Post by sydsbluesky on Jul 21, 2009 12:11:31 GMT -5
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
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
Ever seen a 4x4 parked over a neck that's straddling a chunk of 2x4? 
;D
