Fender Custom Shop, Guitar Center - Return help

  • Thread starter Thread starter LPMojoGL
  • Start date Start date

Should GC provide a full refund

  • GC should provide a full refund

    Votes: 9 81.8%

  • GC should accept the return for credit

    Votes: 2 18.2%

  • GC should reject the return

    Votes: 1 9.1%
  • Total voters
    11
LPMojoGL said:
I love the way it plays.
Not thrilled with the plugged in sound.

Was using the jacked up advertising as a way to get around the return policy.
It sucks that there is no mid boost circuit, but I don't need it.

I'm going to keep it and work with it some more. I'll flip it if I don't dig it afterwards.
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I think since you do like it, they should be able to come up with an acceptable mid boost answer that solves the issue. Clearly, anyone should/would be pissed when buying ANYTHING that ends up not as described; let alone something worth 6K.
They hopefully will take care of you on this. If I were the sales rep, I'd do whatever possible since I'm a gear head too..hopefully they understand this and find a way to make it right.
Good Luck!!
 
skoora said:
Get a price on a mid boost circuit and an estimate from one of their techs on time to install it and ask for a partial refund to cover the cost of that. It’s the one glaring difference and the one thing that seems to be impacting what you wanted out of it the most.
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The mid boost unlike the TBX requires some mods to the body to accommodate the board
 
rushcentrale said:
It sounds like you got a killer guitar. I think it looks sick af! It plays and sounds awesome unplugged which is like 90% of the battle imo. Getting that 90% satisfaction is the crapshoot when you buy online and getting that plus a nice clearance discount puts you up ahead in my book.

Try to fight for your refund or exchange because of the false advertising, but if you're sol on that, the silver lining is you got a nice CS guitar that would just fit your style a little more with a pickup set swap of your choice. I do that as standard on most of my guitars anyway. The lack of mid boost circuit is a major drag and there's no way you can fit one of those in without carving out a girl size fist route out of the body. But unless you specifically need a mid boost circuit in the guitar for some reason, there are pedals that get you there. It's just a volume and tone boost at a couple of certain frequencies.
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VonBonfire said:
I have to second this. If it plays like buttah it's a keeper even if later on you gotta adjust a few things. That is a sweet strat. Sometimes the ugly duckling later on winds up getting all the love.
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You guys are in my head. I'm thinking that this one is worth knuckling down for. It feels like it's choking on the B and baby E, between frets 10-12. I'm going to restring with better strings and redo the setup. I'll have work done to the frets and or nut if I can't get it sorted out. Then, the quest for the perfect pickups. I'm going all in. Why not.
 
ners said:
Check out some SC spaced humbuckers, there's a good amount of options out there so it just depends what type of voicing you're after.
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I've been looking at all the videos. Lil screamin demon appeals to me. Chopper looks good too. Red Devil is intriguing.
 
LPMojoGL said:
You guys are in my head. I'm thinking that this one is worth knuckling down for. It feels like it's choking on the B and baby E, between frets 10-12. I'm going to restring with better strings and redo the setup. I'll have work done to the frets and or nut if I can't get it sorted out. Then, the quest for the perfect pickups. I'm going all in. Why not.
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That sounds like a loosened and high 13th fret on the treble side my dude! Not a big deal seriously. You can fix that. You can't fix a dead sounding body.
 
rushcentrale said:
That sounds like a loosened and high 13th fret on the treble side my dude! Not a big deal seriously. You can fix that. You can't fix a dead sounding body.
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Is that a thing!? Should I go tapping around with a brass hammer? I actually did that on a buddy's 90s CE24, where I could see the frets popped up, and it made a world of difference. Wouldn't have thought to do that on a new FCS.

The body is not dead at all. It sounds superb up and down the neck, except for this little block of area where it kind of chokes up. Otherwise, it's got the spank and some violin like singing to it.

