New pro mod cracked neck!!!!

[biged71]

It's hard keeping this going on 2 forums, so please excuse my cut and paste action.

As I stated this guitar sat un-played for months locked in my studio in it's bag. I don't know enough about wood to say what caused the crack. What I can say for certain is that I didn't do anything to cause it. If you feel they made the right call by losing many thousands of dollars in sales over my lifetime, all for a new neck that would have cost them next to nothing, then that is your opinion. From a business perspective, I will never be able to wrap my head around that point of view. To each his own I guess.

For the record, I am not mad at FMIC. If this situation is all that goes wrong in my life, I will consider myself very lucky. Poor me. My 1000 dollar guitar broke so I ordered a 3000 guitar to make myself feel better. It's not about that. I have always believed that you can tell what a person/organization is really like by how they treat the people that they don't HAVE to be nice to. How do people treat each other when the other person has nothing to offer them in return. Is FMIC within their rights not to replace the neck? Sure they are. Just as I have my right not to buy any more of their products. You have to admit though, if they replaced the neck for me free of charge, you would have an even better feeling about FMIC than you do now. I know I would.

I have a few Suhr's. Their customer service is second to none. I know a guy who bought a used Suhr. The Floyd posts were drilled wrong. Suhr replaced the guitar at no charge for the guy and offered to let him upgrade to different options at an additional cost if he wanted to. The guy wasn't even the original owner of the guitar. Did they have to do that? No. Did they make more than a few fans by doing that? I would say so.

I am not looking to buy up all the pointy/floyds. I just want one great one.

[biged71]

Its very simple. If you (or anyone) buys a used guitar, the surplus on the market is depleted and the price of the next used guitar will be higher. When the price of a used guitar is greater than the depreciation value vs. the cost of a new guitar, a potential buyer is more likely to buy the new guitar than the used guitar.

Take me, for example - my "buy it now" price for a used ProMod is probably about $500. To me, that's what that guitar is worth used. Any higher, and I'd rather have the new one off the shelf.

Further, if you go and buy up some early San Dimas pointies, the reduction of the surplus will increase the prices. Now me, not being a vintage expert and generally being unwilling to invest the time, I might buy a San Dimas pointy at $800 and roll the dice, but at $1200 I'd rather pay twice that and get a guaranteed legit Custom Shop.

Ok so for a $1000 would you buy a nice used older pointy or a new pro-mod? For me it's the pointy but there is also a nostalgia factor in it for me too. I loved them when I was growing up, but like most kids at that time couldn't afford them. Now that I have a few bucks, I buy the stuff I always wanted. Do I need a snakeskin SLO to play in my house? No, but it's not about need baby!!!

[Grandturk]

Ok so for a $1000 would you buy a nice used older pointy or a new pro-mod?

I'd like the older pointy - but again - is it worth the trouble for me to determine if its legit, modded, parts guitar, mighty mite body, etc. I'm not a vintage collector, so I wouldn't know what's what.

[VitaminG]

I have a few Suhr's. Their customer service is second to none. I know a guy who bought a used Suhr. The Floyd posts were drilled wrong. Suhr replaced the guitar at no charge for the guy and offered to let him upgrade to different options at an additional cost if he wanted to. The guy wasn't even the original owner of the guitar. Did they have to do that? No. Did they make more than a few fans by doing that? I would say so.

That's not really analagous with your situation though. Suhr were fixing a clear manufacturing issue. Your neck seems to have randomly disintegrated in a manner consistent with mistreatment. If a part breaks on a new car & it's clearly part failure, the warranty will cover its repair. If the part "fails" due to what looks a kerb hopping excursion, the dealer will still fix it but they'll expect the owner to pay, even if it costs them next to nothing to make that muffler. Charvel may have shot themselves in the foot regarding future sales with you, but maybe that Pro Mod was the only sale they were ever going to make to you anyway. And once word gets out that their customer service is giving away free necks regardless of the type of damage, in the interest of protecting potential future sales of course, watch anyone who has snapped a neck throwing a guitar over their shoulder try to jump on that gravy train. Then we'll see some "manufacturing defects". How much money does the company stand make then?

