My name is ray,a former 20 year professional from australia currently stationed on a military base in afghanistan.
i've recently being trying to source a signature series will ray G & L tele,& initially stumbled upon one through a distributor in the states.it was listed as "in stock" complete with G & L roadcase,certificate of authenticity,2 of will's instructional videos & a set of will's "infamous" finger slides,& for what i considered good value too.however when i went to put my money where their mouth was i was then told it was "not" in stock until november,& offered if i paid up front(with accompanying clause to negate the distributor of any liability) i could wait however long for the instrument on back order.it was then i began to dig a bit deeper & came to realize that the particular model i was after was not only going to be harder to find than expected,but the people i was dealing with via email were in all likelihood oblivious to the product i was trying to purchase & the relevance associated to the extras thrown in with the guitar.as many of you here are no doubt aware despite the fact that will is a first call hired gun for numerous world class artists,he is still an esoteric entity of sorts.meaning you gotta know your onions a bit to get your head around will's unique approach to the instrument,or to have even have heard of him at all to a degree.
a little jilted but still staunch in my resolve i began to then scour ebay,amazon,some music stores & images that popped up in search strings,googled summor etc. & managed to find a few indonesian models & vague references to what could possibly be what im after but no accompanying photos attached.i then went to the G & L site itself & despite having a thorough listing of G & L dealers all i could find was phone numbers & addresses.no email contact listed under any of the dealers on the G & L website at all,so unable to send an SOS out to numerous dealers simultaneously to see what was about.many dealers without websites,some who did had no mention of G & L on their page,other pages were a labyrinth leading nowhere & on it goes..
overseas phone calls where im stationed are a non event really.we are sometimes scrambled(for obvious reasons) & most hook ups are either weak in signal or complete with a near unbearable delay in coms,which is not a good platform for doing business.we're not talking big money here but its far from chump change as well,so email is the only concise method of communication i can really manage sorry.saying that however the company APO is very reliable & i've never once not received a purchase ordered.
Anyway i'll spare you guys more spiel & cut to the chase..
if anyone reading this is a G & L dealer,knows one or where i can purchase either of these EXACT models pictured (new) in the states i'd be greatly appreciative.i've been lucky enough to have exchanged with the man himself regarding this issue the last few days,will has been extremely helpful & has my back regarding the DVD's & the slide rings via his site should i just find the guitar here(though the instrument new should come with the extras as well i'm led to believe).
My R & R leave is late october.the moneys already sitting in the bank & i'll have my manager wire any reputable G & L dealers who can help out here the amount in full to their account with the accompanying APO prior to sending it if all prerequisites aforementioned are met.
Many thanks in advance.
Cheers,
Ray
http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showth ... p?t=692515
