Trouble with my Waterloo. (A testament to Collings stratospheric customer service)

[marc515]

I echo the above; calling Collings would have been the first thing I would have done.
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[Mbroady]

Originally Posted by Mark L

Got some pictures?

Would also like to see pictures.

[rstaight]

This sounds strange. Again, contact Collings and give them any bit of information you can get off the guitar.

I hate to say this but there is a possibility you bought a fake. Seems like all of the higher end guitars are being copied these days.

But I say again, contact Collings, they should be able to give some advice.

[jazzguy]

Call Collings

[The Bard Rocks]

There may be a batch problem with bad glue from Collings. glue or something, anyhow. And if there is a pattern of this happening with others, it would not surprise me if they made it up to you (and everyone else). Kind of like a recall; it would cut across warranties. Well worth the time and expense of a call.

[RP]

Originally Posted by The Bard Rocks

There may be a batch problem with bad glue from Collings. glue or something, anyhow. And if there is a pattern of this happening with others, it would not surprise me if they made it up to you (and everyone else). Kind of like a recall; it would cut across warranties. Well worth the time and expense of a call.

This happened to me with a Taylor 814 that I previously purchased/owned. One of the top braces had come loose. I never saw it in writing, but it seems that early 2013 "Revoiced" models with a new "protein" glue they were using was problematic. I was the original purchaser so Taylor paid all shipping expenses and removed the neck and built a new body for it...

[Maryc-k]

Originally Posted by The Bard Rocks

There may be a batch problem with bad glue from Collings. glue or something, anyhow. And if there is a pattern of this happening with others, it would not surprise me if they made it up to you (and everyone else). Kind of like a recall; it would cut across warranties. Well worth the time and expense of a call.

There are thousands of these guitars out there. Has anyone heard anything about issues with other Waterloo’s? That said, the first call should be to the manufacturer, verify that this is indeed a Waterloo, and not some knockoff, and then deal with the issues as they have evolved.

There’s no reason to give a company a black eye even before they are made aware of the problems. “I bought a lemon” is a pretty strong statement. You need to address the issues with both the seller and the manufacturer.

[musicman1951]

I read many wonderful things about Eastman here, but a friend purchased a mandolin that self-destructed about the same way. Maybe a lemon does occasionally slip through.

Call Collings (I assume that's a mandatory suggestion by now).

[Ben M.]

Thanks for the replies everyone.
This post was in no way intended to bash Collings. You're all right. I should have contacted them first. I was just curious if anyone else had experienced something like this.
I'll admit the guitar's humidity level has probably been higher than ideal at times but I feel like it would take pretty extreme conditions to cause this. I'm pretty sure it's not a fake but anything is possible.
I'll reach out to Collings and see what they say.
Thanks.

[Kerbie]

If humidity is the issue, then the guitar may not be a lemon at all.

[Ben M.]

Originally Posted by Kerbie

If humidity is the issue, then the guitar may not be a lemon at all.

When the problem started I assumed that was the cause but the luthier I took it to didn't think so. He said it would take pretty extreme conditions to cause this.

[Maryc-k]

Originally Posted by musicman1951

I read many wonderful things about Eastman here, but a friend purchased a mandolin that self-destructed about the same way. Maybe a lemon does occasionally slip through.

Call Collings (I assume that's a mandatory suggestion by now).

Eastman has been known to have this issue. They were using green wood for a while, and to be honest, I had four of their mandolins and two of them just came apart. But they were more than happy though to replace them.

[canyongargon]

Adding one more vote to the “call Collings” pile. They’ll help you out, and I’m sure they’d love to know about this on the very slim off chance they had a batch of bad glue go through the shop or something.

Out of curiosity, what’s the serial number of the guitar?

[Ben M.]

Originally Posted by canyongargon

Adding one more vote to the “call Collings” pile. They’ll help you out, and I’m sure they’d love to know about this on the very slim off chance they had a batch of bad glue go through the shop or something.

Out of curiosity, what’s the serial number of the guitar?

It's number 785.
Just sent an email to Collings.

[rstaight]

Out of curiosity I did a search for Collings serial numbers. They are 5 digits, what are the other 2?