NGD - Fret King Eclat - advice needed

Fuengi

New Cherry Burst Fret King Eclat arrived yesterday courtesy of Reverb seller.

It’s new but picked up for about half the price of a Vintage V100 due to what the seller described as a ‘scuff mark’ on the neck next to the first fret – see images. I enquired further before committing to the purchase and he said he thought it looked like the neck had got caught in the zip of the gig bag. He has excellent feedback on Reverb and his communication and delivery was spot on.  

Having taken delivery and unpacked last night it does look to me like the neck has had a whack. There is a very light cracking on the finish on the treble side as well as the impact damage to the bass side shown in the images, which must have come when the neck was hit and the board or nut moved. The neck appears stable and has held in tune perfectly overnight. The damage to the bass side shown is approx. 2” inches long.

That aside, it is a lovely looking guitar, the top is sweet. Plays well and sounds exactly the way you hope it would.

I’ve got back in touch with the seller to discuss the damage and will look to get the neck touched up and refinished myself. Thoughts / advice welcome on this.

https://imgur.com/gallery/rNkWEHF

BloodEagle

I doubt the damage is structural, but that's considerably more than 'a scuff', sounds like the seller is being bit economical with the truth when he says it looks like it got caught in a zip

Jack_

If it was suitably cheap then meh, if it's worse than you thought maybe you could haggle for a little back in compensation to partly cover the touch up.

Fuengi

Aesthetically it is exactly what I expected on the bass side. I'm not an expert by any means but even I can see straight away it was caused by a knock.

Seems stable enough which is my only concern, it can be touched up and refinished. It was less than £200 so as long as the headstock isn't going to snap off I'm happy.   

Jack_

Probably not worth a refinish then, because it would cost you about that much again, unless someone can do a touch-up job, but it still won't be cheap.

Play it and enjoy it, looks great for less than £200.

I've bought many a damaged guitar, I actually quite like it, bargains to be had and less fear about being the first one to damage it.

Repaired headstock Gibsons are my forte. Well, any I can get hold of before @HarrySeven snaps them up.

Fuengi

The top edge of the bass side is a little bit rough on the hand so might try to do something with it. It's not a huge deal but I can feel it under my hand. 

Gonna google how to touch it up. 

SteveRobinson

Run some super glue in, sand flat and buff.

Fuengi

SteveRobinson said:

Run some super glue in, sand flat and buff.

Just seen someone do that on YouTube. Does the colour come through?

SteveRobinson

No, if you want to recolour it, add a coloured lacquer first then super glue over that.

Fuengi

SteveRobinson said:

No, if you want to recolour it, add a coloured lacquer first then super glue over that.

What about a hard furniture wax like Liberon?

Fuengi

A couple of days in, this thing sounds superb. The Vari-Coil works really well - I was slightly skeptical having once owed a Vox SSC which tried to do both HB and Single coil, very badly - it gives a nice variation between P90 sound and HB, if not a lot in between.

Sustain is endless, it has grit and growl on tap with definition retained. Great to play, action is excellent out the box, I need to adjust the intonation a little.

Very impressed. Better than the Les Paul Studio I tried a few months ago.

Fuengi

Update - so I looked at a neck touch up and setup as there was a small buzz on the 3rd fret e string. 

Off to my local luthier for the setup which he does and sticks a set of 10s on it as it came with 9s. This pulls the neck out more, so truss rod adjustment... stuck rigid. Not moving. Presumably due to the knock it has had. 

Back to seller to update and ask for a bit of money back towards the additional damage. He was great and instantly coughed up so the guitar as it is has cost me £100 at this point.

Back to the luthier to say go ahead and do what you can to get the truss rod working. He drills, heats, cranks but nothing is moving it. 

So the only option I can think of is back to 9s and use it as long as it lasts then strip it for parts? 

munckee

I think I might have some cherry red spray paint if you want to touch it up.  No idea about the truss rod, that's outside of my paygrade,  Other option is to set it high and use for slide?

impmann

Fuengi said:

Update - so I looked at a neck touch up and setup as there was a small buzz on the 3rd fret e string. 

