Hi there mymindsok,
Honestly, i don't know if I'm the guy or not.....but I'm glad that it all worked out.
Also honestly, we ARE dealing with people and perceptions and because of that things sometimes have to travel up the chain before the right thing happens. Part of reducing that need to travel up the food chain is empowering people to make decisions...but be sure that they are "right" decisions. I sure don't work on an island and am lucky to have great people around me helping me with difficult calls, and hopefully i provide them with the same kind of help. At any rate, I'm glad you stuck to your guns and that it worked out well for ya. That's always good news.....and the last "honestly" is: Its also job security!!

Have a great week and thanks for the post. Good stuff.
Best regards,
rob

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

Nobody's turning down the repair. The issue isnt whether or not they'll do the repair; the question is WHO'S GOING TO PAY for the repair? The guy who owns the guitar that brought it in, or the company who's name is on the headstock.

All the companies are different in how they handle these things. Though you may have two manufacturers; say for the sake of arguement Martin, and Fender. Their warranty cards may say the same exact thing (I'm not saying they do, so the usual suspects can stop tearing apart their draws to find the cards to rebute something I'm saying), but how those companies interpret them can vary wildly. Its not just from company to company either (well known acoustic makers then to be the most difficult to get to work with you, and when i say you, I mean me, and what Im trying to do is have them cover the repair so you dont have to pull out your wallet). Sometimes, it can be the person on the other end of the phone.
I had this happen about 6 months ago; I called "Company A on Monday about some guitar that came in over the weekend with a questionable warranty repair. The guy on Monday, from Company A said "Nope, no way. The guy didnt follow the guidelines. He should have had it stored and humidified hardshell case blah blah blah."

The kid couldnt afford the repair. A couple of weeks later, I had to call the same company again about another guitar, this one was no doubt manufacturers fault. The person I was on the phone with for this call was MUCH easier to deal with, i dont know what the other guy's problem was, maybe he was having a bad day, it happens, but it suckes when someone elses bad day affects you. I brought up the guitar, told him the low down, he told me he'd look into it. about 5 minutes before we closed, he called back, told me they'd cover the repair.
I'll always remember it because it was the guys first really nice guitar, and it was going to be out of commission until he raised the cash. To say he was happy was an understatement, and we ended up getting a lot of hot rodding jobs from his friends. I didnt do anything different, just spoke to someone different at the same company, and got a different answer.
This is what I meant about the repair shop having a lot to do with how the reapir is dealt with. Some companis want a million pictures taken, documentation, etc. and submitted before they agree to cover costs. Other companies may just ask the shop what the damage is, how "they" think it came about etc.

When I saw the pic, I certainly didn't think it couldn't be fixed. It will never look brand new and without a flaw, but it's actually pretty easily fixable to the point where the split won't spread or grow. I've fixed a few Ibanez Necks that had hairline splits behind the headstock (fairly common).
What I do is get a syringe and inject the split with good ol' fashioned yellow glue. Sometimes it requires that you water the glue down a little, but it works fine, and the glue will wipe off of the clear coat easily as well. So it's not worth throwing away if it's not covered under warranty. There's no way that split makes the neck useless in my opinion.

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I doubt that that crack is the end of that necks usefulness but it is disheartening... If the guitar plays OK, I'd repair the neck and keep my eyes open for a good used neck.

I found a beefy, custom made maple Strat neck at a swap meet for $150 and it has transformed my beater Strat from a beater into a great playing/sounding guitar. Otherwise, you can pick up a used MIM neck on Ebay pretty cheaply.

A good woodworker should be able to glue and clamp that split for you real cheap and I doubt that you'd ever notice the crack! (But I'd want an experienced guy doing the clamping!)