Guitarfetish: Necks bad, customer service a maybe

[sydsbluesky]

One receives that for which one pays, I suppose.

I had a feeling a 35 dollar neck was a bit TOO good to be true.


About a month ago I purchased quite a few items from GuitarFetish. The order came missing nearly one third of its contents, and the necks were rosewood fretboards instead of maple. Problems happen, and it's understandable. This particular problem was immediatly resolved, and left me feeling warm and fuzzy inside about their customer server.

Several days ago I finally finished my two project guitars, and left them to settle. A few days into the settling I realized one neck had a pretty major flaw. The 17th fret was almost 1/32nd of an inch too deep. The result being a -very- dead fret across the board. In addition to that, the warping was rather severe.

The other neck had a 3rd fret that was a bit low on the high e edge of the board, but I was pretty sure I could fix that one, as the neck had no other problems.

I, having full faith in the GuitarFetish customer server after my last dealing, fired off an e-mail to ask them their policy on exchanging modified items, but it didn't answer my exact question. I sent them another e-mail, descirbing the lenghts to which I had modified the necks, including replacment of nuts, enlarging of peg holes, installation of roller trees and, obviously, mounting on guitar bodies.

There my have also been a line in there asking them if they were aware that they were pedaling firewood, because that's all one of the necks was worth.

The entire gmail thread is rather large, but can be supplied if anyone wishes. This is the e-mail I got back from them.

Jesse-

these are PARTS, not finished guitars- Just like necks from Allparts, Warmoth WD etc you have to do fretwork on a new guitar neck- NONE of the above mentioned necks work out of the box perfectly- You have to do a fret level and some degree of fret dressing- and then you will have a perfectly playing neck. Same for the nuts- they are not cut for final height cause they have never been part of a guitar- you have to cut them to match your guitar- this is all pretty basic guitar building stuff.


None of which had anything to do with the issue at hand, except maybe letting me know that the firewood sales were accidential.

I felt a little insulted that someone would send me an e-mail claiming that I was off base in describing a defective product that was currently feet from my computer, and perscribe that I check up on my "basic guitar building stuff."

I may not be the most experienced guitar builder, but I've been working on guitars for years, now.

I explained to him that I know a warped neck when I see one, and I know a neck that needs fretwork when I see one. I explained to him that I would continue to shop from the company, but never again for necks. I explained to him that I was willing to eat the cost of the 35 dollar neck at that point, since I was able to fix the other neck in question.

I was answered by a more recptive e-mail. One that no longer called my ability and experience with necks into question, but he seemed to think I was "threatening" him with a line I included in one e-mail about me being a forum junkie.

I wasn't threatening.
I call it being held accountable.

I fully expect them to take the neck back. I will never buy another neck from them, though I will continue to shop there. If anyone is wondering about guitarfetish, then I would recommend them for anything except necks. It's true that I may have simply gotten a bad set of necks, but when "customer service" insults a customer, and suggests "basic guitar building stuff" can solve their defective products, it is a cold day in hell when that doesn't piss me right off.

Full e-mail thread can be furnished on request.

Jesse

[sumgai]

Jesse,

The fact that they were correct about having to "finish" the neck yourself isn't the issue here - it's the fact that as soon as you mentioned anything that falls within that category, that's when they lost sight of warpage as a problem in and of itself.

The next time you feel the desire to communciate with them about this, I suggest that you completely ignore those aspects that are nominally under your control - fret issues, nut cutting, that sort of thing. Harp on the warp, until they get the message loud and clear.

Although for $35 (USD), I'd experiment with some novel ways of straightening out warped necks, before I started making like Downtown Freddie Brown..... Ever seen a 4x4 parked over a neck that's straddling a chunk of 2x4? ;D

HTH



sumgai

[cynical1]

sumgai makes a good point. Everything but the neck warpage is a fact of life with any neck you buy...and just because you dropped a few hundred from the "shop that will remain nameless" doesn't mean it's going to bolt on and play without issue.

You can fix a warped neck, but in all honesty, for what you are starting with it really isn't worth it. It would serve as a very nice platform for practicing your fretwork and technique...

