UK online guitar retailers - best for QC?

guitarfishbay

Project Music were happy to set a guitar up for me in drop B to my action requirements, played fine out of the box.  I did tweak it a bit but only because I always do final tweaks by feel as every instrument is a bit different.  They were good at keeping phone communication going too, the instrument had to be ordered in from a supplier but they let me know of a small delay, and also called me when it had arrived and had been inspected in order to tell me they were about to do the setup on it and when to expect delivery of it etc.

Whitecat

peachguitarsdotcom said:

Whitecat said:

World Guitars, Absolute Music for used and Guitar Village IME are a cut above. 

Coda and Peach are good but I don’t believe they do a full setup unless it’s necessary where as the above definitely do. 

we most certainly do! We have a full time tech that checks and sets up every single guitar that goes out. 

Ah excellent. Wasn’t sure of that because no one ever asked me about setup requirements when I’ve bought, whereas the other ones I mentioned have. 

(Not that I’ve ever received a bad guitar from Peach of course!)

Philly_Q

A lot of retailers say they will set up every guitar but the only one who's ever actually asked - on a phone purchase - what gauge strings I use and how I'd like it set up was Mark @guitars4you.

To be fair if I'm buying online I wouldn't expect them to email me back asking about strings and how much neck relief I prefer, but I'd hope they inspect the guitar and give it a quick polish before shipping.  I've bought from most of the shops mentioned here (except GAK, although I've never consciously avoided them) and many others, bad experiences have been very rare.

uncledick

sunshinewelly said:

Project music are also very good

Yeah - good shop and equally happy if you're spending £500 or £7500.

ewal

Merchant City Music

chris78

Babones said:

I had to send a guitar back to GuitarVillage as it was awful (clearly nobody had set it up, or looked at it). I even got a call apologising for it and how nobody could understand 'how that could have happened'. So take all the "we check 3 billion times" text with a pinch of salt.

Same as. I brought a Gretsch that was just terrible and should never have left the shop.
Peach are great and Lucky Fret do a full set up as does Mark at guitars4you and World Guitars. I’d buy from any of those with confidence.

vale

Gak are my favourite & first choice. I only go anywhere else if i see a great one-off deal that's outside what they do. as for the quality of their sent out kit, i've never had a problem. no damage, mistakes, missing bits or shoddy customer service. all present & correct.

i was the classic try-everything-but-no-money teen when i frequented the actual brighton shop in the 1990s & they were always patient with me & my stupid questions. a fifteen year old playing a gretsch or rickenbacker... just to see. so i feel i owe them back for that respect & indulgence.

irelandguitar

another vote for merchant city music in glasgow, I bought a musicman over the phone from them a few years ago and gave it a setup with my requested string gauge and played great when I received it. 

NelsonP

vale said:

Gak are my favourite & first choice. I only go anywhere else if i see a great one-off deal that's outside what they do. as for the quality of their sent out kit, i've never had a problem. no damage, mistakes, missing bits or shoddy customer service. all present & correct.

i was the classic try-everything-but-no-money teen when i frequented the actual brighton shop in the 1990s & they were always patient with me & my stupid questions. a fifteen year old playing a gretsch or rickenbacker... just to see. so i feel i owe them back for that respect & indulgence.

They were playing the long game then!

I generally budget for a setup.

Bought a second hand Tele from Andertons. Took it back for a setup and to get the cavities shielded. They charged me. Although they did do a very nice job, so that was ok I guess.

Bought an Epi Casino from Symphony music in Wigan (not a big box shifting dealer), again second hand. It needed a fret dress which they agreed to pay for, at a tech of my choice.

Bought a Taylor acoustic from dv247. Pretty sure it's as it left the factory.

Trude

Very useful thread! Thanks to all for sharing

gringopig

.

Fullmoon1971

In the UK  either Richtone Music or GAK or you could try out Thomann.de. their service is fantastic. everything is checked and double boxed, I've ordered around 20 guitars off them and only once had a problem, I bought a thinline semi and the jack socket had fallen into the body during travel. thomann emailed me a return slip straight away and had shipped out a replacement guitar before the end of the day. they also offer a straight 14 day refund if you change your mind

Moe_Zambeek

Thomann were terrible for me - I received a Sire bass that should never have left the factory - the nut was a disaster, half the frets were spouting through the binding and there were cracks in the paint around the neck joint, squint screws on the pickguard etc. The return process was a nightmare because they take so long to respond to emails, then they refunded me on a different card to the one I’d paid with, and with every communication taking 2 days to be processed the whole thing took about a month! I’ll never buy from them again, too much hassle if something goes wrong.

Ive bought from GV and Coda and in neither case was there any sign of a setup, both seemed factory. Sound Affects delivered a beautifully setup acoustic but it was used and I think it was already done before they sent it. I bought a Reverend from Merchant City that played well but had finish issues - sent that back.

I’ve returned Guitars for setup work to Guitarguitar and had them come back completely the same I took one CS LP back to them because the low E intonation screw was bent and wouldn’t turn in the Bridge, thinking they’d replace the screw...after a week or so I picked it up again and they had just torqued the screw till the tip snapped off and so it turned but was floating in the bridge. I also took an AY SG back that would’t stay remotely in tune if the maestro was used...rather than attempting to fix it or improve it, the tech asked me why I had bought it in the first place Fair question - I got refunded.

I’ve never - ever - been asked about setup preferences on an online order.

If I want it done right now I take it to @ICBM and then I know it’ll come back right. 

Adamski

Had about 5 high end guitars sent from Peach and they’ve all been perfect. 
Had one from Coda that was great too and one from Andertons that clearly hadn’t ever been out of the box but luckily was just set up well anyway. 

Teyeplayer

Music Street offer shipping and have a nice selection, thought not at the lower priced box shifting end such as GAK (and they are not a Gibson stockist). They offer to set every guitar up before it gets sent out and certainly the one I had from them had been. 

Cabicular

peachguitarsdotcom said:

Whitecat said:

World Guitars, Absolute Music for used and Guitar Village IME are a cut above. 

Coda and Peach are good but I don’t believe they do a full setup unless it’s necessary where as the above definitely do. 

we most certainly do! We have a full time tech that checks and sets up every single guitar that goes out. 

I’ve bought a couple of secondhanders from peach and they have come immaculately setup

bobblehat

I have bought two guitars from Andertons and both were great.

Musicman20

Peach seem great, I've not used Coda but I hear good things.

Andertons QC is ropey, IME. Johnny Marr Jag arrived with what looked like paint that hadn't cured properly, so the case had imprinted the pattern of the fur in the back. The paint had also shrunk excessively so you could see bare wood around the neck joint area. Other areas were just poorly finished.

Couldn't adjust the neck as the pickguard hole was totally off angle to the truss rod...

The guitar looked great from a distance and sounded lovely, but for £1800? No....I'd expect the nitro to at least look good until it has some wear and tear from use. 

Andertons said it passed their QC - it had not been opened!

Guitarguitar were decent with my last Musicman order, but it was a sealed box (as they told me it would be) and the reason it was perfect is because Musicman guitars and basses just generally are! The dealer actually does a proper setup.

Henrytwang

I’ve found Andertons OK, had a couple of problems but they sorted them. The guitars both new and second hand that I’ve bought from Guitar Guitar have been excellent. I guess I should give Thomann a thumbs up, the instruments are always great value for money, well packed and shipped very quickly.