It is currently Mon Mar 16, 2020 7:39 am

All times are UTC - 7 hours



Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 3 posts ] 
Author Message
Post subject: Custom Shop Quality and Warranty Question
Posted: Mon Sep 23, 2019 2:58 pm
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist

Joined: Sun Apr 18, 2010 11:29 am
Posts: 8
I've been wanting a Custom Shop Strat for as long as I remember and I recently sold off enough gear that I could finally afford one. There aren't any Custom Shop dealers nearby, so I ordered online.

The first Strat, purchased new from an authorized dealer, had a non-functioning middle pickup, badly cut nut, and the frets weren't level, so I ended up returning it. I get that mistakes happen, so I decided to try one more time.

Like the first, the second guitar was purchased new and from an authorized dealer. It arrived with a lot of relief in the neck (over 0.014" at the 8th fret on the low E) and there was LESS relief on the bass side than the treble side. The relief slowly increases as you measure from the bass side to the treble. The action needs to be setup fairly uneven or higher than spec in order to be playable. That, combined with the neck relief makes it not very enjoyable to play.

The dealer is trying to work out a warranty repair from the Custom Shop, but as time goes by while they're getting that sorted, I'm becoming more apprehensive about it. Does anyone here any experience with Custom Shop warranty repairs? What kind of job do they do? My fear is they will just stick a shim in and call it done, which to me would not be acceptable on a guitar of this price. None of my other MiM and American Standard Strats and Teles have or need ships to setup and play well at factory spec.

On the larger question of quality, is this normal for the Fender Custom Shop? I can definitely understand running across a lemon every now and again, but two in a row seems extremely unlikely.

I'm hoping Fender can get this worked out. The neck profile feels great, the guitar sounds amazing, and I'm over the moon with how it looks. The playable just needs to match.


Top
Profile
Fender Play Winter Sale 2020
Post subject: Re: Custom Shop Quality and Warranty Question
Posted: Mon Sep 23, 2019 4:15 pm
Offline
Professional Musician
Professional Musician
User avatar

Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2011 11:36 am
Posts: 1593
Location: Chorley, Lancs, UK
I'm sorry to hear about your experience. I have a CS guitar on order and every time I hear a tale like this it makes me a bit worried.

Other non Custom Shop Fenders that I've bought have all worked great right out of the box apart from a small problem with an MIA Tele that was ringing behind the nut but was fixed by the shop I bought from.

I hope you get your problem sorted out, please keep us updated here on the forum.

_________________
Cheers
Steve


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Custom Shop Quality and Warranty Question
Posted: Sun Oct 27, 2019 9:56 am
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist

Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2019 4:11 pm
Posts: 5
Location: Huntsville AL
I had a warranty neck replacement done on a CS Jazz Bass of mine. The neck came back perfect, and since it was a matching headstock, they refinished the entire instrument. I’ve been playing the snot out of it ever since.


Top
Profile
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 3 posts ] 

All times are UTC - 7 hours

Fender Play Winter Sale 2020

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Search for:
Jump to: