Warranty inquiries...

[Bengal65]

Now that you have you receipt, take it to an authorized Fender repair shop.
Jackson won't waste their time repairing it.
They will send you another guitar.
And it won't cost you a dime.
The dealer/shop will send it back to Jackson and then call you when your replacement comes in. The dealer will bill JCMI for the shipping charges.

When I had warranty work done, I didn't pay for jack shit out of my pocket.
The WARRANTY covers the cost of shipping it back and forth from the dealer/shop and JCMI. You just have to get it to the shop.

Like I said before... send it back.
Since it's a Soloist, they will basically replace the guitar.

+1, I agree 100%

[atarilovesyou]

Well that sounds good to me. I was reading my warranty card and I was under the impression that I was responsible for shipping charges. Mind you I'm in Canada...although it appears to be a North American warranty.

Six months isn't so bad, I suppose...I mean, if I wanted to get 'picky' I can spot some paint flaws, and a tiny chip that was in the neck binding. But I was in denial, I suppose. This one's going back ASAP,and I'll let you know what the local Fender dealer says.

Now, if I give it to them, it's at THEIR option to fix or replace, correct? Or can I say, "no thanks, new guitar please." I think that's within my right...after all, like you said, the paint differences and such. It's a pain in the ass for sure. Anyways, I let ya know.

[rjohnstone]

Repair or replace is JCMI's choice, not yours. Read that warranty card a little closer.
Your only other option is to return it, if you still can.

My warranty experience was a good one, 45 days start to finish, yours may differ.
But from the track record I've seen here, most are satisfied with the end result even if getting there proved to be a bit difficult at times.

[ADR]

My Repair

Here is my Charvel with all new "Strat head size" logo, Excellent job on the refinish btw. The brass TR cover is from fretsonthenet.
30day turn around in my case from drop off to pickup

[atarilovesyou]

Ok, so I decided to wait until my new (used) SL2H arrived from the 'bay to do a comparison between the two, regarding the spacing of the strings on the neck.

Well, I can plainly see that the OFR is centered in the route as good as it's gonna get with my new one...but that being said, after playing it (before I popped the A string..whoops) I can't really tell a HUGE difference in the playability...the high E string has 'almost' as much "fall off the board-ness" as my first SL2H, and that's WITH a properly centered trem.

What I'm going to do is take a side by side comparison photo for the resident experts to look over and give opinions. There may be a chance that these necks ARE in fact within specs, and that I've just got to modify my playing style to compensate (which I've almost done with my red SL2H, the one with the issue). I'll put em up soon, wait a few days for some comments and then decide what to do.

I really don't want to risk shipping the red one off for warranty work for what could be months for a 'marginal' improvement with the trem. We'll see. I really do appreciate your comments though, I'm pretty picky about this stuff. I was "this" close to shipping of the red one, but I did want to wait just to compare.

OH....the new (used!) one will have some pron up shortly...two SL2H's, first one ferrari red and the second one is metallic black (E flat tuning)...man I love SL2Hs...shred like nothing else I've played, even with the trem alignment issue!

[CharvelRocker]

I don't know about you, but if I paid $2000 odd for a guitar, I would be a lunatic at the mildest imperfection. You have to send it back man, or they think crap like that is fine the customers. What you probably paid for that thing makes it a top of the line guitar, and NOTHING should be wrong with it.

[ADR]

I don't know about you, but if I paid $2000 odd for a guitar, I would be a lunatic at the mildest imperfection. You have to send it back man, or they think crap like that is fine the customers. What you probably paid for that thing makes it a top of the line guitar, and NOTHING should be wrong with it.

I agree, now that you have another SL2H you wont be without a guitar.AND by the time you know it it will be repaired. If you dont get it taken care of and try to sell it without disclosing the defect,then its going to come back to you.WHY should you take the loss????
If you disclose the defect, probably discourage most potential buyers, and take a killing.

[atarilovesyou]

...for your review:

Here they are...



Here's the ferrari red SL2H first, with as close zooms as I could get, directly above the guitar.









