I have recently acquired a Martin Thin line Acoustic Electric. The sound is pretty good despite the composite body. The problem is that in first position particularly playing a G chord with a D on the 2nd string the G on the 1st string will roll off the bevel of the 3rd fret making the note buzz. I can accommodate this by being more precise with my 4th finger but it's annoying and doesn't happen on any other of my guitars. Can the guitar be adjusted to fix this?
Nuts
- Thread starter dogonjon
- Start date
muttley600
Banned
If you bought new, that would certainly be covered by the warranty. I had warranty service done on my Martin, and altho the problems were caused by excess moisture (which could have not been covered,) the lutier recommended to me by the Martin rep took care of everything- even resetting the then-too-high action caused by me inexpertly installing a piezo bridge pickup.
Martin customer service is as good as Fender's is (reputed to be) bad.
Martin customer service is as good as Fender's is (reputed to be) bad.
Light
New member
Only if it were a defect in workmanship or material. The more likely scenario is that his playing style does not work well with the way they make that guitar. That is not a defect in workmanship or material, which is all the warranty covers. This is probably NOT something which would be covered under the warranty, nor is it something which should be covered.
Please, do not tell people thing are covered when you don't know. Leave it to those of us who have actually read the Martin warranty, and more to the point those of us who do warranty service for a living. I spend far to many hours of my life explaining to people that the salesman who sold them their guitar didn't know what he was talking about - don't add (even more) bad internet information to my day.
Light
"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
BEGGING your pardon, but I
1) HAVE read the warranty, and
2) Have had VERY good customer service from Martin, as I mentioned.
Perhaps I should have prefaced my comment with something like "If the guitar is fairly new AND you bought new..." Perhaps YOU should use your time spent calling me down, on discussing with Martin ways to service THEIR (not yours) customers. My lutier, and the area Martin rep, found a way to make it happen for me. As a result, they have my nearly undying loyalty- the lutier is over 125 miles away, and I STILL bring him ALL my acoustic instrument repair service. Frankly, with your attitude, I would be very suprised if you enjoy such loyalty.
I appreciate your comments on other post I have made, but I think you are out of line, here.
1) HAVE read the warranty, and
2) Have had VERY good customer service from Martin, as I mentioned.
Perhaps I should have prefaced my comment with something like "If the guitar is fairly new AND you bought new..." Perhaps YOU should use your time spent calling me down, on discussing with Martin ways to service THEIR (not yours) customers. My lutier, and the area Martin rep, found a way to make it happen for me. As a result, they have my nearly undying loyalty- the lutier is over 125 miles away, and I STILL bring him ALL my acoustic instrument repair service. Frankly, with your attitude, I would be very suprised if you enjoy such loyalty.
I appreciate your comments on other post I have made, but I think you are out of line, here.
muttley600
Banned
String spacing at the nut is generally standard at the nut on Martins withing models. If in this case it is too close to the edge of the fingerboard (highly unlikely) it would be a warranty issue. Most likely it's not, in which case it wouldn't be covered. The only persons able to make such a call are licensed Martin warranty dealers or luthiers. Both Light and myself hold that license. He is correct both in his advice and his assessment of the likely problem.
Roguetitan
New member
Sorry but...Uh Light and mutley are both right.
I sincerely hope that this can be taken as constructive criticism:
I can accept that- but given the attitude, were I in Light's town, he would not get any referral business from me. Prefacing a statment obviously intended to be scathing with "please" is not gonna short-circuit my bull shit meter- being an ass is being an ass, no matter how you dress it up.
Really, I am trying my best to be respectful, here, but one thing I have always had trouble doing, and frankly think is perfectly justified, is being respectful to people who are disrespectful to me. There is much more to "being right" than simple technical accuracy. Things like consideration of the owner's situation, respect for the manufacturer's reputation, etc. sometime should enter into the picture.
I am very pleased with my Martin SDP16. A fortunate set of circumstances came together, and allowed me to own a guitar that is both a Martin, and much more handsome, than I ever expected to, or thought I could ever afford. I did not buy the guitar because of the reputation of either the lutier who ultimately restored my guitar, or the Regional rep who may have authorized him to beyond the letter of the warranty- but their beyond-the-call actions have cemented my loyalty. I even, unwittingly, gave the rep what was probably a chance to take the cheap route- I asked him if I souldn't just request a new guitar, and he said my guitar was a very early edition of the SDP16, and was gussied up very much like a D38- he could get me a new one if I wanted, but none as pretty as mine were available, and would never be. My orignal post here was not to interpet Martin's warranty, but rather to laud them for what I believe to be excellent customer service. Frankly, if I were not already so happy with Martin, and had the supreme misfortune to have to rely on you for warranty or customer-pay service on my guitars- I might well have taken your foul, haughty attitude as proof that Martin does not give a damn about it's customer. Fortunately, for me and for Martin Guitars, I realize that it is YOU who would rather be right and lose a customer, than bend a little and keep him.
