Curveman,
Please PM me with some details---Service Center- Your serial Number, model guitar etc.
Thanks!!
rob

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rob Schwarz
Director,Fender Customer Service
Proudly serving Fender Customers
for over 30 years

rob

thank you for answering this mans issues.
its great to see someone that gives a dang when times get rough and the light
of hope seems dim. its just as important that things like this that your stepping up to help when its needed, be seen in the public eye as it is to this man that it gets handled. its a win/win and the public sees fender treats their customers concerns with 100% attention. again thanks.

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63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

Hello all, Checking in again here. Sorry to just get back to the forum but I just now have the time.

Rob, thanks very much for offering your help. Would you prefer to pm in private or openly here ?

I have an American Deluxe Stratocaster HSS, the serial number is US10243643. As mentioned previously, I purchased the guitar at Guitar Center and the invoice is dated 3/23/2011. The guitar was shipped a few days later from their warehouse in Kansas I'm told.

Update - Saturday May 7th I visited Matanuska Music of Wasilla, AK and I was told that they had been unsuccessful in speaking to Fender tech support all week. The switch that was ordered had not arrived. They did not have any suggestions or ideas, except that they were still operating on their most recent belief that the n3 neck pickup needed replacing. Monday May 9 they called my home to leave a message to give them a call. I spoke to the shop technician, John and was informed that they "went around" Fender tech support to speak with Mike M. who they said was the District Manager for WA, OR, ID, AK. They said he was going to look into the matter. During the course of conversation the shop tech in passing referred to the conversation in part as going on about financial circumstances with the store apparently, but that that shouldn't affect how Fender should treat a warranty issue. It gave me the impression that perhaps some of the shops root problems with obtaining gear and service from Fender or attention to shop calls to Fender for any reason was related to issues of a business nature. The shop tech told me they were informed that the pickup would not arrive at the shop before the end of the month. I asked them to put the strat back together so that I could pick it up for the wait. So that’s where I am at this time. I noticed a small chip in the finish about the size of a pin head when I uncased the guitar when I got home. It’s right below the pick guard below the screw at the five-way switch. The shop tech was pleasant enough, he always has been. I think he is sympathetic to the situation.

I think I’ve explained what the problem is specifically in earlier posts. If you need more information, please ask.

Some of asked why I continued to work with the shop. I was stuck by the time it started getting sketchy. There are few choices here in AK for genuine Fender equipment and service. When I’m being led along believing there’s no reason Fender or the shop should be doing anything other than treating a customer appropriately for legitimate warranty work, I didn’t throw in the towel. Things have just gotten ridiculous and certainly out of my control. Honestly, this is a fairly high-end axe, why wouldn’t Fender spring $9.95 to ship the part USPS priority or something.

Thanks to all who are posting to the thread. At least the Strat is sitting in my living room now and not in parts on a bench being knocked around.

If there’s anyone’s wife they would like me to contact to vouch for their being really right for once, just say the word.

Thanks,

Curveman,

Glad the guitar is back with you while you wait for resolution.

I read back through the entire thread and I am still puzzled as to what the problem is. All I can tell is that the shop feels the problem is the neck pickup (you said they replaced the pickup with another and it worked), but Fender thinks the problem is the switch. What you haven't told us is what the symptoms were of the problem So here are my questions:

1. How exactly did the problem manifiest itself?
2. What were the symptons?
3. The tech replaced the neck pickup with another pickup and everything worked. What happened when the stock pickup was put back in place? Did it work or not? That is important to know because in swapping pickups, the tech could have repaired a bad solder joint without realizing it.
4. Now that you have the guitar back while waiting for parts, how is the guitar working? Are the symptoms of the problem the same or different? Exactly how is it working now?
5. What parts are you actually waiting for?

It still is not clear to me that the shop or Fender knows or agrees as to what the problem is. Hopefully they can sort this out. I would like to say that I am pleased as to how you are dealing with this problem. You are handling things much more reasonably than other recent posters who have had problems with their guitars have handled things. I admire our patience. I hope you are enjoying the other two pickups of your guitar while you wait.

