You can spend a LONG time on this website.
http://www.edroman.com/guitars/basses.htm
Yes, it would be nice if he had a good reputation...which I have heard he does not.
he was quite the punching bag at the old pit.
I'll admit that what I've heard is all second hand, but it was enough to make me cautious.
Ed's photo ought to be in the thesaurus under "full of sh*t as a Christmas goose."
My one attempt to buy a bass from him years ago convinced me that he's a bait and switch artist. And that was before I had read the horror stories about people who contracted with him to mod their guitars and had them ruined.
I haven't looked at his site in a few years and I won't now.
Oh, c'mon now! It takes a lot of work to reshape those Chinese and Korean eBay bodies and Carvin necks into looking like bad knockoffs of decent basses. ;D ... and under his 'Fender' section he calls the Performer "the best bass Fender ever made!" For those of you who have had the fortune of never encountering one, the Performer could best be described as the anti-Gibson, thin sounding and pointier than a Poison video full of BC Rich's.
I don't know him personally. He may be a total *sshole, or maybe not. I don't really care.
The pictures of his instruments are fun to look at.
Quote from: nofi on August 11, 2010, 06:02:43 PM
he was quite the punching bag at the old pit.
I called him up for some info on something a few years back and we had a nice long conversation about vintage and reissue instruments. He seemed like a really nice guy but I've never done business with him.
I definately agree about him being a punching bag though, and not just at the old pit. I've never heard a kind word about him anywhere :o
Rick
I have spent a lot of time on his website, been to his two of his shops a bunch of times met his wife (she is really nice) and chatted with Mr. Roman a number of times and even bought a guitar from him once.
He is brash,opinionated, curt and even insensitive, especially if you like anything with Gibson on it.
Having said that I like him and he has some really good ideas about building a guitar, I have stolen many of them for my own projects.
Have y'all seen Zachary Guitars, I love Alex's stuff, here is his take on a Firebird.
//http://www.zacharyguitars.com/230407pics.htm
He is another guy that most people love to hate... he is just out there enough for me.
Only 32 gold titanium frets? How dare he call the Caeser Bass fit for a king? A Kaiser maybe. ;D Vegas, Baby!
Quote from: Basvarken on August 12, 2010, 03:07:10 AM
The pictures of his instruments are fun to look at.
That's what I think!
Anybody know what that big all-white hollowbody is? Seen here:
(http://www.edroman.com/general/images/DSC_0044.JPG)
T-bird headstock, Trini Lopez style f-holes... ???
Quote from: chromium on August 12, 2010, 10:57:13 AM
Anybody know what that big all-white hollowbody is?
I'm guessing he copied Dusty Hill's Bolin bass (http://www.hollowbodybass.com/hollowbody-bassists/dusty-hill.htm).
(http://www.hollowbodybass.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/10/bolinwhiteb.jpg)
Quote from: ilan on August 12, 2010, 11:12:44 AM
I'm guessing he copied Dusty Hill's Bolin bass (http://www.hollowbodybass.com/hollowbody-bassists/dusty-hill.htm).
Right on! Thanks Ilan.
Quote from: Psycho Bass Guy on August 12, 2010, 02:14:18 AM
Oh, c'mon now! It takes a lot of work to reshape those Chinese and Korean eBay bodies and Carvin necks into looking like bad knockoffs of decent basses. ;D ...
:mrgreen:
Quote from: Basvarken on August 12, 2010, 03:07:10 AM
I don't know him personally. He may be a total *sshole, or maybe not. I don't really care.
The pictures of his instruments are fun to look at.
I don't know him personally either. But if you find a picture of an instrument with what seems like a reasonable price, you'll be told they don't have it any more.
His opinions don't bother me. OTOH I have read a number of testimonials from people who sent guitars to him to do one of his various recommended mods and wound up with ruined instruments. Once or twice, you figure it might just be disgruntled customers. More than that, you realize there's a real problem.
I remember a guy at the Rick Resource Forum who had read Ed's rants about the "huge" neck and heel on the Rick 650. So he sent his 650 in for Ed's "craftsmen" to work their magic. They shaved off too much, the neck bent like a banana and Ed refused to take responsibility for it. What astonished me even more was that the customer then wanted RIC to do something about it!
Quote from: Dr. Aquafresh on August 12, 2010, 09:02:19 AM
Have y'all seen Zachary Guitars, I love Alex's stuff, here is his take on a Firebird....
He is another guy that most people love to hate... he is just out there enough for me.
Anybody who flaunts his ignorance the way he does ought to be pitied, not hated. Then there's the pathetically bad workmanship. If the pics on his website are his good work, I'd hate to see his rejects.
I found this intersting fools guitar & bass. Notice Billy Gibbons
http://www.edroman.com/guitars/gibson/fool.htm
Next time I go to Vegas I might try to go there.
Isn't he the "plays like buttah" guy?
All I know is that when I saw Mountain a few years back, he was using one of Roman's Steinberger copies, and it looked and sounded pretty good.
Leslie West was endorsing or marketing a Steinberger bassed guitar, he origionaly called it the Westberger. It was available through Ed Roman. I believe it had a tremelo arm that could actually change the key or tuning of the guitar. :o
http://www.edroman.com/guitars/lsr/leslie.htm
Quote from: Grog on August 12, 2010, 04:01:24 PM
I believe it had a tremelo arm that could actually change the key or tuning of the guitar. :o
That sounds like the Trans-trem bridge units that you could get on some of the Steinys.
I played in a band where the guitarist had one of those, and actually did some tasteful stuff with it. It maintained intervals almost perfectly while bending chords- unlike most other trems I've encountered.
His rep is for a reason.
I got a TransTrem Stein from them about 8 years ago IIRC. Less than 200 were made. When I got it, none of the controls did anything. I pulled the faceplate and the internals were wired direct bypassing the controls. When I called I got the "Oh yeah, we didn't have time to look at that one before you bought it". By then I had read the negatives and decided to just keep it. When son started college it got sold for $$$$ and the buyer put NOS Hazlabs guts in it successfully.
Buyer beware.
I thought he went out of business last year?
Quote from: Aussie Mark on August 12, 2010, 05:23:11 PM
I thought he went out of business last year?
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v47/gcarlston/dudepit/leprechaun1.jpg)
Yeah, he's got a new job now...
Ed Roman Guitars has an F rating (http://www.vegasbbb.org/bbb_rated_acc_rpt.asp?bbbid=61842&tr=rated&lg=F&ex=19&cc=zz0@zqz@B2) from the Better Business Bureau. It doesn't get any lower than that. You have to have a lot of unresolved complaints and other problems to get an F.
And before anyone jumps in and says that the BBB only gives top ratings to businesses that pay for their accredited program, I can tell you that in the past year I've dealt with several A+ and A rated contractors who weren't in their accredited program.
Quote from: Barklessdog on August 12, 2010, 03:27:26 PM
I found this intersting fools guitar & bass. Notice Billy Gibbons
http://www.edroman.com/guitars/gibson/fool.htm
Next time I go to Vegas I might try to go there.
Dig the "Jack Bruce Matching Bass"!
Interesting page, lots of cool photos.