Buyer's Remorse....

Butch Snyder

Butch Snyder

ObsoleteChickenPickingologist
Hi all,

I was at a local music store a couple of weeks ago with a friend. He was looking at buying a Tele and wanted my help. After spending some time with him, I noticed a few really nice Teles. I decided to go back the next day, by myself, and check them out more thoroughly.

I had a new Am Std and an Am Spec and was A/Bing them through a DRRI. They both were nice but the Am Spec sounded better to me. Then I saw an older Am Std on the wall. It was from the previous year. It didn't have the belly contour. It was blizzard pearl with a RW fretboard. It also had the older Am Std pickups. It didn't have the CS Broadcaster/Twisted Tele combo. The older Am Std sounded better than both of them.

Most of the Am Stds were listed for $1299 - 1499 depending on the finish. The Am Std in blizzard pearl didn't have a price on it. I had the sales person check. Because it was an older Am Std, they were blowing it out at $765. I couldn't pass it up. I got it home and that's when the trouble started. I tried to get the protective plastic of the pickguard and it would not budge. It came off in many many pieces. Also, there was an opaque sticker on it that said "American Standard" and all that stuff. I noticed that the pickguard had yellowed except for the area where the opaque sticker was. Plus the pickguard is tacky and sticky because of the residue. I removed the pickguard to clean it to get the residue off. No dice; plus, I noticed the area under the pickguard was visibly lighter than the rest of the guitar. This thing must have sat i the store under the flourescent lights a long time.

Now the second bit of trouble - The tone. Yeah, it sounded great through the DRRI at the store. I don't have a DRRI. I use a Line6 Flextone. I like it and it gives me what I need/want. This Tele didn't sound good at all. It was shrill and thin. I built a Tele that I sold to a friend to help finance the purchase of the Am Std. It had a set of CS Nocaster pickups and sounded great through my amp.

I am going to return the Am Std and get a refund. I might get the Am Spec if they'll come off their price $100. I'm not sure yet.....
 
Re: Buyer's Remorse....

Sorry to hear that man :(

Doesn't it suck when that happens? That's why you always have to be careful when buying stuff. For those reasons alone is probably why they updated it and made a better American Standard for this year.

I wish there was a way that you could take guitars home and plug it into your own rig to find out whether it sounds good to you or not, like when people test drive vehicles. They can take them home for a night to figure out whether they like it or not. But hey, not everything works that way.

Well hopefully that store will take the refund and give you the American Special. Sometimes when you search for a bargain, you tend to lose your sense of focus when it comes to what your heart says, and your heart said the American Special, but your mind was looking for a deal and went with something that didn't do it for you.

Moral of the story, listen to your heart!
 
Re: Buyer's Remorse....

Bummer. At least you can return it. When I try out guitars I usually play them through an amp I own, or am familiar with, if at all possible. That way I can relate it to my rig at least a little bit.
 
Re: Buyer's Remorse....

Nacho8807 said:
Bummer. At least you can return it. When I try out guitars I usually play them through an amp I own, or am familiar with, if at all possible. That way I can relate it to my rig at least a little bit.
Click to expand...

My amp has been discontinued for a while now.
 
Re: Buyer's Remorse....

That's too bad. Couldn't dial in a good tone with your amp? I would have thought you could have dialled in a good DRRI tone on that Line 6. Still, once you become dissatisfied with a guitar, it's hard to be objective about it again.

Good luck on the search.
 
Re: Buyer's Remorse....

voggin said:
That's too bad. Couldn't dial in a good tone with your amp? I would have thought you could have dialled in a good DRRI tone on that Line 6. Still, once you become dissatisfied with a guitar, it's hard to be objective about it again.

Good luck on the search.
Click to expand...

I think I just need to work on the amp settings.
 
Re: Buyer's Remorse....

Hey Butch! Havent seen you round in awhile! Sorry bad luck brings you back... Thats really a good deal, but sure odd about the plastic coating. The fading sounds like it had been in a window or something. If you like the way the guitar plays, spend some time trying to dial in your amp or consider getting some pups you know youll like. or, take it back and cut your losses.. Good luck!

Ps, one of these days your going to stun us and post a NGD thread saying you go a LP. haha Do you own anything but teles? :scratchch
 
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Re: Buyer's Remorse....

BloodRose said:
Hey Butch! Havent seen you round in awhile! Sorry bad luck brings you back... Thats really a good deal, but sure odd about the plastic coating. The fading sounds like it had been in a window or something. If you like the way the guitar plays, spend some time trying to dial in your amp or consider getting some pups you know youll like. or, take it back and cut your losses.. Good luck!

