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  #16  
Old 12-14-2021, 12:45 PM
Robin, Wales Robin, Wales is online now
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Of course that's a repair under warrantee on a guitar that is only a few months old. I know the US has some different consumer rights legislation compared to other parts of the world but such a bridge failure must surely be covered.

In the UK, it would be the retailer's responsibility to fix this. The guitar owner would not deal with Martin direct but return the goods to where they were bought as "not fit for purpose" and the retailer would need to repair, refund or replace. In UK law there would be an expectation that a guitar's bridge would not become unglued after a few months of general use - because it is not the "industry norm" for a guitar's bridge to become unglued after a few months of general use. And a purchaser can have reasonably expected that their guitar's bridge would not come unglued after a few months of general use. The responsibility, in law, rests with the retailer. And it would be up to the retailer or manufacturer to prove that the product had been mistreated, not for the purchaser to prove that they had not mistreated the product.

If this happened to me in the UK and I didn't get a satisfactory result then the Trading Standards office would be all over the retailer like a rash - and the small claims courts would be on my side.

Martin don't offer their "lifetime guarantee" outside the US but they still have to follow the trading laws in the countries where they sell - and that doesn't always go down to well (as Fender found out recently LOL!!!!).
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  #17  
Old 12-15-2021, 09:54 AM
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Mr. Paul Mr. Paul is offline
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Something isn't right. The shop should fix this in house under the Martin warranty. If they ship it to Martin you'll have to wait months to get your guitar back for what should be a simple repair that any shop can handle routinely.
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  #18  
Old 12-15-2021, 11:20 AM
Big Band Guitar Big Band Guitar is offline
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I don't know about Martin but when I bought my 2 new Eastmans from a local music store I asked about warranty service. They assured me they would take care of any issues, just bring it in.

There is a lot to be said for dealing with a good local shop.
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  #19  
Old 12-16-2021, 07:02 AM
theghostwriter theghostwriter is offline
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I think the reason they're sending it back to Martin is the same reason I didn't want to try to glue it myself: the custom graphic top. When the bridge lifted, it lifted tiny bits of the finish with it. Not sure how Martin repairs that, or if they just replace it.
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  #20  
Old 12-16-2021, 10:48 AM
Fathand Fathand is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by theghostwriter View Post
I think the reason they're sending it back to Martin is the same reason I didn't want to try to glue it myself: the custom graphic top. When the bridge lifted, it lifted tiny bits of the finish with it. Not sure how Martin repairs that, or if they just replace it.
Could be Martin just replaces the whole guitar? And if a custom graphic like that is trouble that way, I'd be considering selling the guitar and getting something conventional that is more repairable after it comes back.
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  #21  
Old 04-30-2022, 07:15 PM
theghostwriter theghostwriter is offline
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Finally got the guitar back today. So was about 4.5 months from drop off to received back. Martin did good work with the bridge, and apparently since they didn't have any of the synthetic bridges typically used on my guitar, they replaced it with an ebony bridge. Repair work seems clean and the guitar sounds good. My only complaint for Martin was there was a ton of junk inside the guitar I had to shake out and vacuum out. Little bits of wood I guess.

As for the Martin authorized repair shop, that was just a bizarre experience from start to finish. I already posted on my initial impressions when dropping it off. Picking up was just as off-putting. When the lady owner showed me my guitar, I asked where the case was. She immediately replied, "you didn't drop it off with a case." I insisted that I did, and described it and some of the stickers on the case. She again insisted I didn't have a case, and said she'd get the video feed from when I dropped it off to show me. Now, this was very strange to me for a couple reasons: 1) I'd be very surprised if she had video recording from me dropping it off almost five months ago, but more importantly 2) Why would video be her go-to response before even bothering to look for my case? It makes so little sense to immediately get adversarial with a customer. She owns the business and should know better...just take a few minutes and look. It's not a big deal. I can't fathom they have some titanic problem with people trying to falsely claim lost cases, so I found her reaction puzzling and unprofessional. Thankfully, the other owner did go look for my case and found it. As soon as he brought it up, she wandered off and didn't say anything else.

All in all, at the end of the day I'm happy to have my guitar (and case) back. But were the bridge to pull off again, I think I would just invest in some clamps and fix it myself, even though it wouldn't be nearly as pretty. Hopefully that won't happen, though.
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  #22  
Old 05-08-2022, 10:18 AM
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I've been following this story and am glad to hear it ended well and that Martin made good on your guitar.
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  #23  
Old 05-08-2022, 01:15 PM
czgunner czgunner is offline
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You do a favor to the community by naming the shop so other enthusiasts don't have to deal with them.
They didn't write a receipt for how they found the guitar and if it had a case? How the heck do people stay in business?
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  #24  
Old 05-08-2022, 09:02 PM
redir redir is offline
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I wouldn't call a bridge reglue on any guitar a straight forward repair but especially not on these. You need to use CA on these guitars. This is a common problem with them unfortunately.
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