Disappointing Pro setup. Is this bad?

stevrossthepipe · May 2023

I had my american FSR strat and my partners squier strat sent for a setup. I can do basic set ups my self but don't have free time at the moment with a 5 month old.

I have sent 2 guitars before to the guy and he did a decent job. Even though it did not sort out one particular issuse in the way I was hoping.

I gave a detailed list by email and had a 15 min call. Confident all understood but all fairly basic requests. Main thing was to change pickups on mine which has been done fine. List attached.

I also had to have them couriered each way as don't have time to go to his workshop in the week.

£205 which I think is fine. No breakdown as promised on an invoice but sounds reasonable. 40 quid for the courier that I arranged.

Wrong tuning on my strat as wanted it in d standard and it was but in e flat - strings definetly not stretched at all. Changes pitches of the other strings as I bend i was very clear about it. So trem slightly floating.

Had to send it back as when I returned it to d standard it caused buzzing and choking and i didn't want to start doing a set up. Got it back and plays well now and if not still a bit buzzy at 5 and 7 on the low E. Fine a mistake but something that has caused a lot of wasted time.

Wanted S locks fitted to partners guitar as I have them on mine. He misread my instructions and put them on my guitar which already had s locks on just black ones instead of silver. I sent the strings and S locks along with the guitars. Got him to do it as the strap button holes on my guitar were really poorly drilled and needed sorting last time.l so thought might be the case with the squier.

The big one. Scratches either side of each fret. Permanent scratches that I can't rub out. Some deeper gouges that you can fell with the nail. Did he not use tape on the board?? He said it was from fret polishing and he had to do some crowning.I'm not sure how this has happened. He phrased it like oh that's what happens really. I mean I could remove them...

There is also a sizeable 2 inch gash that I am 95 per cent confident wasn't there before. It's a beater of a guitar but it's gone all the way to the bare wood and feels gnarly to the touch.

He has said he would fix all these issues once I bought them up but bizarre that they weren't sorted or mentioned before. Also other things were missed and ignored or misnunderstood. He is a very nice guy and we have had some long chats and I want to support local small businesses but been a fairly poor expeierence. He is a proper Full Time Pro no amateur.

This would be the 3rd time couriering them from my work which is a pain getting them there and then 20 quid each way. So it would be £80 in extra couriers total if I sent them again.

Just want to gauge how annoyed I should be. I'm very knackered from having a young baby and sent the guitars away to be set up as a treat for us both. I want him to sort it but not sure I should keep paying for couriers. Worried he might just make it worse.

Would appreciate some opinions. I ranted to someone at work about this but they glazed over ha. This is the right place ha.

https://imgur.com/a/D8P2r4F

https://imgur.com/a/7WeHR8O

Can upload pics properly when i get to a computer.

Thanks!!

mgaw · May 2023

Don’t send it back give @FelineGuitars a shout

BillDL · May 2023

The scrapes on the fretboard would annoy me a lot, and it's not difficult to avoid making them. Taping off between the frets before working on them, whether it be simply polishing them with fine abrasives or recrowning them with a file and then sanding/filing smooth and polishing, is a bit time consuming but the board really needs to be protected unless you are exceptionally skilled and confident. You can get thin metal fretboard guards (rectangle with a fret-width slot) that can be placed over the fret you are working on to protect the board either side from sanding or file marks. They come in two widths where the wider ones cover about a third of the fret spacing down at the nut and, about half the spacing around the 9th fret, and about three quarters of the spacing by the time you get up to the 13th fret You usually have to switch to the narrower ones from around the 18th fret when the wide protector no longer fits between the frets, and at that point you are back to it only covering from about half to three quarters of the board between the frets.

The metal board protectors do their job well and you won't get sanding marks on the board beyond the area they are protecting if you work with care. They can sometimes make very shallow fine buff marks of their own if allowed to slide from side to side while you are working across the fret, but the marks they leave are easily dealt with by applying something like lemon oil. The distance of the scratches on your board away from the frets look as though they have been made by abrasive paper that has gone ouside the narrowest width metal fretboard protectors by somebody working carelessly, or else by careless use of the wider protectors by allowing it to slide back and forward a lot. It is possible that the tech has simply used the roughest grit fret erasers perpendicular to the fret and the ends that were bent down over the fret have scraped the board.

Image: https://tfb-user-images.eu-central-1.linodeobjects.com/96701f22469392881c17216265ea3c5f48cf69a78873c27e69

If you have any very fine (600 to 1,000 grit) fret erasers you would probably be able to polish the scrapes out by rubbing the board between the frets in line with the grain and then using fretboard "conditioner" like lemon oil, but only at the wider spaced frets where you have the room to rub.

One of the frets you have photographed up close looks pretty crappily finished. It hasn't really been crowned fully and has too wide a plateau on the apex, and the score marks are obvious that it hasn't been smoothed with fine abrasive and then polished. I suppose that it might be easy to go and answer the phone and accidentally skip a fret when you return to the job, but any good tech checks their work.

Image: https://tfb-user-images.eu-central-1.linodeobjects.com/4ffced85724cf1cf45e99aa350c0e1f04b618c630cb0976db1

stevrossthepipe · May 2023

@mgaw ;; I'm in south London as well. I have seen nothing but positive reviews of @FelineGuitars work over the years and should of thought of them. Also open Saturdays so I could go and see them in person. Wouuld be interested to hear what they thought about it and if they could fix it and thought it was bad workmanship?

stevrossthepipe · May 2023

@BillDL, hanks verymuch ffora long detailed.

This is what I expected but great to hear about it from a technical perspective. I'm pissed it happened and very annoying it's just through carelessness and good to know it's not me just being over the top. I also don't think the pictures really do it justice it is really is much worse in person.

Good ammo to go back to him and say it's not on. I'll pay for the pick-up installation and the jack fix but the rest I don't think so.

DefaultM · May 2023

I don't see why you should have paid for anything but the original courier there and back? That's like a takeaway charging you for delivery again when you call them to say they forgot your chips.

stevrossthepipe · May 2023

@DefaultM ;
Ya you are right. The courier to send it back again to get it sorted was another 40 quid. All his fault as he didn't do what was asked. Even though I double checked on the phone after he did the work the first time.

I obviously paid him before I received it back the first time. So will have to ask for that back. I work in photo production so I am pretty use to difficult phone calls. Ha

stevrossthepipe · May 2023

Just rendered something else.

Dimarzio give specific value instructions for the pots. I asked for him to make sure they were the same. If not please change them. He said he would add resistors or whatever was appropriate.

I kept asking if he had changed them and he just kept saying they were CTS pots and the pickups sound good. Hmmm

Switch625 · May 2023

I don’t know much about setups but if he’s had them twice and you’re still not satisfied then I’d be going somewhere else. It’s like taking your car somewhere to get fixed up and they balls it up… twice?! How many chances do you give?

I’d say cut your losses and give it to someone that has nothing but positive feedback. Feline would be my first port of call as others have suggested.

stevrossthepipe · May 2023

@Switch625 thanks. You are completly right. Yep defintly going to give @FelineGuitars ; a call next week. Going to see if I can get some money back though if not I will just move on.

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Disappointing Pro setup. Is this bad?

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