Fender is the new Gibson? This is why I have trust issues with everyone but Sweetwater sweetwater.sjv.io/DK3jWo EDIT: After your suggestions, I've checked and there doesn't seem to be any room in the pocket for the neck to move for re-alignment. Rather than risk a crack, Fender's offered to just replace it. I'm just going to take them up on that, and hope that the next one comes with better frets, too!

@PiconKobol

Жыл бұрын

Simply loosen the four bolts on the neck-heal, realign the neck until the low e spacing fits, and tighten them again. This is almost normal now with Fender - with every second one you have to realign the neck first.

@agufish

Жыл бұрын

Oh, weird. The neck looked snug in the pocket so I didn't even think of checking. Thanks, I'll try that!

@BenjaminRoethig

Жыл бұрын

The official guitar for the song Damnit 😉

@frankcarter6427

Жыл бұрын

@@agufish don't, you'll invalidate the warranty - send the POS back to Fender

@StillScooterTrash

Жыл бұрын

@@frankcarter6427 I doubt loosening the neck screws slightly would invalidate you're warranty.

It’s not an issue with the bridge causing the strings to be like that, it’s the necks fit in the neck pocket. Loosen the neck bolts a little, put the guitar standing on its side (tuners side down) and press down at the neck joint and re tighten the screws. I’ve had the same issue on a few fenders and this solves the issue every time. 👍🏽

@robertkorn

Жыл бұрын

This is the answer, although it should have never left Fender like this...especially at this price point.

@tedmen1123

Жыл бұрын

My TD strat came like this, and SO DID MY CUSTOM SHOP STRAT! This is par for the course for fenders & bolt on neck guitars and easily remedied. I think they shift during shipping as theres no way that fender sis shipping out that many bad aligned guitars. The neck pockets are all machine routed so there are exactly the same shape so that neck swaps are easy. Its by design. The fact that you have such a successful channel and don't know this is kinda dumb honestly but whatever. Having said that, a new guitar should absolutely come with a straight and aligned neck and not like this, but the fix is just so easily done. 2 out of the 3 fenders I have suffered from this upon arrival. Loosen the bolts about a turn or so, align the strings so they are straight, and tighten back up. My TD strat was pretty far off and now its dead center.

@brunm9203

Жыл бұрын

Agreed the neck is probably just on crooked and can be fixed as described above.

@McBoggler

Жыл бұрын

@@robertkorn totally agree.

@McBoggler

Жыл бұрын

@@tedmen1123 I’m based in the UK and I’ve seen some TERRIBLE set ups on Fender. You are much more likely to get a better set up out of the box from a Gibson due to the PLEK system they use & set neck design. At the same time though any guitar bought without playing it in person is a gamble. I’ve played some 6K custom shop Fenders off the walls in music shops and the set ups have been worse than some £100 guitars I’ve had straight out the box. In my own personal experience it’s usually the ones with the terrible set ups end up being keepers for me when I’ve personally set them up.

“QC tag” I feel you, I ordered a 1200$ Charvel from Sweetwater that came in pretty much unplayable. Not only was the setup a complete joke, but the neck wasn’t even completely screwed into the body to the point I choice see a picks width of clearance. The fret ends were a joke as well. Fortunately Sweetwater reimbursed me for a good amount of necessary tech work. It’s now pretty much perfect!

@Professional.Bro.777

Жыл бұрын

I'm more than amazed with how quality seems to have gone down during the years, let alone the fact that expensive guitars don't even come with a hard case anymore. When i started playing 17 years ago you really got what you paid for, and a thousand dollar guitar was already considered top tier in every aspect

@scottg8660

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, quality is at an all time low in guitar companies across the board.

@Returnality

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, I don’t buy for a second that Sweetwater checks their guitars before they ship them out. I also bought a Charvel from them and the neck wasn’t even fully finished. Half of it was satin, the other half was raw wood.

@Professional.Bro.777

Жыл бұрын

@@Returnality wtf? That's getting really out of hand. I actually blame the fully saturated market at this point. There are a lot of great models that came out in the last year's but a lot of them are pointless and just gimmicky. Quality control is just an option nowadays

@JEFFKINGS

Жыл бұрын

@@Professional.Bro.777 I hate that this is a thing now. Music Man is probably my favorite overall brand, but now even they've switched to MONO soft cases over a quality hardshell. PRS will straight up ship you a $2800 Silver Sky in a gig bag. It's insane.

I had that same string alignment issue on an American Original, they shift in shipping. Detune, back off the neck bolts a long way, then push the neck into alignment with one hand and screw the neck bolts back in with the other.

