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Can/Should I Exchange this American Strat?


naboutboul

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I don't blame you at all. Why should an expensive guitar be different from a car or whatever you choose to compare to. It didn't look good. Period. I have a $300 CV Squier that had better matching that that.

 

Gibson pulled this crap about 5 years ago or so with their Tributes. I saw pics of a 50's Tribute and the back looked like the old parquet floor at the Garden. It was hideous. 5 or 6 unmatched pieces showing all its glory.

 

Take that crap back and keep them in line. Make them put that stuff in solid colors.

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I'd return that. I've accepted some guitars I bought with less mismatch than that, but then I never get over it. I agree with your initial thoughts, i.e. for > a grand, I would not want to settle for that piece.

 

Kiss your wife's behind for the gesture, but tell her that they should have delivered a piece worthy of her gracious gift. And BTW, 3TSB is my fave on a Strat.

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the other one was a cool thing that your wife had chosen that had mojo in it's imperfection... this one is just a sunburst strat... like a basquillion other sunburst strats... sorry bro... but you messed up

 

Again....I'd be more concerned with how it played and sounded before looks if I were going to exchange it. We've still had no mention of which one sounds better, but I would guess the answer to that will now be in the eyeballs as well.

 

But yeah...I'm with you.....no matter what the women might say....at some level deep down, she wants you to keep what she gives you. Not to mention I don't even know how you guys can make a determination with such puny pictures....I hardly make out the details.

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the other one was a cool thing that your wife had chosen that had mojo in it's imperfection... this one is just a sunburst strat... like a basquillion other sunburst strats... sorry bro... but you messed up

 

the thing is my wife didn't choose it. She picked the floor model and she was given a sealed box. At first, she thought the seem was a crack lol. Either way, she insisted I exchange it. The new one isn't any less meaningful for me. It's not like I chose a different guitar or a different color. For what she paid, that horrid match is unacceptable and I wouldn't want to give Fender the satisfaction.

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This was my 2007 American Deluxe, I thought I'd love it, however it did make me gravitate towards vintage style fitments like 6 screw bridges, low output traditional pickups, and vintage slot head tuners

 

Very understandable. I was, for a while, leaning towards one of the USA pro strats because of the vintage style bridge but I found that just blocking out the trem on these helps a lot with tuning stability. I think both bridges have their uses to be honest. The 2-point stays in tune better and has more sustain while the vintage looks and feels more traditional. I'm selling off some of my lower-end electrics and acoustics and will likely pickup one of those USA Pro strats or a USA Special tele before Christmas.

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Very understandable. I was, for a while, leaning towards one of the USA pro strats because of the vintage style bridge but I found that just blocking out the trem on these helps a lot with tuning stability. I think both bridges have their uses to be honest. The 2-point stays in tune better and has more sustain while the vintage looks and feels more traditional..

 

Fender's stock two point is a very average vibrato unit, nowhere near the quality and stability of it's Wilkinson Gotoh relative the VS100 and can't at all agree about sustain, the vintage six screw vibrato is by far a better option, although takes a tad more effort.

 

 

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Sometimes I may be a little sentimental but I would take that guitar and play the hell out of it, like is was the best looking guitar I had ever seen. Then after years of playing the hell out of it, when it was old and beat up and relic I would tell my grandkids how their grandmother gave me that guitar years ago.

 

With me, exchanging it would ruin that sentiment, and that would be the last think I would want to do.

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Sometimes I may be a little sentimental but I would take that guitar and play the hell out of it, like is was the best looking guitar I had ever seen. Then after years of playing the hell out of it, when it was old and beat up and relic I would tell my grandkids how their grandmother gave me that guitar years ago.

 

With me, exchanging it would ruin that sentiment, and that would be the last think I would want to do.

 

I hear you but the guitar was never played or even taken out of the case so I think I deserve a pass. The 1 day to exchange it is not going to take away from the rest of the time I will have it (my entire life, likely). Plus, the wife thought the seem was a crack and insisted I exchange it cause a friend of ours that works at GC corporate told her that is unacceptable for what she paid!

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You did the right thing. They never should have given that a translucent finish.

 

It's not even like they'd trash the guitar if they rejected it in QC, just send the body back to finishing for an opaque paint finish. Too much cost to do that though, so out it goes. Lots of people will just say it's "character" anyway.

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Knowing the issues I've had finding a decent MIM strat recently, the wife went out and got me a early bday gift - a brand new USA Standard Strat in 3tsb! Oddly enough, I already have this guitar in the same color. She bought it at GC, brand new on sale for the next few days for $1099. I'm thinking of exchanging it for another one because of the obvious mismatch in the grain pattern. I don't mind if it's not bookmatched but for a 1k+ guitar, I feel this is unacceptable from Fender. When I first opened it, I wondered if a blind guy let this pass QC and go out the door. For the American Standard series, it seems unacceptable. I'm gonna take it back to a GC closer to my house on Tuesday and ask to exchange it for another one. Anyone have experience dealing with this type of issue? Will GC give me a hard time about it? See pics below.

 

IMAG1039.jpg

IMAG1040.jpg

 

You're call. It's not a very expensive strat. I sent back a Gibson SG 3 times, cause the wood grain looked like firewood. The SG Classic was a under a grand guitar too.

 

 

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I hear you but the guitar was never played or even taken out of the case so I think I deserve a pass. The 1 day to exchange it is not going to take away from the rest of the time I will have it (my entire life, likely). Plus, the wife thought the seem was a crack and insisted I exchange it cause a friend of ours that works at GC corporate told her that is unacceptable for what she paid!

 

Yeah, that's just me. Guitars are very personal to me. Almost every guitar I own has a story, and a damn good one at that, that comes with them.

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