Here's the details.
I was contacted by Braam Van Der Westhuizen, he lived in S.Africa, and his friend Joe Slovo (3 Klerksdorp, South Africa) had the guitar. They contacted me originally asking $100k. Just on a hipshot, after seeing the glued-on "gibson" logo (and knowing he was in S.Africa), i offered him $45k. I knew damn well he wouldn't accept that offer, but he did!
At this point i was like, "damn i can't believe i'm buying this guitar." Braam offered to meet at Tambo Airport Johannesburg, but I wasn't so keen on doing that. In hind sight, that's exactly what I should have done.
Instead i contacted a friend that does a lot of guitar buying in S.Africa. He recommended a guy named Mark Grace, who sells vintage guitars in S.Africa. My friend felt that Mark Grace was trustworth and knew guitars, so it seemed like a good fit, as my friend had bought from MG many times before. Mark Grace agreed to get the guitar and bring it to the Dallas guitar show (which he was thinking about attending) for $5000. Ok seems reasonable. Again we tried to wire him the money but he insisted on first "checking out the guitar to make sure it was real." That should have been my big clue, him not wanting to accept the wire transfer. We emailed MG the contact info for Joe/Braam.
So of course Mark Grace went and checked out the guitar, and then proceeded to buy it from Joe/Braam. At this point there was nothing I could do, i was screwed. We tried to get Mark Grace to "do the right thing", but he stopped answering the phone/emails. In the end, i didn't even get a "thank you", much less the guitar. We even tried to contact Mark Grace's dad (who also deals in vintage guitars), and he wouldn't help either.
(original emails available if there's any doubt.)
I am going to try and keep this simple..
Firstly, Braam/Joe Slovo were not the owners of the Burst.
Secondly, I (Mark Grace) was offered $3000 to secure a guitar by a dealer in the USA which I refused as it would not cover my expenses.
Thirdly, I was already the new owner of the Burst by the time I received any contact info. from the dealer in the US.
The deal was done with me. I can send you the emails. The day I got the contact info from Braam/Joe, that info was sent to my friend, and then sent to Mark Grace. Mark contacted my friend, stated that week he was going to "examine" the guitar, which he did (he actually bought it.) Then Mark Grace decide to stop communication with us, and well, you know the rest of the story.
So sorry, i don't believe the "Fred" story. He's trying to manipulate the facts to somehow convince himself (and others) that what was done was "right." It's not right, and he knows it.
Again if any one wants any of the emails sent between myself and Braam/Joe, i would be happy to provide them (or even post them here, with exact email addresses, if that is needed.)
On the $5000 arrival fee, I was going through a friend, so perhaps the $5000 was being padded a bit by him (not unreasonable, given that i really didn't want to go to S.Africa, and i did not know Mark Grace.) The $5000 also included getting the guitar to me (I wasn't going to Dallas, my friend was, and there were obviously transportation fees involved with that.) He would also "authenticate" the guitar there at Dallas. So I would expect he had some costs and profits involved in the transaction.
On the price of the guitar, realistically, it's a $100k burst. My cost up front would be $50k (including all transportation fees), or 50%. I don't see that as unreasonable. Also the owner knew it was a $100k guitar, as that's what he was asking originally. I made an offer, and he accepted (he didn't have to accept the offer.)