@DoubleDguitar

Жыл бұрын

Came here to say this. 🤘🏻

@Mikey__R

Жыл бұрын

Wow, Fender neck pockets must be really loose if it's only the bolts holding the neck straight. Most high end builders, the neck joint is a tight interference fit, the bolts just hold it in.

@KaiDown

Жыл бұрын

Yeah they're not super great, kind of put me off Fender really. It's also partially due to their shipping+cases, they don't really do anything to support the neck, so any lateral movement shunting the neck will shift it around in the pocket.

@davidshort8226

Жыл бұрын

What this guy said.

Last time I was this early Hunter had a goatee.

@deadinsidemcgee411

Жыл бұрын

I didn’t know he was capable of a beard.

@TylerJohnstonGuitar

Жыл бұрын

@@deadinsidemcgee411 He looked older when he was younger, now he looks younger but is older. He’s the modern day Michael Anthony.

@JDESTR0Y

Жыл бұрын

@@TylerJohnstonGuitaraugufishbutton

@jordanmitchell380

Жыл бұрын

@@deadinsidemcgee411 He had it around 2018-2019 lol.

@twantheunisz9281

Жыл бұрын

W comment

My first big purchase as a teenager back in 08 was a yellow Tom Delonge strat and it’s one of those personal items I’ll be buried with! Long live blink!!

You could loosen the neck screws and try to move the neck to where it's supposed to be. Sometime you can shim them back into place. If it's tight in the pocket then its an instant RMA. Literally never seen a major company put a bridge in the wrong place.

@miles1312

Жыл бұрын

You'd only see it on a vintage guitar because nowadays the technology is in place to accurately measure these things. I had a vintage Mustang with the bridge slightly too far back, luckily it does intonate, it's just ever so slightly flat.

@trillrifaxegrindor4411

Жыл бұрын

the amount needed to move far exceeds the amount of wiggle your gonna get loosening the screws and shifting the neck the millimeter or 2 it needs ......

Try loosening the neck screws a little to let the neck find its own spot. Lossen them a turn or two, strings umder tension, then re tighten the neck and re tune. This may not help but it might.

@michaelnugent9758

Жыл бұрын

Read my mind. That alignment looks WAYY out, though so who knows if that’d actually do the trick. Give it a shot, Hunter!

@stevenpipes1555

Жыл бұрын

@@michaelnugent9758 it looks to me like the bridge probably IS miss aligned, but you never know. A slightly loose neck pocket can really play havoc with strng alignment. Re aligning and remounting the bridge would be fairly easy and only take an hour or so depending on how comfortable you are with the tools. Sending it back to fender would be a mistake in my opinion. I would fix it myself, but armed with photos, i would petition Fender for some small refund, or even better, try and get them to send you some locking tuners or something like that for your troubles.

@kyuubi287

Жыл бұрын

That bridge looks way off center. You can see that it's pushing up against the pickguard on the bass side, but there is a huge space on the treble side. The bridge should be centered in that space and there should be a gap between the bridge and the pickguard on both sides. There is no way there is enough play in the neck pocket to fix that.

@stevenpipes1555

Жыл бұрын

@@kyuubi287 i agree, however, you have to be careful where you place the origin of the problem. It is more common for the bridge to be properly aligned and the pick guard to be out of alignment if your judging by the space between the pick guard and bridge. Im not saying that your wrong, just that you have to be aware of both scenarios before you come to an informed conclusion. Either way i disagree with sending it back, unless you are a true beginner. The problem is an easy fix either way, and will award you knowaladge and experience if you tackle it yourself. It beats waiting another year, thats for sure.

@mariuskozokar4341

Жыл бұрын

Sometimes you can physically bend the neck into place and then tighten the screws in to "lock" it in place. It's one of those things that might work, it might not, but it's a good last resort.

That neck centering is how you know it's an original Fender bro! I used to work at a Fender dealership, I had so many of those Fenders with bad centered necks it became my own little joke. The worst part is - it's usually on USA Fenders, not as common on MIM Fenders and have never seen it on any Squiers we had in the store. Ironic, right?

@villiannewyork

Жыл бұрын

@@rocketpigrecords3719my slick sl57 has a better neck than a lot of higher end guitars imo.

@maxmustardman298

Жыл бұрын

​@@rocketpigrecords3719not even that was the case sometimes during the 70s, ill fitted pockets and bolted on slanted

@dennisfuzzhead4439

Жыл бұрын

Ordered two American Professional Jazzmasters the last few weeks and both went back. Sounded great and nice playability, but they both had their issues I can't accept for being 2k guitars

@urbanrunoff

Жыл бұрын

@@dennisfuzzhead4439 same with tele's for me. i wish i could buy in store and play before i buy but stores have very few guitars that interest me (and those were bad too).

