First Post (hope the rest get better)

[stoutgerm]

Hello, I have really enjoyed looking at and reading this forum. Its seems to me that most of the folks here are knowledgeable and don't mind sharing info with noobs like me. I have been interested in starting to do some duo gigs with a friend of mine that is an excellent guitar player and I have been looking at getting some decent equipment. I had my heart set on a Martin GPCPA4 so I went to the local GC which is about 70 miles away to play this and other guitars to see what really fit. When we got there I really found that the Taylor 314ce was the one for me, but the price was out of my range so I came home that day without making a purchase. Knowing that it would take me a while to save the money for the Taylor I decided to focus my attention on getting a Fishman SA220 first, I have a Wechter Thineline Pathmaker that really sounds great with its Fishman pickups, and I played the Taylor through one at GC. So I went online and made the purchase from AMS and the SA220 arrived last week and it sounds great for what I want to use it for and I've used AMS's payment plans in the past and have had a good expirience with them so far.

Well low and behold 3 or 4 days after getting the SA220 I get an e-mail stating that they have 12 payments on the Taylor 314ce, I couldn't resist, and today my beautiful 314ce arrived. Excited I loaded the equipment into the truck and headed over to my buddy's house.This being only the third time I setup the SA220 (I was trying to be overly prudent and trying to make sure that I did everything correctly) I over tightened the lower clamp on the stand and heard a snap.

It Broke.

Well, being that I'm not one to give up I went to the local Lowes and picked up a couple of metal hose clamps. I placed them around the portion of the clamp that broke and it worked, we had a great time playing and singing, and everything (especially the Taylor, that guitar is beautiful ,and my thanks goes out to everyone on here for all the reviews and the recommendations that I have been reading) sounded and worked great.

My question is this, does anyone know where I can get another one of the lower clamps for the Fishman SA220? The one that broke was the one that the legs go into. Any help would greatly be appreciated. I wrote a e-mail to Fishman tonight when I got home, and I'm sure they will probably respond, I'm just not that familiar with their customer service and would like to get this fixed as soon as possible. Again any help would be great, thanks for y'all s time.

Stout

P.S. Sorry for such a long post

[Bax Burgess]

The clamp is the housing that hosts the three legs, and is secured by the nobbed screw? So the housing split down one side, and with the hose clamps you were then able to retighten the screw? That sounds good, but if the shiny clamps bother, then apply matching black spray paint.

[stoutgerm]

Originally Posted by Bax Burgess

The clamp is the housing that hosts the three legs, and is secured by the nobbed screw?

Yes that is the one

Originally Posted by Bax Burgess

So the housing split down one side, and with the hose clamps you were then able to retighten the screw?

No the housing broke right where the screw screws in,so that the screw is forever useless

Originally Posted by Bax Burgess

That sounds good, but if the shiny clamps bother, then apply matching black spray paint.

That's not a bad idea, but I would like to see if I could find the part after all its only a week old.

[gitnoob]

Welcome to the forum!

Have you already called Fishman support? I'd tell them you just got it, the clamp broke while tightening, and ask them to send you a new clamp. Seems like it'd be reasonable to call it a manufacturing defect if it broke while being hand-tightened, and you may get a reasonable person on the line -- just be nice.

[Bax Burgess]

Maybe the rep will be green and mention that they send out a lot of these replacements, which would mean that they erred on the wrong side of the cost/quality equation, which would make us glad that they're not bridge engineers. Or maybe we should check the size of your forearms.

[stoutgerm]

Just thought I would post a reply to let ya'll know what the result with Fishman service was. I got an e-mail today and the guy said he would immediately send out the part. That is service. It is good to see that a company will still honor there customers even if the thing broke because I tightened it to tight. I even told the guy that I did it and he said the part is in the mail. Fishman has my business from now on. Great Products, Great Service Stout

[Bax Burgess]

Thanks, mon.