Great experience in a local music shop

[Johnny Robbo]

As you know I recently got the Les Paul bug by getting a Harley Benton LP copy. I absolutely love this guitar and it's making me re-evaluate my strat addiction... years (nay... DECADES) as a "Fender Bloke" seem to be melting away as I hear my fingers speaking in a Gibson accent. There was, however, one small fly in the ointment. Recently this guitar developed a bit of fret buzz at the 1st fret - mainly on the top 2 strings. I've had this kind of thing happen before with brand new guitars as they "bed in". It wasn't really a big issue though as it only manifested itself when strumming open chords (C major, A minor, D minor etc) with a clean sound (and who buys a Les Paul style guitar to do that on, anyway?).

Never the less, having a few quid in my pocket just now (it happens occasionally), I decided to get it sorted. Took it into a well known Middlesbrough music shop - I won't advertise, but it's the big one with the cafe attached that belongs to the bloke who used to be in Dogs D'Amour. I was convinced I was going to have to shell out £50 for a fret dress to sort it. The guy in the shop took a look at it & said "Nah... the neck's too straight." It seems that the truss rod was a quarter turn too tight - he whipped the cover off and adjusted it there and then. Fret buzz: GONE! No discernible difference in the action - still nice and slinky and low, but the sitar-like noises on the 1st fret had vanished.

"How much do I owe you?" I said

"Just leave a good review on Trust Pilot." he replied.

So I did. Also, now having not had to part with cash for getting the guitar back into tip-top condition, I thought I'd stock up on plectrums, strings & a decent spare lead. The bill for this was 32 quid plus change. "Just call it £30" he said. Guess where I'm going to be buying my strings & stuff from now! I didn't know service like this still existed. In this age of online buying and chasing the lowest price I reckon we're in danger of losing this kind of shop and we'll miss them when they're not there any more.

[Farrell Jackson]

That is a great story and excellent customer service Johnny. As you mentioned, it's not all that common these days especially in Music Shops. That's one reason I hate going to the local Guitar Center and do most of my shopping online. The clerks either think I'm too old to be relevant or I think they're are too young to know anything, lol.

A little sag in the neck works wonders for fret buzz. I'm glad you got it fixed at no cost and the good customer service paid off with your additional purchases and as a returning customer.

Farrell

[Oldrottenhead]

I had a similar experience with my jasmine electro acoustic. The pick up had a slight niggle. Took it to guitar tech at store I purchased the guitar. Was sorted a day or two later and guitar technician dropped the guitar off at my house on his way home from work.

[bruno]

Yip - use them or loose them. Its very difficult when there is hard cash involved, but its always worth having the local guys there. Great story Johnny.
B

[Blooby]

I like a happy ending (once again, that sounds wrong to me).

There's a local shop on my way home that treats me very well.  Then there's Guitar Center about 20 minutes away. Congenial guys but they don't strike me as very knowledgeable.

Blooby

[Groundy]

Nice one Johnny, I could do with some one like that in Perth.



Alex

[fenderbender]

Great experience John-
I havent been in a music shop for years-buy online all the time-
Wish there was a shop like that near me-
I could keep him busy

[Mike_S]

Proper good old fashioned service like in the old days.

Just on the online shopping... I am hesitant to part with cash for something like a guitar online again. I did it a few years ago from a big (the biggest maybe) online music instrument supplier in America (to ship to Ireland), when the currency exchange was very favorable.

The guitar i bought (mexican strat) is a decent one and does play nice to this day, but there were a few small things i was not happy about - and one potential big problem that thankfully ended ok. Basically they packed it up ok, but when i looked at the tuning pegs they not the ones that should have come with a mexican fender, they were the standard Fender Squire ones. I started thinking that the neck itself was a fender squire neck, but I dont think so.

I dont remember seeing decent photos, just one photo on the website which was impossible to spot things like this. Also the wee small plastic thing that covers the pick up switcher was missing and there was no tremelo arm.

I know sounds like i was a bit hasty in the purchase and i probably was but i guess i just expected these to be ok. No real big deal, more just kinda annoying, but the one thing that was shit was they shipped it across the atlantic without loosening the strings, so when it arrived there was a load of fret buzz, and on examination the strings had tightened up alot with the air pressure. So after reading google i learned the neck could have actually broke because of this!

Last time i buy an actual guitar without seeing in the flesh i think.

Mike

[The Gobi Desert Canoe Club]

Sounds like a great shop Johnny, if only they were all like that although Abbey Music in Tunbridge Wells where I live is pretty good. I don't think I would buy from the net, too much to go wrong or perhaps I don't have the bottle. Willie

[SharksDontSleep]

Nice story, especially in the age of the all too often heard if it isn't on the shelf we haven't got one saying.
True customer service, a surprisingly endangered species indeed.