Music Ground go into liquidation

[Rob Livesey]

Just heard from a reliable source that Music Ground in the UK have gone into liquidation yesterday with debts of one million pounds. Does anyone have any info?

Cheers,
Rob.

[paulster]

I heard the same thing yesterday as well, with no further information than you have.

I feel for the people employed by them building the Hiwatt, JMI and Sound City amps, but I imagine we'll see a lot fewer freshly unearthed 'vintage' Marshalls for sale now, which can only be a good thing.

[David Root]

I have heard about those Marshalls elsewhere, whoever was doing that will just keep on doing it somewhere else, it's too profitable to just go away.

Sort of like those strange little shops in Japan in the '80s finding all those "previously unknown" '50s Strats.

[ToneMerc]

A couple of months ago they wanted to sell me a set of repro Clapton JTM45 knobs for $190+ shipping, almost $210 total.........nuts.

[Allynmey]

Coudn't happen to a nicer bunch of guys!

[FYL]

Does anyone have any info?

It seems that they've just relaunched as Music Inc.

[Scumback Speakers]

Coudn't happen to a nicer bunch of guys!

F**king A, I agree totally. I've had to get involved in a couple of cab/speaker disputes with them concerning forgeries sold to my clients. I got one client a $1500 refund, so they don't like me at all. Crooks in all areas. There I said it.

[toneslinger]

Just heard from a reliable source that Music Ground in the UK have gone into liquidation yesterday with debts of one million pounds. Does anyone have any info?

Cheers,
Rob.

Rob toneslinger in texas here...
first off great d page thanks for providing us such great resource to
gander at those amps....!

I was curious if you were the one who bought the brown pinstripe
4 12 from these guys at music ground ?

also if not do you know if marshall ever ever used brown pinstripe ?

Reason i ask is i missed this roll of brown pinstripe years back\
and found out they paid the guy gobs for it.

I know they were taking 67 or 68 cabs and re grilling them
then selling as all original..

I was warned caveat emptor about that fabric after i nearly
bought the entire roll...

Shipping was the nightmare there or I would have bought it.

The man who owned it before them is named Sid do you know him ?
he had the scrim as well i was going to buy that up
and came across ed collins here in usa...

His pinstripe cloth is spot on...
Id wallpaper my house in it if i could afford it.

Beautiful reproduction cloth.
anyway wondering if you owned that brown 4 12 cab ?

thanks toneslinger...

PS what happened to the todd sharp dumble the 150 watter ?
did it ever sell and if so ??

Thanks again...

[toneslinger]

winterlands at the music ground ...

http://www.vintageandrare.co.uk/?page=item&id=1905

[Rob S]

This flew across my Inbox this morning.
"Justin Harrison - If it's not a scam it's no a deal

Here's some news maybe bad news for many who have dealt with Justin Harrison at Music Ground, Doncaster, England. It is beyond any doubt whatsoever that Justin Harrison (Director of Music Ground) with the blessing of his father Richard Harrison (Managing Director of Music Ground) has produced fake guitars and amplifiers over the past twenty years using a devoted, though some might argue misguided and greedy, group of talented individuals. These have included electronics wizards, woodworkers, graphic artists, Photoshop experts and guitar finishers. And here are some examples of amp and guitar nasties:

A large in depth article appearing some time ago in Vintage Guitar Magazine went into great detail about a European Music Company manufacturing fake Marshall amplifiers. This of course was Music Ground a fact that was boasted about by Justin Harrison. Amongst the people he duped were Mikhaal Karlsson guitarist with the Hives and Peter Svensson talented guitarist with the Cardigans. When Peter Svensson challenged Richard Harrison about the authenticity of the Marshall amps, Richard, being the devoted dad that he is, admitted they were fakes and raced over to Sweden and immediately bought back the amps out of his own money totalling some £80,000. And what happened to the amps on their return to Doncaster, Justin Harrison sold them on again to another unsuspecting individual. Mikhail also fell foul of the Marshall fakes and he too demanded a refund. Music Ground is paying him back on a payment plan which is continuing to this day.

