Some of you may remember I bought a new Player series tele over a month ago.. beholdeth, the story is far from over.
The original guitar came with a special run ‘joke’ nut which was installed by Stevie Wonders feet.
See thread here:
http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/137315/string-spacing-at-nut-looks-off#latestIt also featured Fenders bent steel saddles which require a swear box (sold seperately) and a history in tunnelling to to be able to string easily.
Issue/non issue, see thread here:
http://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/137490/fender-player-series-gaffe#latestBased on mainly the nut alone, I contacted Fender Uk, who were helpful and insisted I take the guitar back to a local PMT store who would arrange to have it collected by Fender, who will sort the nut for me.
Great! A little annoying because obviously you don’t want to instantly send a guitar off for a week and a half repair a week after buying it..
Anyway Pmt called me when the guitar arrived back. Said, ‘hey, come get it’.
I asked if they could tell me exactly what had been done (it was a Monday, I couldnt get there til a Wednesday).
They didnt have a clue.
I emailed Fender to ask for clarification. They emailed back and said ‘I believe we’ve sent you out a brand new guitar’..
Err ok..
I get to Pmt, lo and behold its a brand new guitar.
Heres what they sent..
Is the nut any better? A little.. I think..
Low E runs dangerously close to the fret ends. Loosened the neck screws, tried to move the neck in the pocket, but guess what, theres zero play, despite a gap between low E side of the neck and guitar body in the neck cavity..
A little gouge in the fretboard, presumably from a nut file..
And finally a defect in the paint, under the poly of course.. Not as bad in pictures it turns out, but you can just make it out. Hell, at least its on the back right?
See the black swirl type marks?
So I gave it a week and finally thought fuck it, will take it in and have a decent set up, some fret end work etc.
The work was done absolutely fine, but foolishly I forgot to mention the neck alignment. Then again if theres no play in the neck cavity, despite there being a visual gap, I presume its gonna need work done, and tbh I’m not sure I’m up for paying for that on a brand new guitar of £519.
Anyway I played it for an hour. Hmm the low E keeps going flat.
Tuned back up. Played for 10 mins, low E flat again.
Stretched the string a bit, re tuned and played for 10 mins. Flat again.
Now with a bit of buzz.
The hell, is the tuner broke?
Intonations out on it now too..
Played some more, kept going flat, kept retuning, kept getting more buzzy, it was an endless cycle.. until I could clearly see what was happening.
This:
Low E saddle.. turns out the vibrations of playing are adjusting the fucking saddle for me. Its screwing itself in, all of its own accord. Look how canted thats ended up lol. Guessing either the grub screw is fucked, or the saddle thread is..
Anyway that was the result of playing for the half hour I’ve had with it since I bought it almost 5 weeks ago. I give up.
Except I’m clearly going to have to sort this. Again.
Comments
This thread could be very useful to people though - it can sometimes seem a bit of a mystery what less-than-obvious quality problems exist in 500 quid guitars when to the untrained eye / at first glance they seem to be just as good as 2 grand guitars.
This post has some examples of things people can look out for.
Best of luck on sorting it, hope you end up with a cracker.
I did wonder if I’m being a bit picky, but then again If the neck could be aligned and the saddle screw didnt automatically adjust itself, I’d probably just suck it up because the way its been set up is lovely!
Wish I’d have known those two issues before I took it in to be set up really, but the saddle screw thing couldnt have been known until I gave it a good half hour, and I presumed the neck would have ‘some’ play, so I didnt think it to be an issue.
I ‘think’ the grub screw in question was actually fairly far inside the threaded hole of the saddle to begin with too, otherwise I might think my palm resting on that area could be twisting them..
I can only think its so loose that vibration alone is enough to turn it.
If only Fender had just cut a new nut for my original one!! Damnit.
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message
Some bits on TDPRI about the Player telecaster, suggestion that Fender are in the process of changing the bridge saddles on this model. In the USA owners have had them replaced under warranty by an alternative but not here.
Hope you get sorted.
The nut is still not acceptable. Fender need to find out why they’re being done like this and sort it out.
The bridge saddle height screws self-adjusting with vibration is a known issue - it can be fixed with threadlock or superglue.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Fender Uk only seem to have an email, so I’ll email the same guy who dealt with it before. I expect he’ll say take it into Pmt again, but I’ll try to get them to actually sort it this time!
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message
I'm confused
Its all gone weird.
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message
You are well within your right to send it back again, and as others have mentioned you sort of should anyway because it might highlight an issue with a batch that other users may not notice... many younger players with richer parents than I had when I was a bairn start out on guitars like this and wouldn’t notice what you have but ignorance isn’t always bliss, Fender should know
contactemea@fender.com
I havent had a chance to do anything yet, just about to head into work now but will check back once I finish.
https://youtu.be/3HatSqi7kmY