Here is a not so happy owner of the new Sterling AX40. Anyone had more problems with one of these? I have a few questions as well as a few comments.
1. What are the neck mounting screw specs? Are they standard or a special order? Where can I get them? I stripped the slots on one when I was re-attaching the neck. The metal seems a bit soft.
2. The body of the guitar is made of some poor wood. I know it's supposed to be basswood but there's a generalization on what species fit that wide definition.
Right out of the box: both upper and lower strap button screw holes were stripped. I could literally pull the strap buttons out with my fingers! A few of the smaller screws holding the tremolo cover plate/control cavity cover plate also have stripped screw holes.
I attribute this mainly not to the production faults but more to the wood quality. It really feels brittle more then soft.
Because the wood is so brittle my guitar came in with some damage: two neck rests (or stops; two wood parts between the neck butt and the pickup cavity) broke off all the way down to neck pocket depth I suppose because of the bump in transit. The guitar was padded in the box and the stock gigbag is quite thick so there is no damage on the guitar body itself.
I included a stock picture with my drawings to show what I mean. I doubt it would happen to a more quality wood. I had to remove those two wood pieces completely and refinish those spots. There is a larger open space there now but it's not very noticeable.
There is also a hairline crack going from the left(upper) bridge post brass bushing to the bridge pickup cavity. I don't know if it will develop over time but at the moment it's 1/4 inch or so deep from what I could visually estimate looking at the pickup cavity.
I have no idea if this crack is a result of the bumps in transit or not but once again I attribute this to the poor wood quality.
The best part of the guitar is the neck. Here I can say that this is one of the best necks I've seen so far on the budget guitars. Everything from precision machining to fret dressing is top notch. It's a shame such a great neck was installed in such a bad piece of body wood. The body machining quality and finish are good: there are couple nicks under the black finish on the back and a few black finish uneven overruns over the cream body binding but those are just nit picks.
I also had to work a little on the wood with sandpaper: I smoothed out the neck pocket plane because it was sort of rough. The wood is really soft to the touch and can be easily dented with a fingernail. It feels close to spruce but just a little harder.
All in all I think because of the body wood quality this guitar is not a good investment with the current over $500 steet prices unless you are a EVH fan and want this guitar as a worship thing. I wanted to try something new and I wish I wouldn't.
1. What are the neck mounting screw specs? Are they standard or a special order? Where can I get them? I stripped the slots on one when I was re-attaching the neck. The metal seems a bit soft.
2. The body of the guitar is made of some poor wood. I know it's supposed to be basswood but there's a generalization on what species fit that wide definition.
Right out of the box: both upper and lower strap button screw holes were stripped. I could literally pull the strap buttons out with my fingers! A few of the smaller screws holding the tremolo cover plate/control cavity cover plate also have stripped screw holes.
I attribute this mainly not to the production faults but more to the wood quality. It really feels brittle more then soft.
Because the wood is so brittle my guitar came in with some damage: two neck rests (or stops; two wood parts between the neck butt and the pickup cavity) broke off all the way down to neck pocket depth I suppose because of the bump in transit. The guitar was padded in the box and the stock gigbag is quite thick so there is no damage on the guitar body itself.
I included a stock picture with my drawings to show what I mean. I doubt it would happen to a more quality wood. I had to remove those two wood pieces completely and refinish those spots. There is a larger open space there now but it's not very noticeable.
There is also a hairline crack going from the left(upper) bridge post brass bushing to the bridge pickup cavity. I don't know if it will develop over time but at the moment it's 1/4 inch or so deep from what I could visually estimate looking at the pickup cavity.
I have no idea if this crack is a result of the bumps in transit or not but once again I attribute this to the poor wood quality.
The best part of the guitar is the neck. Here I can say that this is one of the best necks I've seen so far on the budget guitars. Everything from precision machining to fret dressing is top notch. It's a shame such a great neck was installed in such a bad piece of body wood. The body machining quality and finish are good: there are couple nicks under the black finish on the back and a few black finish uneven overruns over the cream body binding but those are just nit picks.
I also had to work a little on the wood with sandpaper: I smoothed out the neck pocket plane because it was sort of rough. The wood is really soft to the touch and can be easily dented with a fingernail. It feels close to spruce but just a little harder.
All in all I think because of the body wood quality this guitar is not a good investment with the current over $500 steet prices unless you are a EVH fan and want this guitar as a worship thing. I wanted to try something new and I wish I wouldn't.