Turning his attention to another amp range Justin Harrison has produced a number of fake Dumble Amplifiers. Of course these are very profitable as the electronics wizard for building the amp only receives around £3000, the cabinet maker £1500 and the amp sells for £30,000. It is worth noting that the art work for the front panels of the Dumbles are made in a little former mining village called Bentley just a couple of miles away from Music Ground's headquarters. Who are the dupes on this range then? None other than Texan Real Estate Magnate Garry Keller. Perhaps someone ought to tip him off about this and Oh God yes the other fake amps He's bought from Justin Harrison. But come on Howard Dumble get your arse into gear and stop all this. Your amps are great don’t allow a crap like Justin Harrison to make thousands out of you.

As for guitars particularly Hofner bass guitars there is a never ending list of dupes. Here's one example: Let's take a right handed guitar that was picked up in Breda, Holland by Music Ground. It sailed back to Doncaster only to be transported to a guitar hospital based in Newark run by a very clever wood worker who put a left handed spin on the guitar and it became a lefty (the top was flipped). It kind of went through what might be termed the equivalent of a sex change shall we say? It returned to Doncaster to be aged and then transported to Los Angeles where poor old Beatle beatnick Greg Feo bought it for some £30,000. He was warned by his chum another Beatle nut Tony Capizzi that fake Hofners were incubated in the Music Ground basement. But the rest is history and the profits fell into Justin Harrison’s pocket

Let’s quickly pass over mentioning that Kirk Hammett bought a fake Zematis made in Doncaster from Justin Harrison (and returned it after some clever negotiations between Richard Harrison and Kirk's lawyers) to detail his finest scam to date-fake provenance over a Korina Explorer sold to yes, Peter Svensson. Poor old Peter and He's such a nice guy but easy prey for Justin Harrison. The Music Ground Director claimed he had found the original owner of the 1960 Explorer complete with a Polaroid picture of him holding the guitar way back in the early 1960s. But no, that wasn't true. The picture depicted none other than a Music Ground employee a wood worker. So several weeks after Peter Svensson took delivery of the Explorer and was glancing at the photograph of the original owner it was pointed out to him that this guy bore a striking resemblance to someone on the Hiwatt website (Hiwatt is Music Ground’s sister Company). And yes the one and the two were the same. Bad mistake Justin Harrison because Peter Svensson is taking you personally to the cleaners for this.

Justin Harrison is really the music world's equivalent of Dennis Nielson (a British mass murderer now serving a life sentence). He picks up unsuspecting investors takes them into his confidence and butchers them.

Why am I telling you all this. It's because Justin Harrison hates guitarists and rock music full stop and delights in taking the piss and ripping the crap out of all of us in the Music Industry. Please, please don't be associated with him or anything he stands for. Remember it's only a deal to Justin Harrison if He's ripping your bollocks off.

But there is light at the end of the tunnel. Music Ground is being liquidated on Monday. Justin Harrison is taking creditors for around a million quid. So let's hope when it all goes bump next week there are plenty of people with base ball bats ready to take revenge.

I can give more stories if required please let me know via the forum.

A footnote: Justin Harrison was scamming prior to the liquidation. A Streamline terminal registered with Hiwatt was siphoning off Music Ground funds.

A second Footnote: Hands up all those who want to know of the dozens of stolen guitars Music Ground has fenced? If there’s under a million requests I won’t talk.



Personally, I am delighted. I do have an axe to grind with them and I see this as pure vindication.

[Rob Livesey]

Just heard from a reliable source that Music Ground in the UK have gone into liquidation yesterday with debts of one million pounds. Does anyone have any info?

Cheers,
Rob.

Rob toneslinger in texas here...
first off great d page thanks for providing us such great resource to
gander at those amps....!

I was curious if you were the one who bought the brown pinstripe
4 12 from these guys at music ground ?

also if not do you know if marshall ever ever used brown pinstripe ?

Reason i ask is i missed this roll of brown pinstripe years back\
and found out they paid the guy gobs for it.

I know they were taking 67 or 68 cabs and re grilling them
then selling as all original..

I was warned caveat emptor about that fabric after i nearly
bought the entire roll...

