Fender QC Fail

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ido1957

ido1957

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Went to Long and McQuade south yesterday (music store - Canadian). I played an American Standard Strat ($1100). I bent the high e string on the third fret and the string came out of the nut !!??? I've never seen that before. I also played a Mexican Strat ($500). It played okay but the action was like a half inch off the neck at the 12th fret. :facepalm: I had a gift card but never bought anything as it wouldn't cover the cost of a Black LP Custom lol and I don't need strings yet.
 
I know some guys who work for Fender, Gretsch, and Suhr. Fender "techs" are trained (told) to do a "set up" in less than a minute. The others actually spend 5-10 doing setup work. It's amazing what a few minutes can do. Most of the problems I find with lower end guitars is the set up. Strings are high, frets are sharp, intonation is off. A REAL set up would probably get those guitars playing just fine...but it doesn't make sense that you should have to set up a BRAND new guitar!
 
aaronmcoleman said:
but it doesn't make sense that you should have to set up a BRAND new guitar!
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Many of the lower end of the upper end (LOL thats funny) guitars are set up shitty. I played a Gibson Firebird studio that was a ghastly piece of shit. I couldn't believe they expected someone to pay 750 or whatever it was for that thing.
 
I have yet to play a Gibson LP Studio that didn't have sharp fret edges and action that is way high.
 
fuzzsniffvoyage said:
I have yet to play a Gibson LP Studio that didn't have sharp fret edges and action that is way high.
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The thing is though, one guy's unplayable garbage is another guy's just right. It's especially evident to me with Gibson's 50's necks. Some of them feel nice, some of them feel like a Louisville Slugger cut in half.
 
fuzzsniffvoyage said:
I have yet to play a Gibson LP Studio that didn't have sharp fret edges and action that is way high.
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My friend bought one a few months ago and it was great so lucky probably. I just played it Saturday. See MP3 clinic for our tune. SPAM!?!? lol
 
Being Canadian, and an L&M regular, I feel your pain. I've played $3K Les Pauls that were horrible. It's these dry Winnipeg winters here, and I'm sure Alberta is no different. The acoustic room here has more than one humidifier going all day. Even if you had your repair guy tweak all the guitars all day, he'd have to start again the next day. Not really practical.
But on a weird note, I've played horrible $3K Les Pauls in the summer as well. I think L&M finally has a repair guy here that can look after guitars right. Even weirder; L&M is or was the sole Canadian distributor of Gibson, through the parent company Yorkville. If you go to the Yorkville web site, they brag how they have a handful of 'certified' luthiers whose only job is to make sure every Gibson leaves the Yorkville plant with nothing less than a 100% perfect set up to make your playing experience as enjoyable as possible. :laughings:
Hey, at least it wasn't an $8K Martin D45.
 
Not much the store can do if there is constant (lack of) humidity issues, but they should throw a free set-up into the equation, if they're any good. How exactly did the string pop out of the nut -was the groove not cut deep enough (yet the action near the nut was ok)?
 
mjbphotos said:
they should throw a free set-up into the equation, if they're any good.
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muttley600 said:
lol who tol you that cos it aint true.
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A friend of mine works at GC in Nashua NH and he has a nice little side gig going on there.
He will set up your purchased guitar for any where between $25. $50.

He does a great job and makes some extra moola to boot!
Shame the guitars don't come from the factory in better shape.



Now I remember years ago guitars showing up to the store in tune!!!! Or very close to it. So you can see they spent some time on them before sending them out.
 
I set up between 50 and 100 factory instruments a month for stores in and around my region. If a shop dosen't offer a setup service prior to purchase walk away unless you are handy at it yourself or willing to pay for it to be done. Even then you should really get them to have a go at it first because they mat not honour warranties if your work or tech is not approved.

Factory setups are basic for a reason. Everyone needs wants a different setup. The idea that Fender QC allow only a minute per QC check and set is laughable however.
 
maybe i'm wrong about the less than a minute thing, but they have "eyeball" spots for the intonation, and spacers for string height, probably a neck jig for truss rod. The whole thing is done without even playing the guitar once. Plus, sharp frets aren't a matter of personal taste, that's just bad work. I get basic factory setups, but it seems like most of these guitars have almost NO factory set up.
 
aaronmcoleman said:
maybe i'm wrong about the less than a minute thing, but they have "eyeball" spots for the intonation, and spacers for string height, probably a neck jig for truss rod. The whole thing is done without even playing the guitar once. Plus, sharp frets aren't a matter of personal taste, that's just bad work. I get basic factory setups, but it seems like most of these guitars have almost NO factory set up.
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I'm afraid as some one who has visited their factories as a consultant you are wrong. I was in one of them earlier this year in Asia advising on training along with some other industry builders and they do the checks using the same stuff that your average tech does. A quick google and check the video from about 6.40 and you can see the guys doing it. Only about 10 seconds of coverage but you get the idea.

All their guitars are play tested as well. Sharp frets are common and not normally the manufacturers fault. Most occur as a result of humidity changes and the frets then intruding over the end of the fb.. It's actually quite hard to leave sharp frets with the process they use. Until we can grow timber that doesn't move it's going to happen.. I'm not saying they are brilliant but they do not do it in a "minute" do no less "eyeball" checks than anyone else including me and the bad rap that they and others get is often from misrepresentation and plain bad mouthing from people that just don't know better. Don't believe them. Make your own judgements. All instruments that are made of wood and played regularly need setting up often.

Fender Factory Tour on Guitar Universe - YouTube
 
Meh, I ordered my American strat in 2004 and it was set up beautifully IMO.
 
muttley600 said:
Factory setups are basic for a reason. Everyone needs wants a different setup. The idea that Fender QC allow only a minute per QC check and set is laughable however.
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Even a 5-10 minute setup for a just-assembled guitar seems low.

That said, as long as there are no major structural issues with a guitar, a setup is the least of my concerns - the first thing I do to a new guitar is take it apart and clean it/set it up from the ground up.
 
DrewPeterson7 said:
Even a 5-10 minute setup for a just-assembled guitar seems low.

That said, as long as there are no major structural issues with a guitar, a setup is the least of my concerns - the first thing I do to a new guitar is take it apart and clean it/set it up from the ground up.
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yeh it is. The base checks all make are neck alignment, neck set, fret levels, intonation (crudely), pickup height, nut set, saddle radius. There are other things that are checked but no attempt is made to do a "set up". On top of that an eye ball check of the finish and over all stability are made.

A set up is a personal thing, there is absolutely no point trying to set up a guitar in the factory as I can guarantee what I look for in a set up is not what you look for. People need to get away from the idea that guitars are set up in the factory they are not. They do a solid QC check and make sure that it can be set up as YOU would like. There is no 10 minute rule or 1 minute rule. There is pressure to get the instruments boxed and out but that is no different from any mass produced environment.
 
I think most guitars are a work in progress.

I bought a Les Paul Trad Pro last year, the nut was cut unevenly
and had to replaced (on a new guitar).

The high E string wasn't over the neck and would roll off when fretted.

They still had me wait 6 weeks later to do the set-up so the guitar
could acclimate to my local climatic conditions.
 
muttley600 said:
A set up is a personal thing, there is absolutely no point trying to set up a guitar in the factory as I can guarantee what I look for in a set up is not what you look for. People need to get away from the idea that guitars are set up in the factory they are not. They do a solid QC check and make sure that it can be set up as YOU would like. There is no 10 minute rule or 1 minute rule. There is pressure to get the instruments boxed and out but that is no different from any mass produced environment.
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Again, sharp frets, bowed necks, and very poor intonation are not really "personal" setup issues. I"m pretty sure nobody wants a sharp fretted guitar.
 
aaronmcoleman said:
Again, sharp frets, bowed necks, and very poor intonation are not really "personal" setup issues. I"m pretty sure nobody wants a sharp fretted guitar.
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Again, sharp frets in nearly all cases are a result of the f/b shrinking. The factory cannot control humidity once the guitar has left it's premises.
Again, intonation is set at the factory for a specific string gauge, action, neck relief, etc none of which may be your choice of string gauge action, neck relief etc.
A bowed neck is not something I have ever seen on a factory instrument, if you mean neck relief see above, if you mean bowed then the strings would not lie properly on the edge of the fingerboard. If you have an example the factory would accept the return immediately as would any dealer, shop etc.
Again, A set up is not done at the factory, a set up is done by the person, shop, dealer that sells you the guitar, factory QC work ensures that the guitar can be set up.

Again, they do not just allow one minute per setup
Again, give it up...
 
aaronmcoleman said:
Again, sharp frets, bowed necks, and very poor intonation are not really "personal" setup issues. I"m pretty sure nobody wants a sharp fretted guitar.
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meh, stop being a pussy, sharp frets build character (and callouses). :p
 
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