Got some bad news today - [Update - Happy Ending!]

What a drag!
Did you buy the guitar new, Margaret? From this shop?
If so, I think you have a lot of leverage. Especially if they have you 'in the system'. At my local shop my name, account and address get called up by my phone number. I would imagine my entire purchase history is there for a gander.
From something like that they'd see you have spent a whack of dough there, bring your instruments in for service by tech, aren't consistently returning things, etc. That all weighs in your favour. The fact you don't do your own set-ups helps explain the fairly long gap between the 'incident' and your discovery of the problem.
If you're not in their computer, I'd round up every receipt you have from them to bolster your case as a good customer with a unique complaint.
Good luck and stay calm! If they're smart business people they'll do something to sort it out.:)

I'm so sorry that happened to you, Margaret! That shop needs to know that they didn't get away with it, though! They need to know that you know they tried to screw you. That, just because you're a woman doesn't mean you're stupid. I think I would let them know what they did, give them an option to either fix it (replace your neck) or to go to Small Claims Court. It's perfectly plausible that you didn't play the guitar for a while because the action was set too high and was therefore uncomfortable to play (and you did take it back to tell them about it before you discovered the stripped rod), and because you had gotten a brand new guitar that felt better to play. I know that you could get a whole bunch of guitarists to give statements to that effect. I've got guitars that I haven't played in a year. Doen't mean that I don't want them or don't ever want to play them again. Heck, I'll give you a notarized statement. So what if it's been 7 months. If it were me, I'd give them the opportunity to do the right thing. If they refused I'd sue their butts off!

Thank you for your responses, everybody. It sure is nice to have the support of friends when you get bad news. :)

I did buy the guitar new, but not from that shop. In fact, my teacher did the shopping for me on that one, as it was our first electric, purchased as a co-birthday present for my son and I. (His b'day and mine are a week apart, and I knew just what we wanted! :twisted: )

And yes, I have spent a pile of money in the shop in question over the years, including a piano, a bass and two practice amps, bundles of print music (my own plus I used to teach piano and purchased for my students) plus many various and sundry items over the years. They do have me in their computer system and can easily look at my buying history and loyalty.

So yeah, they really ought to do something for me on this deal, and I just had an idea. The very least I should get out of them is a refund of the $50 or $60 that the setup cost me. I could put that toward the repair being done by my teacher, the store doesn't have to put any more labor or cost into it, and that would be an easy thing for them to "give" me. Even if they gave it to me in store credit, I would eventually use it.

Margaret

So yeah, they really ought to do something for me on this deal, and I just had an idea. The very least I should get out of them is a refund of the $50 or $60 that the setup cost me. I could put that toward the repair being done by my teacher, the store doesn't have to put any more labor or cost into it, and that would be an easy thing for them to "give" me. Even if they gave it to me in store credit, I would eventually use it.

Margaret

That is a good idea Margaret. From your posts, I believe I know the store in question, and you would think they would want to do right by you knowing your history with them, and probable future purchasing history as well. Give them a ring tomorrow and see what they say. If they're good business people, they'll see the advantage of keeping you happy. :D Good luck.

Dan

Today I called the guitar shop and explained the situation to the manager of the repair department. He was very nice, said they wanted to do what they could to keep me as a customer, and asked me to bring the guitar in.

Then I got a call back from my teacher, and he had figured out that the thing is not stripped after all! :D

Rather, his standard wrenches were just not fitting it, including the wrench that he found in the gig bag (and which came with the guitar). He had just this evening come across another wrench in the gig bag (to the naked eye, these two wrenches look identical in size), and lo and behold, IT fits!

So now I have the strat back, the action is low and lovely, and the special wrench is prominently labelled! :lol:

My teacher insists on calling the shop back himself, to explain and apologize to them, although I certainly didn't expect him to do this.

In summary, I paid the shop $50+ for a setup that resulted in action like a trampoline :evil: , I lost 7 months with the strat because it was so unpleasant to play that it mostly stayed in its case :cry: , I now have it back in wonderful playing condition :D , and my teacher won't let me pay him anything even though he put several hours into the problem :roll: , which is why I took it to the shop instead of asking him to change the strings in the first place. :shock: :lol:

Margaret

Wow - A great story!

Sorry you had to lose all that time with a strat and were forced to play a PRS instead. :D
(I'm a Strat guy :) )

Though you know what they say about landing a plane.... Any one you walk away from is a good one. :wink:

Glad it had a happy ending :D

Ken

Wow - A great story!

