Hi Folks, there have been so many threads here discussing the pros and cons of Gibson, I just decided to look at the other major manufacturer and see what opinions people hold about them. Just to let you know I have no beef with either Gibson or Fender I own products from both companies <USA Stratocasters, Gibson les Paul, Gibson ES335> they resonate with my musical roots.
We could discuss LOCAL PRICING, quality, backup all the usual matters. ?
To kick it all off in 2008 I purchased an American standard Stratocaster brand new, the first one had a neck pocket cut totally out of alignment <you could fit a credit card into the one side and the other side was not parallel with the neck>, it was returned for a second, no matter what was done with pickup heights and pickup angles and action height etc it was almost impossible to get some kind of even string to string volume, so that was returned and Fender sent a third <I am in JHB and the dealer is in JHB but he did not have any more stock of the color I wanted>, which had the expected fit and finish, but the only way I could get a playable axe out of it was for Andy McGibbon to give it a bit of a fret dress, he had to level out some of the frets, remove some sharp edges etc, Fender SA to their credit picked up the tab for this. So to Fender SA's credit they stood behind the product and in the end I had the guitar I wanted but should I have had to go through all this. This was not an isolated incident however as one of my clients <a Fender nut if there ever was one> experienced similar and continuously vents about it.
I also have bought a set of Custom shop 69 pickups and the bridge pickup was DOA, Fender SA replaced it within a week.
So do my experiences suggest quality issues at Fender <ducking the flames>? What they do show though is that Fender SA do stand behind their product.
Over to you all
