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

[laihojrxo]

i dont know about what everyone else think, but from your description, it seems that the guitar's problem is that the nut is "too low."
try installing a new nut and see how it works.

[RobRR]

Yeah, it definitley looks like the nut is much too low. From the pics of the string height, I cant really notice any backbow, as the action seems to gradually get higher. Though its hard to tell without seeing it in person, I bet shimming the nut would fix your problem.

[AK47]

Yeah, it definitley looks like the nut is much too low. From the pics of the string height, I cant really notice any backbow, as the action seems to gradually get higher. Though its hard to tell without seeing it in person, I bet shimming the nut would fix your problem.

Its hard to photograph but the high E string action is low but the other strings are high at the 22nd fret. It seams like the neck is slightly twisted to the left. It is a hard one to photograph.

[RD]

BIONIC is a stand up Charvel guy... he'll get it handled!

[JACKSONFREAK]

It's not Gc's fault the tech couldn't fix it It's the techs fault for not doing it right. And If FMIC had the guitar they shouldve just replacerd the neck. Whats that limited lifetime warranty for anyway?
Gil

[toejam]

It's not Gc's fault the tech couldn't fix it It's the techs fault for not doing it right. And If FMIC had the guitar they shouldve just replacerd the neck. Whats that limited lifetime warranty for anyway?
Gil

GC has techs on staff? My local GC sends their stuff out to a mom and pop shop down the road. :ROTF:

[UFORocks]

As Neilli said, it's hard to tell from the pics and description what the cause of the problem is - we're only seeing the symptom.

From what I can tell, the neck does not appear to have a backbow. If that were the case, you would more likely have a problem with buzzing and/or fretting out towards the middle of the fretboard, not the 1st fret. Again, though, hard to tell from what we're seeing/reading here. The only way to know for sure would be to use a straight edge to measure it. StewMac makes a specialized one with notches in the fret positions, and it's been great for me to more accurately gauge truss rod adjustments for my necks.

More likely, it seems like the angle of the neck is wrong, relative to the straight line between the bridge and nut. That would be consistent with the pics showing the action being too low near the nut and too high near the bridge. My guess is that the neck - and possibly the nut, too - just needs to be shimmed a bit to produce a better alignment with the strings, and then the guitar set-up just redone consistent with the new angle. (Opinions on shimming vary. But the reality of dealing with guitar woodworking is that every maufacturer does it where needed - high bucks custom shop or otherwise. Woodworking tolerances can minimize the incidences of needing shims, but not eliminate it. Many guitars - including some of my CS's - need shims, and it has little or no effect on tone.)

In any event, it's clear that authorized service center didn't do their job. The problem was not resolved satisfactorily. As others have stated, I would PM McD or Bionic - they've been helpful in resolving these kind of issues before. Good luck.

I was thinking the same thing. By the looks of it the nut could use a shim, and if the angle is good then the bridge might even be able to come down a bit.

[eakinj]

GC has techs on staff? My local GC sends their stuff out to a mom and pop shop down the road. :ROTF:

Yeah the lady at my local GC sends work out to her boyfriend who "kind of knows how to work on guitars. He's worked on a couple"

[excumagrind]

dude that seriously fuckin blows but once its fixed that is a sick fuckin guitar bro

[zeegler]

Am I right in assuming that their idea of a fix was to route the neck pocket deeper? If so, that's just fucking stupid. Do they have mental deficients working in the shop at Charvel?

[BeëlzeM]

What a shame. What a terrible shame.

I hear this way too often, that high-end custom shops fuck up. That is unacceptable.

[mattsmusiccenter]

Wow. I had completely forgotten about this, especially when you didn't mention it during the conversations we had while dealing with the problems on your DigiCamo.

I'm happy to help in any way I can, let me know if you need me to get involved!

[Grandturk]

What I'm having a hard time with is the timeline. Did Charvel have the guitar for 18 mos and sent it back like that?

I mean, to me, this is like, day 1, recieve guitar, find out its unplayable and send it back. Hopefully you didn't hang onto it for 18 mos before deciding it needs to go back?

Best of luck with this. Heck, if it don't work out - part the sucker out, I'll throw you a couple yards for the body.

[RobRR]

In all honesty, how long he kept the guitar is irrelevant... these guitars carry a lifetime warranty. Wood can shift, shrink and twist, its just the nature of the beast... however, its the responsibility of FMIC to make this right. Even though its almost impossible to tell what a piece of wood will do, it is still considered a material/workmanship defect.

[Grandturk]

In all honesty, how long he kept the guitar is irrelevant... these guitars carry a lifetime warranty. Wood can shift, shrink and twist, its just the nature of the beast... however, its the responsibility of FMIC to make this right. Even though its almost impossible to tell what a piece of wood will do, it is still considered a material/workmanship defect.

Oh I agree, it shouldn't matter - but why hold onto something that don't work. If you buy a car, and the wheels fall off, you don't wait a year before calling up the dealer. That's all I'm saying.

I hope it all works out.