Anyone had a set up from J White Guitars in Ash Vale?

Seziertisch

mankytom said:

I really feel for you man. This just feels really unfair and I can understand how you must feel about it.

i think the small claims court is probably the way forwards.. but you shouldn’t be having to do that or go through all the mither. I’m nowhere near, but would never go near this chap. Anyone can make a mistake or get something wrong… but the unwillingness to own that is a real red flag. I wouldn’t trust them to do anything because they won’t own their mistake

Two schools of thought. 

1. You take a small claim, maybe recover some or all of your costs, don’t have the feeling that you were screwed over and did nothing. It will be a further investment of time and effort and will be not unstressful nor will it necessarily be resolved that quickly.

2. You get your guitars fixed elsewhere, swallow the cost (and the sense of unfairness) and move on with your life. 

If you have a busy, stressful life and the money involved isn’t make or break for you in your personal circumstances then the second one might make more sense.

mo6020

Right, few things to say here. 

First - this work is a fucking joke, I am pretty relaxed generally and I would have gone absolutely ballistic if any of my guitars came out of a tech’s workshop like this. 

Second - If I couldn’t bully/threaten/etc them into giving me the cost of replacement I would document the work, as you have, and simultaneously get them into a decent luthier for repair (I recommend Fairlane, formerly Providence, Guitars in Peckham), whilst raising a small claims case. 

This really is completely unacceptable imo. 

OilCityPickups

Truly what we can see from @EduardoFalicioni are photographs of staggeringly bad work done on those guitars - amateurish and ham-fisted. I think with the value of the instruments that legal recourse is probably going to be the only way to get proper redress.
As far as guitar repair businesses there are very few I would personally trust with my own instruments - Feline Guitars being top of my list. In fact my list of people I'm prepared to recommend has shortened considerably since the pandemic. Not quite sure why the pandemic was a catalyst, but the standard of work from some previously good techs went quite noticeably down hill. It maybe that folks were a bit desperate for money and took on more work than they could cope with, or took on more complex work than they were really skilled enough to do  ... I really don't know. I do know there was a rash of new 'techs' appearing as well - and many of them appear to be clueless.
I hope @EduardoFalicioni  gets things sorted quickly - it's a shit thing to have happen.

Rich31k

Definitely claim territory here. Might be worth consulting with a solicitor given the possible value. Or free advice from a university law department clinic/CAB if you have one local to you. 

I guess the remedy would be the cost of putting the damage right, plus cash for the difference in value between the guitars with the work carried out correctly and their value with the repairs. Then you can sell them and not lose out.

Set out what you want in a letter before action to the luthier giving them maybe 30 days to pay. 

Gather evidence of the damage (photos before and after) and get a report/quote from someone who can repair them. 

It shouldn’t be too difficult and the luthier should have insurance cover (though might not). 

EduardoFalicioni

I’d mentioned some mysterious observations… I can’t prove this, but 3 of the 4 neck mounting holes in the sunburst b bender have inexplicably been enlarged from the neck pocket side… they’ve been partially redrilled and have a kind of figure 8 shape… the additional drilling has been done at an angle. 

I have had the neck off before, and never noticed this (and I have eyes like a hawk) - maybe it’s my engineer brain but I studiously take in every minor detail.

pics to follow…

EduardoFalicioni

This is the one normal neck mounting hole 

EduardoFalicioni

Wtf?

EduardoFalicioni

Why???

EduardoFalicioni

Huh?

Supportact

Is it because the holes in the neck are on the wonk so they've had to also widen the holes in the body so it can accommodate the screws going in at the wonky angle?? Surely that can't be right? 

Tele37

Supportact said:

Is it because the holes in the neck are on the wonk so they've had to also widen the holes in the body so it can accommodate the screws going in at the wonky angle?? Surely that can't be right? 

Yep, that’s exactly right.

The more we see of these jobs, the worse it gets unfortunately.

Why did they even take the work on?

Supportact

Tele37 said:

Supportact said:

Is it because the holes in the neck are on the wonk so they've had to also widen the holes in the body so it can accommodate the screws going in at the wonky angle?? Surely that can't be right? 

Yep, that’s exactly right.

The more we see of these jobs, the worse it gets unfortunately.

Why did they even take the work on?

Mental. I just can't believe that having done that to the neck anyone would think the solution would be to do that to the body. 

Tele37

Supportact said:

Tele37 said:

Supportact said:

Is it because the holes in the neck are on the wonk so they've had to also widen the holes in the body so it can accommodate the screws going in at the wonky angle?? Surely that can't be right? 

Yep, that’s exactly right.

The more we see of these jobs, the worse it gets unfortunately.

Why did they even take the work on?

Mental. I just can't believe that having done that to the neck anyone would think the solution would be to do that to the body. 

Yeah, it’s literally one mistake after another. I can only assume they didn’t think the customer would ever dismantle the guitar to take a look, and just thought it would never be seen by anyone.

EduardoFalicioni

J Whites claim no knowledge of those enlarged / modified neck holes.

they claim that from their deductions, they have arrived at the conclusion that those secondary holes were drilled by Fender, at the factory, and could only have been made with a CNC machine…

I can’t see how that is possibly true, as a CNC machine would surely be extremely precise and exactly vertical? These extra drill holes are hap-hazard, variable and only apply to 3 positions.

They claim that they couldn’t drill holes like that if they tried, and that it’s impossible to do without a CNC machine.

I’d have though it was easy to do with a small electric hand drill

EduardoFalicioni

You can see why I just want compensation to the full replacement value of each instrument - it’s shit on top of shit.

I’ve pleaded with fender Europe and USA to supply me with a replacement custom shop neck to at least rectify the blonde guitar, but to no avail…. They directed me to their replacement neck range which is regular Mexican and USA production - why would I ever want to opt for that. 

EduardoFalicioni

Supportact said:

Is it because the holes in the neck are on the wonk so they've had to also widen the holes in the body so it can accommodate the screws going in at the wonky angle?? Surely that can't be right? 

My thoughts exactly 

Tele37

Are they aware of this thread?

EduardoFalicioni

I have no idea

EduardoFalicioni

 But all I’ve done is report the facts in front of me, with pictoral evidence - I feel that this stuff should be brought to light. 

I’d hate for anyone else to experience this. 

I cannot switch off from it.

EduardoFalicioni

If anyone here has good connections with Fender, and can lean in and help - I’d be indebted to you.