I picked up a CNC cut 25.5" maple neck on eBay for $35.00 about 4 months ago. I've sanded it down and now it's just awaiting nut, frets and lacquer. The fret cut lines and markers were already in place when I got it. I don't recall the user's name on eBay, but he was from W. Virginia. If he's still out there I can recommend his advanced blanks very highly.

My point is, that if you're going to be performing major surgery on a replacement neck, why not start with something that hasn't been screwed up yet...and was started in this country by someone who was born here...

Sorry for your bad luck on this one. Don't let it sour you on finishing a neck yourself.

Happy Trails -

Cynical One

[sydsbluesky]

The fact that he totally lost sight of the issue at hand was the reason I felt the need to share my experience. After the e-mail that I pasted in there I sent him one doing exactly that - piling on the warpage.

Honestly, I still have full faith in the GuitarFetish site. The fact that they got some crappy necks, and that the guy may have been in a bad mood over the firewood crack doesn't mean their stuff isn't -mostly- good. I have two of their wilkinson strat bridges - both five springed flat, but that's personal taste - and they're charming little pieces of workmanship.

The last time I got hold of a neck it was to replace one for a friend of mine, and what we did was go to a pawn shop and find a guitar that already had a nice neck, and then scuttle the thing for parts.

The result was very good. I forget the guitar... maybe an ibanez, or something. It was like 140 bucks, but had very little fret usage. We sold off the pups and other stuff for about 40 bucks. My experience with low model used guitars is that they are either played to the edge of the abyss, or hardly played at all, because they were given as Christmas gifts that were never used.

I just found out that I work with a guy who's brother runs a guitar center over in Jersey. I'm gonna take a trip there this week, I hope. Maybe take a look at the used stuff there.

I'm considering simply keeping the 35 dollar neck and using it as a test subject for mean little experiments. Does anyone have a tried and true method of correcting a warped neck? Also sounds like I need a fret dressing method... I'm off to scour the forum! *poof*

[ChrisK]

I emailed GF about some wiring opportunities some months back, especially since their pickguards could be used as-is. I got such a standard perfunctory brush-off reply that I decided that I was dealing with a 1/Mensa. (This is easy to calculate as the answer also begins with an "M".)


I have bought all of my necks from Warmoth (7) and other high-end suppliers. Although Warmoth indicates that a fret level is likely necessary, I have never had an issue with them. They have always been of excellent quality.

However, they ARE NOT a custom shop, but just an option shop. If you want what they have, they will do it. If you are willing to pay the setup, they will maybe (in a don't actually hope or hold yer breath way) do what you want. I have made several excellent suggestions to them (for free) which were all disregarded out of hand. Other's have subsequently used such suggestions. Pearls before swine, perhaps.

Although I have had a few quality issues with Warmoth stuff, usually due to misrepresentation in the showcase, due to their hideous customer service, with the deal-breaker that occurred a year ago, I have endeavored to never buy from nor recommend them again (as in ever).

I went so far as to delete EVERY mention of them in any post that I've ever made anywhere. Virtually everyone of these were positive "buy" recommendations.


I have yet to (re)succumb to their web candy-case, especially since Tommy at USACG opened his own (very limited) web candy store. I got a candy store 3# 11oz two-piece rear-routed swamp ash HH Tele body with tummy, forearm, and neck contours for $109.

I have heard mention that USACG (USA Custom Guitars) have most wonderful necks rarely in need of a fret level.

The Carvin bolt-on neck is CNC leveled to 0.001". It's $159, but being a tilt-back headstock. string trees are not needed. They'll do a tung oil finish for $50. Carvin's parts are fairly inexpensive as well.

They ARE NOT a custom shop, but just an option shop. If you ask for variations (such as nut width 1 3/4" and a thicker neck profile), they won't state what they actually supply other than that "it's the best for everyone". Then, they argue with you as to why you're wrong. This might explain why they're the leading supplier of electric guitars world-wide.

It's called Voice Of the Customer (VOC) dumb-butt. Dang humans.



These may seem like a lot of coin for a neck, but I quote from "Kojac".

"That's a nice suit."

"All my suits are nice."

"I'll bet it was expensive."

"Nice usually is."


$35 isn't much money for a guitar neck, arguably the most important part of a guitar (the rest is just hand rest mass and a parking lot for the electronics).

It is, however, a lot of coin for a single stick of firewood.


Anything worth doing is worth doing well.