Just received ... and heartbroken.

[Eisenhower42]

Hi folks. Placed an order for a custom body and neck back around March or maybe April, and received the neck in late June or early July. And just received the body yesterday. I am in Saudi Arabia working as an expat, so I have Warmoth ship to my Aramex account parcel forwarding service in New York, where it is then forwarded on to me.

The body is absolutely gorgeous, but to my horror, was damaged. Someone apparently dropped the body, impacting on the rear corner of the upper bout. And they must have dropped it hard - the binding is pressed into the wood a bit, buckling the paint, chipping the poly. Ugh. Just made me sick to my stomach.

The outer box shows no damage whatsoever, and the foam body wrap had not been opened. My guess is someone dropped the body after it had been wrapped - where, I'll never know. But I don't think it was the box itself being dropped, as there were several layers of cardboard and a foam wrap protecting the guitar - this had to be the body being dropped while in the foam wrap, but out of the box. The wrap itself showed no damage in that spot. 

I'm just sick. I've e-mailed Spike at Warmouth to see what can be done. What I'm hoping is that if I send the body back to Warmoth on my dime, they will make me a replacement. I don't think this one can readily be fixed, but who knows, maybe. Trying to file a claim with Aramex would be pointless. They only couriered the package for half its journey - and even worse, they assigned a value of $100, as there was no receipt in the package. So the best I could get from Aramex is $100, which is pointless.

At this point, I'm hoping the folks at Warmoth will be willing to make me a replacement if I eat all the multiple shipping charges, VATs, Customs, etc. I was so close to having everything in hand! 

Tragedy.

Will try to post pics of the mock-up and damage.

 

[Cactus Jack]

Ugh... so sorry to hear this. How it happened nobody knows, but one this is certain, Warmoth customer service is fantastic. Send them an email along with pics of the damage, box, wrapper, basically anything that might be helpful and they will certainly work with you.

 

[Verne Bunsen]

How unfortunate, I’m sorry to hear this! Might the box have been opened for inspection in Customs?

 

[Eisenhower42]

Yes, indeed, I'm certain it was opened for Customs, and that very well could be where the damage occurred. But I'll never prove it, and even if I could ... well, let's just say I couldn't do a thing about it.

As I've been mocking up the guitar (just dry fitting parts) it's so apparent what a finely crafted body it is, the binding, the finish, everything. Just such a shame somebody had to ruin it.

 

[stratamania]

That is unfortunate indeed and hope you get something sorted out to move forward.

 

[Rick]

Who knows where it happened, though I've heard that Saudi customs is really nosy.  So where should I send the beer and weed? ....










just joking, mr saudi censor custom man

 

[Ric Moore]

Very sorry to see this happened. I bet you’re bummed. Fortunately you bought it from a reputable place.

 

[Cactus Jack]

Yes, indeed, I'm certain it was opened for Customs, and that very well could be where the damage occurred. But I'll never prove it, and even if I could ... well, let's just say I couldn't do a thing about it.

As I've been mocking up the guitar (just dry fitting parts) it's so apparent what a finely crafted body it is, the binding, the finish, everything. Just such a shame somebody had to ruin it.

Wow, what an amazing instrument, love everything about it. Very cool! I vote that you keep it so we can see more pics .

 

[Eisenhower42]

Ha ha! Believe me, it's taking all the will power I have not to bolt this thing together, wire it up and see how it plays and sounds. But once you start turning screws, I know a return isn't possible. So it's just for looks for ... a few more months. 

 

[gingataff]

Sorry to see the damage, but that's a killer looking axe! Very sharp!
I'd be interested to see how it looks with the pickup covered reversed, kind of yin-yang.

 

[Eisenhower42]

Sure, gingataff, here you go - yin/yang. 

The problem with these Thinline-style pick guards, is they often leave an asymmetrical gap around the lead pickup, as you can see here. Tends to be worse with soapbar P90s than anything else.

What I'm planning to do is have a custom pick guard made based on the stock pick guard, but filling that gap, so it's snug to the pickup where it needs to be.

DeWayne

 

[Verne Bunsen]

For whatever it's worth, I dig the yin/yang aesthetic! I like contrast, I'd consider black knobs and switch tip too. Witches Hat knobs and a Top Hat switch tip...

 

[Eisenhower42]

Yeah, believe me, I tried 1,000 combos in PowerPoint before deciding on this cream/black design. It was always going to be cream pick guard on black body (cream binding) but I tried black knobs/switch on cream, chicken head knobs, etc., etc., I finally decided I like cream plastic parts over the cream pick guard, for a big swoosh of cream, with everything else blacked out.

To me it looks like a Guinness Beer!  Or a dirty Orca whale! 

 

[Eisenhower42]

Bit of good news. Spike at Warmoth tells me they'll make me a replacement - I just need to ship this body back. That's awfully generous, and very much appreciated.

So, the body will ship out Thursday and then the wait begins again!  To be continued ...

 

[Fat Pete]

I like contrast too (and all manner of weirdness too), but the cream on cream/black on black is a great look.

Glad to hear the big W are taking care of you.

 

[rgand]

I'll agree with the concensus here that the black/cream is a fine choice. Nice!

 

[Eisenhower42]

I'd just like to take a moment to thank Spike at Warmoth for replacing this body, at Warmoth's expense, for something that most certainly was no fault of Warmoth. I'm certain someone in Customs opened the package, took the body out, dropped it, then just taped the box up and sent it on. The fact that Warmoth would start from scratch and build me a new one (and we're talking a double bound body here, so labor intensive), at no cost to me other than the shipping, is extremely generous and very much appreciated. I'll begin the waiting process again, and beg you all to say a prayer for a better trip to Saudi this time! 

Thanks, Warmoth. Thanks, Spike!

DeWayne

 

[WindsurfMaui]

JMO I don't think they "dropped it" but purposely smacked it to see if it broke open and was full of contraband. It may be better to send it to a friend who is going  to SA and drop it off otherwise insure it for it's total value. Maybe they will treat it better if they see it costs a lot.

 

[Eisenhower42]

Hey guys, just a happy ending to this story.

Thanks to Spike at Warmoth, they rebuilt my body, and this time it appears Saudi Customs didn't even open it, so it arrived in perfect condition. Some five uber-focussed hours later, she was all assembled and set up. I really love the way it turned out!

Just wanted to provide a happy ending to this tale of misery and woe. And to thank Spike and gang at Warmoth for making this work out exactly as I'd hoped from the outset.

(BTW - in case you are thinking of doing a project like this with a "Thinline" style pick guard and soap bar P90s, I had this pickguard custom made to my tracing by WD Music. A factory/standard Thinline pickguard leaves an irregular gap around the bridge pickup, as it was originally designed for an normal Tele bridge plate. I did a tracing to fill that gap and am pleased with the result and the quality of WD's work.)

Regards,
DeWayne

 

[rgand]

That came out great! Glad to see it all worked out for you. :icon_thumright: