This is an unusual story I wanted to share to see what your thoughts on the matter might be. Last week I selected a particularly resonant and sweet-necked Valentine and was thrilled to take it home with me. Before I left the well-respected store (and I still love and respect the place), I noticed that the frets were a bit rough here and there, and made a grinding sound when bending the strings across some frets. They said"no prob - our tech can polish that out" and the tech did so, mostly. Then when I got it home and played it more I noticed that the trem knocked pretty strongly when released (I started a thread here asking others about that). Then the volume knob slipped off - no biggie, I thought - that happens, and I tightened the relevant screw and fixed that. I looked up the serial number and found that the guitar was made a year ago. I happened to have started a discussion with EBMM support about the trem and today called and spoke to them about the fret issues and the other points I just mentioned.
The person at support at EBMM noted that there should have been very small felt pads where the trem hits the body. They were missing on the guitar. They also said that the knob shouldn't have fallen off (again - I flex that and thought "no biggie there". But he did tell me that the fret work voided the EBMM warranty. Ugh. On a "brand new" high-quality guitar??? Ugh. So, Though I really wanted to stay with this great feeling and sounding guitar, I decided to let it go back to the store at the last moment they would take it back without a hassle or question - one week - and they did take it back kindly and with no question.
So, sadly, I returned the instrument based on the fact that it appeared to have a good amount of shop wear on it - it was indeed a year old - and that the minor fret work voided the warranty. I'm unhappy that this happened because I really like the guitar. Felt like a risky investment on this particular one. I just decided that I'd try again when I find another that does not have so many issues.
The person at support at EBMM noted that there should have been very small felt pads where the trem hits the body. They were missing on the guitar. They also said that the knob shouldn't have fallen off (again - I flex that and thought "no biggie there". But he did tell me that the fret work voided the EBMM warranty. Ugh. On a "brand new" high-quality guitar??? Ugh. So, Though I really wanted to stay with this great feeling and sounding guitar, I decided to let it go back to the store at the last moment they would take it back without a hassle or question - one week - and they did take it back kindly and with no question.
So, sadly, I returned the instrument based on the fact that it appeared to have a good amount of shop wear on it - it was indeed a year old - and that the minor fret work voided the warranty. I'm unhappy that this happened because I really like the guitar. Felt like a risky investment on this particular one. I just decided that I'd try again when I find another that does not have so many issues.
