Shipping Damage or Foul Play?

[GAR]

No, superglue is used to fill gaps like this even at the factory.

If he can close the gap with little effort scraping off the epoxy, white glue.

If he has to dig it out, but it will close, white glue and then touchup with fill-stick crayon.

If the gap wont' close and there's too much epoxy in the gap, scrape some out of the crack, use fill stick, then cover with the gapfilling crazy glue, or his chick's nail polish clear.

I had a 58 strat fall off the strap, white nail polish filled the chips perfectly you'd barely notice.

[ELVIS]

Why white ??

[ELVIS]

I saw these while walking through Home Depot the other day...



DAP® Blend Stick® Value Packs
The fast, easy way to repair nail holes, scratches and other minor blemishes in finished wood surfaces. The four color sticks can be used individually or combined to match any wood tone. The Blend Stick's unique teardrop shape makes it easier to use than other blending products. It's ideal for wood and simulated wood surfaces such as paneling, woodwork, moulding, furniture and cabinets. It will not shrink, stain or discolor. Interior use.


I wouldn't use this method though...

I would clean the crack, put a small amount of CA in there and clamp it...

I would then work on touching up the finish...

[jhale667]

I saw these while walking through Home Depot the other day...



DAP® Blend Stick® Value Packs
The fast, easy way to repair nail holes, scratches and other minor blemishes in finished wood surfaces. The four color sticks can be used individually or combined to match any wood tone. The Blend Stick's unique teardrop shape makes it easier to use than other blending products. It's ideal for wood and simulated wood surfaces such as paneling, woodwork, moulding, furniture and cabinets. It will not shrink, stain or discolor. Interior use.


I wouldn't use this method though...

I would clean the crack, put a small amount of CA in there and clamp it...

I would then work on touching up the finish...

Yeah, I tried some similar DAP product like that to fill a tiny chip in one of my favorite old Charvel necks...looks OK at first, but does not age well it seems...it's totally noticeable (if you're looking for it, with the neck un-attached) these days, it darkened over time...

[GAR]

At a last resort of not being able to close the gap and glue it, you would dig out as much of the epoxy, then use the gap-filling superglue or CA, or whatever they have in Italy there..

Then you'd scrape the crack again to chip out what superglue oozes out so you could use the touchup stick - its part nylon pigments and mostly wax.

It's like a crayon, Sarge would use the tan colored one. You rub it into the crack, till it's level. But it butters all over the back of the fucking headstock - sure - but it will rag-off no prob.

Lastly, he could use Mrs. Sarge's nail polish clear, and clear coat over the touchup area. But no matter what, the hardest place to get away with this trick is the endgrain.

Which is why I hope the gap closes up, the endgrain may soak up the superglue and darken it slightly around the gap edge.

Also one might think to recommend the yellow woodworker's glue like Titebond II, which is the best and I'd use that for glueing fingerboards or body joints for superstrong holds - it contains aliphatic resin which is not easily water-soluble as is white glue.

But in fact the white glue will hold well enough in most cases for al guitar solidbody construction by itself, if the joint-edge of the two glued pieces are planed and parallel enough. However this is a gap not requiring strength, but requiring aesthetics so the white glue dries clear and in some cases not easily detectable after a break.

I've done a few headstock repairs, but wouldn't consider white glue at a headstock-nut area break. I'd use the Titebond II.

[Panamark]

I would have been pissed off bigtime Sarge...
If for no other reason that he didnt tell you there
was such an obvious "relic scar" before shipping it..
Obviously he knew it was there.

My 2 cents...

[GAR]

Yeah, I tried some similar DAP product like that to fill a tiny chip in one of my favorite old Charvel necks...looks OK at first, but does not age well it seems...it's totally noticeable (if you're looking for it, with the neck un-attached) these days, it darkened over time...

