Question Structural Wood Crack, truss wheel routing

[CharlieFandango]

Hello there,

Anyone ever come across a break such as this. See attached photos.

Bought the guitar brand new and after it arrived via shipping I took note of the structural crack. The music store that I purchased the guitar from did flag the issue before they shipped it, but I was informed it was just a cosmetic clear coat crack and not effecting the actual wood. Upon reviewing the crack a bit more closely I noticed cack is not a complete clean break, more like a loose hinged splinter, it does have a bit of play to it and I am concerned that it might worsen if left unattended.

Thoughts?

 

[Mick]

Isn´t the wood cracked too? 2nd pic. Just send it back

 

[CharlieFandango]

Yeah the wood under the veneer is cracked but nit all the way through. Just an odd break.

The guitar was on sale at the time of the purchase and the store knocked off another fifty dollars for the "cosmetic blemish". Emailed the sales department about the guitar's warranty as I would think that it being an unused new guitar this sort structural damage will not nullify the warranty due to it being on sale.


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[tbonesullivan]

What model guitar is this? Was it purchased from an authorized dealer?

I would definitely take it back. That looks like the neck took a hit, which caused it to shift and crack the wood at the end of the neck pocket.

 

[beej]

I'd probably send it back too. You'll probably lose that piece of wood. If you glue/repair it, it will always look damaged. The drop in value is most certainly more than $50. So unless they want to knock some real money off, I wouldn't risk it. Unless it's your dream guitar or something and you don't care.

 

[PeteDuBaldo]

Hello there,

Anyone ever come across a break such as this. See attached photos.

Bought the guitar brand new and after it arrived via shipping I took note of the structural crack. The music store that I purchased the guitar from did flag the issue before they shipped it, but I was informed it was just a cosmetic clear coat crack and not effecting the actual wood. Upon reviewing the crack a bit more closely I noticed cack is not a complete clean break, more like a loose hinged splinter, it does have a bit of play to it and I am concerned that it might worsen if left unattended.

Thoughts?

View attachment 33328

View attachment 33329

View attachment 33330

UPS did that to a 7-string of ours that was in transit to a customer around 10 years ago. The box got trashed, the case got hammered, and the guitar wound up broken. Surprisingly they actually honored the insurance claim, and a new body was built. Ours was definitely a non-warranty claim caused by excessively rough handling.

 

[CharlieFandango]

What model guitar is this? Was it purchased from an authorized dealer?

I would definitely take it back. That looks like the neck took a hit, which caused it to shift and crack the wood at the end of the neck pocket.

The guitar is the Sterling Ax40d Trans Purple.

The neck looks ok from all that I could see when it arrived the other day. Just a weird break that have occurred before it was assembled, who knows.

Bought it brand new online from an authorized dealer as they are selling other EBMM and Sterling guitars and such.

Currently waiting to hear back from the store about its warranty and if they can replace it with another Trans Purple.


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[CharlieFandango]

Dang it, two more items of concern.

Was looking over my Ax40D tonight and caught a two other items that also do not look correct. See the attached photos.


Photo 1.
Where those two notches of wood extend out to meet the truss rod wheel, the pickup routing appears to be slanted downwards a bi. This appears to be an incorrect route but I am not familiar with how Sterling routes there pickup caivites.




Photo 2.
Due to how the neck pickup routing is, the neck pickup is slightly slanted downwards and not parallel to the strings as the bridge pickup is. Haven't popped the pickup out to review what might be causing this, maybe just needs a simple height adjustment, but it may have something to do with how snug the pickup is against the top of pickup/truss rod route.





This is my first Sterling Ax40d so I am not aware if these Indonesian guitars were plagued with such production issues. Everything else appears to be rock solid... though I am curious now to pop the hood and take a closer look at all the unseen details.


Thanks for all the feedback.

Cheers.

- C F -

 

[tbonesullivan]

Seriously, contact the dealer and send it back. It really looks like it took a serious hit, probably on the top of the neck, which caused damage to the end of the neck pocket. I would wager that's not the routing being off, that's the wood being bent into the pickup routing.

 

[dibart77]

My 2c, I agree with all the other posters. You bought it brand new, it's messed up, end of story. Return it to the store for a new one without issues. I would have alerted them the minute you noticed it. The longer you wait, the more likelihood they'll claim YOU did it and try to fight a return.

​

 

[BrickGlass]

That is a return immediately situation right there.

 

[CharlieFandango]

Thanks for replys.

I sent an email (this past Friday evening) to the sales rep that I have been dealing with since I purchased the guitar via the stores website a two weeks ago (just got the guitar last Friday as it took about two weeks to arrive with shipping). Still waiting for a reply that the store will accept it back even though I encluded all the photos that posted to this forum site.

Also sent an email directly to Sterling's customer service after I registered the guitar through their site in hopes that it may give me some leverage.

Hopefully I'll have this sorted out in a day or two and it won't become a big financial FUBAR for me. If I do get stuck with the guitar I will attemot to get it repaired as best as possible.

Cheers.

- C F -


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[DrKev]

Hopefully it will work out. The dealer should be taking this back under warranty.

 

[PeteDuBaldo]

Hopefully it will work out. The dealer should be taking this back under warranty.

I would say it's a claim to be made by the dealer under shipping insurance as opposed to a "warranty" issue. If that had come through our shop I would completely expect to get it back and replace it for the customer. It would then be on us to seek reimbursement by UPS/FedEx, etc.

 

[Wahoonc]

I would think you could at least return it, unless you bought it "as-is" because of the discount. Hope not. Good luck with it. Let us know how it works out. I'm sure you'll love the guitar if you get one that isn't damaged.

 

[CharlieFandango]

I reviewed my past email conversations with the music stores sales rep, there was never any "buy as-is" mentioned nor was it advertised as a damaged Ax40d guitar. The rep did notify me about what was supposed to be a clear coat scratch and I did respond back wanting to know if the scratch might actually be a structural wood crack which they assured me it wasn't.

I hope the store plays fair with me on this claim and not just attempt to sweep this under rug with some form of a "purchased as-is" clause.

Other than that I've been very much impressed with this Sterling Ax40d. Plays and sounds great, when comparing it to my 2012 Wolfgang Special (China) and 1985 Kramer Pacer Imperial. For such a stellar guitar I am surprised Sterling discontinued this Axis related line.

Makes them that much more desirable, from my perspective of wanting a guitar that has the look and vibe of a US Axis.


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