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#1
08-21-2018, 04:49 AM
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Three brand new Martin 000 18’s with faulty neck !?
Hello together !
I’ve been in the market for a new Martin the last month and played many in different stores but none of them had a 000-18 in stock so I’ve finally bought a brand new Martin 00018 online. I had to discover that the new guitar had a warped neck and a pretty high string action. I did the straight edge test, checked the neck relief and also tested the humidity - it turned out that the (brand new ) martin needed a neck reset. The store I’ve bought it from replaced it and sent me a new guitar. To my surprise the new guitar had exactly the same problem !! I sent that guitar back too and got another new Martin 000-18. End of the story - the third Martin 000-18 is faulty as well . All of the three Martins failed at the straight edge test and had high string action but a relatively low saddle. Even if I removed the saddle and tuned the guitar to pitch the action was still too high. Maybe I’m crazy or I’m too fussy or both but how can it be that three !! brand new Martins need a neck reset straight out of the box ? I thought a new very expensive guitar has to have a perfectly straight neck ( apart from the correct neck relief) and enough saddle left to file it down to my own preferences. Am I wrong ( and crazy) or did I had bad luck and got a batch of poorly built guitars? Best , Z. 
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#2
08-21-2018, 05:41 AM
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I want to know how you walked out of the store with three bad guitars.
Didn't you check them after the first one? Didn't somebody check them? I have to state I am having serious doubts about all this.
__________________
Nothing bothers me unless I let it. Martin D18 Gibson J45 Gibson J15 Fender Copperburst Telecaster Squier CV 50 Stratocaster Squier CV 50 Telecaster
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#3
08-21-2018, 05:48 AM
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While this pretty extreme, it is possible you and your dealer hit a bad run. Remember, Martin builds thousands of guitars and even with good QC some less than perfect ones may get out for sale. Also, guitars are primarily made of wood. Wood might be fine in one environment and then take a turn for the worse in another.
I bought a HD-28 nearly twenty years ago. It was just fine at the dealer's place of business. Within a few days in my home, it developed a large depression on the side of the guitar. The humidity was adequate. The was no obvious cause for this. It just appeared. I took the guitar back to the dealer. Martin made good on their product and replaced the guitar. We like to think that the best builders have no flawed products but they do. It is how they satisfy the customer that matters.
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#4
08-21-2018, 05:50 AM
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Quote:
Hi! I’ve ordered them online from a big dealer in Germany - so I couldn’t check them out before I ordered them unfortunately ...
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#5
08-21-2018, 06:07 AM
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Quote:
Ok that explains a lot. I'm curious. Did you ask the dealer to check the others before they were shipped? Were they ok when you received them and the problem developed?
__________________
Nothing bothers me unless I let it. Martin D18 Gibson J45 Gibson J15 Fender Copperburst Telecaster Squier CV 50 Stratocaster Squier CV 50 Telecaster
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#7
08-21-2018, 06:10 AM
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Quote:
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#11
08-21-2018, 06:41 AM
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Quote:
https://www.musicstore.de/de_DE/EUR/...GIT0000219-000
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#12
08-21-2018, 06:48 AM
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#13
08-21-2018, 06:53 AM
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While I feel for your situation, let's look at a few things. I have (in over 40 years of playing Martin guitars professionally) never seen or received a new Martin with a "relatively low saddle". That's not how they're made. I've never seen a Martin with a warped neck - not new, not 50 years old or any age. I'm not saying that part isn't possible, I've just never seen it. Next your "Martin distributor" can't check any guitars due to logistics? I would contact Martin with the serial numbers of the guitars you received and verify that they were indeed Martin guitars - and if so - when they were made. Your 000-18's would have been manufactured to strict Martin standards & PLEK'd. They would not have left the factory in any condition other than ready to play.
Is it possible that a distributor had access to a quantity of Martin guitars that have sat in an improperly controlled hot and/or humid warehouse for months (or longer) while waiting for customs, purchase, new distribution or some other delay.... or that after such a mishandling this distributor picked them up on clearance - yes. Would this be Martin's fault or mishandling - no. Even with this possible mishandling, the only way for the saddles to be low would be for someone to have realized (assuming that these are Martin manufactured and defective) that, due to mishandling under extreme conditions, something needed to be done so they tried to salvage the guitars & then shaved the saddles or did some other inappropriate "set up" to pawn these off on unsuspecting buyers. So again, I would contact Martin about this with the involved serial numbers so they can follow up on what could be either counterfeit instruments or mishandling by an importer/distributor.
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#14
08-21-2018, 07:01 AM
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Most likely scenario to me: All the guitars have been in storage for more or less the same amount of time (as a batch purchase) and they haven't been taken good care of in terms of humidity.
So rather than all three guitars each being faulty, it's more an effect of them all having been stored in the same location under the same conditions, i.e. it's the store's fault, not the manufacturer's, they might have started out fine when they were received. Just a guess though, no hard evidence, but that seems like the only likely explanation to me.
__________________
2017 ver. Martin D28, "Lilac" Furch Durango D40-CM-CE, "Christa" Std. Fender Stratrocaster A handful of diatonic harmonicas
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#15
08-21-2018, 07:06 AM
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| martin 000-18, neck reset |
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