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Post subject: Bran New Malmsteen Strat Fail
Posted: Thu May 03, 2018 1:50 pm
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Hey, I joined the official Fender forums to give my input and feedback on my bran new, $1700 Malmsteen Strat and hopefully bring to the attention of Fender some of these issues.

As a bit of a background, I've played for about 20 years, and I've studied Malmsteen for a very long time. In 2007 I bought a signature Malmsteen Strat, and let me tell you, that was the best gutiar I ever owned. The thing was perfect in every way. About 6 years later, I fell on hard times, and was forced to sell it, a decision I've regretted ever since. Here, another 6 years later, I was ready to get the beast back, so I just bought one. The merchant I purchased it from assured me it was straight off the factory line.

I am extremely disappointed with this guitar. The craftsmanship has really fallen on these. Straight out of the box it was completely covered in thousands of tiny pick scratches all the way up by the neck of the guitar. It looks like someone was windmilling all over it like a maniac. I'm sure they test play these up at Fender as part of the process, so I just wanted to ask - Maybe you could tone it down a bit? I looked down the neck and the nitro lacquer was chipping off the ends of the frets on about 3 of the frets. It looks like someone dropped it. Some of the frets are scalloped unevenly. It looks a real mess. The bullet on the truss rod, which on my previous guitar, was highly polished, shiny, and almost chrome-looking, on this one, is faded, dull, and looks rough. There was also a huge black mark near the toggle switch and a black speck by the pickups where it looks like someone scratched it cutting strings off it with pliers or something. How does damage like that get past QC? I'm just a hobbyist and an amateur and I could spot all these things within an hour of unboxing the guitar. Even the case had a huge gouge mark on it, and some sort of glue on the inside where I'm guessing they were gluing in the felt and got sloppy and spilled it all over.

Someone with my playstyle the pick never touches anything except the strings, which brings me to my next major issue- The middle pickup can't be lowered all the way. I'm sure this is due to the YJM Fury being a stacked pickup and its simply too tall and they didn't rout the guitar deep enough to allow for it. It's a major bummer because the two center poles stick up about a mile, and Malmsteen has, and always will play, with his middle pickup all the way down, flush with the body of the guitar, and so do I- Because the middle pickup never gets used, and if it's not lowered, it gets in the way of your pick. It's a real shame that this guitar has Malmsteens name on it but you can't even lower the pickup all the way.

I started to give it my best shot, played it for quite a few hours, and I just became more and more disappointed. I noted as I was playing the B string kept going out of tune. I thought well, new strings, they didn't stretch it properly at the factory, whatever. I kept tuning it back up, tuning it back up. Finally, I looked at the bridge, and the string saddle was actually sinking. I have literally never seen this happen to any guitar in my entire life. The string saddle was falling and sinking of it's own accord. It's almost like the threads for the adjustments are too small for the holes in the saddle. Amazing. I raised it back up and it sunk again. It's totally screwed.

Tonally, it's a disappointment. I know exactly how to use a malmsteen strat. I know the pickups are designed for low output, high fidelity, and how to overdrive them properly and use them the way Malmsteen does. The issue isn't the electronics at all, it's simply that indiscernible undefinable quality and characteristic that guitars have, which affects resonance, tonality, and volume. When I strum this thing unplugged you basically can't even hear it. It sounds like a tin can. And plugged in, you can definitely tell that's the case. It sounds thin, weak, and shameful. It's really sad but my $350 MIM strat, which I have scalloped myself and wired with the fury, outperforms this guitar tonally by miles.

Overall I have to say I'm sending the guitar back. The low action, the neck radius, and all of that made the guitar pretty amazing to play - The string spacing and the neck on my MIM simply don't compare in that regard. But sadly all the other issues I'm having with this guitar far outweigh its usefulness and definitely outweigh the price of $1700. If I was Malmsteen I would be extremely disappointed with this.

I really hope these guitars get some more TLC in the future. I would gladly buy 10 of them if they performed as well as my old model did.


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Post subject: Re: Bran New Malmsteen Strat Fail
Posted: Tue May 08, 2018 7:01 pm
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Joined: Tue Feb 13, 2018 10:28 pm
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Honestly, you were lied to.
That guitar is not "straight off the factory line".... at the very least it has been used and abused on display in the music store, and at worst, it is not an authentic Fender model (you can buy Chinese YJM knockoffs for a couple hundred bucks).
Given the scallop job is not even, the bullet adjuster is not smooth, and the saddle dropping, I honestly suspect that you may have been sold a knockoff.
Have you contacted Fender customer service and asked them to check your serial number?

A new guitar from Fender will have a plastic cover over the pickguard, with marketing stickers, and will absolutely NOT show pick marks all over the neck, or have black gouges on the pickguard.

The chipped lacquer near the fret ends is, unfortunately, not uncommon with the maple YJM. That, and some sharpness on the fret ends are due to the geometry of the scallop work... The Blackmore necks are more forgiving because they are not scalloped all the way to the fret slot.

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Post subject: Re: Bran New Malmsteen Strat Fail
Posted: Tue May 08, 2018 8:02 pm
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Yep brand new in box will have plastic on the pickguard.
Did it come with the inspection tags etc? :D


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Post subject: Re: Bran New Malmsteen Strat Fail
Posted: Wed May 09, 2018 8:26 am
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CB91710 wrote:
...Given the scallop job is not even, the bullet adjuster is not smooth, and the saddle dropping, I honestly suspect that you may have been sold a knockoff...


That is certainly a possibility. The more valuable the guitar the more potential for making money by selling someone a cheaper guitar.

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After all this time I should be better.


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Post subject: Re: Bran New Malmsteen Strat Fail
Posted: Wed May 09, 2018 11:54 am
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Joined: Wed Apr 18, 2012 10:47 am
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It does sound as though you were simply bamboozled...

I'd be sending it back YESTERDAY...


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Post subject: Re: Bran New Malmsteen Strat Fail
Posted: Sun May 13, 2018 9:18 am
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Joined: Thu May 03, 2018 8:34 pm
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Location: Brazil
+1

It definitely doesn't seem to be the real McCoy...


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