So Sweetwater relisted the guitar I sent back a month ago.

They're not selling as new any more which is actually a point in their favour. Maybe they had a tech fix the other problem. It doesn't make sense for them to relist it if it's not in playable condition, whoever buys will simply return it and cost them more money.
 
GuitarStv said:
They're not selling as new any more which is actually a point in their favour. Maybe they had a tech fix the other problem. It doesn't make sense for them to relist it if it's not in playable condition, whoever buys will simply return it and cost them more money.
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I dont know how they would fix it, unless they had their plek machine do some crazyness on it.

I had it in my hands about 20 minutes, and while I didn't pursue a super low action setup, the action I did set didn't have any buzz and seemed it could go lower, even though the trem was bottomed out on the treble side. My guess is they plekked it for another customer, he returned it (there was evidence of more than one set of packing tape on the inner box), and the plek job messed it up.

This kind of weirdness happens when plekking a floyd guitar. I have had two guitars plekked where it significantly lowered the trem into the body cavity The plek machine lets them level frets without retaining the relationship between the fingerboard and the frets. Their primary concern is having the plek bits do as little work as possible to keep their costs low. This might involve cutting down the high frets with side effect of lowering the trem too much. This was a neck through, so no shim could save it.

This is why I don't get guitars plekked any more.
 
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Top-L said:
I dont know how they would fix it, unless they had their plek machine do some crazyness on it.

I had it in my hands about 20 minutes, and while I didn't pursue a super low action setup, the action I did set didn't have any buzz and seemed it could go lower, even though the trem was bottomed out on the treble side. My guess is they plekked it for another customer, he returned it (there was evidence of more than one set of packing tape on the inner box), and the plek job messed it up.

This kind of weirdness happens when plekking a floyd guitar. I have had two guitars plekked where it significantly lowered the trem into the body cavity The plek machine lets them level frets without retaining the relationship between the fingerboard and the frets. Their primary concern is having the plek bits do as little work as possible to keep their costs low. This might involve cutting down the high frets with side effect of lowering the trem too much. This was a neck through, so no shim could save it.

This is why I don't get guitars plekked any more.
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Seems like you don't totally understand the amount of effect plekking has...at most a 1/4 mm and probably only 1/10 mm. That won't cause the need to "significantly lower the trem into the body cavity".
 
At least Sweetwater is disclosing all the important info about the condition of the guitar, and not selling it as "new".
 
* If the bass side does set up well, but the treble side does not, then the neck angle is not the issue. Rather, the neck is twisted.
* If the neck has been leveled to compensate, simply route a recess under the Floyd unit so you can set up properly.
 
GuitarDoc said:
At least Sweetwater is disclosing all the important info about the condition of the guitar, and not selling it as "new".
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They already sold it once to the OP @ full price as "new" though (w/o disclosure). Honestly it's hard not to notice that there are issues w/ this guitar, especially after it's supposed to have gone through a "50 point" check before shipping it out. I mean a neck-through w/ a twisted neck (among other things) isn't a small issue..

But yeah, thankfully that's not happening for a second time.

I would'nt pay more than $300-400 for an axe like that personally. Fixing it will be an expensive proposition.


But that's the reason why I really prefer to go down to a store and play & thoroughly check an axe I'm buying w/e it's even remotely possible. The stores here will often unload all kinds of junk on you if you buy online . At the very least be prepared for blemished/washed-out looking//poor qualityflame/QM tops/ barely noticeable dings/chips etc etc..ie, stuff that they find tough to pass off onto customers in their retail stores...
 
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GuitarDoc said:
Seems like you don't totally understand the amount of effect plekking has...at most a 1/4 mm and probably only 1/10 mm. That won't cause the need to "significantly lower the trem into the body cavity".
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You would be incorrect. The plek machine lets them create a profile that is out of sync with the fretboard. They could relax the truss and cut a profile that lowers the bridge significantly more than a mm, by cutting down the upper frets instead of cutting all the frets to an equal height.

The computer calculates the method that removes the least amount of fret material, but it doesn't comprehend the effect it might have on the bridge height or truss rod's range of adjustment.

This is why people are correct in saying that someone operating a plek machine that doesn't know what they are doing can create problems.
 
orpheo said:
* If the bass side does set up well, but the treble side does not, then the neck angle is not the issue. Rather, the neck is twisted.
* If the neck has been leveled to compensate, simply route a recess under the Floyd unit so you can set up properly.
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It appeared that the fretboard was not in the same plane as the body. You could see that the binding on the bass side was higher than the binding on the treble side where it met the body. I would guess the fretboard was 5 degrees out of alignment with the body.

I didn't spend any time analyzing or measuring as I knew I wouldn't be keeping it.
 
Phantasmagoria said:
They already sold it once to the OP @ full price as "new" though (w/o disclosure). Honestly it's hard not to notice that there are issues w/ this guitar, especially after it's supposed to have gone through a "50 point" check before shipping it out. I mean a neck-through w/ a twisted neck (among other things) isn't a small issue..

But yeah, thankfully that's not happening for a second time.

I would'nt pay more than $300-400 for an axe like that personally. Fixing it will be an expensive proposition.


