I have a useless $2700 custom plus had to pay 78 dollars for FMIC to tell me.. w/pics

[AK47]

I have a useless 2700 dollar Charvel and I just paid FMIC and Guitar Center 78 dollars to tell me its useless and get fucked. Here is my story...

I am posting this here instead of USA Charvels because I want everyone to see this because I am so angry right now.

As some of you may know I ordered this guitar through Matts music when Charvel's customs were still a reasonable cost. I received the guitar over a year and a half ago in unplayable condition. The action was so low the strings were resting on the frets. No biggie guitars are tempermantle with air and it came from the East coast to California.


So I took it to Torres Engineering in San Mateo and you guys can google him he knows his guitars. He set the guitar up and told me that in order for the guitar to be playable he had to set the action very high. He said for a 2700 dollar guitar this is totally unacceptable.


I then contacted Matt and told me I have to take it to a local FMIC authorized repair center.


I will try to sum up what happened. I went back and forth with Guitar Center till I got them to send the guitar out to FMIC for a repair a few months ago. This all happened over the course of a year. I just did not have time to make phone calls everyday to get my guitar taken care of.


I was told repeatedly by guitar center and the FMIC customer service center that everything will be made right after I got it shipped to FMIC. I did not worry and figured everything was going to turn out OK.


So tonight I went to Guitar Center to pick up my guitar. The manager was not there so the employees were not much help. All I know is I paid 78 dollars to get my guitar back with the same neck and the neck had been adjusted so far back that the fretboard is actually touching the body! Also the first fret if played on buzzes because the action is too low to the frets. As you can see it is adjusted to the max to be barely playable.


I took the guitar home and decided to pay GC to release it to me.


I took pictures of my old beat up 88 Tom Anderson Pro Am which is a properly set up and exact same configuration as my CS Charvel (22fret/recessed floyd) so you guys can see how far the neck has been adjusted.


I now currently have a 2700 dollar Charvel custom shop that is totally useless to me. Plus a 78 dollar receipt or bill which I can assume is a bill for FMIC to tell me to get screwed.


I hope someone from FMIC reads this and helps me out as I really have nothing else I can do right now with this guitar. I could not even sell it because it would just be unethical.

Here are pics and proof.

Pics of custom:



Pics of neck:

with dirty ass fingernail yes I work with my hands sometimes and it shows:





Pics of 78 dollar FU Bill from Guitar Center:


Pics of 88 Anderson that is properly setup in the same config:




Pics of both guitars for comparison:



If I am out of line and this is acceptable for a Charvel to be set up like this please tell me. Maybe I am being too demanding?

[AK47]

Here is the album with more pics. I am uploading some more photos shortly as well for better less blurry shots.

http://s301.photobucket.com/albums/nn80/EXPcustom/CharvelCS/

[metalchurch79]

That sucks balls man!
Sounds to me that the floyd is routed too deeply if it's as high as it goes and the action is still too low.
What needs to be done is the either the neck pocket need cut deeper, or the neck heel needs shaved down, or a little of both.
That will allow you to lower your bridge and re gain some adjustment.
Have you tried to shim the front of the neck?

I wonder who in the hell "inspected" this prior to shipment from the C/S?
I hope that this brings some attention to your problem by someone and you can have it fixed correctly and finally be able to enjoy this nice looking guitar.
You have every right to be pissed off.

[AK47]

That sucks balls man!
Sounds to me that the floyd is routed too deeply if it's as high as it goes and the action is still too low.
What needs to be done is the either the neck pocket need cut deeper, or the neck heel needs shaved down, or a little of both.
That will allow you to lower your bridge and re gain some adjustment.
Have you tried to shim the front of the neck?

I wonder who in the hell "inspected" this prior to shipment from the C/S?
I hope that this brings some attention to your problem by someone and you can have it fixed correctly and finally be able to enjoy this nice looking guitar.
You have every right to be pissed off.

The way I look at it is if I bought one of the 999 Charvel USA production series neck shimming may be acceptable but for a 2700 dollar custom a new neck would be acceptable.

[neilli]

Yeah, that sucks Jason. Whatever the reason, the playabilty should be more or less there right out of the box, or at least with a mild adjustment.

So forgive me - what do you think is the actual problem? I can see what the symptoms are, but what is causing it?

[AK47]

Yeah, that sucks Jason. Whatever the reason, the playabilty should be more or less there right out of the box, or at least with a mild adjustment.

So forgive me - what do you think is the actual problem? I can see what the symptoms are, but what is causing it?

According to Mr. Torres the neck is warped. He told me that he had the truss rod adjusted as far as it safely could go to get it where it is now.

Here is a copy of the hand written letter I included and put in the case for FMIC to read just so they did not think I was being a unreasonable customer.

[KBRR]

That ain't right man, and i know how you feel because it has happened to me, luckily i was able to return my guitar. If you are paying that kind of money you should recieve a top notch guitar. sorry man that sucks.

[The Mitch]

I too would be pissed if I had a 2700 CS in unplayable condition.
This sucks dude.
Maybe some J/C rep. reads this

[AK47]

I have owned this guitar for 18 months and have not been able to play it one single day.

I hope a FMIC rep sees this and takes pity on me. I dont know whos who any more since McD left or got reassigned. Jackson and Charvel are seperate entities now so I dont know who works where otherwise I would have sent a PM to one of them.

[ulijdavid]

When are these bigger companies going to start using double acting truss rods? If the neck has a back bow with a single acting truss rod, the neck is basically firewood. At least with a double acting, you have a chance of straightening the neck with a backbow. What a shame. I would also tend to give more attention to Torres Engineering over any tech at guitar center.

[phill_up]

If you bought the guitar from Matt, did you try to send it back to matt for warranty replacement?

[j2379]

if its back bowed, try loosening the truss rod & stringing it up with 11's or 12's. it maybe worth a shot.

[dg]

I think Bionic may be the right guy to try to contact. He'll probably see this thread eventually, but I'd PM him & see if he can help you out. Hope this works out.

[AK47]

if its back bowed, try loosening the truss rod & stringing it up with 11's or 12's. it maybe worth a shot.

I play with .09s on my guitars I am not going to play with a heavier guage string because someone cant get their necks right.

I bought the guitar to play metal or hard rock now if I bought the guitar to play nu-metal or whatever they call that crap now adays 11s or 12s would be great.

I did not deal with a Guitar Center tech this last time. It was sent to FMIC and they just sent it back and charged me 78 dollars. I still dont know why I was charged 78 dollars. No one can tell me this except the manager at GC but he is not working right now. I have to call later.

[AK47]

If you bought the guitar from Matt, did you try to send it back to matt for warranty replacement?

See my first post Matt told me I had to take it to a local FMIC repair center otherwise I would be out shipping costs to him.