For neck dings I use a fucked up terry towel edge or old teeshirt, soaked in water you hold it in the ding-spot then roll the barrel edge not the tip of a low wattage soldering iron, like a 15-25 watty.

You roll as the steam rises, then pull the towel and look. As the grain rises you keep doing it till you get it level enough as you can. But in some cases, you need to chip a little of the finish off the indented area you're trying to raise level or else no moisture will get in to steam the fibers puffy and outward again to their original surface.

That's about 80% percent effective, for cheap necks or really fucked up dents I'd use the Elmers' wood putty - that's a paste it comes in little spackle tub or a tube and dries pretty quick. But the best filler is Famowood- that shit's got acetone in it and bites into the old wood really good, dries hard and dries quickly too.

Famowood takes stains and finishes best, and you can just butter it into gashes in bodies where you'd be tempted to use Bondo plastic filler. Famowoods' better for bare wood and most damages, Bondo would be preferred to paste over Kahler bridge plugs - which I got to do on a couple soon.

[Panamark]

That fucker should have offered to pay all freight costs and
exchange the neck... Wreaks of someone knowing they are
sending something that maybe questionable but tries to get
away with it anyway.

Damn, GAR & Elvis and all the good fellas on Page 1,
I feel majorly inadequate just attempting an intonation
adjustment after reading your posts !!!

I know Elvis doesnt do this for a living,(but could)
GAR, do you still do this shit ?? Are you a certified luthier
by any chance ? You know a shitload about this stuff

Are any of you other fellas making dollars from your craft ?
KK ?? CC ?? Jay ??? (Hope I didnt miss anyone)

Fookin ace advise, always......

[GAR]

I know Elvis doesnt do this for a living,(but could)
GAR, do you still do this shit ??

Nope, used to though and E sounds like he's got skills too.

Sarge doesn't seem that upset because he understands that "company" is a one-man.

Think small, act small, stay small. Perhaps the guy hasn't had a decent mentor or sought to apprentice himself to master this craft, so to stay out of future trouble what he should do is just focus on distressing finishes and hardware.

Which anyone can do: the factory uses chain pieces, wire cleaning brushes, glass microscope slides and wood scrapers and knives before final polish, and dipping plated hardware in muriatic pool solutions or cleaning acid is nothing new: the vintage guitar market fakers have been doing that for 25 years now.

[ELVIS]

Well, maybe the guy needs someone firm who demands the services that were agreed upon and paid for...

If the guy is worth his salt, he will learn from the process as well as having more satisfied customers in the future...

Nothing wrong with making an honest mistake...The problems arise when the "professional" doesn't own up to them...

And BTW, i'm not just referring to Sarge's particular case...


Also...I'm gonna try to get off my lazy ass tonight and post some of my guitars, workmanship and projects...

[GAR]

If the guy is worth his salt

Why devalue the salt with comparisons?

[Sarge]

I noticed that there was a 2nd crack developing on the opposite end of the first crack




So I decided to take off the tuners and vise the neck together and fix this mess

And lookie what I saw?! Every FUCKING TUNER has a crack!





I think it's obvious that he didn't predrill the neck. You can see by all the extra wood hanging out of the holes

Oh, let's look at the other end?!



Because the neck didn't line up correctly , the Mark Jenny Painted body I provided got really messed up

[Sarge]

So here are the problems

1. I asked that the body be shielded. It wasn't done.
2. That neck is toast. I provided it new from USACG
3. The body I provided (mjtelecaster.com) was prepainted and reliced. It was Not missing a huge chunk out of where the neck plate attaches.

[Sarge]

So I recieved the 2nd guitar the same builder was making today.

The body and neck, pickups and all hardware were bought by me and sent to the builder. Tommy at USACG made a special body that has a pitched neck pocket and he mounted the studs for the Roller bridge.
I paid the builder for
a. Pro setup / assembly / shielding / adding a nut
b. Pickups wiring
c. Paint the body and neck to a "NEW" finish, not a relic or closet classic
d. shipping back to me.
e. I bought the wood because I wanted USACG instead of Allparts, which is what most builders use. I didn't know it then , but that was a mistake.