@Tony_SZ29

Жыл бұрын

Amen! you are spot on in everything you said here an Yes, it is ironic is mainly in US guitars you fins this issue.

What you do, is loosen the 4 neck screws slightly, and pull the neck towards the direction it needs. In this case down towards the high e. Hold it in place and tighten the screws back. It happens with bolt on necks. They shift sometimes if the screws weren't tightened properly in the first place, especially prior to shipping.

@cobhc182

Жыл бұрын

Exactly. I’m guessing it suffered a jolt in shipping.

@charlescowart5423

Жыл бұрын

third that. It's not uncommon.

@frankcarter6427

Жыл бұрын

disagree - you complain and send it back

@Forest_Fifer

Жыл бұрын

​@@frankcarter6427would you rather try a fix that might sort it in a couple of minutes, or send it back and maybe be waiting weeks for a new one?

@robjohnson5829

Жыл бұрын

Wrong way. The low E string is the one almost falling off the fretboard. Meaning he needs to move the neck towards the low E.

I'm tired of seeing bad products. Gotta demand better. Good on ya for not just giving us all smiles and hype Hunter. The truth and intergrity are more important!!!

@EstevanOsorio

Жыл бұрын

It's not a bad product, per se. Had he bought from a shop, this possibly would have been adjusted at the shop before it hit the floor (depends on the store, really). Buying directly from Fender opens up to issues like this. It's not a Fender or product issue, really, but actually a shipping issue. Fender, back in the 50s and 60s, were aware of this issue of guitar necks needing alignment adjustment after shipping. It's just the reality of a bolt-on guitar, and luckily very easy to remedy.

@piptyson5512

Жыл бұрын

@@EstevanOsorio I know about the bolt-on adjustment issue. The average player probably doesn't, and may look to return this. But it's not "the reality of a bolt-on guitar", this is Fender specific (or at least I'm not aware of another company who's design are so poor as to allow this problem). Their neck pockets are generally not a very good design imo. They can allow for way too much slop. I've never seen them use threaded inserts to try to get and maintain perfect alignment as opposed to just screwing in wood screws like they've always done. In this age of CNC technology with the ability to get tolerances to within 0.01 mm, the overall slop in this neck joint design is really showing it's age. To top it off, I don't think I've ever seen Fender use a bridge that had "self-alignment". What I mean by that is something like a Hipshot, where there is a wall above the low E saddle and another wall below the high E saddle. I'm saying "wall", but I think there is better terminology, I'm just forgetting. This prevents the saddles from getting too far off alignment, which I have seen happen with Fender saddles. He could work with this guitar or get a guitar tech or luthier to look at it. Maybe get the fret polish up to par since he mentioned that as well. And of course action and intonation (I think on very well built guitars, these should not end up as issues at least not as much as he described it, but the mass produced guitars that sometimes still can cost a pretty penny are having lots of reported issues....I can vouch myself). So yeah there are remedies, but better designs and manufacturing practices should also be mentioned....although I don't expect change though, Leo Fender was the king of mass produced cheap guitars and that still seems like Fender's philosophy.

@EstevanOsorio

Жыл бұрын

@@piptyson5512 Good thing there’s plenty of options for you to buy something else then. 👍🏼

@piptyson5512

Жыл бұрын

@@EstevanOsorio Well I usually build my own nowadays. The old saying goes "want something done right, do it yourself".

@MatthewGudenius

10 ай бұрын

​@@EstevanOsorioIt's not just that, though. Maybe this certain case is, but Fender's QC, in general, is not. I just bought a Vintera Jazzmaster (my first and, most likely, last ever purchase of a Fender brand product), and it had an improperly filed nut that caused e string to constantly pop out with regular strumming, and headstock lacquer spills over onto the first fret and about halfway down the 2nd. This is shoddy production and even shoddier quality control... I've never had such issues with any of my other 11 (non-Fender) guitars, and this Jazzmaster costs 2x-10x as much as those other guitars. Unacceptable.

My first electric guitar was a squier affinity in surf green with the 70s headstock. Now it’s a TD partscaster and I’m all in at about $500 and I love that guitar

Nice looking axe. Loosen the bolts and yank that neck into place. I love Fender instruments although they always arrive in need of a serious setup. On the other hand, the Gibson stuff that I get is spot on perfect. It's really quite shocking that Gibson made such a drastic turnaround in quality upon delivery. At any rate, I hope that you can crank that neck into position and rock that thing. It sounds great through that Rectifier amp. Rock steady brother!

Loosen neck screws. Pull neck downwards, tighten screws. Alignment fixed!