My buddy is trying to talk me into cutting my losses on the strat, and specing a new Anderson Icon. His Icon is so good, fits me like a glove, and provided the motivation that led to this purchase.
I'm kind of having this mindset now, where I wanna make my strat better than his Icon. :)
 
For sc sized humbuckers the best I’ve tried are the various ‘80’s Bill Lawrence’s, ‘80’s Schaller’s are good too, both cheap and with the Bill Lawrence’s I don’t think you’d want any additional mids added to that whatsoever LOL

They won’t have the traditional Strat sound though. My go to in Strats is often a Tone Specific 59 neck/65 middle, never liked Strat bridge pickups, so often use a vintage Jaguar pickup or sc sized humbucker
 
I would still contact Fender no matter what path you take. Nothing to lose, might gain something out of it even if you're keeping the guitar. No reason a fret shouldn't be leveled on a new Squier, and that's not a Squier. Just my opinion. Doesn't hurt to kindly speak with them since they'll probably throw you some sort of bone for your troubles. 🤷‍♀️
 
LPMojoGL said:
Is that a thing!? Should I go tapping around with a brass hammer? I actually did that on a buddy's 90s CE24, where I could see the frets popped up, and it made a world of difference. Wouldn't have thought to do that on a new FCS.

The body is not dead at all. It sounds superb up and down the neck, except for this little block of area where it kind of chokes up. Otherwise, it's got the spank and some violin like singing to it.

My buddy is trying to talk me into cutting my losses on the strat, and specing a new Anderson Icon. His Icon is so good, fits me like a glove, and provided the motivation that led to this purchase.
I'm kind of having this mindset now, where I wanna make my strat better than his Icon. :)
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Sounds like it sounds good unplugged. Often not easy to find. Can’t say the same about the Anderson’s I’ve tried, so if you get the right pickups for it you should I’d think at least have the Icon beat in sound. For playability I can’t say of course
 
LPMojoGL said:
Is that a thing!? Should I go tapping around with a brass hammer? I actually did that on a buddy's 90s CE24, where I could see the frets popped up, and it made a world of difference. Wouldn't have thought to do that on a new FCS.

The body is not dead at all. It sounds superb up and down the neck, except for this little block of area where it kind of chokes up. Otherwise, it's got the spank and some violin like singing to it.

My buddy is trying to talk me into cutting my losses on the strat, and specing a new Anderson Icon. His Icon is so good, fits me like a glove, and provided the motivation that led to this purchase.
I'm kind of having this mindset now, where I wanna make my strat better than his Icon. :)
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It's been a thing since fretted guitars have been around.

 
NowYou'rePlayingWithPower said:
I would still contact Fender no matter what path you take. Nothing to lose, might gain something out of it even if you're keeping the guitar. No reason a fret shouldn't be leveled on a new Squier, and that's not a Squier. Just my opinion. Doesn't hurt to kindly speak with them since they'll probably throw you some sort of bone for your troubles. 🤷‍♀️
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I'm guessing the dead spots might have something to do with the clearance price.

I'm going to restring it with better strings than the MF SDOTD Ernie Balls that I initially used, going with Elixir Nanoweb, and will redo the whole setup.
It will need fret or nut work if this doesn't sort it out. I'll contact Fender at that point and see how well they back up their FCS stuff. Hopefully they take care of business.

The last few new guitars I've purchased didn't have any such issues, like incorrect advertisement and shoddy action. 2 Squiers, Jazzmaster and Strat, and a Gibson ES335, all fantastic.
Squiers are consistently better across the board than Fenders when I'm running the racks. Crazy.
2 other Gibsons, Adam Jones Standard LPs, where way jacked up, like unbelievably fubar. And all of the Mustaine Vs I've seen are horrendous.

I'm kind of bitter about spending so much $ for a subpar instrument, when I could have a Suhr or Anderson, with none ofnthe issues, for the same price.
But, I'm committed to getting the best out of this guitar that I can before giving up on it. I'm thinking it'll end up being awesome.
 
CliffHydro said:
That is a KILLER finish. Hopefully you can get it sorted out.
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Thanks!
Made this clip last night, mouse fart volume, comparing the Strat with an Anderson Icon. Whiskey was involved. There are 2 spots in the video where I show off the finish of the Strat, capturing what it's like in person:
 
LPMojoGL said:
Thanks!
Made this clip last night, mouse fart volume, comparing the Strat with an Anderson Icon. Whiskey was involved. There are 2 spots in the video where I show off the finish of the Strat, capturing what it's like in person:
Click to expand...

Sorry, but I prefer your new Strat. That's just what a good Strat sounds like man.
 
LPMojoGL said:
Thanks!
Made this clip last night, mouse fart volume, comparing the Strat with an Anderson Icon. Whiskey was involved. There are 2 spots in the video where I show off the finish of the Strat, capturing what it's like in person:
Click to expand...


The CS sounds great, but that Anderson….. damn. What amp? Both sound really good, though. Are you gonna keep it?
 
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