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What makes this happen ?


Ruttin

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Hey Folks

New guy here,start off with I have my Sons Epipy's and the are fine. I pre-ordered a Joe Bonamassa LP back in Nov. just got it Fri.. Loonngg wait ,but when it get here all the nightmare stories came full tilt. My neck was busted,I have read of them shipping to folks,1-busted neck,2-twisted neck at headstock,1-cracked at neck joint,3-busted headstocks !! I have nothing else to compare the Made in China Epipy's to,the others in the house were made in Tawain ,and they are awesome.Now that these were a limited run of 1000,now what?

 

broke.jpg[/img]http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii187/Tikkabuck/guitars/broke.jpg[/img]"]My link

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...or maybe "Why does this keep happening?"

Let's put it to Jim R directly and see if he cares to comment.

 

 

Manufacturers must lose a small fortune replacing these and why...? It's no mystery at this point that shippers ape handle the goodies, so why do companies still ship without proper headstock support [confused][confused]

 

Guitars should be detuned and packed with soft foam wrapped headstocks in hard cases. Anything less is just asking for what is shown here.

 

 

 

Hit every BLUE NOTE baaaby..., I'm going to play on B)

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That is just wrong! I would gladly pay an extra 10 dollars per epiphone if it would cover the extra cost of some upgraded packaging.

 

Thats sad. I got a Casino recently with a clean, broken off head and intend to have a local professional luthier repair it properly. Here is a picture and link.

 

break2.jpg

 

http://www.guitardoctor.com/repairs_new.html

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Thats sad. I got a Casino recently with a clean, broken off head and intend to have a local professional luthier repair it properly. Here is a picture and link.

 

break2.jpg

 

http://www.guitardoctor.com/repairs_new.html

 

 

That's a nice clean break alright, mostly because the grain is running at a serious sideways angle to the neck.

 

Now, not to start any drama here, but this really exemplifies what's wrong with this method of building necks.

 

If you use straight grain quartersawn lumber you'll probably be alright and the neck can handle some abuse, but if the grain is running off in any direction, too much "short grain" we would say, then the neck really can't handle anything more than string tension, and sometimes not even that.

 

I recently fixed a casino that had snapped off after the closed case it was in dropped flat onto the floor. That and the string tension was all it took to explode the headstock - and this was the second time the guy had broken that headstock - about an 1/8 inch away from the first time.

 

One problem is that while the glued seam in the repaired neck is stronger than the wood around it, with the short grain it can break just as easily again, parallel to the fix, so you have to be very careful with that neck once repaired.

 

Anyway, when I saw this picture I thought it was a really good example of what we're up against and so there you go...

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That's a nice clean break alright, mostly because the grain is running at a serious sideways angle to the neck.

 

Now, not to start any drama here, but this really exemplifies what's wrong with this method of building necks.

 

If you use straight grain quartersawn lumber you'll probably be alright and the neck can handle some abuse, but if the grain is running off in any direction, too much "short grain" we would say, then the neck really can't handle anything more than string tension, and sometimes not even that.

 

I recently fixed a casino that had snapped off after the closed case it was in dropped flat onto the floor. That and the string tension was all it took to explode the headstock - and this was the second time the guy had broken that headstock - about an 1/8 inch away from the first time.

 

One problem is that while the glued seam in the repaired neck is stronger than the wood around it, with the short grain it can break just as easily again, parallel to the fix, so you have to be very careful with that neck once repaired.

 

Anyway, when I saw this picture I thought it was a really good example of what we're up against and so there you go...

Interesting and informative. I learn new things about guitars and their construction here. You might think Epiphone would learn too. Who knows.

 

Yes, but I won't be getting it repaired until mid March. I just picked this up and must pay the piper (sorry, not an Epiphone this time)

571324.jpg

 

Time to hone my Son House skills.

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jN5vqEyV7g

 

Oh, and I didn't have too good of a day today

broken.jpg

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I wish I had taken a picture of the rear of the headstock,it looked just like that.I noticed on one of my Son's Epipy's it had a scarf joint I never saw this till I read on another forum of it.Is this a very strong way to do it? Are LP necks made of Mahogany isn't this sort of a softer wood,why not use like hard Maple or something?

 

 

As far as the shipping goes,packing was bad,the guitar was in the case no bubblewrap,put in a box,with 3 peice's of cardborad to take up the extra space(but was still sloppy),outside of box was beat to smithers. Factory shipping inside the box was bad,shipping people were just as bad.