You do Martin Guitars- the company that helps you pay your bills- a terrible disservice.
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Light
New member
You may have read it, but you clearly did not understand it. Sorry, but that is a simple fact.
We (my shop) has been a Martin warranty center for more than 30 years. I know very well what they will and will not cover. I fight for them to cover things when they don't want to (uncommon, as they are extremely generous, but it does happen sometimes), and I tell them when I think they are covering something they shouldn't (after 25 years, a neck reset is no longer a defect in workmanship and material, and shouldn't be covered - yet they still pay for it). I bill Martin, on average, over $2,000 a month (one of very few shops in the world to do so), and I know their policies MUCH better than you or your dealer (dealers, on the whole, don't have a clue what the warranty covers, and as much as I hate having to tell people their sales person was wrong, it is a daily part of my job). If the part (i.e., the nut in this case) is within spec, they will not cover any work on that part - which is how it should be.
First of all, you did not understand that please - it was sincere. I spend WAY too much time explaining to people that the information they got off of the internet was flat out wrong, and frequently people will not believe me even though the person they got their information from has no real experience with guitars, and is just repeating bad information they got from some other inexperienced poster (fancy material bridge pins is the most common one of these - I promise you, they do not improve anything). I'm asking that you not give out inaccurate information when you don't know what you are talking about - for instance, telling someone "If you bought new, that would certainly be covered by the warranty," on something which probably will not be covered. You are making my job harder and more annoying. Please stop. Frankly, I thought that was one of the more benign things I'd written on here, and was quite surprised you were offended.
As for my attitude, you are making the extremely erroneous assumption that my attitude on this forum (where I post under an assumed name, and have frequently turned business down from forum members because I didn't want to reveal my real name) has anything to do with my attitude in real life. As I have said frequently before, this place acts as a sort of outlet for my frustrations - for those days when I start to feel, to quote Kevin Smith, "This job would be great if it weren't for the fucking customers." Surely you have days like that in your job.
The guys who do repair work in my shop have, between them, over 100 years of experience, and we live and breathe customer service. Even though we are without question the most expensive shop in town, we have more repeat customers than I could possibly count, and I can't tell you how many times a day I hear someone say, "I would never take my guitars anywhere else." Today, I can recall hearing it from at least 4 different customers - and with two of our repair folks on vacation, this is a slow week. So yeah, sometimes I need to vent, so I come on here and I act like an asshole. To make up for it, I give out a huge amount of free advice, which people seem to have decided is good. If you don't like my attitude, don't read what I write. Not that hard of a solution, if you ask me.
(Oh, and the people doing Martin a disservice are the idiot sales people who persist in telling people that Martin will cover any repair on their guitars for as long as the customer owns their guitar.)
Light
"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
muttley600
Banned
I'm afraid you'd get ushered to the door in my workshop if you came along telling me something is black when it is white so to speak. As for referring customers you would probably have been referred to me in the first place. People come back because I do the best work. Not because they like my smile and their mate says so..
Lights attitude to mis-information online is exactly the same as mine and he normally takes a softer approach than I do before calling people out. I see it everyday too and frankly I'm tired of dealing with it.
The issue in question would not be covered. Martin allow me within reason to make judgments on what I do to preserve their good reputation for customer care and I know they would allow me to fit a new nut at no charge on a first owner instrument. That said if you started telling me that it is a workmanship problem and SHOULD be covered then I'd be less inclined to do so. Your inability to accept the word of an experienced person because you felt patronised or insulted would ring alarm bells. Us good makers are far to busy because we are good not because we are nice to people.
Finally, the Internet is not a popularity contest and those here that do know what they are talking about pass on there info free and usually qualify it. You have got an answer to the question you wanted, it is correct. If you don't like the answer that is your problem. If you don't like the way people are speaking to you that is your problem also. Get over it and move on. Who's been hurt here? No one. Who is a little bit wiser?
Oh, I am wiser, alright- I much better know who the jerks on this forum are. Not sayin' who they are, they no doubt know...
One of the truisms of the internet is the ability to hide behind an alias. You know- operating under an assumed name, so that you do not have to be responsible for what you say...
I've had my fill of you guys. Won't be checking this thread again.
Patronizing, haughty, jerks. Yep, this forum's got 'em.
One of the truisms of the internet is the ability to hide behind an alias. You know- operating under an assumed name, so that you do not have to be responsible for what you say...
I've had my fill of you guys. Won't be checking this thread again.
Patronizing, haughty, jerks. Yep, this forum's got 'em.