New custom finishing issues? Help.
 

Just received a custom today. I don’t want to go into details yet, but how big of deal are these finishing issues? I’m new to electrics but this was a long wait and $1500. Is it normal for the stain to go onto the neck like that?

Attachment 54216Attachment 54217

I've never seen anything like that before...

No, that isn't normal, but then again $1,500 would be at the very, very low end of what you might expect to pay for a custom electric. You'd probably be much better off going with a production guitar at that price point. The overall quality is likely to be much better.

It's actually a custom electric ukulele which is the only reason I went custom because I couldn't find what I wanted. But should I rethinking keeping this?

I think only you can decide if you should keep it or not. Some people don't really care about how cleanly something is built; they only care about its tone and playability. To wit, I've seen the work of a luthier who gets $10K for his guitars and has a quite long wait, yet they look like my young daughter did the gluing. True, the sound amazing and have great playability.

For me, since about 1/2 of my joy is in the beautiful woods and build execution in a finely crafted instrument, I probably would not be content with that unless there was some overarching other factor that would help me overlook it. That may be the case for you since you said you could not find what you wanted and so went custom.

You could buy a very nicely crafted acoustic uke with a pickup if you want to go electric. "Some dude" posted a 19" tenor with LR Baggs pickup in the marketplace. ;-)

That looks like bleed from the tape not being completely sealed, or an over spray that wasnt sanded out, over spray that wasn't scraped all the way. Sometimes a stain will soak in. Did they mention it too you before delivery.....oh wow!!!! I just noticed how high the neck is sitting. Usually the fret board would be flush w/top or body & generally not sprayed or stained, oh well different builders different techniques.

Same. For me, this is unacceptable.

Hmmm...
 

Unfortunate! Have you talked to the builder?

And, How does it sound? How does it play? Is it comfortable?

Some builders charge extra for "relicing". But this???

Best on resolving the issue

Salud

Paul

I returned it. I just couldn't accept it like that. It's a shame. Thanks for your input everyone.

It is a shame. The financial loss to the builder may be significant for them. As well as likely feeling very bad about their level of service and even their skills. I cut the owners of very small businesses a lot of slack. I'm not one of those who just shrugs it off by saying "Well, they should just deliver a better product!" This stuff is hard.

I cannot be sure if it is a feature or a bug....