Rarebird Roadrunner

I wanted 24.75" scale, he built 25.5". I wanted an Explorer-style, he REFUSED and gave me a semi-hollow Fender copy instead. BEAUTIFUL woods, I supplied the curly mahogany for the neck, he made a cool quilted carved top, but his workmanship was ridiculous with dimples next to the bridge where he had scribed index marks. Back of headstock had chips missing around tuner posts. He put his name in count-em FIVE places in and all over his "crowning achievement". This all took OVER TEN YEARS from initial payment and order, to our final parting argument.

Installed EMG pickups when I wanted vintage tone - now how WACK is that? Then he replaced EMG's with what he said were Lindy Fralins -- LIAR, I later sold the "Lindy Fralins" on eBay and the hapless guy who bought em told me they were NOT Fralins. Guitar sure sounded good acoustically, though.

He screwed it all up. Warped neck, several dings in the otherwise beautiful wood, gave fretboard markers although I wanted none, no trussrod cover, original beeswax(???) finish was a joke, lacquer refin was decent. Neck had severe back-bow at 5th fret; Bruce said he did that to counteract the pull of the heavy strings I used.

Solid as a rock. I threw it in my kid's backyard swimming pool to cash-in on insurance, left it overnite, and although the lacquer finish and electronics were ruined it still played fine.

Bruce is a rip-off artist SUPREME. I waited YEARS for this axe, HE SHAFTED ME ROYALLY. He stole prime vintage wood and a very valuable aluminum jig from me, then he LAUGHED at me when I asked for them back, this guy is totally devoid of any conscience whatsoever. I finally took his twisted creation to another local luthier who pounded it into playability. I kept it for a few years but it wqas a constant reminder of what an IDIOT I was for trusting Philip Bruce Clay. he started out as a cool guy, but as the years went by I found out his true character for myself, as well as from others he worked with. Bruce was such a total schmuck he finally had to leave town, as his name was MUD with most who knew him. Funny part is, he is capable of really good work; however his scheming side was happy to ignore ethics and the customer when it suited his purpose. There used to be several Rarebird reviews on this site - some good, some bad - including a much lengthier review I posted many years ago, and now they have all disappeared; WHAT'S UP WITH THAT, Harmony Central???

Been playing over 30 years, I trusted Bruce's character at first and traded a truckload of cool banjo parts and woods; he said he would build me 2-3 guitars and tweak others I had... I wound-up paying over $1,000 more in cash and I got this travesty of a guitar, now how STUPID am I? DON'T BE THAT GUY!!!

CUSTOM-BUILT FOLLIES, or HOW NOT TO BUY A CUSTOM GUITAR ... AXE: RAREBIRD ROADRUNNER; semi-hollow, carved maple top, cherry body & sides, set mahogany neck, ebony board, 25.5" scale, Strat pickup configuration. BUILDER: PHILLIP BRUCE CLAY of RAREBIRD GUITAR LABS. This review is intended as a caution against ordering a custom Rarebird Guitar and winding up getting screwed by Phillip Bruce Clay. I have heard more heartbreak stories about Bruce Clay from countless decent and trusting folks who dealt with this guy, than anyone I have dealt with over the last 20 years. If I could have read a review like this in 1985, it would have saved me a whole heap of money, and even more pain. A very personable and friendly individual, and possessing great knowledge & experience, this guy advertised for many years in Vintage Guitar magazine (he even wrote some articles for them when they were still the Music Trader), and his spiel was to let you design your own axe & have it built for less than the average going "market rate". Typically, he would theoretically take a substantial amount up front as down payment, and the buyer would pay off the remainder during construction. In reality, he seemed to be constantly playing a game of robbing Peter to pay Paul, and if you had already given him your dough, you could wait in line and whistle while he plied his more current customers. I wanted a lefty Explorer with a righty body of quilted maple. In 1985 I entered into a "gentleman`s agreement" with Bruce Clay; his promise was to build a custom guitar to my specs, in trade for a truckload of guitar woods, hardware, and jigs. In 1996 (eleven years later), I finally took possession of my "custom built" Rarebird. After waiting several months for the right piece of quilted maple to arrive, Bruce called excitedly to summon me to see the rough-cut body blank; when I got there, I pointed out that he had cut it out backwards (the quilt had one 'best' side), and he got nasty and blamed me for changing my mind, until I told him to look at my spec sheet, which showed his mistake. No big deal, I`ll just wait for another piece of maple. Over the ensuing years, it became apparent to me that Bruce had a terrible aversion to building the then-trendy pointy-shaped axes that were all the rage with Metal bands, and I realized he had no intention to build one for me. After some heated and intimate discussion, I acquiesed to his suggestion of building me an 'ultimate' semi-hollowbody, that could be the most flexible axe of my dreams. Then he got me to start paying on an amount about $1,500 over our original agreement (am I an IDIOT, or what??? I hope someone else can learn from my lunacy!). By the time I was "paid up", he had me talked into accepting/trying his own totally original guitar design (mostly pretty hip), EMG pickups (nice tone, but not even in the ballpark with real pickups, feel-wise or sound-wise), his own fingerboard inlays (I wanted none), bee`s wax finish (!), etc. To Bruce Clay`s credit, when he focuses on doing his best, he can produce superior work; I have seen many instruments of his creation that are great accomplishments. I have seen him repair an old busted-up Gibson hollowbody, which was later inspected by hallowed Mr. George Gruhn, who failed to even notice that it had ever had any repairs! When he takes the time to devote his full energies to doing his best, his work can definitely rank among the best available. Unfortunately, his wanton business practices sometimes preclude his total devotion to his craft, and he winds up rushing through your job, in order to accomodate the next sucker in line. After waiting for over a year after "paying him in full", I tried to get him to finish my axe, and he would get very ugly and abusive over the phone, saying I was lucky to be getting such a great guitar for a pittance, and that he couldn`t afford to work on my guitar essentially for free (

If you like modeling amps and digital effects, you`ll LOVE EMG pickups. If you are a real Tone Nut, do yourself a favor & SAVE YOUR MONEY; when you play EMG`s you will wonder where the rest of your tone is, and there is NONE of the traditional gutsy feel of steel strings & magnets... Whaddya expect, when your tone comes through a complex computerized battery-powered printed circuit? Like a Mesa Boogie Amp, these sound like a million bucks when someone else is playing, but the soulful interaction a player expects to feel is mostly absent. Lots of tonal choices available, many folks swear by them, but I say "Yuck".

How good can it be, when it`s built with a back-bowed neck? Fit & finish sub-par for as much time & money as it took. Someday, when I build my own first guitar, I will easily turn out quality that will leave this abomination choking in its own dust.

Stable as a rock. Still playable after its swim. I think the dunking actually might have improved the neck!

I earned an Honorary Degree from the Advanced School of Hard Knocks, for all the time, money, and hassle Bruce Clay dished my way during this ordeal. I was mislead, lied to, stolen from, laughed at, ranted to, and cursed. When the beeswax finish didn`t pan out, it took another 15 months to get the lacquer sprayed. I won`t even mention the lack of credibilty it must take to deliver such a bungled job, and still have your name proudly plastered all over it.

Overall, Bruce tried and I tried; I think we both goofed up. I`d like to slam Bruce for all the hassle, but I`m nearly as responsible for letting the whole thing get so far out of hand; I should have cut my losses before sinking in the extra $1,500, and taken whatever I could get at that point. Here`s my story, what`s yours?