Warranty Repair Wisdom

[Greentopher]

In April 2011, I happily purchased a new 2011 ES 335 Custom Shop 1959 Dot ReIssue (Cherry). A couple months later, while rehearsing, I sadly realized the third string was always slightly sharp between the first and sixth fret even when the open tuning and octaves were perfect. The intonation problem was ONLY on the third string. No amount of string length adjustment would remedy the problem. I took the guitar back to the dealer, and they couldn't resolve the problem. They contacted Gibson who diagnosed the problem as "neck twist" and Gibson told them to ship it back, which they did.

 

On July 9, Gibson issued an RMA number (warranty repair) and the guitar was shipped to Memphis. It's now the end of August and I still don't have the guitar back.

 

I was wondering if anyone knows what this repair might involve and any estimates on how long it might take? I've contacted Gibson and while the guys are nice enough, they said they really can't give me "updates to specific repairs." They said if they found anything out, they'd contact me by email, but I've not received anything from them.

 

Does anyone have any experience with this and any wisdom they can share? Is there someone specific I should contact? I'm really just looking for some information about when I might get the guitar back.

 

This 335 is my "dream guitar" I've wanted for 35 years and it is killing me to have had it only a few weeks and then to go without it.

 

Any advice you have is appreciated.

[BigKahune]

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Welcome.

 

Sorry to read about your misfortune.

 

Nothing but speculation as there's no telling what's going on. A twisted neck - it would seem to the easiest/quickest solution would be an exchange. If they're repairing it, seems that would entail a neck replacement which is time consuming - but they've had enough time for that.

 

You might have them, but if it went back to here: Gibson Repair Nashville - the direct phone#s are (800) 4-GIBSON ext 2284 or (615) 871-4500 ext 2284

 

Possibly one of the reps here can did into it for you.

 

 

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[Greentopher]

My 335 is being repaired in Memphis (Custom Shop), but the only Customer Service number I know is for the guys in Nashville. Does anyone have contact information for Memphis. I'm just trying to get some information on the progress of my warranty repair. Nashville keeps telling me that Memphis will email me... and I've not yet received a single email.

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

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Welcome.

 

Sorry to read about your misfortune.

 

Nothing but speculation as there's no telling what's going on. A twisted neck - it would seem to the easiest/quickest solution would be an exchange. If they're repairing it, seems that would entail a neck replacement which is time consuming - but they've had enough time for that.

 

You might have them, but if it went back to here: Gibson Repair Nashville - the direct phone#s are (800) 4-GIBSON ext 2284 or (615) 871-4500 ext 2284

 

Possibly one of the reps here can did into it for you.

 

 

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[Jayyj]

Shouldn't your dealer be able to help here? I'd go to see them, stress that you know it's not their fault how long it takes the manufacturer to deal with it, but that you're getting fed up being without a guitar and without a realistic estimate of timescale, so could they chase it and keep you informed. At the end of the day the dealer is the guy that took your money, and as such he has a responsibility to help you get this issue resolved.

 

Of course, it's not pleasant to be a dealer caught between an angry customer who wants his guitar back and a manufacturer who can't get their finger out to sort the problem - I've been there myself - so persistant but nice is the way to go here!

 

Hope you get it sorted.

[Greentopher]

Jayyj,

 

Thanks for the encouragement. I have been through the dealer (they got the warranty authorization and they sent the 335 back to Gibson) and they have contacted Gibson for me once, and got about the same response, only quicker.

 

Beginning this next week, I going to start calling Memphis direct (rather than Nashville) and just become a "nice nuisance" until I at least get some information about where they are in the process. I totally get the "work load" and "order your guitar came into the shop" explanations and I accept that it may take longer to get the issue resolved. I'd just like to know now much longer I'm going to be without this particular guitar. They've nearly had it as long as it was in my possession and it was Gibson's manufacturing problem that got us to this point in the first place. Ironically, the dealer said, "If you'd just purchased the extended coverage we offer, we'd have handed you a brand new guitar." Well... how often is a $3,000 guitar going to be "wrong?" Such is my luck, I guess.

 

Again... thanks for the encouragement.

 

Greentopher

 

Shouldn't your dealer be able to help here? I'd go to see them, stress that you know it's not their fault how long it takes the manufacturer to deal with it, but that you're getting fed up being without a guitar and without a realistic estimate of timescale, so could they chase it and keep you informed. At the end of the day the dealer is the guy that took your money, and as such he has a responsibility to help you get this issue resolved.

 

Of course, it's not pleasant to be a dealer caught between an angry customer who wants his guitar back and a manufacturer who can't get their finger out to sort the problem - I've been there myself - so persistant but nice is the way to go here!

 

Hope you get it sorted.