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Bill

-636
OK. Here's some details you are asking for.

I did not purchase from the Wasilla shop. I tried for over three months, but Fender sent them nothing. No amps, guitars nothing. The shop told me when they spoke with Fender the timeline for delivery was always set out another period of wait time. Finally at the end of March, one of the shop guys said they had no idea when the strat would arrive, maybe not for a long time. I decided then to try GC because they still were advertising stock on hand. I got my deposit back and ordered. The Strat arrived via FedEx around 4-12.

I had purchased a Mustang III. The Strat looked perfect when it arrived and played perfectly. About ten days later I was playing one evening and noticed after switching to the neck pup that I needed to increase the volume signal at the guitar in order to get any signal to the Mustang. At one point I had the volume to 10 and there was no signal from the amp at all. I put the switch in position 4 and had to keep the strat volume cranked to get any sound from the amp. I could increase the master volume on the Mustang and at high levels you could barely hear the signal in position 5 and a little more at pos 4.The other switch settings worked fine. I tried a few different modeling selections on the Mustang but the neck and position 4 did not produce any sound, or only a little sound in pos 4. After a few days I took it to the shop because they had told me their tech was Fender certified and they were an authorized dealer. As noted previously after working with the item for a couple of weeks the tech at the shop said the pup needed replacement. Healso said only half the n3 seemed to be working and the replacement they tried worked fine. They couldn't leave the substitute in the strat because it would void my warranty. I understand that, Fenders policy is no modifications or the warranty is voided.

I don't really know what the conversation really is between the shop and Fender on what parts they are supposed to be sending. I suspect it could be they have backed off the switch order and now just trying to get a replacement n3.

The situation is the same since I’ve picked up the guitar. But I'm definately glad to have it back to get a little use from it and try and keep it out of harms way.

Thanks for your interest and compliment. At times I have been pretty upset with the shop and know I have made them feel bad. Most recently I haven't and won't do that anymore. Even if I think the tech is a little sketchy and the shop owner was a real butt a time or two. It was interesting after I picked up the strat earlier this week, on Thursday there was a message from the owner on my phone here at home, with what could be described as his best attempt at an apology for all the problems. I think he is still angry because he couldn't make the sale. He made in my opinion, some outrageous accusations against GC. To Matanuska Music's credit, they tried and even came in under GC's price, but there seems to be issues here between them and Fender.

Well it definitely sounds like the pickup is the problem. I have to scratch my head at your statement that "after working with the item for a couple of weeks the tech at the shop said the pup needed replacement." How busy is this shop? It shouldn't take "a couple of weeks" to diagnose this problem. If the dealer is having problems working with Fender, they shouldn't be taking it out on you which it sounds like they have at times. Did you provide Rob with the information he asked for? Has he responded back to you? I strongly suggest you follow up with him if you haven't all ready. Good luck getting this resolved.

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Bill

You know, they aren't really that busy that I can tell. It's a pretty small shop and they have a full compliment of pretty young guys. I can't belive they are making any decent money working there. They just have the one tech. I've been in several times and he is almost always engaged in giving lessons. I think the lessons are the real cash flow for them. Seriously the entire shop is kind of a small house abuot 1200 sq. ft on one floor and a basement. I don't think it should have taken them two days to diagnose a pickup let alone more than two weeks.

I have pm'd Rob. It was kind of weird though. Though the message said "sent" it seemed to just stay in the "outbox", and never landed in the "sent" folder. Maybe it only sends when he is logged on.

I will probably calll the number the shop gave me for the District Manager sometime next week if I don't hear from Rob.

Very nice looking guitar.

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Bill

Just a quick update. I am working with Rob Schwartz and his last message to me is that they are trying to source me a part, a an N3 pickup, from inventory they may have. HE indicates the pick-ups are back-ordered with heir supplier, apparently.

So, I appreciate everything Rob is doing to try and get me back up and fully running.

Thanks Rob !!

I did discover from checking things out this weekend, that the pick-up seems to work pretty well with the S1 switch turned on. The neck poistion seems to signal just fine with the S1 switch engaged. It didn't matter which preset I was using on the Mustang III when I used the S1.

So, is this a pickup or a switch problem ? Anyone care to conjecture ?

Curve

Except for using N3s in your guitar vice SCNs in previous Deluxes, I would assume that the wiring of your Strat is the same as shown here:

http://support.fender.com/service_diagr ... 1_SISD.pdf

That said, if the neck pickup works in the "Switch Up" position but not the "Switch Down" position, it would seem to me to be an S1 switch problem and not a pickup problem.

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Bill

Just an update again here to this ongoing Warranty claim. No word from Fender on sourcing a single N3 from an existing unit to install in my 2010 AMD HSS. No word from my local shop either.

-636- I don't think that is the diagram for a 2010 AMD HSS. The drawing date is 2005 on the link and I know for a fact the shop couldn't find a current diagram for the wiring they saw in this Strat. As I undersatnd it, I think there was a new sceme as a result of the passing-lane introduction. I could be wrong.

OK. Still looking for a Fender fix.

Curve

The S-1 switch, along with the 5-way switch selects the pickup(s) to normally be used. The passing lane switch routes the bridge pickup directly to the guitar output, bypassing the volume and tone controls regardless of which pickup(s) are selected by the 5-way switch and S-1 switch.

http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/I ... r_Mod.aspx

If the neck pickup works in one position of the S-1 switch but not the other (where it should also be working) then the problem would appear to be in the S-1 switch, not the neck pickup. I honestly don't think the shop has the problem figured out yet. Seems to me that it should be pretty easy for a Fender certified guitar technician to trace the signal path from the pickup to the output jack regardless if they have a schematic or not.

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Bill

Oh Great ! This is just what I was afraid of. I thought abut the same thing when I discovered the S1 still produced tone at the neck and #4 position wheh switched on. I explained the same thing to Rob in my last pm, but it didn't raise a response from him either. And as you might have just called it, I don't know/ doubt whether the tech at the shop ever knew/ noticed it. Though it doesn't explain the tech's observation that everything worked fine when the put in a substitute pup.

Not knowing how the circuitry works myself, you believe it somewhat likely that the S1 could have worked previously, and now somehow keep the pickup from sending the signal when the switch is not on ?

Thanks for your comments.

Thanks,
Curve

I'm not an expert in the S-1 switching, but it should be pretty easy to figure out if the pickup or switch is at fault. Try running this test:

Ignore the Passing Lane switch.

Make a little table like the one on page 4 of the the link I sent you that shows pickup selected vs switch position.

Select position 1 on the 5-way switch. Engage/disengage the S-1 switch and note which pickups are functioning. Do that for each position of the 5-way switch. In the end, you will have a table for your guitar that looks like the one on page 4 of the link. Post the results here.

Make sense?

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Bill

Hmm, I can do that. A couple of things first, as mentioned previously. The schematic the link points to is not how my Strat is wired. And I guess to make the chart for you, it isn't important that the switch positions are numbered the same or the pups operated at each position are the same. What we would have if I'm not wrong, is a drawing of where the S1 switch works and where it doesn't, correct ? How will this help in diagnosing whether the issue is switch or pup ?

We already can determine the tone is only not produced in the number 4 and 5 position with the S1 switch off. In the pdf you linked they are the number one and two position (reversed numbered on the drawing). With the S1 switch on, the 5 and 4 position is using both the middle and neck pups. The difference is that in the #4 position (now in series) a reference states "with special Cap on Neck Pickup Tone 1 & 2 ONLY". Whatever the he!! that means...

Maybe I'll just post the diagram. It will take a bit. I have to fire up my other computer with the scanner. But first a littler supper.

Thanks,
Curve