Guitar Center Cracked My Guitar Top

[charles Tauber]

I'm looking forward to the new hit single: Guitar Center Cracks Guitars. In the same spirit as United Breaks Guitars. If you haven't seen that Youtube video, it's well worth a watch.

[Hotspur]

Yeah, this is 100% unacceptable.

They need to make you whole. That means repairing the guitar to your satisfaction or replacing it with something of comparable value.

And if not, I would go to small claims court right away.

[Kip Carter]

My perspective is that they (GC) accepted responsibility for this guitar when they accepted it for repair. There was no discount consideration (in fact it appears that the OP was being taken advantage of for a fairly simple repair but may not have enough information to determine that), nor a caution for possible damage to the instrument, furthermore nor waver of incidental damage pursuant to the repair.

Therefore GC owes the OP some form of compensation. The minimum for that compensation should be to have no cost involved and the return of his instrument in the same condition it was when he turned it over to them. Reattachment of the bridge is not a mitigating factor. In effect the only remedies that are acceptable are those which remove the damage inflicted and from what I see here there are only two possibilities that can achieve that. Either:

1. Replace the guitar with one that is of equal value or better based on the determination of the customer and agreed on mutually.
2. Purchase the guitar at a fair market documented market value plus an agreed compensatory sum again agreed on mutually.

You can repair a top but you don't end up with the same thing as you had before the crack. What you have is a repaired top and a devaluation of the instrument because it will from that point forward have a top that was cracked and repaired. Regardless of how good that repair is.

If the repair of the top is so incidental then let GC provide the guy a replacement as good or better and they take the old one repair it and sell it for what they can.

There is no way to determine what actually caused the crack but you can be fairly certain that it was the result of improper handling of the guitar while in the trust of GC and they are liable.

[PTC Bernie]

Originally Posted by Jukie

Is it just me or does $120 for a bridge re-glue and new strings sound high? I think I'd be expecting more than a half price repair for them cracking your top.

If the bridge didn't come off cleanly or did other damage it might be right, but my initial reaction is , Yes, that's high. I wouldn't expect it to be more than about $50 at most.

As far as the crack, if they cracked it the onus is on them to fix it. It sounds as if they didn't support the bridge properly when they reglued it? Just a guess.

The fact that it might have been covered by warranty if it had gone back to the manufacturer is a bit stickier.

If you didn't tell them that it was under warranty they may have an out. But...... There's a legal concept known as "Superior Knowledge" that basically says that, as a dealer in that product, and supposed expert in the subject, they should have known what was and wasn't covered under manufacturer's warranty and if it was warranty, they should have sent it to, or at least contacted, the manufacturer for guidance before attempting the bridge repair. ( How's that for a run on sentence?)

I like the suggestion to push for replacement. Be firm but polite. Deal with the manager. If you don't get what you want send corporate an email via the web site. They do read those and respond to them. I had an issue that was amicably resolved only after corporate got involved.

Are you comfortable mentioning which store it was?

Good luck and let us know how you make out.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by Jukie

Is it just me or does $120 for a bridge re-glue and new strings sound high? I think I'd be expecting more than a half price repair for them cracking your top.

Hi Jukie...

Depends on how much damage was incurred when the bridge came off. The bridge and top would both need to have all the glue removed before re-attaching it, and my Olson repair for a lifted bridge 9 years ago was $100.

To me it doesn't sound high. My luthier gets over $80 hr for standard repairs (and that's a three year old price).

lily5malcolm4…

I'd want to see the crack first, and then have a calm sit-down with the manager and talk it through. Actually I'd want to know how the crack happened. Since it was related to the repair, then in addition to everything else, I'd think they should fix the crack for free.

It was good they notified you ahead of time and offered 'anything'. Sounds like they want to work with you and make things right. If it's a tiny crack in an inexpensive guitar, and hopefully they repaired the crack too, then ½ off might be totally reasonable.

It went from unplayable to fixed.

Please keep us in the loop...

[jimd]

I would be asking for a new guitar. There is no reason to crack a top when re-gluing a bridge. It is a simple repair. Complain to the manager and if that doesn't work, take it to corporate.

[AndrewG]

Originally Posted by dneal

Only 1/2 price for the work. Whatta deal...

Best case for them is that they don't charge for anything and just apologize as they hand you back your repaired guitar.

Sounds about right to me. Responsibility for the care of the instrument rests with GC, and I'm sure their own insurance covers eventualities like this.

[Tony Burns]

Not really a good place to have work done on an instrument .
The ones ive meet their -would try it , but Im betting their not trained ,
Next time find a competent luthier , or Trained Tech .
if the guitar is under warranty and you bought it from GC -
tell them to handle it threw the factory .If their not an authorized repair facility for that company ( and you bought it from them )- they shouldn't of repaired your instrument -

A reputable repair person would not of cracked your top .
if their was even a chance of it -they would of refered it to someone competent who could handle it !

[Hey_day]

Originally Posted by JerryM

Tell them they broke it they need to replace it,,,,Period.

What would guitar center do if you broke a guitar while visiting?

Did they have you sign anything about leaving the guitar with them?

[Guitar1083]

they owe you $400 for a new guitar and the $120 that you would pay for the bridge don't pay it and take the $400 and buy another guitar, if you paid the $120 in advance then they owe you $520

[Gorquin]

Let's see: GC cracks your guitar top, further devaluing it, then wants to charge you only half to do the repair?

I would have a conversation with the store manager.

You were willing to pay $120 for a repair, that if performed properly, should show no external signs of being repaired. That may not be the case with a cracked top. So even if they go ahead and repair your guitar it's most likely not going to look like it would have if only the bridge were repaired.

If it was me I would be willing to do this.

I'd offer to pay the $120 to go towards a New or Used guitar of the same street value (NOT GC trade-in value) as your guitar would have been worth had it been repaired properly.

The other option might be a pro-rated refund.

They caused a top crack in your guitar. You shouldn't get the short end of the stick because GC's repair person made a mistake.

If you talk to the store manager you should get a fair deal.

[Phelonious Ponk]

That's a really good deal for them. Sucks for you. Don't settle for that.

P

[lily5malcolm4]

Thanks everyone. The GC location was La Mesa. I will go in tomorrow and keep you posted. I appreciate everyone's ideas.

[mot]

Originally Posted by lily5malcolm4

Thanks everyone. The GC location was La Mesa. I will go in tomorrow and keep you posted. I appreciate everyone's ideas.

By offering you a deal up front, they are bargaining from a disadvantage. Hope you have a recording of the voice mail. You can use that for leverage when you are in the store. The absolute minimum I would go is replacement guitar of equal value less the previously agreed upon cost of bridge repair. You should be able to do much better than this (i.e. new guitar of equal or greater value and all repair costs waived) because the management will want a satisfied customer and should work with you to find a way to satisfy your frustration with them.

[CyberFerret]

Classical guitars can be quite sensitive to cracks/damage on the tops. It will greatly depend on where and how bad the crack is.

At a loss to understand how a bridge re-glue could cause this. I assume they were using standard 'U' clamps around the sound hole to clamp the bridge down while gluing?

Unless the top had a curve, and they were gluing a bridge with a flat bottom on (or vice versa), it shouldn't have cracked the top. On the other hand, perhaps their tech got a bit heavy handed when sanding down the glue area and cracked the top with undue pressure?

In any case, I don't think it is an 'expected' consequence of a bridge repair. Unlike fret replacements, where 'expected' chipping and damage to fretboard is a common risk when removing old frets, I don't think it is the case here.