..and here's the black one, minus the A string for comparison...





You can see the strings more clearly on the black guitar due to the newer strings and shiny frets, but I hope you see the distance. Am I freakin' over nothing?

Playability is a big thing, and the black one is 'slightly' easier to play with it's properly spaced trem. The high E is still a lil close to the edge but it would almost appear that the neck just isn't that wide...something I'll have to live with in even the best case?

Also take into consideration that I didn't spend 2k each on these guitars, I got a great deal on the red one, and even better on the black one. Mind you if I DID pay 2k for them, I'd be even MORE concerned. But since there's no local USA Jacksons, the web was the best way to pick em up.

So....lemme hear what ya think, honestly, as you guys know how these necks compare to your own USA's better than I do. If the red SL2H is only going to get marginally better, I just may decide not to get the warranty work done on it.

Thanks for the input, seriously

[CharvelRocker]

That red one should be going back. The strings don't even line up with the pickups.

[ADR]

Look the same to me from the pix,(high E) I wouldnt worry then too much.If the crooked Floyd one stays in tune and trem works fine than I wouldnt worry that much. I thought the Floyd was really crooked like one of Matts Charvels he posted where you could clearly see it.
Take a pix of the Floyd and bridge HB'er (of the Red Sl2H) so we can see how crooked the Floyd actaully is.


CR is right about the strings not lining up to the pole pieces though???

[atarilovesyou]

Look the same to me from the pix,(high E) I wouldnt worry then too much.If the crooked Floyd one stays in tune and trem works fine than I wouldnt worry that much. I thought the Floyd was really crooked like one of Matts Charvels he posted where you could clearly see it.
Take a pix of the Floyd and bridge HB'er (of the Red Sl2H) so we can see how crooked the Floyd actaully is.


CR is right about the strings not lining up to the pole pieces though???

I'll take the pic tomorrow, I thought I shoulda included a few trem shots. Both trems work fine, keep in tune (well, the new black one has to prove itself)...it's just a playability thing with the high e string slipping off the fingerboard if I'm not reaaaally careful with vibrato...

That may just be a Soloist neck thing though that I'll need to get used to?

The posts on the neck pickup on the red one is outta whack, and in fact the pickup itself is 'shifty'...been that way since I got it. The black one's pups are quite secure. But pole pieces aren't the best way to tell alignment, I find...I just look at the fingerboard. If it's centered there, that's all that matters to me because the pickups can (usually) be adjusted by someone who knows what they're doing. The trem?...a bit more involved obviously.

Pics up tomorrow.

[atarilovesyou]

...so here's the pics. Sorry bout the blur, but what I hope to get across is how the black one has the trem centered in the rout much more so than the red one.















The thing is this...I've noticed that even with the black one, even WITH the centered trem, the high E string is rather close to the edge of the board. And for me to send off the red one for warranty work, work that may not even be done due to the chance that the strings are within specificiations....just don't know if it's gonna be worth the hassle.

Thanks for the advice, I've gone over this a lot in my mind. I'm still undecided...I have a feeling that Jackson will 'make things right' but I'm also pretty sure that they'd have to replace the guitar in it's entirety...and that'll take months...prolly not till next year at the rate they've been putting out the USA's.

Anyways, thanks again for any input.

[rjohnstone]

Your red one suffers from the same problem my PC1 did.
They replaced the body on my PC1.
The CNC machine fucked up.

[Cygnus X1]

Your red one suffers from the same problem my PC1 did.
They replaced the body on my PC1.
The CNC machine fucked up.

CNC's don't fuck up. Operators do.

[atarilovesyou]

Well at least replacing the body doesn't sound like it would take that much to do, if they have a ferrari red SL2H color one in the shop...lol.

*...edit...whoops...neckthru...not bolt on. Crap.

It's only off by a few mm...yet the tolerances on the neck are pretty narrow.

My gripe is that I have a nice lil card with signatures of people in the shop who apparently looked at the guitar and said "good enough" and let it ship...couldn't they have spotted this before the body was even painted?

Any other opinions?