bern1
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2004
- Messages
- 1,275
I think the way it used to be was that dealers would go over the guitars they received, set them up and take care of any minor flaws from the factory for their customers. They had margin to do this.
Today every retailer is battling the internet, so it may be difficult to go the extra mile, they just don’t have the margin.
I think today in general, especially in the lower and moderate price range, the buyer is getting a lot of guitar for the money, in that the inherent quality is very high and the factory set up is decent. This is certainly better than the 70’s and 80’s in this regard, as all manufacturing across the board has dramatically improved all over the world.
Having said that, I have bought two guitars in the past two years, one new and one mint as bought from a retailer. One Fender and one Gibson. Both had fret ends (or binding) sticking out at the edges of the board. On both the nuts were too high. The Gibson had frets that were not crowned. Neither guitar had any kind of set up.
Now, I can deal with all of these issues and pretty much expect it with Fender and Gibson. Just an observation, not necessarily a judgement. The bones of these guitars are good, the basics are solid. (Straight necks, proper geometry, etc.) These are relatively minor issues for people that know how to deal with them or are willing to spend money with a tech who can. It is very possible that the internet pricing can save a buyer the cash to do this. But this should not really be necessary. Of course I would prefer that America’s premier legacy electric guitars did not have these issues.
I have never seen a new Martin guitar with any of these issues.
Today every retailer is battling the internet, so it may be difficult to go the extra mile, they just don’t have the margin.
I think today in general, especially in the lower and moderate price range, the buyer is getting a lot of guitar for the money, in that the inherent quality is very high and the factory set up is decent. This is certainly better than the 70’s and 80’s in this regard, as all manufacturing across the board has dramatically improved all over the world.
Having said that, I have bought two guitars in the past two years, one new and one mint as bought from a retailer. One Fender and one Gibson. Both had fret ends (or binding) sticking out at the edges of the board. On both the nuts were too high. The Gibson had frets that were not crowned. Neither guitar had any kind of set up.
Now, I can deal with all of these issues and pretty much expect it with Fender and Gibson. Just an observation, not necessarily a judgement. The bones of these guitars are good, the basics are solid. (Straight necks, proper geometry, etc.) These are relatively minor issues for people that know how to deal with them or are willing to spend money with a tech who can. It is very possible that the internet pricing can save a buyer the cash to do this. But this should not really be necessary. Of course I would prefer that America’s premier legacy electric guitars did not have these issues.
I have never seen a new Martin guitar with any of these issues.