Hi Guys
Im sorry it took a few days to respond to this issue but as was mentioned we were closed until today so Im only getting up to speed on this situation now.
Im very disappointed that a guitar went out with these collective issues and ultimately the buck stops with me. I personally do a quality check on every guitar where I check the nut height, neck relief, action height, play every note for fret buzz, check fret ends, check cosmetics and check pickup balance and function.
Its always possible that I missed some of these details during the check or I missed checking it completely but either way I take full responsibility.
Let me discuss each issue and explain how they could come to happen and how they should have been resolved.
1) Fret marker off line… The Fret markers are inserted into holes drilled by hand on the side of the fretboard, sometimes while drilling the drill bit can wander a little as it finds a slightly more dense area in the laminate. We Do our best to avoid this by drilling a much smaller pilot hole first and then widening. If we have an error to the magnitude shown on the 24th fret marker it should be filled and redrilled. Ultimately this was neglected at the time of installation and I probably didn’t notice this as its very uncommon.
2) Dent under 24th fret…. Sometimes during curing we can get some unevenness and shrinkage in the fretboard surface, We can allow a small unevenness that can be sanded out during profiling but if it is too much like what is seen here it should go back to be resurfaced which didn’t happen in this case.
3) Uneven finish on fretboard….. After profiling we sand the fretboard with 600 grit sand paper and lightly buff. This should result in an even finish but during cleaning of the fretboard and polishing frets the surface needs re buffed. It looks like that wasn’t carried out here to even out the finish.
4) Unfinished frets….. This possibly is the most concerning and puzzling thing. We do a full level on our frets and spend a lot of time to get them both even and looking right. After levelling they are recrowned, sanded with 3 grits of sand paper and machine polished. From the pictures it looks like they were levelled and the next steps were missed.
5) Veneer placement and finish…… We cut the veneer very carefully by hand using a scalpel and it is then placed into the mould during the moulding process and great care is taken to make sure that everything lines up perfectly. Its a tricky business and getting a perfect transition between the veneer and carbon can be tough. Any small discrepancies are usually taken care of during painting. The outline of black you see is defined during masking and spraying of the bridge and fretboard edge. This could certainly have been a little more delicately done.
6) Truss rod stripped….. I would be very surprised if the truss rod is in fact stripped as I haven’t seen that happen before. The truss rod access is however inside a metal sleeve and I think what you are seeing is the outer sleeve and the allen key isnt actually being inserted deep enough into the hole to engage it.
It would be my feeling that during setup this guitar was set aside to have work done and somehow made its way to dispatch instead. Im really sorry about this error but of course as always we will stand over this 100% and make it right.
I spent quite a while reading through this thread and I can understand all the concerns and questions raised.
Just to bring some clarity to our current situation here are a few other points.
We have seen a big increase in sales and manufacturing over the past few years and I have always been very mindful of quality and finding the right people at the right time to help us grow and get better. We currently build 15 guitars per week and employ 14 people. We are currently locked into 15 guitars per week for the next 9 months and will be focusing on refinement and quality this year rather than expansion.
While we strive for perfection the truth is that is an unattainable goal but good enough is never good enough unless we are always improving. I can say hand on heart that our quality in 2018 was our best so far but 2019 will be better.
If a customer has an issue we will always assist in resolving the problem. We dont actually have a facility to have a guitar collected from your door but if you can work with us and take it to USPS we will then refund the $90 -$100 return shipping.
On the issue of whether this should have been discussed only in private well actually I have no problem with people discussing our failings. We love it when you share stories of how well we do and that inspires us and drives us. It is only right that you can discuss when we get it wrong. That also keeps us in check and motivates us to constantly improve.
This morning I had a meeting with our whole team where we put the pictures up on the big screen and discussed what went wrong and how we can ensure it doesn’t happen again. We take these issues very seriously as we have built a reputation on quality and customer service and thats a reputation we wont let slip.
I hope I have answered all the questions brought up here but if any others arise or I missed any then please ask again and I will check back in.
Alistair Hay
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