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Post subject: Guitars Pre-shipment?
Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2018 11:18 am
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A bit of an odd question perhaps, but are new guitars shipped from Corona and Ensenada, shipped with the strings installed, or separate? And is each guitar test played before shipping?
It would seem to be quite time consuming to string and test each of the hundreds, or even thousands of guitars per day. Would each guitar be strung manually, or by machine? Just curious. Does anyone know for sure?

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Post subject: Re: Guitars Pre-shipment?
Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2018 11:32 am
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Yes on both question.

To adjust truss rod , guitar must have string, it is a must
Same for a complete set-up.


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Post subject: Re: Guitars Pre-shipment?
Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2018 2:06 pm
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stratele52 is absolutely correct.

Still, you have good reason to inquire.

Guitars are strung up and crudely set up very quickly.
No extra time is allotted to do a proper setup.
They are test played for a very, very short time and the tester is only trying to ensure a fully functioning instrument is sent for packaging.
The setup is not one of the parameters they are checking.
It works or it doesn't.
Getting it to work well is the responsibility of the retailer and the buyer.

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Post subject: Re: Guitars Pre-shipment?
Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2018 7:22 pm
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That being said, it is my humble opinion that many guitars these days often come with a pretty good setup out of the box compared to years ago.

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Post subject: Re: Guitars Pre-shipment?
Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2018 7:47 pm
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I would have to think that it's only going to be good business for Fender to insist that the guitar be quite playable right out of the box. I wouldn't be a very happy camper, if I took delivery of a guitar that I'd just spent all my money on, and it didn't make me feel excited the first time I saw it, held it, and played it. After the initial encounter, then I'd set it up to make it mine, and make it as playable as it could be.

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Post subject: Re: Guitars Pre-shipment?
Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2018 8:37 pm
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01GT eibach wrote:
That being said, it is my humble opinion that many guitars these days often come with a pretty good setup out of the box compared to years ago.

I believe they assemble guitars using jigs that place parts in a fairly decent position prior to tightening things up.
Bridge saddles, for example, I think are likely already pretty close to the right location on the plate even before someone pulls a bridge assembly out of a bin to install it.
There is very likely a spacer block or similar apparatus with 6 depths on it that the person assembling bridges uses to quickly snug the saddles up to the right spot and stop.

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Post subject: Re: Guitars Pre-shipment?
Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2018 12:07 am
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Solina Dave wrote:
. . . After the initial encounter, then I'd set it up to make it mine, and make it as playable as it could be.
You pretty much hit it on the head here, Dave. String height preference is one consideration. Some players like to add a little meat with hitting the strings hard. Apparently, Elvis had a habit of breaking strings this way when he wasn’t scratching the finish with his belt buckles. :lol: Others like little effort to press or bend the strings. String gauge preference will affect both playability and sound (in my case I went from stock 9s to 10s, others may go more or less). Intonation may need to be tweaked with a different string change. Possible trem adjustment with stiffer or relaxed upward and/or downward or no movement is a common change after the factory.

At first many continue to play with a factory setup. They might wait until a string change before a personal setup. Tweaks such as nut or fret filing are less likely, but they can come up.

As said earlier, I agree factory setup should be pretty good out of the box once the guitar is climatized under typical room temperatures and humidity (if that makes any sense). There are exceptions as always, however. Some retailers offer a free setup with the sale, and that may come before delivery or after with some grace period.

Just like many things in life, meeting standards is usually meeting minimum standards not maximum standards. Improvements can usually be possible.

Overall, most of the guitars are good to go these days IMHO.

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Post subject: Re: Guitars Pre-shipment?
Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2018 12:55 am
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Quoting from tech-talk pages:
Quote:
Guitars are made of wood, and wood changes with temperature and humidity. On the long road from manufacturer to dealer, it’s natural for a guitar’s original factory-spec setup to change, so don’t worry if everything isn’t tip-top right off the rack, spec-wise. Electric guitars are highly adjustable machines, and a setup can make an amazing difference.


Think about the climate in Corona/Ensenada/China/Japan/Indonesia/India... Compare with world weather - wow.
Then: transport conditions, warehouses, stores. No executive class here - cardboard boxes for a lot of models...
And the time span before the instrument reaches the final customer. Ideally straight on, but 6 to 12 months ain't unusual, and sometimes it's several years.
Not to mention player preferences; SRV setup vs. Billy Gibbons.
Etc.

Then think about the costs. If a guitar is in the economy price class, the costs of every screw (etc.) count. Plekking a Squier Bullet..?
And on guitars above 1000$€£, can it really be justified to skimp on a setup price; it's normally (only) about 80$€£. Just an example here; most fret install methods don't guarantee that all frets are exactly level - but a pro will take care of the "normal abnormalities" at that 'initial setup for a new guitar'.