[jimmyl51]

I just read your thread and in one word in regards to what you are being told by the dealer that you bought the guitar from........ thats a bunch of B.S.. If your guitar truely has a 'warped' neck I will guarantee you that Gibson will not have anybody really familiar with taking care of that kind of problem in regard to their experience level. Those fellows are to be found in their custom shop working on L5's and other such high end instruments. I would be highly suspicious of them 'fixing' this problem. In all actuality I will bet you good money that they will come back saying that 'the neck is within their parameters of not needing adjustment'.......which will mean that they most likely didn't do anything. What you need after putting out some $3000 ESPECIALLY in THIS ECONOMY is a NEW guitar period. For the dealer to tell you 'if you had purchased the extended warranty frankly really is making my blood boil at the moment'. In one word B--- S----! Gibson needs to give you a new guitar. Period end of story. Don't worry about Gibson. They will simply put that guitar in one of the Guitar Centers AND it WILL sell don't worry. What you need to do is call their customer service 800 number and raise hell nicely. I'm NOT saying to start cursing them out, but you DO NEED to be straightforward and state your case very simply. I always look at this kind of a situation and ask myself WHAT IF the situation was reversed..........HOW would THEY APPROACH YOU!? You need to get a NEW guitar PERIOD! Sorry for my rant..........jim at Tinker AFB in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

[badbluesplayer]

Hmmm...

 

I tend to be suspicious of dealers diagnosing difficult problems. I find it hard to understand how the problem with intonation on the third string would lead somebody to diagnose a "twisted neck".

 

If it were me, since it was the third string (the thickest plain one, right?), and since the problem is near the nut, the first thing I would be suspicious of is the possibility that the nut slot wasn't cut right where the string comes out of the nut on the fretboard side.

 

Anyway, if there's a twisted neck, they'll probably have to replace the guitar. It wouldn't take them long to figure that out and replace the guitar. If they have to fix it, it'll take longer.

 

The chances that the dealer diagnosed the problem properly are slim, even if they discussed it with Gibson. The important thing is that people at the factory will diagnose the problem properly and fix it. Good luck.

 

[jimmyl51]

Greentopher,

 

So are you going to Gibson a call this coming Tuesday and nicely read them the riot act? You have absolutely every reason to nicely demand a new guitar. Don't let anyone tell you anything different. I've been playing Gibson guitars for the past 45 years and have quite a bit of experience with the company. Good Luck and let all of us know how it is going. jim in Oklahoma City at Tinker AFB

[Jayyj]

Yeah, the "extended warranty" line is not a good one. A professional quality musical instrument is not the same thing as a cheap consumer DVD player. It should be built to withstand years of professional use, and I wouldn't be impressed by anyone trying to pedal extended warranties, yet alone implying the situation you're in might be your fault because you didn't take it out.

 

Unfortunately because I'm in the UK I don't know for sure what the warranty situation is in the US. Certainly over here if a fault becomes apparent and you made the dealer aware of the problem within the first year it is the dealer's responsibility to resolve the situation either by repairing or replacing the guitar, regardless of what the store offered by way of purchasable warranties. Perhaps someone else here in the US can confirm your legal position, but I'd have thought you'd be in a strong position.

 

I didn't comment on the diagnosis of twisted neck being the issue, but I agree it's exactly not the first thing I would be looking at to sort out an intonation problem. If this is a case of a sales rep listening to a description of the issue over the phone and making an uninformed judgement, that's not really good enough: if it's a Gibson tech who has the guitar on the bench in front of him and that's what he says is wrong, fair enough. But if the former then Jim has a point - there's a good chance the guitar will sit in the repair room unattended to for three months then they phone you and tell you the guitar is within acceptable tolerences so they're returning it as is. It'd be good to get some official word from the service department that they at least acknowledge there is a problem with the guitar.

 

Lastly, don't panic! I know it sounds bad but there's still every chance for a quick and satisfactory outcome - just sounds like, whether you go through the dealer or Gibson directly, they need a reminder that you are their customer and they need to look after you a bit better. Let us know how you get on...

[martinh]

Hmmm...

 

I tend to be suspicious of dealers diagnosing difficult problems. I find it hard to understand how the problem with intonation on the third string would lead somebody to diagnose a "twisted neck".

 

If it were me, since it was the third string (the thickest plain one, right?), and since the problem is near the nut, the first thing I would be suspicious of is the possibility that the nut slot wasn't cut right where the string comes out of the nut on the fretboard side.

 

Anyway, if there's a twisted neck, they'll probably have to replace the guitar. It wouldn't take them long to figure that out and replace the guitar. If they have to fix it, it'll take longer.

 

The chances that the dealer diagnosed the problem properly are slim, even if they discussed it with Gibson. The important thing is that people at the factory will diagnose the problem properly and fix it. Good luck.