@frankcarter6427

Жыл бұрын

or you scratch it, the neck doesn't align and you've voided the warranty. Putting the neck on straight is their job, not the customer's

@mikedamisch

Жыл бұрын

@frankcarter6427 why would you void the warranty for slightly loosening those bolts? It's impossible to know. I agree it's their job BUT it takes 5 minutes to fix compared to the hassle of sending it back and waiting, especially when it's out of stock everywhere.

@devinsinderwitcz9134

Жыл бұрын

@@mikedamisch If there's that much movement in the neck pocket? No way! Send it back!

@mikedamisch

Жыл бұрын

@@devinsinderwitcz9134 it takes a tiny amount at the pocket to move quite a bit at the nut. You can do this to almost all bolt ons.

I recently got a Les Paul Modern that I had to return to Sweetwater. Wasn't horrible but the binding looked bad by the neck joint and there was a chip in the binding near the nut. Sweetwater support said things like "That's within spec for Gibson" "Gibson guitars are handmade". Regardless I got a new instrument without the flaws.

@c3kile

Жыл бұрын

They ain't wrong about it being in spec for Gibson. Gibson QC sucks

It could be a lot worse. I bought an acoustic guitar direct from Fender. It had a bizarre problem on the first string. Playing frets 12, 13, 14, and 15 gave these notes: E G F# G. I.e., the 13th fret gave G instead of F. A fret playing too high can be caused by a fret closer to the bridge being too high, so I just assumed that is what it was, and sent it back. It was only after it was gone that I realized that while that or something similar could explain that G on 13, that kind of problem would also cause 14 to be G. I could not figure out geometrically any way to have a saddle, bridge, neck, and fret configuration that could produce a situation where fret N+1 produces a lower note than fret N. Playing up the next should always produce a non-decreasing sequence of tones. But that guitar was doing it, so I'm missing something. I really wish I'd noticed this before sending it back and taken a close look to see what exactly was wrong.

Got mine from Sweetwater. I did have to oil the fretboard and lower the saddles because they were so high I wasn't getting any pick attack. But after a good set up and string change, it plays great.

The string alignment is because the neck is crooked in the neck pocket. I built a guitar that had that problem once. Sometimes you can fix it by loosening the bolts moving the neck and retightening it. If it’s too far, the neck holes will need to be filled and re-rilled

@UTubeHandlesSuck

Жыл бұрын

If it's too far, requiring drilling new holes, it should have never left the factory and it should be sent back to the buffoons who screwed it up.

@acledfloyd

Жыл бұрын

@@UTubeHandlesSuckoh yeah. I just didn’t want him trying to move the bridge when that isn’t the problem.

It feels like Squire and Epiphone are sort of beating their parent companies in QC lately...

I had guitars after being shipped the neck shifting, all I did was unscrew the neck bolt closest to the upper horn a half turn and the other 3 bolts enough to release the tension then aligned and retighten. 🎸🤘🏼✌🏼

Wonder what's going on with their neck alignments? those Goldfoil basses also had that issue.

@1337million

Жыл бұрын

Easiest fix in the world on any bolt-on guitar. Loosen the strings, loosen the neck screws, shift the neck until strings align correctly, tighten everything back up. Done in at most 10 minutes. IIRC old Fender manuals actually told you to do this! (b^_^)b

I couldn't justify spending 1200 on a guitar I could build for 300 but damn. To hear that fenders quality control would even let something like this out is super surprising.

@devinsinderwitcz9134

Жыл бұрын

Not so surprising lately! Fender is taking over the bad QC trophy from Gibson!

@Agufish Are you 100% sure it's the bridge being off center ? If it isn't, just unscrew the neck blots and push the neck left or right to align the 2 E strings and rescrew, this is a very common thing with bolt on necks

I got the Daphne Blue one @agufish and it's funny you said everything about those QC issues. I had the exact same thing with mine. However, I knew the strings stock were coming off and needed to hydrate the fretborad and I slapped my favorite strings on and did a nice little 30 min setup and plays like a dream now.

I have mine backordered on Sweetwater and although I'm excited, I don't mind waiting and being patient if it means the next wave of TD Strats have more inspection and QC because of all the reported defects with the first wave. We'll see.

This exact ISSUE with string alignment and bridges needing to be re-centered has been ongoing with Fender for years. I bought a Fender EOB Stratocaster from Sweetwater in 2020 with the same issue. I bought a couple of Squire Affinity’s & a Fender custom shop Stratocaster body for parts caster builds and ALL had same issue. Had to refill holes and re-center bridges. In short: FUCK Fender Good luck with resolving the issue. I’m not even going to tell you the bullshit I went through with Sweetwater and Fender.