Shipping was the nightmare there or I would have bought it.

The man who owned it before them is named Sid do you know him ?
he had the scrim as well i was going to buy that up
and came across ed collins here in usa...

His pinstripe cloth is spot on...
Id wallpaper my house in it if i could afford it.

Beautiful reproduction cloth.
anyway wondering if you owned that brown 4 12 cab ?

thanks toneslinger...

PS what happened to the todd sharp dumble the 150 watter ?
did it ever sell and if so ??

Thanks again...

I didn't buy a brown pinstripe cab from musicground.

I did however buy a beat up '66 cab off ebay with the original 20w greenbacks in it and restore it myself with original brown pinstripe from Ampaholics (Paul Goodhand-Tait). He had a roll of it at the time.....everyone did it seems!

I sold that cab as a refurbished cab, all above board, to a member on plexi palace I think. I shipped it to the US.

Cheers,
Rob.

[avery1204]

[b]Response to:

This flew across my Inbox this morning.
"Justin Harrison - If it's not a scam it's no a deal [/b]

I would just like to take time out to make this post and clear a potentially unknowing victim here. The user name is Rob S, conveniently enough the ex manager is called Rob and his surname begins with S, and I can assure you, as his predecessor that it is not that Rob writing here. I know this for 2 reasons, 1) He can barley spell, let alone construct such an eloquent letter of condemnation, and 2) He has no idea/interest in using computers or forums.

What is said in this letter I have no comment on, I worked for Music ground for years in London, and managed to stay out of any dodgy dealings, I ran the shops and the staff and looked after customers as best I could. You hear things, and when you're unhappy with the situation you make you're choices, as I did, and left. As did Rob some time later. I have no axe to grind. This is not a letter of accusation. I do find it cowardly however that someone has written this using Rob as a pseudonym. Unless, there is another Rob S out there, in which case, my apologies, it just seems a bit unlikely.

My name is Scott Avery. Thats me, right here. I could only assume the person writing in such detail with such inside info would be someone who worked close to, even next to Rick Harrison.

My experience with Rick & Justin, well, Rick is a crazy old dude who built up a business from nothing old school style and played by market traders law, and truth be told, he's alright, a bit mental, but a lot of old rockers are, and Justin, well he was born into it, lets just say some therapy and people skills training wouldn't go amiss. I have no comment on any extra curricula activities as I have no knowledge.

I will say however that Denmark Street London is looking up, we have Wunjo, Angel, Vintage & Rare, even Rose Morris, Macaris, the ever honest Andy at the PA centre, and Crispin & Ol taking over Regent Sounds. Going are the days of street monopoly, and the indies are in. Best of luck to all.

Best wishes to all music lovers.

Scott

[Noel Grassy]

Quoting Avery 1204, "I will say however that Denmark Street London is looking up, we have Wunjo, Angel, Vintage & Rare, even Rose Morris, Macaris, the ever honest Andy at the PA centre, and Crispin & Ol taking over Regent Sounds. Going are the days of street monopoly, and the indies are in. Best of luck to all." end quote.

I must concur good sir!

Noel Grassy.

[renshen1957]

Response to:

This flew across my Inbox this morning.
"Justin Harrison - If it's not a scam it's no a deal

What is said in this letter I have no comment on, I worked for Music ground for years in London, and managed to stay out of any dodgy dealings, I ran the shops and the staff and looked after customers as best I could.

My name is Scott Avery. Thats me, right here. I could only assume the person writing in such detail with such inside info would be someone who worked close to, even next to Rick Harrison.

My experience with Rick & Justin, well, Rick is a crazy old dude who built up a business from nothing old school style and played by market traders law, and truth be told, he's alright, a bit mental, but a lot of old rockers are, and Justin, well he was born into it, lets just say some therapy and people skills training wouldn't go amiss. I have no comment on any extra curricula activities as I have no knowledge.

Scott

Hi Scott,

Do you have a "no-comment" on

http://ampgarage.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12462 ?

In reference to the interior pictures. Anyone can take an exterior photo.

Best Regards,

Steve

[JamesHealey]

Edited