Sorry you had to lose all that time with a strat and were forced to play a PRS instead. :D
(I'm a Strat guy :) )

Though you know what they say about landing a plane.... Any one you walk away from is a good one. :wink:

Glad it had a happy ending :D

Ken
Yes, I just HATED all that time with the Tremonti Santa put under my tree. :wink:

BTW, I'm sure my teacher isn't too disappointed that he doesn't have to bore out the strat and do that repair job. Now he can go back to replacing the frets on his Gibson.

Margaret

Sorry you had to lose all that time with a strat and were forced to play a PRS instead. :D
(I'm a Strat guy :) )

Yeah, she was slumming for a few months. :lol:

Good story Margaret.

BTW, one wrench is probably metric, the other US gauge. I had that problem with the saddle screws on my Bongo; ended up using a bent paperclip. :roll:

Margaret ... I thought the threads were stripped! If I thought it was the hex key socket I would have told you to try different wrenches! I'm not sure which one, but one of mine is an odd ball. The wrench needs to fit tightly, if not don't use it or you could have a stripping incident. I'm glad to hear all is well. My favorite truss rod wrenches are for my Gibsons. The rods have a nut on top and the wrench is a socket. My Jackson Professional is like that also. Well, also my Ernie Ball OLP knock off .... it has a little wheel down on the body end of the neck that has holes like a tinker toy. You stick the rod into the hole and turn it. No slippage there. You just need to remember that it turns the opposite way as it is on the opposite end of the neck ... like one in the sound hole of an acoustic.

Yay, a happy ending! :D Glad things worked out. 8)

Dan

Margaret ... I thought the threads were stripped! If I thought it was the hex key socket I would have told you to try different wrenches! I'm not sure which one, but one of mine is an odd ball. The wrench needs to fit tightly, if not don't use it or you could have a stripping incident. I'm glad to hear all is well. My favorite truss rod wrenches are for my Gibsons. The rods have a nut on top and the wrench is a socket. My Jackson Professional is like that also. Well, also my Ernie Ball OLP knock off .... it has a little wheel down on the body end of the neck that has holes like a tinker toy. You stick the rod into the hole and turn it. No slippage there. You just need to remember that it turns the opposite way as it is on the opposite end of the neck ... like one in the sound hole of an acoustic.
This was my teacher doing all this, TR, not me. He is an experienced luthier and did try multiple wrenches before concluding that it was stripped out. It seems the ONLY wrench that fits (including his personal array of wrenches) was the one hiding in the gig bag, thus the importance of labelling it as unique for future reference.

I have no experience with neck adjustments and have no intentions of touching anything like that on any of my guitars for the forseeable future. I know that tiny tweakings have big impacts, and I'd rather have someone who knows what they are doing make those minute adjustments, rather than screw something up and have to take it to them anyway to fix my goof. :oops:

Margaret

Good to Hear :D

truss rods. why is it that everyone wants to mess with them. forty some years of playing and I never ever put a wrench to one.
Margi, let your teacher apologize after he eats some humble pie. he owes you a few lessons too.
wrong wrench, give me a break. he is a luthier that is getting some experience, not an experienced luthier.
glad it worked out for you.
(I am a hard ass sometimes)

truss rods. why is it that everyone wants to mess with them. forty some years of playing and I never ever put a wrench to one.
Margi, let your teacher apologize after he eats some humble pie. he owes you a few lessons too.
wrong wrench, give me a break. he is a luthier that is getting some experience, not an experienced luthier.
glad it worked out for you.
(I am a hard donkey sometimes)

yeah i hafta agree here.
as a shadetree mechanic that has rebuilt many engines and motorcycles, there would have been telltale marks on the adjuster end of the rod if it had been stripped, metric and standard mixups occur all the time.
"measure twice, cut once"

it's good that it was caught in time and that you can now get to know your strat properly.

But you can't even see the "adjuster end of the rod" on this guitar. It's recessed way down inside that dark hole where you insert the wrench, just above the nut. You put the wrench in there and operate blindly. I can see how if no "normal" wrench (even one that was included with the guitar) would grab on and turn it, one might conclude it was stripped. BTW, I'm thinking that "wrong" wrench that was included with the guitar may have been put in by the dealer, and not by Fender.

The fact remains that the shop couldn't (or wouldn't) bring the action down to where it was playable (by me, anyway) even when I went back a second time and complained, and my teacher did. 8)

And I finally got to really try out the heavier strings (10s). I like the way they sound, and my fingertips are sore this morning. :lol:

Margaret