I’d be shocked at the price…but we’re in a world of $1300+ Epiphones and various made in China, Korea, and Indonesian guitars from ESP, Jackson etc. breaking $1K now. Not to mention the high prices the initial run of Tom Delonge strats were selling for on the used market before this new release. These do look cool though! Hopefully some TLC can get it up to par. I’d consider one but I snagged the Made In Japan Boxer Tele for $755 new on clearance. Way better value and does all the cool higher gain rock stuff well.

Easy fix and a common problem with bolt on's. Loosen the neck bolts, re-align the neck (push down), with pressure still applied, re-tighten the neck bolts.

it's not a bridge issue, it's the wonky strat neck pocket with a neck that'S not set in straight, which is prone to happen to strats if the necks aren't attached with care and attention, which is likely in a factory setting. This is definitely something the QC guys should've picked up. Essentially an easy fix, but that sgouldn't be your concern.

fender needs to fix that um lets call it drift issue , low-end lobster has same issue wit gold foil bass

I also bought a fender strat that couldn't be played out of the box, paid almost $1,600 for it, and had to bring it to the shop to get fixed. Fender wouldn't even get back to me.

Got mine from guitarguitar here in the UK and I must have got lucky or something because mine came perfectly setup almost in tune and no QA issues. I've seen quite a few people getting bad ones with lots of issues but I can only judge by the one I got and I'm very happy with it. Saying that though it is way over priced for what it is but I couldn't miss the chance to own a guitar I've always wanted.

Hunter, the neck alignment issue is an easy fix. Loosing the screws for the neck by a couple turns, pull the neck sideways in the direction it needs to go, and retighten the screws. It happens to bolt on neck guitars all the time. It’s a 1 minute fix, all it means is that the neck was bolted on at a slight angle.

Fender clearly has some major issues right now, cause this was a consistent issue with the gold foil series they put out recently as well

@johnhennessey5

Жыл бұрын

that explains the $200-300 drop in the Vintera and Aerodyne series guitars, as well as the 10% off that Fender is offering when you order from them. These big business think we won’t notice, but we do. Now we decide where our money goes

@ctcards2636

Жыл бұрын

Exactly. Fender and neck pockets are terrible at times.

As others have said, sometimes this can be fixed by just loosening the neck and adjusting, no guarantee, if it’s really bad it may be unfixable. I’ve had it with my AVRI Strat before where I’ve had the neck off for an adjustment and then the high E was falling off the board. Worth a try anyway. I picked up a graffiti yellow, mine had some minor QC issues but plays great.

@JasonWharton82

Жыл бұрын

So after watching this I took another look at mine… while not as bad as yours, mine also had some bad alignment, I’ve fixed it with a small shim in the neck pocket on the bass side of the neck, I just used a small piece of folded wet and dry paper and that was just enough to put it right. Something I completely missed in my own review of the guitar.

@dejavoodoo7204

Жыл бұрын

​@@JasonWharton82easy to overlook, im a real harsh judge of QC, and normally its pretty rare to find this issue,... normally:). hope yours is playing OK now👌

@JasonWharton82

Жыл бұрын

@@dejavoodoo7204 yeah all good now, to be honest it didn’t play bad even with it being out a little, still intonated ok and everything. Anyway easy fix for mine thankfully!

Working at a Music Store, I see a lot of fenders and Jacksons come in with absolutely terrible “QC”. Fret edges poking out, dried fret boards, bad nuts, and a lot of finish issues.

That is a bummer!! I am waiting on mine to deliver from Fender. I got the Daphne Blue so I hope that I don’t have any issues. Good luck and hope it gets corrected🎸🎸

@guyincognito320

Жыл бұрын

I've had 3 MIM guitars.. 2 Charvels and one Fender.. come with wonky truss rods that didn't want to turn. Yet I still think that factory puts out good stuff. I like Vintera and Pro-Mod lines a lot. I always check the truss rod as part of first inspection because Fenders always have a lot more relief than I like anyway. And lowering action helps assess fret leveling and other such things

@davieonyourtv703

Жыл бұрын

Mind arrived perfectly

My dad got a MIM tele, had to adjust the neck on it because the high e was nearly off the fretboard by the time it got up to the 17th fret. Kind of a shame how often I hear about it now, same mistake, over and over again on multiple models. Edit to add: It never looks like there's room in the neck pocket, but with how long guitar necks are, a tiny bit of movement at the body is a lot of movement at the top, at the nut where the strings get their alignment. You'd be surprised. It's still insane that you'd even have to consider this.

