NGD, SBMM Sabre, yikes...

[silence.speaks]

I'm assuming it's ok to talk about the Sterling line in this forum.

I've got 4 EBMM's; 2 Luke's, a Cutlass and a Stringray bass. Thought I'd take a chance on a SBMM Sabre. Well this guitar has the worst "stainless steel" frets I've ever felt on any guitar, just grinding with the strings. Read on another forum of this same issue with another Sabre so they did a full fret dress and are now happy with the guitar. So I get set up to work on the guitar and find a crack from the truss wheel adjustment through the neck. So back it goes. That was a disappointing experience after so many good ones with the American made guitars. Not sure if I should try again. $1500 of yikes...

 

[DrKev]

I'm assuming it's ok to talk about the Sterling line in this forum.

I've got 4 EBMM's; 2 Luke's, a Cutlass and a Stringray bass. Thought I'd take a chance on a SBMM Sabre. Well this guitar has the worst "stainless steel" frets I've ever felt on any guitar, just grinding with the strings. Read on another forum of this same issue with another Sabre so they did a full fret dress and are now happy with the guitar. So I get set up to work on the guitar and find a crack from the truss wheel adjustment through the neck. So back it goes. That was a disappointing experience after so many good ones with the American made guitars. Not sure if I should try again. $1500 of yikes...

Yeah, that's always super disappointing. Every brand at every price point has a 1% to 2% warranty return rate. That means that the more we make ourselves aware of other's experiences, and the more we buy, the more likely are to know someone with a bad experience or be that person ourselves. And some people will get hit twice. And on the interwebs people complain loudly which makes these things seem more likely than they are. But on a per-instrument basis, it's still just low percentages.

(Looking at economy wide figures, there is no industry that does better than 0.5% warranty claim rate and some are as high 5% (yikes!). In my experience with guitars it's generally in the 1% to 2% range, though I've known much higher (started with G, sounded like "fibson" but that was a decade ago).

 

[silence.speaks]

Yeah I'm super bummed because it was a beautiful guitar and I really wanted more time with it to see how it stacked up with my EBMM's. Just was shocked that QC would let one of their most expensive Sterling guitars out the door like that, but it happens. Guess I've been pretty fortunate so far.

 

[jlf599]

I got a Sterling JP model in a trade sometime back and was actually pretty amazed at the quality. I had taken it as part of the trade with the sole intent of flipping it but I came THIS close to keeping it.

Still might consider a Sterling Majesty as I'm not sure I'd like the shape/size of the Majesty and that would be a more economical way to try one for awhile.

 

[guitarheadhunt]

every sterling model I have ever tried was terrible. except for when they first released the sterling stingray. That was actually a pretty good guitar. Maybe I am just spoiled with the real deal. Every sterling guitar I have ever tried they just felt cheap. The necks felt completely different. I have tried their sterling JP, cutlass, axis, stingray.

 

[GWDavis28]

every sterling model I have ever tried was terrible. except for when they first released the sterling stingray. That was actually a pretty good guitar. Maybe I am just spoiled with the real deal. Every sterling guitar I have ever tried they just felt cheap. The necks felt completely different. I have tried their sterling JP, cutlass, axis, stingray.

It's a lower price point and more mass produced, so your going to get that. Tough to compare the real deal to the Sterlings in my opinion.

Glenn |B)

 

[Iperfungus]

It's a lower price point and more mass produced, so your going to get that. Tough to compare the real deal to the Sterlings in my opinion.

Glenn |B)

Lower price than US models, but not low priced (1500$ are money....), to be honest.
Honestly, I would not expect issues with trussrods and necks (and I've read about many issues like these around...).
PRS SE guitars are lower priced instruments, compared to US models....but they do not have such issues.

Of course you cannot expect that a SBMM guitar is the same of a EBMM, but for 1500 bucks I'd expect a reasonable quality level.

Let's not talk about Gibson, where quality is often not accetable on US made instruments.
I've a 2013 SG Standard, that I bought new and that required some intervents under warranty, and a made in Indonesia Kramer Baretta Special (Gibson made, 150 euro, new...) that's close to perfection (I only modified some parts, according to my taste and needings).