But that's the reason why I really prefer to go down to a store and play & thoroughly check an axe I'm buying w/e it's even remotely possible. The stores here will often unload all kinds of junk on you if you buy online . At the very least be prepared for blemished/washed-out looking//poor qualityflame/QM tops/ barely noticeable dings/chips etc etc..ie, stuff that they find tough to pass off onto customers in their retail stores...
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I agree, this guitar is not worth much at all. It was disconcerting how the trem plate was so far out of alignment with the body.

I didn't see it on their web site for a month, which led me to believe they sent it back to manufacturer. But if they had their plek machine monkey with it, that may have been off the table.

Also, the inner box did appear to have three sets of tape, original and two other, so I think they had sent it to another customer who returned it.
 
Top-L said:
You would be incorrect. The plek machine lets them create a profile that is out of sync with the fretboard. They could relax the truss and cut a profile that lowers the bridge significantly more than a mm, by cutting down the upper frets instead of cutting all the frets to an equal height.

The computer calculates the method that removes the least amount of fret material, but it doesn't comprehend the effect it might have on the bridge height or truss rod's range of adjustment.

This is why people are correct in saying that someone operating a plek machine that doesn't know what they are doing can create problems.
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I'm so sorry...but YOU would be incorrect. I get what you are saying about cutting the frets unevenly, but relaxing the truss rod and cutting the frets as you have described was caused by the programmer, not the machine.

This is one of the reasons why I don't like plekking a guitar.

The plek machine doesn't randomly select whatever it does. It ONLY does what it was programed to do by the person who programed it. If the plek was programed to remove the least amount of fret material as evenly across the board as possible to create a flat "neck", there would only be about 1/10 mm of frets removed and it would only affect the bridge by the same amount. If you have had a different experience with a plek, you better get it done somewhere else next time (with a different programmer).

Give me an "old fashioned (by hand) fret job" any day.
 
GuitarDoc said:
I'm so sorry...but YOU would be incorrect. I get what you are saying about cutting the frets unevenly, but relaxing the truss rod and cutting the frets as you have described was caused by the programmer, not the machine.

This is one of the reasons why I don't like plekking a guitar.

The plek machine doesn't randomly select whatever it does. It ONLY does what it was programed to do by the person who programed it. If the plek was programed to remove the least amount of fret material as evenly across the board as possible to create a flat "neck", there would only be about 1/10 mm of frets removed and it would only affect the bridge by the same amount. If you have had a different experience with a plek, you better get it done somewhere else next time (with a different programmer).

Give me an "old fashioned (by hand) fret job" any day.
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I agree with you, I would rather have them done manually.

IME on two guitars that I had plekked (different places), my wear pattern is alot of wear in the 9-17 fret range (shredding). So they apparently programmed it to remove least amount of fret material, and that means cutting down the high frets proportionally more, and keeping meat in the lower frets (which is logical, but doesn't comprehend the affect it will have on the bridge).

One guitar came back and the floyd was nearly bottomed out in the cavity. I needed to shim the neck to get some pull back.

The other guitar, they had plekked the neck with relief and the truss was fully loosened the way they had done it, where previously the truss had some tension in it. The neck with the truss fully loosened wasn't stable. I had to disassemble and sell the parts. Plek ruined that guitar and it wasn't worth a refret. (I didn't have ability to do the work myself at that time and I didn't love the guitar.)

The point I'm making about Plek is that they can program it to remove least material, but it does not comprehend the effect it has on the truss or the bridge. A guitar is built with the assumption that the neck will be straight, and the fret tops will be parallel to the neck. And thus, the floyd will have proper range of height adjustment. And the truss rod will be in its normal operating range. A plek job can fuck all that up by cutting a profile that is not with a straight neck.
 
hmm Stalking the EX continues
come on man
its your EX guitar
why do you care what happens now
you rejected her right
she didnt run off with another guitarist after all

let it go man
 
Top-L said:
I agree with you, I would rather have them done manually.

IME on two guitars that I had plekked (different places), my wear pattern is alot of wear in the 9-17 fret range (shredding). So they apparently programmed it to remove least amount of fret material, and that means cutting down the high frets proportionally more, and keeping meat in the lower frets (which is logical, but doesn't comprehend the affect it will have on the bridge).

One guitar came back and the floyd was nearly bottomed out in the cavity. I needed to shim the neck to get some pull back.

The other guitar, they had plekked the neck with relief and the truss was fully loosened the way they had done it, where previously the truss had some tension in it. The neck with the truss fully loosened wasn't stable. I had to disassemble and sell the parts. Plek ruined that guitar and it wasn't worth a refret. (I didn't have ability to do the work myself at that time and I didn't love the guitar.)

The point I'm making about Plek is that they can program it to remove least material, but it does not comprehend the effect it has on the truss or the bridge. A guitar is built with the assumption that the neck will be straight, and the fret tops will be parallel to the neck. And thus, the floyd will have proper range of height adjustment. And the truss rod will be in its normal operating range. A plek job can **** all that up by cutting a profile that is not with a straight neck.
Click to expand...

Like I said...the machine is programed by a man. If he isn't smart enough to take all of the variables into account, then either find someone who knows what he's doing or have it done by hand (by a competent luthier).
 
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