[biged71]

My point with the Suhr thing was that since they guy didn't buy it new, they didn't have to do anything for him. The fact that they did speaks volumes about their customer service.

I don't want to get into a pissing contest with all you guys about the virtues of FMIC. If they are a company that you want to do business with, great. I am choosing not to. Nothing any of you can say will change that. Whether you think I'm right or wrong, that is my position.

[Learn Guitars]

Seems to me that you are taking an agressive stance on a position that FMIC has regarding your guitar neck. It is a shame, because their offer of replacing at cost is a hell of a deal that I have yet to see with anyone in your situation. It is obvious to me as a guitar builder myself, that this crack was not due to manufacturing negligence. I guess the bottom line is now, how much do you want for your broken neck? I am sure you can part the rest out as well.

[biged71]

I'm actually having someone repair the broken neck. I bought the guitar the first day they came out because of the color and I paid 1000 for it. From a fiscal standpoint, there is no way I would invest another 20 percent in what is basically an entry-level or maybe mid-level guitar to begin with.

Couple that with the fact that out of principle, I didn't break the original neck, so I wouldn't pay a dollar toward a replacement neck, which means for me the whole situation is a non-starter.

[VitaminG]

I wasn't trumpeting Charvel's virtues as I've never dealt with their customer service dept and wouldn't want to comment on something I have no direct experience with. Was merely pointing out the difference between the scenario you raised and your own situation.

One thing I will say for Charvel - despite the company not offering individual parts for sale and the prevailing opinion of the guitar builders of this forum that the break is not due to a manufacturing issue, Charvel did offer to sell you a replacement neck at cost. That seems a decent attempt to meet you halfway and to make right a non-warranty issue.

[biged71]

I also think I am taking a passive stance, not an aggresive one. If I wanted to push the issue I would be making all kinds of calls to FMIC trying to speak with management, etc. I'm not doing any of that. I only posted their resolution on here because there were several guys that were curious about the outcome. I'm happy to let a sleeping dog lie, but everytime someone responds about how wrong I am or implies it, I feel I have to remind them that its my money to spend how I please. FMIC lost a customer. So what? Their not losing any sleep over it and neither am I.

[VitaminG]

since we're talking about customer service and you're having GMW build your guitar instead, check out how they handled a problem a customer had with their new guitar:

http://www.netspeed.com.au/genebaby/gmw/

Now, from anecdotal evidence on this forum, Lee is a great guy to deal with 99% of the time. But he really screwed the pooch when a problem was identified with the neck on this guitar

[zarl]

since we're talking about customer service and you're having GMW build your guitar instead, check out how they handled a problem a customer had with their new guitar:

http://www.netspeed.com.au/genebaby/gmw/

Now, from anecdotal evidence on this forum, Lee is a great guy to deal with 99% of the time. But he really screwed the pooch when a problem was identified with the neck on this guitar

Wow. That was an interesting read. Never dealt with GMW before, but certainly cautious after reading that one. Clear case of builder error that should have been made right.

[biged71]

WOW!! That thread has been around forever. I have dealt with Lee several times and have always been treated well.

[neilli]

Never dealt with GMW before, but certainly cautious after reading that one. Clear case of builder error that should have been made right.

I've been dealing with Lee for years (well before the Vic's issue) and I still deal with him to this day and from all I've seen and experienced you have no reason to be cautious. Obviously mud sticks as we all know, but Lee is a standup guy and other than this one issue I can't say I've ever heard anything negative about Lee's quality control. Now compare that to the number of issues we've all experienced and heard about with the bigger manufacturers, and I'd say the percentages are very much in Lee's favour.
The situation with Vic was a fuckup all round and Lee has acknowledged that he could have handled things better. But if you've just read that webpage, you have to remember that you've just heard one side of the story.

[gtrbuyer]

I too have been doing business with Lee for years too...however my last GMW custom order had a small flaw which really disappointed me.

[jmsaxon69]

I had an issue with my new Polar White SD-1 and I was taken care of by FMIC, they treated me well and I appreciated it so much I let them pay me in shwag instead of by check. Their customer service was great even when the dealer wanted to hang me out to dry. The dealer will never get my business again, but FMIC has my loyalty. (I love Strats and SD-1's)