 

 

Absoloutely agree. Gradually decreasing sharpness that is worst at the first fret, and gets better as you move up the neck is almost always a nut problem. It usually manifests itslelf the most on an unwound G This is why the G often seems so hard to tune - you get it in tune, but then play an open position chord and it sounds off. The problem can usually be solved by undercutting the edge of certain nut slots on the fretboard side, effectively increaing the string length a little bit , then re-correcting the intonation at the 12th fret.

 

the Earvana web site explains the phenomena pretty well. Check out the average error chart and you'll see that its generally worse on the G

 

Earvana site

[Greentopher]

Martinh,

 

Thanks for your input. That explanation is really beginning to make sense to me. The intonation issue was only on the 3rd string, though it did not seem to be particularly worse on the first fret as opposed to the sixth. But the more I think about it, it seems to me that a "neck twist" (and I have no idea who, if anyone, at Gibson suggested that to the dealer representative -- that's just what the dealer representative told me) would affect more than just the third string. Every other string played perfectly in pitch through the entire neck. Only the third was out and then, only on the sixth fret and down toward the nut.

 

I did speak with a Gibson Customer Service rep today and got a bit stronger response to my concern. He committed that I would hear something within 24 hours as to the status of my guitar. I'm hoping.

 

I am very thankful that Gibson Custom Shop Memphis has the guitar and I'm confident that the issue will be remedied. Gibson quality assumes that. That is not really my concern. I'd just like to have a status update and an idea of approximately when the guitar will be back in my possession. I've only owned it for 5 months (purchased new) and Gibson has had it in THEIR possession for 2 months of those 5. That's what is so frustrating for me.

 

Gibson is a great company. I love their guitars. I have owned several... I just wish they communicated better with their customers in circumstances like this one.

 

 

 

Absoloutely agree. Gradually decreasing sharpness that is worst at the first fret, and gets better as you move up the neck is almost always a nut problem. It usually manifests itslelf the most on an unwound G This is why the G often seems so hard to tune - you get it in tune, but then play an open position chord and it sounds off. The problem can usually be solved by undercutting the edge of certain nut slots on the fretboard side, effectively increaing the string length a little bit , then re-correcting the intonation at the 12th fret.

 

the Earvana web site explains the phenomena pretty well. Check out the average error chart and you'll see that its generally worse on the G

 

Earvana site

[Greentopher]

I'm happy to report that a replacement guitar arrived at my dealer today and I just took possession of it a few minutes ago. Though with no explanation as to what was wrong with the original, Gibson replaced the 2011 ES 335 1959 Dot Reissue, with a 2012 model. Thankfully, it plays as well, if not a little better, than the other. With a little bit of fine tuning on the set up, it should be great. I'm just really happy to have it back!!!

 

Thanks for the support, information and encouragement.

 

Happy playing!

 

[BigKahune]

.... no explanation as to what was wrong with the original ....

 

Gibson wouldn't have replaced the guitar for a nut problem. There probably was something going on with the neck.

 

Sorry to see it took so long, but glad to see Gibson stepped up.

 

 

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[jimmyl51]

I'm a bit confused here. Can I ask you in what price range were you originally charged for this guitar? I'm not asking you for THE price however I am asking if you bought a 'historic' reissue ES-335 or was this a Gibson USA version 335? Thanks for the info.! jim at Tinker AFB Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

[Greentopher]

Hey Jim,

 

Sorry for the confusion... Here's the deal as I know it...

 

In early April, 2012, I bought a brand new 2011 ES 335 1959 Dot ReIssue from Guitar Center. The actual model is: ESDTCHNH1 (It is Cherry Red). Guitar Center price then was $2999. That same guitar is now $3149. I assume we're clear on the tuning issue and why I had to have Guitar Center return it for "warranty repair." What Gibson told Guitar Center was the faulty guitar had a "neck twist" (though it still baffles me how only one string would have intonation issues with a twisted neck. Seems to me at least 3 strings would suffer intonation issues with a neck that is "twisted.").

 

Today... I received a 2012 REPLACEMENT of the same model guitar. It was manufactured in Memphis at the Gibson Custom Shop on 8/20/12 (which now explains why things took so long and why I had not heard from them -- they were likely making the guitar, since my original guitar was sent back to them on July 9).

 

My understanding is that these guitars are built to 1959 specs, they have '59 reproduction pickups and have the '59 style neck. I was also told (or read, I can't remember) that some of the old forms used to make the original 1959's are still used in the production of these very guitars. So... supposedly, this guitar is as close as someone can get to an original 1959, but in a new guitar. It plays very nicely. In fact... now that I have it set up to my preferences, I actually like it better than the faulty one... AND... this one plays in tune all the way up the scale of the neck!

 

Hope that makes sense.

 

Thanks for asking.

 

 

 

I'm a bit confused here. Can I ask you in what price range were you originally charged for this guitar? I'm not asking you for THE price however I am asking if you bought a 'historic' reissue ES-335 or was this a Gibson USA version 335? Thanks for the info.! jim at Tinker AFB Oklahoma City, Oklahoma