Too many people saying just adjust the neck but failed to see that the bridge is indeed misaligned. You can see the uneven gaps between the left and right side of the bridge relative to the pickguard.

If the neck is bowed, is that sort of an accident a Fender Bender?

Fender: "What's wrong with the guitar?" Agufish: "All the small things" Fender: 😔

My guess is that the neck isn't sitting in the pocket correctly. I had to partially fill the neck pocket with wood filler on my MIM Fender lead ii to get it to sit correctly. To be certain, pull the neck down towards your lap while holding it in the sitting position. It will probably pivot ever so slightly and the strings will align. I'm sure there are other ways to fix it as well, but I'd check that neck pocket first. I don't think it's the bridge. Best of luck to you.

Echoing what others say: Neck shifted in shipping. Loosen the bolts and straighten the neck then retighten them. I had the same thing happen to my CME Jazzmaster from CME. Fender's QC has been awful lately (look at any AMV2 review) this could have happened even if sweetwater oe someone set it up before shipping.

You can easily fix the neck alignment by loosening the neck screws and the strings and then push or pull the neck in the direction you need and then tighten the screws while you have it in the right position. It might take a few tries to get it perfect but it's not difficult to do at all. I've had to do this on two guitars, one Fender and a Squier.

It’s the neck, it’s shifted in the neck pocket.. Loosen the neck bolts and align the neck where you want it and tighten em back. I had the same issue.

honestly if I wanted the Tom Delonge strat, I would rather buy a MIM strat and replace the pickguard w/ a single pickup slot and drop an invader in there

Really sorry that the DeLonge wasn't right. You're right that you shouldn't have to fix that big a fault on a brand new guitar. Sucks a mountain, though!

Very, very common with Fender these days. Most of them come out of the box like this and are sent right up to the tech for adjustments (expand the neck pocket and reposition neck). They're trash. Mexican fenders come in completely not-set up. No effort made whatsoever. Every saddle level and no intonation adjustments attempted.

@McFly-guitars-n-stuff

2 ай бұрын

I've set up alot of Mexican Fenders and EVERY one suffers from the same thing. Frets not pushed into the neck completely. And USA Fenders have had this issue too. When your the number one guitar company in the world, with an iconic past, sales are WAY more important that quality.

The bass channel Lowend Lobster ran into a similar QC problem with Fender’s Gold Foil jazz bass. The bridge was misaligned, the truss rod access was at the neck heel and the electronics were mounted to the pickguard instead of a separate plate. The misalignment of the bridge meant that the E string was not aligned with the pickup, so that string just sounded dead. All for the cost of $1300 😟. His whole review is just him roasting the bass and Fender.

Slack the strings, loosen the neck bolts and gently push the headstock down and hold it there. Snug the screws and check the string alignment. looks like the neck is just loose in the pocket.

After the last few years, I couldn’t imagine ordering a guitar online without playing it first. Except maybe a Squier. They’ve been killing it. I just realized all my electrics are Squier (an Affinity FMT Strat, a contemporary Tele, and a Mini P-bass).

@JoshuaDomoslai

Жыл бұрын

Ha seriously. My cheap ass squire sonic strat I got on sale with a code direct from fender ($190 to my door after all fees) is absolutely amazing out of the box and needed nothing. I’m gunna mod it out and turn it into a Tom Delonge copy

@brettbarreras48

Жыл бұрын

I tend to agree. Although I’ve got a couple premium Ibanez basses in the last couple years and they’ve been damn near flawless. Definitely could have gotten lucky tho

I had a Jim Root white Jazzmaster that I ordered from Sweetwater (new) and unfortunately it had some QC issues too. Played okay (not great setup), but the fit and finish was messed up. The body wasn’t evenly sanded so your arm would catch if your arm was against the body, random black paint marks on the head stock, weird marks on the fretboard, etc. it wasn’t unplayable or anything, but for the price I just returned it. Ended up with a Charvel a few months later that was much better

I had a same problem with the PRS mark Holcomb. (Set neck). Impossible to do the vibrato on 6th string.

the aligment issue has been happening for a while now. Fender basses have been coming like this also. And were talking about expensive ones.

That QC from Fender is atrocious! This is going to give them tonnes of bad street credit. I'm speechless.

Tom Delonge: "It's stupid simple, just one knob, one pickup, simple bridge, etc." Fender: "This absolutely must be $1300."

Re: string alignment, the gold foil basses had the same issues. Fender’s QC from Mexico has been horrific the last few years.

I hope your situation goes smoothly. I will say that i personally have almost given up on giving fender any slack any more. Imo, their quality control has gone out the window on both their fender and squier lines. You used to be able to have confidence in their products above a certain level. Nowadays it seems that you can rely on their quality being trash on new equipment. I had to send a new telecaster (in seafoam green, how ironic) back for the exact same reason, except mine was the high e hanging off the edge of the fretboard. Their quality actually DROVE me to another manufacturer. The quality and customer service was so bad that it pissed me off and i bought from someone else instead. Now i have no love for the brand. I enjoy some of their older stuff i already have, that i take care of myself and have paid to customize to my liking, but their new stuff is dead to me.

Classic tech trick, needs a "neck wrench". Leave it tuned to pitch, loosen the neck screws a little and pull the headstock towards the tuners then check the string alignment. Re tighten the screws. This will do the trick, QC should have caught this.

This should sell for 300 to 400 dollars with NO flaws or issues. Anything above that price point is a ripoff.

There are two fixes for the issue, one is as noted by others to lossen the neck and realign the neck, the other is to take off the strings and bridge, fill in the holes, and redrill the holes in the right spot.. These two fixes can fix the issue, most are going to say fix the neck instead of the bridge, though if you look at the pick guard vs the bridge, it looks to me like the bridge was the issue. I would think the bridge should be close to perfectly in that slot, but you can see you have much more space on the bottom than you do on the top, thus I think the issue is with the bridge.

Loosen three neck bolts, loosen the fourth SLIGHTLY (like 1/2 turn), pull up on the headstock, tighten the bolt opposite the one that's only slightly loose. Repeat as necessary to realign the string pull.

It looks like the bridge is centered to the pickguard bridge cutout. See if you can squeeze the high E & Low Saddles together it looks like the saddles might be fanned out.

Same issue on the Gold Foil Tele I checked out. Loved the look and sound but the neck just wasn’t straight. I get that it’s a reasonably easy fix, but it shouldn’t be necessary in the first place. These things are all cnc’d and the tolerances ought to be spot on. Hope they sort it out.

Sweet water is a fender dealer, try hitting up fender to see if you can send to sweet water for the warranty work. That way you don’t void your warranty

Love the channel brother you definitely work really hard but i can tell youre very passionate. ever considered doing a pickup comparison? You have lots of different models and the invader is an interesting new addition. (Im secretly in love with the polymath so id like to see how it stacks up with the rest)

lots of people overlook the fact this Stratocaster has a pre-CBS Slab Rosewood Fingerboard, So No you can't really make a Partscaster.

LowEndLobster recently had a brand new gold foil Jazz Bass come in where the bridge wasn't drilled and in place properly.

Just losen the neck screws a bit and straighten the neck angle. Then tighten them up while holding the neck in the position you want. It's very common on many inexpensive bolt on neck guitars. It's a 5 min. fix.

If the issue is that the neck is not correctly bolted on (as some people have mentioned) then it means the cavity is way too big, and that's not a quality instrument, also if the bridge has been misaligned keep in mind that not only the screws holding the bridge that need to be filled re-drilled but also the hole that leads to the string ferrule in the back.

I just received a player telecaster from sweetwater with a bad nut right out of the box. Low E was hanging off the edge just like yours is. Don’t want to return it because the rest of it feels and looks great. Hopefully just get a new nut and rock with it.

I’m pretty sure you can loosen the screws holding the neck on and adjust the neck until it’s correct, then tighten back up…

The alignment has unfortunately been a common issue with Fender QA lately. ☹️

I bought a used 2006 MIM tele with the same problem not only was the bridge off center the neck pocket was 1/16 of an in. to big, apparently Fender Mexico has had problems for awhile

It's the Metal gods not smiling upon your choice of signature, LOL. :)

The factory setup is actually how Tom played his

I wish I could say I'm surprised, but this is par for the course... it's also why I build partscasters. If the alternative is having to undo somebody else's half-assed assembly and QC anyway, then I might as well just do the whole thing myself from the jump... for the same money, if not less. Couldn't care less about the logo on the headstock anymore... Warmoth has been "out-Fendering" Fender for years... they'll get my money.

Actually not only mass production guitars have problem like this, my friend bought a Strat cs62 and it has the exact same problem. Probably you need to unscrew the neck and give it a push, or take out all saddles to reposition the bridge.

The neck shifted during shipping, loosen the neck bolts straighten and tighten back up. Maybe, that happened to one I ordered from another company.

It's pretty obvious when you see the difference in clearance between the fingerboard dot and the D and G strings. Could it be that the bridge is in place but the neck was put in angled? I'd expect perfect alignment of the body with parts if you'd CNC the thing. Putting the neck into the pocket is hand work.

