flatestring Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 Just wondering how long the normal wear and tear warranty period is ! Especially worn frets, worn machine heads, worn plating. The warranty does not specify this and its impossible to get an response from epiphone Normal wear and tear (i.e; worn frets, worn machine heads, worn plating, string replacement, scratched pickguards, or damages to or discoloration of the instrument finish for any reason. Also Does it void the lifetime warranty if i replace the stock tuners? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fringe Lunatic Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 From what I've seen, the types of wear you describe will not be covered by the warranty. As for the tuners, assuming you don't modify the headstock itself, you could reinstall the stock tuners in the event of a warranty claim, but yes, modifying the guitar technically voids the warranty. Like warranties on many products, you may not know in advance whether a claim will be honored or not, as it is often determined at the time of the claim and upon inspection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitmore Willy Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 Just wondering how long the normal wear and tear warranty period is ! Especially worn frets, worn machine heads, worn plating. Also Does it void the lifetime warranty if i replace the stock tuners? Although I have heard of people making successful claims it is IMO not the norm. The warranty means your guitar should be without factory defect. Frankly, I believe the particulars in the warranty cover their butt more than it covers yours: http://www2.gibson.com/Support/WarrantyRegistration/Epiphone/Warranty.aspx Excerpts: Epiphone Limited Lifetime Warranty our new Epiphone instrument is warranted to be free from defects in materials and workmanship for the life of the original retail purchaser, subject to the limitations contained in this warranty. THIS WARRANTY DOES NOT COVER: 1. Any instrument that has been altered or modified in any way or upon which the serial number has been tampered with or altered. 7. Normal wear and tear (i.e; worn frets, worn machine heads, worn plating, string replacement, scratched pickguards, or damages to or discoloration of the instrument finish for any reason). As to the tuners.... Even if you changed them out for the same exact model tuners I am sure, upon examination I could tell the difference. (especially if they are Groovers) A store salesman might not, but I'm sure a warranty claim examiner from Gibson or Epiphone would. And no, I'm not that good but, there is a visible difference between Groovers and the factory licensed Grovers that are stock on many Epis. Willy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amx05462 Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 in other words if they see screw driver marks on your tuners scrws or wrench marks on the top piece that screws in. warrantee is void. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitmore Willy Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 in other words if they see screw driver marks on your tuners scrws or wrench marks on the top piece that screws in. warranty is void. I've never made a claim so I have no idea just how fussy they are. You can always try if you believe you have a defect in your guitar. Willy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bender 4 Life Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 Frankly, I believe the particulars in the warranty cover their butt more than it covers yours: Willy precisely ! thats the reason it's a warranty as opposed to a guarantee.. 99.9% of the time unless you call them out on a glaring defect within a few weeks of buying a new guitar, the warranty's not worth the paper it's printed on. a person in this forum just last week was refused warranty service on a brand new guitar because he changed the location of a STRAP BUTTON. the issue was a problem w/the bridge, but the strap button was just the "loophole" they needed to refuse the warranty. best advice....read,read,read...as much info on setups, troubleshooting, and basic & intermediate repairs as you can find online and elsewhere, and save y'self the time/trouble of dealing with the mfgr/retailer and do your own maintenance & repair work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyGibson Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 Unless I misread your post, I didn't see where you had a problem with your guitar. All I read was a general question about what Epi's warranty covers. Just wondering how long the normal wear and tear warranty period is !Especially worn frets, worn machine heads, worn plating. Are you asking in general what the warranty covers? Or is there a specific issue with your guitar that you want addressed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flatestring Posted February 20, 2011 Author Share Posted February 20, 2011 Unless I misread your post, I didn't see where you had a problem with your guitar. All I read was a general question about what Epi's warranty covers. Are you asking in general what the warranty covers? Or is there a specific issue with your guitar that you want addressed? Just a general question about what Epi's warranty covers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stumblinman Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 This is my personal Epi Warranty experience, YMMV: My first LP100, I could never intonate the G and B strings, not enough movement in the TOM bridge. This finally came to a head after I owned the guitar for a year and a half, and I'd tried a wound G, unwound G and all sorts of bridge/nut/neck adjustment tricks. On this guitar, I had replaced the stock tuners with Grovers, installed a BB2 in the bridge and my P-94R in the neck, and put straplocks on. I called Epiphone about the warranty on the intonation issue, and they agreed it was a factory defect. So I began the warranty process, and told them what I had done to the guitar. They told me to ship all the original parts back with the guitar in a bag, and they would pull my straplocks/pups/tuners and ship them back in a bag with the new guitar. That's exactly what they did too. I was VERY impressed with their customer service. They even desoldered the wires instead of just cutting them. VERY professional. As I said, my personal experience. I can't guarantee yours will be the same. What seemed to help was to make sure and talk to the same service rep every time, and make small talk so they feel a connection with you. That's just good advice for any customer service conversation actually. Hope it helps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damian Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 All of the above is good info..........can't add more, I've never had to test a warranty, but I have returned defective guitars............. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick_Djinn Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 precisely ! thats the reason it's a warranty as opposed to a guarantee.. 99.9% of the time unless you call them out on a glaring defect within a few weeks of buying a new guitar, the warranty's not worth the paper it's printed on. a person in this forum just last week was refused warranty service on a brand new guitar because he changed the location of a STRAP BUTTON. the issue was a problem w/the bridge, but the strap button was just the "loophole" they needed to refuse the warranty. best advice....read,read,read...as much info on setups, troubleshooting, and basic & intermediate repairs as you can find online and elsewhere, and save y'self the time/trouble of dealing with the mfgr/retailer and do your own maintenance & repair work. If this happened to me I would probably never buy another Epiphone. I would probably go with another comparable brand just to stick it to them. On the other hand, I try not to judge based on hearsay. I would hope they would fix something if it was clearly a bad product and not the effect of tampering. Sure, they could screw you with a loophole, but that comes back to haunt you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianh Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 I believe the warranty would cover you if there were glaring defects upon purchase or a catastrophic failure on an unmodified guitar - neck break, electronics failure, etc. Most modern Epiphones (1965, Elite, and Elitist models excluded) are relatively inexpensive copies or repro versions of Gibson or old Epiphione models and should not be expected to perform to the level of the originals. On the other hand, there are minimum expectaions of performance even with a budget brand, and these should be handled directly with the manufacturer, or manufacturer's authorized retailer. The best option is to buy from a retailer that has a liberal return/warranty coverage policy and make them live up to it when defect issues arise... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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