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gcastbr

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Jan 21, 2024
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England
Hi, this might be a silly question—or maybe not, depending on your perspective—but here we go.

Music Man is known for producing high-standard instruments, which are very expensive due to their use of high-spec materials, craftsmanship, and attention to detail.

I own a Music Man guitar, but I noticed that the string was slipping a bit, which had been bothering me for a while. I eventually took it to a luthier, who measured it and confirmed that it's slightly out of spec:

The Specs says

43mm
at the NUT -
this guitar has -0.5mm (around 42.5) at nut from the original spec (if I measure after nut(literally after 1mm after nut it's worts it's 42.3

57.2
at the end of the last fret - this guitar has around -0.6mm (around 56.6/7) at last fret.

Some might argue that this is negligible, but my other guitars with the same specs don’t have this issue. With an instrument of this caliber, small discrepancies can make a huge difference.

I own other guitars—two made in Japan and another handmade one. These guitars, despite being less expensive than the Music Man (easily half the price), have perfect measurements. So, here’s my question:

Would this be something that Music Man would address as a defect, even if it’s out of warranty?

In my opinion, the answer should be yes. To me, this is comparable to a car recall—if it were a cosmetic paint issue, a bridge problem, or a fret issue after the warranty period, I could understand it not being covered. However, being out of spec—even by a small margin—seems to indicate a quality issue, which shouldn’t happen with a high-end instrument. I paid $4,000 for this guitar, and I believe it should be "100% perfect," at least in terms of measurements.

I’d really appreciate any insights or comments on this.

Cheers,
 
Last edited:

beej

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Do you have a picture? Often the position of the strings relative to the neck can be adjusted by loosening and then shifting the neck slightly in the pocket.
 

gcastbr

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Joined
Jan 21, 2024
Messages
19
Location
England
Sorry, I've just noticed I haven't specified. I have no pictures here but I can try to take it later, but basically is that:

I'm talking about the neck measurements.

The Specs says

43mm at the NUT -
this guitar has -0.5mm at nut from the original spec (if I measure after nut(literally after 1mm after nut it's worts it's 42.3

57.2 at the end of the last fret - this guitar has around -0.6mm (around 56.6/7) at last fret.
 
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Norrin Radd

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Jul 20, 2004
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Location
Saint Paul
Sorry, I've just noticed I haven't specified. I have no pictures here but I can try to take it later, but basically is that:

I'm talking about the neck measurements.

The Specs says

43mm at the NUT -
this guitar has -0.5mm at nut from the original spec (if I measure after nut(literally after 1mm after nut it's worts it's 42.3

57.2 at the end of the last fret - this guitar has around -0.6mm (around 56.6/7) at last fret.
Well - perhaps it may be a bit dry in England these days of winter?
 

gcastbr

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Jan 21, 2024
Messages
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Location
England
Well - perhaps it may be a bit dry in England these days of winter?
If it was the case I was getting different measurements in my other guitars + it's not variable, + 0.6, 0.7 it's not a small difference, 0.1, 0.2 I would say so -

dry? it's not dry, opposite.
 

beej

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Toronto, Canada
You're off by half a mm? Seems like a pretty minor difference to me. Keep in mind that necks are hand sanded, so there is always going to be some variability. The specs aren't absolute. And humidity will change things as well.

I think the bigger question is whether you like the instrument as it is.

(Btw car recalls are for safety. I don't think that comparison applies here, unless you play really really really really fast ...)
 

fbecir

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Jul 3, 2005
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Paris, FRANCE
Hello

We are talking about a discrepancy of 0.5 mm ? It's 1 percent of difference with the specifications ... and we are dealing with a piece of wood, wood is not the most stable material, it moves with humidity and heat.
If you feel the neck is too thin, 0.5 mm more or less will not change your feeling.
If you feel the neck is OK but the E string is too close of the edge of the neck, just watch this video :
 

gcastbr

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Jan 21, 2024
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Location
England
Yes I do, I'm talking about a sabre one. sabre is 43mm-57.2mm - I got the point, I also did the same trick to fix the strings alignments and indeed it changed a bit for better.

I know it's small - but my point is not play really really fast or not, it's about quality -

4k is a very expensive value for a guitar and it needs to be precise - as I mentioned, I have a few more guitar and all of them are right.
 

gcastbr

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Jan 21, 2024
Messages
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Location
England
Note there was one at least one very early Sabre prototype that went out with 42.3 mm (1 5/8”) spec nut width. Did you check your guitars Birthday?

yes, it's from 2022 - when I bought I bought with the specs saying 43-57.2mm 200% sure about it - very interesting your comment btw...do you know when was it?

I had a recent issue with customer services recently, I found out my guitar was not in the database, they initially said they could do nothing, then I insisted they asked me the invoice, I showed and they said, it's a authentic one.

Then I insisted again as "why my guitar is not in the DB" it's from 2022 - and they said they couldn't do nothing, once guitar leaves their shop they cannot fix it.

but, when I showed them the measurements etc, funny enough, they said there was a typo error and they managed to added my guitar in the DB :) -
the overall thing for me does not sound "right"

your comment is also very interesting because, it shows how measurements, even small matters when building a guitar....
 
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Norrin Radd

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Saint Paul
Can you return the guitar from where you purchased it? It doesn’t sound like you will ever be happy with it no matter what.
 

gcastbr

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Jan 21, 2024
Messages
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Location
England
I do like the sabre, sound, the guitar is really nice in that regards, but I will wait a bit - bring to another luthier to check the measurements probably when the weather here start to gets better - just to follow a few comments here (but I don't believe it will change as my other guitar are showing the right info) and then see what could be done - but I'm guessing nothing, Music Man will not even care about a mere mortal complaining about it -

anyway the prototype mentioned here, intrigued me - as it matches what I got if I measure after nut(literally after 1mm after nut - it gives me 42.3) so, I wouldn't be surprised if they made this one based in the prototype measurements - which makes believe, if they change it was because they spot this small difference would create some "issue" or not so good playability.
 
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