I changed my mind and rasped a 'negative shim' from the neck, it's got a MUCH better action now!

it´s the bridge placement. Had to return a new LTD M-1 Custom '87 Rainbow Crackle with the same issue recently; of course, as many here have suggested, you can easily realign the neck, but there will be an ugly neck pocket gap on the bass side; also, the strings will still not be aligned with the pole pieces and dot inlays...

Undo the screws to the neck by like a quarter turn, pull the neck into alignment, tighten screws.🤘🏼

A gig bag ? Why I won't purchase anything from these vultures. Thankfully Dad left me his 68 jazz master that actually came with a real case.

You have to send it back. that's not a choice.

It's not too uncommon for a neck to need to some re-alignment: 1) Loosen the string tension so there is barely any. 2) Slightly loosen the neck mounting screws. 3) Slightly push/pull the neck into alignment so the high/low E strings are where they should be. 4) Tighten up the neck screws. 5) Tune up the guitar. 6) Should be ready to go. If it's still not right and FUBAR, send it back.

neck shifted in the pocket is my guess about the alignment, just need to loosen the neck screws and align it back up then tighten the neck screws back up. if not, then id return it

It's surf green.🧐 Also that might be the classic fender neck pocket "fit". You can try(with strings on but detuned a bit) loosening all 4 bolts and reposition the neck and tighten them again. I've had American Fenders back in the 90's or early 2000's arrive like that. Looks like it's been sitting for quite a while, Fender must have delayed this release.

I ordered a Telecaster Player Plus directly from Fender also because of the 10% off. I had to send it back due to issues. The tone knob was so scratchy that you couldn't touch it and the high E string was almost hanging off the fretboard. It was not playable. I wonder with the 10% if they are sending out the grade B products.

Just loosen the neck screws and tilt the neck just ever so slightly toward the treble side and tighten it back up. I've fixed several strats this way. It's usually caused by either a careless worker or taking a huge bump in shipping.

All those QC signatures and it still shipped like that.

@McFly-guitars-n-stuff

2 ай бұрын

They mean nothing

This is horrible. Send that back. Go to Sweetwater and zoom in on the one you want and check the bridge alignment!

I ordered one of the newish gold-foil pickup Fender basses. First one came like this, with the misalligned strings. Sent it back, the next one same thing. Sent it back and got store credit rather than try for a third time. I am an Ibanez guy, though I have a vintage modified jag bass. I was really digging the look of the gold foil pickup bass, and thought it would be a good intoduction for me to a proper fender. Safe to say, I'm still an Ibanez guy.

Let's see how the epic tale of Fender Customer Service: With Agufish (aka Hunter) goes. I hope it's not a short season.

You know, it's funny...People will lose their minds talking mountains of shit about a sub-$200 Harley Benton having minor flaws or setup issues, but when it's a $1300 Fender it's just "Hey, that's just Fender. Take it apart and put it back together and it's fine." It's like the expectations are on permanent opposite day. On a similar note, looking for a second guitar to accompany my HB EX-76 GHWAN (+/- $300 with shipping), I got TWO Epiphone Prophecy Exturas (+/-$1200) that had to be sent back. One with like 5 cracks in the neck and the other built so badly you couldn't play it. Both were QCd, brand new guitars. I ended up giving Schecter a shot. Got an SLS E1 "Evil Twin," and that thing is a goddamn Bugati. Came from the same distro as the Epiphones, about the same price, but arrived in tune, set up, ready to bang out the box and not a flaw to be found. THAT'S how you make a new fan for life. I don't know wtf is going on with these "American" brands. We pay top dollar cuz yall supposed to be the top dogs and getting smoked by store brands and Japanese companies. It's a real bummer.

That head stock shape was first seen in December 1965 Stratocasters, Leo designed it, Jimi made it!.

Its the neck alignment. Need to reset the neck. Loosen screws and pull to align, retighten.

As a guitar builder myself. That should never left the factory. You paid a heavy premium for that and it’s dead simple. There is 0 excuses for quality issues like that. Even more so when your paying for a name.

I bought an American Deluxe Tele about 10 years ago where the quality of the fret work was so bad, they not only needed a full level and re crown, but half them needed to be pulled out and reseated. Before anyone says I should have returned it, the store I got it from said they had no date for a restock of that colour and fingerboard, so they just refunded me the cost of getting it put right (over £150)! That guitar had a uk price of nearly £2000! If a guitar is costing me over a grand all I should have to do is set it up for my choice of string gauge and maybe file the nut to accommodate the fact I use 11's, I shouldn't need to be sending it for major work before I can play it. Fender are a company that have been trading for years on the knowledge they can put out poorly QC'd guitars and it doesn't matter as the name on the headstock will sell it!

I had the same problem with Mejer PRS.And it was my last meeting with PRS.