Off to my local luthier for the setup which he does and sticks a set of 10s on it as it came with 9s. This pulls the neck out more, so truss rod adjustment... stuck rigid. Not moving. Presumably due to the knock it has had. 

Back to seller to update and ask for a bit of money back towards the additional damage. He was great and instantly coughed up so the guitar as it is has cost me £100 at this point.

Back to the luthier to say go ahead and do what you can to get the truss rod working. He drills, heats, cranks but nothing is moving it. 

So the only option I can think of is back to 9s and use it as long as it lasts then strip it for parts? 

What sort of rod is fitted?

As it owes you effectively nothing, you may as well have the board removed, a new rod fitted and it stuck back together... I'm surprised a luthier didn't suggest that, tbh.

Fuengi

impmann said:

Fuengi said:

Update - so I looked at a neck touch up and setup as there was a small buzz on the 3rd fret e string. 

Off to my local luthier for the setup which he does and sticks a set of 10s on it as it came with 9s. This pulls the neck out more, so truss rod adjustment... stuck rigid. Not moving. Presumably due to the knock it has had. 

Back to seller to update and ask for a bit of money back towards the additional damage. He was great and instantly coughed up so the guitar as it is has cost me £100 at this point.

Back to the luthier to say go ahead and do what you can to get the truss rod working. He drills, heats, cranks but nothing is moving it. 

So the only option I can think of is back to 9s and use it as long as it lasts then strip it for parts? 

What sort of rod is fitted?

As it owes you effectively nothing, you may as well have the board removed, a new rod fitted and it stuck back together... I'm surprised a luthier didn't suggest that, tbh.

I think that was discussed and discounted. Might be worth reconsidering though, thanks.

impmann

Definitely worth considering if you like the guitar - honestly, if it owes you £100, you can afford to spend a fair few quid putting it right. I've played one of these and they are great chassis (not keen on the pickups, but then I've never played a Wilkinson pickup I've liked - I guess he has different 'ears' to me) - IMHO, you'd need to spend more than £650 to better one and even then the 'improvements' are a bit subjective.

Fuengi

impmann said:

Definitely worth considering if you like the guitar - honestly, if it owes you £100, you can afford to spend a fair few quid putting it right. I've played one of these and they are great chassis (not keen on the pickups, but then I've never played a Wilkinson pickup I've liked - I guess he has different 'ears' to me) - IMHO, you'd need to spend more than £650 to better one and even then the 'improvements' are a bit subjective.

What's a ballpark figure for doing that kind of work?

impmann

Fuengi said:

impmann said:

Definitely worth considering if you like the guitar - honestly, if it owes you £100, you can afford to spend a fair few quid putting it right. I've played one of these and they are great chassis (not keen on the pickups, but then I've never played a Wilkinson pickup I've liked - I guess he has different 'ears' to me) - IMHO, you'd need to spend more than £650 to better one and even then the 'improvements' are a bit subjective.

What's a ballpark figure for doing that kind of work?

You'd need to ask your luthier - if he says "more than its worth" he just doesn't want the work...

Fuengi

impmann said:

Fuengi said:

impmann said: by

Definitely worth considering if you like the guitar - honestly, if it owes you £100, you can afford to spend a fair few quid putting it right. I've played one of these and they are great chassis (not keen on the pickups, but then I've never played a Wilkinson pickup I've liked - I guess he has different 'ears' to me) - IMHO, you'd need to spend more than £650 to better one and even then the 'improvements' are a bit subjective.

What's a ballpark figure for doing that kind of work?

You'd need to ask your luthier - if he says "more than its worth" he just doesn't want the work...

Picked it up today, it's playing nicely with 9s and no buzz. 

We talked about removing the fret board and he is happy to have a go, but concerned that the board won't survive if it doesn't come up easily.

If it comes up ok then under £200 if it doesn't then north of than figure plus a new board. 

Might just play it for a while and have a think.