Ps, one of these days your going to stun us and post a NGD thread saying you go a LP. haha Do you own anything but teles? :scratchch
Click to expand...

Yeah, too good of a deal to let it go. It's such a great-looking guitar. It's all in the amp settings. I will be tweaking this weekend.
 
Re: Buyer's Remorse....

The way I see it you could have easily flipped that guitar and made some money off of it. Plus, who's to say that after owning any guitar for a year, it won't discolor, like many guitars do, especially vintage models.

Another thought... I always try out guitars on amps that are similar if not the same model as what I have at home. To me, that's the best way to know how it sounds.
 
Re: Buyer's Remorse....

Detroitblues said:
Another thought... I always try out guitars on amps that are similar if not the same model as what I have at home. To me, that's the best way to know how it sounds.
Click to expand...

My amp is a Line6 Flextone III. Been discontinued for some time. I should have tried it through the little Laney they had instead of the DRRI.:scratchch
 
Re: Buyer's Remorse....

In my opinion, if an electric guitar sounds good through a relatively simple all-valve amplifier, it is good. If that guitar then sounds less than thrilling through another amplifier then the problem is either the second amplifier or the acoustics of the room in which you play.

I have owned a Line6 Flextone III. I had it from a friend as part of a gear exchange deal. He eventually bought it back. My friend loves some of the factory presets. I do not. I programmed a few sounds of my own but the novelty soon worn off. I happen to like 6L6-powered amps.

I say, keep the Tele. Change the amplification.
 
Re: Buyer's Remorse....

Funkfingers said:
In my opinion, if an electric guitar sounds good through a relatively simple all-valve amplifier, it is good. If that guitar then sounds less than thrilling through another amplifier then the problem is either the second amplifier or the acoustics of the room in which you play.

I have owned a Line6 Flextone III. I had it from a friend as part of a gear exchange deal. He eventually bought it back. My friend loves some of the factory presets. I do not. I programmed a few sounds of my own but the novelty soon worn off. I happen to like 6L6-powered amps.

I say, keep the Tele. Change the amplification.
Click to expand...

Maybe - that DRRI sounded awesome. They have an SF for $200 less than the new one.
 
Re: Buyer's Remorse....

I wouldn't return it. The pick guard is trivial to replace, and how often does anyone on the SD forum keep their stock pickups? There are lots of great Tele pickups to be had. Stock Fender pickups are hit or miss.

Generally speaking in a guitar can sound good though one amp and not another, I blame the amp, not the guitar. Especially if we're talking about Line 6 amp.

Butch Snyder said:
plus, I noticed the area under the pickguard was visibly lighter than the rest of the guita
Click to expand...

If you mean "under the pick guard", as in, you had to unscrew the pick guard to see the discoloration, that will happen no matter what to a guitar that's kept outside of it's case, which all guitars should be IMO. I sounds like sun light hit the guitar through out the year or more that it was in the show room, so it happened more rapidly. Unless you plan to have no pick guard on the guitar, though, I wouldn't perceive that as a problem.
 
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Re: Buyer's Remorse....

If I'm serious about buying a guitar I will almost never plug it in to an amp at all. I have very specialized tastes, so I go in expecting to change electronics. If it sounds and feels good unplugged it will be just fine through my rig when setup.

On that note, for some reason I always love playing tele's (and other oddball single coil guitars) through clean/semi dirty amps in shops, but I don't really do that any other time. I played Isis riffs on a 1930's Charlie Christian guitar through a Fender blackface 2x10 thing (vibro-something, I think), and it was awesome, but I don't know if I'd have an actual use for anything like that if I were (able) to take it home.

That said, Line6.
 
Re: Buyer's Remorse....

I spent much of the 1980s noodling random guitars in shops to pick the perfect one. Today I buy on Ebay based on what I think looks like it will sound great. Success rate is the same.
 
Re: Buyer's Remorse....

I've owned a lot of American Standards, and go into it knowing that the pickups are getting changed. The only other thing I change is the plastic nut for a Tusq XL or bone.

Don't return the guitar just because the Am Std pickups aren't up to snuff. As for the pickguard, just buff the top of it with Goof Off or bleach. It'll get rid of the gum and discoloration. Or, just get a different one.

Believe it or not, people do buy Am Std pickups to upgrade their imports. Use that money to buffer the cost of Duncans.
 
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