But of course, IMHO and YMMV.


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Post subject: Re: Guitars Pre-shipment?
Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2018 1:14 am
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+1 What jmattis said.

Also, there’s an assumption that the setup will be better than the factory setup, and it’s important be able to communicate how you play and what you desire or don’t desire prior to setup . . . unless you are satisfied with stock specifications related to setup.

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Post subject: Re: Guitars Pre-shipment?
Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2018 6:07 am
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The OP reminds me of my time working in a bike shop. New bikes coming in would be in various states of assembly depending on make and model, and it could take anywhere from 20 min to 2 hours to finish assembly and adjustments. Certainly there was some push back from the dealers to get the manufacturers to do a better job at the factory, to minimize the time the dealer was spending on setup.

And it would seem to make sense, whether for bikes or guitars, that the manufacturer should be able to do a lot of the work more efficiently in a production line environment, where one person is working on the same thing repeatedly, using templates and jigs, rather than at the dealer where they may be jumping around between a variety of different models and tasks on any given day.

I always thought the setup on a guitar was the reason to buy from a real dealer. I wonder how much the rise of online and warehouse stores has pushed them to improve the factory setup. Do you think they do any additional setup work on Mod Shop and direct sales, versus what they are sending out to dealers? Of course there will still be room for final adjustments as y'all mentioned above.


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Post subject: Re: Guitars Pre-shipment?
Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2018 9:06 am
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We read all the time that someone has to try several identical guitars at the store before they decide which one sounds the best for them. I have often wondered if a good luther couldn't make all of them sound the same to the average musician since even the slightest variation in setup plays a big part in the instruments tone, maybe more so than any variation in manufacturing tolerances given the modern precision machinery now used.
We should all learn how to do a good setup, or have a professional do it.


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Post subject: Re: Guitars Pre-shipment?
Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2018 1:22 pm
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tvr1979 wrote:
We read all the time that someone has to try several identical guitars at the store before they decide which one sounds the best for them. I have often wondered if a good luther couldn't make all of them sound the same.
We should all learn how to do a good setup, or have a professional do it.


Thanks for your response everyone. Every idea that you provided, I believe, is quite accurate, and was simply a confirmation of what I had suspected anyway. But it's always nice to hear comments on a specific subject, taken from different perspectives.
My apologies tvr1979 on the slightly modified playback of what you were saying, although I think I know where you're coming from, and I certainly agree. It could only help to have a good setup done to the guitar.
I'm awaiting delivery of a new Baja '60s Telecaster. I thoroughly researched before ordering, and finally narrowed it down to the only real possibility for me, based on all the guitar's features, and its price. I ordered it through the largest instrument supplier in Canada, and it simply wasn't possible to comparison test several identical guitars in store, or for that matter, even one of that particular model. But ordering it unplayed, and sight unseen, wasn't a problem for me because, for the reasons that I believe you have indicated, all the Baja '60s Telecasters are going to be virtually identical coming out of the factory. And the fine tuning will be on me, if I think I need to fine tune it.
And also, I ordered it 3 weeks ago, and if it doesn't get here soon I'm going to lose it!!!...........Dave :lol:

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Post subject: Re: Guitars Pre-shipment?
Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2018 2:43 pm
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That’s great, Dave. I know you’ll enjoy that Baja 60s Telecaster. :D
Side note: I don’t know if it’s still done today, but when you bought a Rolls Royce the first checkup included checking nuts and bolts to see that they were tightened to specs. :wink:
FSB

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Post subject: Re: Guitars Pre-shipment?
Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2018 3:28 pm
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Fender Strat Brat wrote:
That’s great, Dave. I know you’ll enjoy that Baja 60s Telecaster. :D
Side note: I don’t know if it’s still done today, but when you bought a Rolls Royce the first checkup included checking nuts and bolts to see that they were tightened to specs. :wink:
FSB


Thankyou. I'm sure I will.
And by the way I took my Rolls in for its first checkup. And yes, they checked all the nuts and bolts tight. :lol:

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Post subject: Re: Guitars Pre-shipment?
Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2018 3:33 pm
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Solina Dave wrote:
Fender Strat Brat wrote:
That’s great, Dave. I know you’ll enjoy that Baja 60s Telecaster. :D
Side note: I don’t know if it’s still done today, but when you bought a Rolls Royce the first checkup included checking nuts and bolts to see that they were tightened to specs. :wink:
FSB


Thankyou. I'm sure I will.
And by the way I took my Rolls in for its first checkup. And yes, they checked all the nuts and bolts tight. :lol:
:lol: Me too. :lol:
FSB

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