Wonder if Sweetwater’s 55pt inspection will catch the QC on this Fender

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sandman

sandman

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Was looking at Yngwie strats at Sweetwater and saw this neck pocket. High E string looks like it’s about to fall off the board. It may just need repositioning the neck in the pocket but almost $2400 and that’s the best Fender can do?
 

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There's no repositioning. Those holes were drilled, so it's dunsky..
That kind of money for something that's so cookie cutter is outrageous..
BTW, I've bought a few guitars from SW and never got a checklist of the 55 things they checked.. LOL
I've had to send 2 of them back..
 
sandman said:
Was looking at Yngwie strats at Sweetwater and saw this neck pocket. High E string looks like it’s about to fall off the board. It may just need repositioning the neck in the pocket but almost $2400 and that’s the best Fender can do?
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That's just how those YJM strats are. Their string placement is horrible. The bridge uses vintage (wide) spacing and the nut is cut to match. The high E slips off the neck constantly, worse than any other guitar I've ever played. I bought a YJM strat not knowing this. Dangers of online guitar buying I suppose.

However, I installed a replacement Fender bridge with hybrid vintage mounting screw spacing and modern string spacing. This solved the problem of the high E slipping on the high parts of the board. Then I had my tech recut a new brass nut which solved the slipping on the low side.

At this point, the string slipping problem is completely solved on my guitar and it has become one of the best "metal with single coils" guitars I've played.

It is way too expensive to have that major design flaw though, you're right about that.
 
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The 55 point inspection has always been just a bunch of bs. That company went down the toilet when they cheaped out on the bit-o-honeys. Fender QC has always been garbage too, even on higher end instruments. I can tell a couple of stories of junk custom shop models. Strats are like 2x6's, you have to sort through a stack of them to find ones worth building anything with.
 
sandman said:
Was looking at Yngwie strats at Sweetwater and saw this neck pocket. High E string looks like it’s about to fall off the board. It may just need repositioning the neck in the pocket but almost $2400 and that’s the best Fender can do?
Click to expand...

At the point it's been photographed, it's already been through their quality control process. 🙂
 
SW inspection isn't worth it. I prefer getting new guitars in their factory sealed boxes; if it's flawed I'll return it; if not, I'll do my own setup and "inspection".
 
rsm said:
SW inspection isn't worth it. I prefer getting new guitars in their factory sealed boxes; if it's flawed I'll return it; if not, I'll do my own setup and "inspection".
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I like seeing pics of the actual guitar and being able to choose which one I want but I understand your thoughts as well. Easy enough to return! I always do my own setup as well.
 
VonBonfire said:
The 55 point inspection has always been just a bunch of bs. That company went down the toilet when they cheaped out on the bit-o-honeys. Fender QC has always been garbage too, even on higher end instruments. I can tell a couple of stories of junk custom shop models. Strats are like 2x6's, you have to sort through a stack of them to find ones worth building anything with.
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It always comes down to the bit of honeys 🤓
 
rsm said:
SW inspection isn't worth it. I prefer getting new guitars in their factory sealed boxes; if it's flawed I'll return it; if not, I'll do my own setup and "inspection".
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sandman said:
I like seeing pics of the actual guitar and being able to choose which one I want but I understand your thoughts as well. Easy enough to return! I always do my own setup as well.
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I'm lucky enough to have a middle-ground option of sorts. A local shop doesn't accept any flawed orders from manufacturers, and they make sure everything is set-up, frets are good, etc. before it hits the showroom floor. If I special order something from them, same process. They've mentioned before that fixing Sweetwater screw-ups is an income source for them.
 
BABMusic said:
I wish Sweetwater were not such a cult. Forcing their employees to speak like robots and be super positive all the time -- it's just not real. I feel bad for their employees.
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Same with George's Music where I live. They are trained to act a certain way, in other words, too friendly (very fake) with uncomfortable personal questions about a person's gear used. I don't feel like discussing that with a salesman. My old roommate worked for them in management and told me their whole training process.
He quit because it was so ridiculous.
 
That neck alignment thing could happen in shipping as well. Such an easy fix. I don’t even see why it’s being discussed. You loosen the four screws, you pull the neck over and you tighten them. Done.
 
CarlF said:
That neck alignment thing could happen in shipping as well. Such an easy fix. I don’t even see why it’s being discussed. You loosen the four screws, you pull the neck over and you tighten them. Done.
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Well Sweetwater should have fixed it before taking pics of it at least. A lot of money they are asking while displaying that pic advertising it with a 55 pt inspection.
 
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