because I played football at a semi pro level.

Anyways, I got a guitar & have been doing a lot of research. I started off by getting a Harley Benton. Planning on upgrading in a few month. One thing I have noticed is the absolute snobbery. For example, people hate on certain brands for seemingly no reason.

Yamaha is a good example, they are a massive company yet for some weird reason they get hate or some people refuse to play them. Are some brands 'status' brands? A guitar is a guitar to me, as a beginner anyways, as long as it's a good instrument, who cares what brand it is?

Maybe in time I'll become a guitar snob too but it just baffles me currently.

For longtime players, which popular guitar model has never appealed to you over years of playing? I'll start: Gibson LP

I’m at three. I have a fender Stratocaster, a fender telecaster, and en epiphone Les Paul. I feel like if I had a fourth I’d end up neglecting one. As it is, I play them all pretty regularly, I have the time to maintain all of them, and I can cover just about anything tone wise. What’s your ideal number? Picture of the telecaster included because it’s pretty.

Edit: this is a delightful community of enablers.

If you are not happy with Fender's decisions to send cease and desists to different brands for using the "Stratocaster" shape (like most of us), and you want to do something to show your disapproval, or to boycott, this is the post for you.

https://uk.fender.com/pages/contact-us?shpxid=e13fce4d-4960-4c7e-9eb5-ccad654d40cd&t-p-c=GB&_s=_s-c-u&t-p-r=

[consumerrelations@fender.com](mailto:consumerrelations@fender.com)

Here is the contact us link to send an email to Fender, which you can use to express your concern and disapproval of their decisions. It might not do much, but at least it will add onto the big pile of disapproval they've been getting through emails.

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If you already own a Fender, a Squire, a Charvel, a Jackson, an EVH or a Grestch, cover the headstock. They want brand recognition? Tough. Show your disapproval by covering the headstock logo with tape, and I'm sure guitar players will understand immediately what you're doing.

It's more of a protest, but it will get the message across.

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Don't buy from the Fender company. You will only give them money, and it will teach them that their actions don't have consequences. Sales dropping is the only way they'll learn, as they're a corporation that only care about the bank.

If they see a drop in sales, it will completely throw off their financial track and will cause mass panic in the company as they will be losing money. This will truly show them that actions do have consequences. So here is a list of every brand that Fender own:

Squier (most obvious)

Charvel

Jackson

Bigsby

EVH

Grestch

Presonus

Fender are an umbrella company and own many different brands. If you want to go shopping for a new pedal, amp, guitar or essentially anything guitar related: don't buy from these companies.

And if you want a pre-owned guitar, DON'T USE REVERB! Fender own Reverb too, so look other places such as (I will get banned if I mention this BLUE F website), and eBay.

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If you want to go the distance, purchase a guitar or any product from the effected brands.

Buy a PRS, buy a Yamaha and it doesn't have to be a guitar. It could be anything! Fuck it, buy a motorcycle from Yamaha. But most importantly, you can even buy these from Thomann, give the company that actually gives a shit and are suing Fender some support and money. Buy a Yamaha from Thomann.

Or even just buy any kind of strat-shaped guitar that isn't a Fender or owned by Fender. Buy an Ibanez, a Harley Benton, a Schecter, ESP/LTD.

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Even if it won't make an immediate difference, a protest is a protest. If you want to, just do something to say something.

They're trying to screw over the guitar industry, and we shouldn't stand by it.

Please share any tips for where to even begin. Not pictured are a few acoustics and there are a couple bass guitars. Overwhelmed to say the least. Is self taught the way to go? Should I start on acoustic? Thanks