 

When my Son got his 50th Annaversary Lynard Skynard, it was packed way better. I'm bummed,don't want to have a brand new guitar repaired,I really hope they can get one to me. Thanks for all the answers folks.

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Yes I agree, return it ASAP n get another.

I had my 1960 anniversary shipped seperate from the case, and it was packed in all kinds of foam n tape. the case was just in a box.

 

 

 

Hey Folks

New guy here,start off with I have my Sons Epipy's and the are fine. I pre-ordered a Joe Bonamassa LP back in Nov. just got it Fri.. Loonngg wait ,but when it get here all the nightmare stories came full tilt. My neck was busted,I have read of them shipping to folks,1-busted neck,2-twisted neck at headstock,1-cracked at neck joint,3-busted headstocks !! I have nothing else to compare the Made in China Epipy's to,the others in the house were made in Tawain ,and they are awesome.Now that these were a limited run of 1000,now what?

 

broke.jpg[/img]http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii187/Tikkabuck/guitars/broke.jpg[/img]"]My link

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That's just crazy. We've seen a fair amount of shipping-damaged guitars on this forum over the last coupla years, but never two in a row.

 

At this point, you might consider getting your money back and buying from a local bricks & mortar store.

 

What a waste, I feel for ya.

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This is perhaps the best question so far,since this is the Gibson/Epiphone site.

 

...or maybe "Why does this keep happening?"

Let's put it to Jim R directly and see if he cares to comment.

 

Really,2,to the same customer. I don't know what to say,I really don't.

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What if:

the wood used is so bad that it breaks a high % of time no matter what the packing? Wouldn't that explain the "why"?

I really don't believe that is true.

 

But, given that other fragile items (TVs, glass, etc) ship from China and most arrive okay in styrofoam, this is beginning to look like the type of "problem" that has an obvious but unspeakable answer.

 

Ruttin welcome to the forum..., maybe some commiserating will ease the pain

 

Hit every BLUE NOTE baaaby..., I'm going to play on B)

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The box my Junior was shipped in was the flimsiest carboard box I've ever seen a guitar shipped in. The neck survived, but there was damage to the lower strap button where it had been dropped on its' end. You have to assume that replacing the breakages on a % of guitars works out cheaper over time than a slight increase in cost on every guitar. Because mine came from a net dealer, and I could fix it, (and it's only a £99 guitar) I didn't bother returning it.

 

These neck designs with mahogany material are inherently fragile, the Gibson versions are prone to breaking too if dropped. However, because they're more expensive guitars, they get packed better.

 

The "mahogany" used on most of these is more fragile than maple. I'm not sure which wood costs more, but if you use denser/harder woods the factory will have to change blades etc on tools more often...so more cost. Epiphone China/Indonesia are geared for high volume low cost manufacturing.

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the Styrofoam pads Epiphone uses at each end of the shipping box are too thin to absorb anything but the smallest bump. Put thicker, more "robust" padding at each end of the shipping box, (get rid of the excessive graphics/ink on the boxes) something like foam "cushions" about 2 inches thick at each end of the packaging box should do. Fender amps come boxed with a more shock absorbing type foam than the stuff Epiphone uses, which is like Styrofoam coffee cup styrene, thin, flimsy and breaks apart easily.

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the Styrofoam pads Epiphone uses at each end of the shipping box are too thin to absorb anything but the smallest bump. Put thicker, more "robust" padding at each end of the shipping box, (get rid of the excessive graphics/ink on the boxes) something like foam "cushions" about 2 inches thick at each end of the packaging box should do. Fender amps come boxed with a more shock absorbing type foam than the stuff Epiphone uses, which is like Styrofoam coffee cup styrene, thin, flimsy and breaks apart easily.

 

No foam on either of these I've recived. 3 peice's of cardboard one rolled up on each side one single peice over the top of the case.

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Very interesting about straight grained vs angled neck wood. I have recently noticed many necks on new guitars, both Gibsons & Epis, with angled neck wood. Might be more of this being used in the last few years, because it had never before really caught my eye.

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Well folks #2 got here today. Don't know what to say.

 

Must be a sign? :(

 

I was a GC earlier this week to get some strings. Against my

better judgement, I walked around to see what they had. They had

a JB LP on their wall. It looked really good too, among many other

guitars that were tempting me.

 

Do you have a GC near you? They might have one.

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