I went to TyMusic at Peninsula/Excelsior to get my 87' Strat
Plus set-up. The guys know nuts about stuff. Because of a little fret buzz, they told
me my American Made strat's frets were uneven. I wasn't too sure. So I let them do
whatever work first. After collecting the guitar, nothing seemed different. I checked
with music theme and guitar connection. Both shops said the uneven frets was total
nonsense and a completely wrong analysis. TyMusic even misplaced my beloved guitar
strap. The young guys at TY don't know enough and should have gained more experienced
before setting up shop.
Dear Thread starter,
I am sorry we couldn't fix your guitar problem. Before we elaborate further, I think
it would be fair that we narrate the whole story here.
The story
**********
You had come to us with a strat to do 2 jobs. First, to replace the old screws on the
pickguard, pickup selector and pickup mounting screws.
Second, to perform a setup. You mention u had raise the action high because u get some
notes that don't ring out on the upper frets. After using a straight edge, we realize there are some uneven frets. The problem fret may have been caused by this and we don't perform fret
works. We suggest you to find another luthier to check as we can't help you.
However, u wanted us to proceed with the setup and u would do the fret work another
time. We said ok and we would try to do the setup as best as we can but we foresee there will still be some notes that don't ring out properly, and no fret works will be done. (written on service form).
You agree.
We charge you a fee for both services.
We completed Job1, which is changing of all the screws.
We tried our best to setup, but couldn't do it properly.
We find that some notes didn't ring out most obviously when we bend the strings. With the
straight edge, it tells us the fret uneveness contribute to this.
We finally try to obtain the optimum balance between notes ringing and action.
We took the time to sit down with you in the shop and explain to you that we
cannot setup the guitar to our standard. And thus, we are NOT going to charge
you for the setup. We minus off the setup fee from the original service charge.
You agree.
Then u told us there is a strap missing. We didn't argue on this because both parties are unsure.
You suggested we give you a cheap strap as a replacement. We agree. We gave you a GHS strap.
You accepted and agree.
The free strap was also written on the service form.
You signed on the service form, and left.
Our reply to you
*****************
Dear jonoh248 friend,
1) We had already told u clearly in the beginning to seek another luthier's help
because we foresee we cannot solve the problem.
However, since u wanted us to try, we tried. Theoretically, we spent our time and as
per the agreement, we can charge you the full amount.
Actually, we remember u tested the guitar and said it's quite ok.
But we thought we don't want to charge the setup since we didn't solve your problem.
Your thread sounds like you spent your money on setup and didn't get it fixed
We have to repeat here: We didn't charge you for setup, although we can as per
agreement.
2) Your guitar had all the screws changed as you wanted.
So "After collecting the guitar, nothing seemed different. " is a misleading statement
3) If you think our analysis is "total nonsense and a completely wrong analysis", we are sorry about this but there's nothing we can do about it to change ur view.
We are sure the 2 shops you mention wouldn't use these kind of harsh wordings even if
they have a different analysis.
We are not denying there may be other factors that have caused these notes not ringing out properly. And we are not denying that there are other guitar techs who can solve you problem better
than us because this is not our service area. In fact, we ask you to seek others help in the first place.
But uneven frets are what we have derived from the straight edge.
4) For the lost strap, you suggested, accepted and agreed to the GHS strap we replaced
for you. We don't understand why u started a thread here to complain about this?
To be fair, we think both parties were rather unsure if the strap was there in the
first place. But nevertheless, we replaced it for you as per your suggestion.
5) For once we agree with you, we are "young guys at TY"
******************
From the viewpoint of a guitar tech, we sincerely apologize we can't solve your guitar problem.
But we hope that you understand since we have come to an agreement mutually, regardless of whether it's on pricing, compensation or instrument condition, we have to adhere to it.
It's being unfair to us that you started this thread without the complete story because it may affect our business reputation.
rgds
TYMC
ps: Thank you to all the softies who have put their trust on us on this thread. We appreciate it.