It arrived inside of it's box

box>case>guitar

No padding


No strings on the guitar! Once of the first things I noticed was the hardware that fell off the neck was loose inside the top part of the case
When I picked up the guitar the knobs fell off onto the floor.

Decided to check out the guitar
Nick in headstock



Chips around truss rod hole


Where is the screw?







Neck pocket Chip


Weird Indentations


Look at the binding paint




Messy pant around binding




Look at the logo. It has bubbled up and has air under it.




I am not someone who is concerned about every single problem, but I really feel like I got ripped off here.
Who ships a guitar without strings? I can't imagine it's setup.
Who misses installing a pickguard screw.
This guys attention to detail is really lacking.

I am going to ask for a full refund.

Everything is done to level BELOW what I could have done it at.

I am going to set up the Bigsby model tomorrow and see what other issues await me.

What a waste of my time...

[GAR]

Sorry man my sympathies.

The wierd dent by the bridge is from the guy playing with the hardware, lining up the bridge pieces while the clearcoat's still drying for some reason which I suspect you'll find the reason if you pull that and look underneath.

The decal looks like an inkjet waterslide decal, and if it is a real one, it's bubbling because you're supposed to screed water from beneath it like a windshield wiper.

You could use a playing card, a safety blade if you're careful but even when you're not and air bubbles happen you screed it to flatten it down. But you do that while it's wet.

If it's dry, its pretty hard to do but I've seen repositioning done. You take some warm, slightly soapy water (ivory bar, just wipe a finger or two then rinse in the warm water bowl no oily soaps) and just dab it. As the acrylic transfer takes on the water, you might be able to slide it down a little and dab the bubble down to lay flat.

Because the neck didn't line up correctly , the Mark Jenny Painted body I provided got really messed up

Part of this is the guy struggling with the different bolt-patterns (it's always a hair off, that's why I mentioned doweling earlier) and all of those 2 screws chipping like that is the drill bit going down in from the wrong way (inside the pocket) busting out the paint, chipping out the wood, as the bit passed its' way out of the body.

You never drill OUT of a body, you only drill in. Plus he has the wrong size bit going in there, you'll notice he figured he'd just take some of that wood out of the way there for you so he could reach the neck holes.

Here's the thing about neck holes: FUCK em. They're not a magic bolt-circle pattern for your '73-1/2 Hemi Cuda convertible.. the neck is there for the screws to bite into, not the other way around. The screw is the priority!

The SCREW determines the lineup like I mentioned before: this guy should have stopped right there when he saw the misalignment and emailed you "what do I do now" but instead he damages the body. The screw holes don't matter for shit, you get two differently-sourced pieces and automatically dowel the neck holes. Drill out the holes for 1/8-3/16" and slide in the dowel with white glue, nip off with cutters, then block sand the dowel ends smooth with the neck.

Then you drill thru the body. The screws should always bite into new wood with every new body - I cant' think if I've ever had a perfect alignment out-of-the-blue! I have a neck or two with 4 or 5 redrillings.

But you drill into the body for neck screws, if wood breaks out its gonna break out but you let that happen on the pocket side not the painted side.

The Missing Screw: oops, looks like he dropped a pickguard screw. When I did work I had trays of shit, I'd get these by the hundreds and if I dropped a screw like this I'd pull one off another lesser piece of mine and replace it when I got another bag of scews.



Once the decal's flat you can spray acrylic lacquer over it to seal it from scratching off. Without a clear coat a decal is very susceptible to scratching off, very delicate.

In the 50's before they clearcoated the decals, the neck lacquer was nitro and the decal was nitro, not acrylic. So it would shrink as the neck lacquer shrank over many years, bonding itself to the neck. Still delicate, but less so compared to acrylic straight-laid on.