Some people have all the luck

[spiderman]

I was the high bidder on a 1997 JF-55 on the Bay about 10 days ago. Strictly a player, the tuners were replaced with Ping chromes :?: , although the seller will send the originals when (if?) he can find them. There is a small minor side crack and a top finish crack at the bottom. Usual scratches and scuffs and a small ding on the back of the headstock. Seller did not seem too knowledgeable so I sent a link on how to pack a guitar for shipping. Wednesday it came via our favorite, UPS. Visions of Jazz' DV-72 danced in my head. The box was hand made and the alarm bells sounded faintly, but it was 200 lb cardboard anyway. Opened the box and packing peanuts poured out, uh-oh. There was the case with a mildly smashed corner, more uh-oh. Opened the case and there was the JF-55 sitting nicely with no padding any where. Lower strap peg nice and firm and the headstock firmly attached to the neck. End of shipping story, it was fine. Case is TKL and banged around a bit, but still intact, not certain if it is original. He moved from OH to OR early this year and I suspect the banged case corner was from that move.

Tuned it up and the bass E peg kept jumping out, however action was OK, intonation was off but figured anything I buy from an individual who played infrequently would need an action set even before I started looking. Stayed pretty much in tune over two days. Took it to my luthier today and he said keep an eye on the minor crack issues, but no need to do anything at this point. The bridge peg issue would be addressed during the action set, and will have the headstock ding refinished. Luthier also said this is a very nice guitar and needs to be played, of course its a Guild :lol:

Next email will be to the seller telling him how lucky he was. We could take a lesson from this and next time we ship a guitar perhaps wrap it in Saran Wrap and send it through


Harmony H-173 bought in 1960 (retired)
Alvarez AC60S
Eastman AC320ce BOOKMATCHING BOOKMATCHING WE DON'T NEED NO STINKING BOOKMATCHING!
http://www.massstreetmusic.com/store/sh ... id-Cutaway
GAD-JF30E(blonde)
JF-55 1997 just came!

 

[killdeer43]

Spider,

That's quite a story, with a relatively good ending. Seems like it certainly could have been worse, all things considered.
I know the feeling when you first take delivery and slowly begin to see potential for trouble. Happened to me this summer!

I seem to remember that JF-55 so it looks like you came out OK, after all.

Enjoy,
Joe

 

[Taylor Martin Guild]

Be sure to update us after the guitar gets it's tuneup.
I bet you will like it.
Something special about a D55.

 

[jazzmang]

Man oh man am I glad it didn't turn into a 'JazzMang DV-72 fiasco'.

 

[Pike]

Congrats on the JF55 Spidey! Yep, you got lucky bud, they can mangle well packed guitars, no less one as loosely packed as that. At least the seller described the flaws pre-sale. He did, didn't he?

 

[spiderman]

Thanks Jazz, it means a lot coming from you.

Pike the cracks were disclosed but not the rear headstock dings worst about 1/4", which were down to the wood. Guilds as usual are difficult to repair in that regard back to original, because they use a colored varnish unlike many other companies which stain the wood and then apply a relatively clear top coat. Again this is a player not a "collectable" so minor non-structural problems don't upset me too much, but it will be mentioned, as will the case corner. As I mentioned before, the seller is not a guitar freak and probably did not think some of these details mattered, or did not notice them. The crack details were disclosed in an addition to the original description. However the packaging is a real issue as I sent him the URL (one of many out there) on how to properly pack a guitar. I sort of get the impression that he just wanted to ship it out fast. At least in this case alls well that ends well.

Harmony H-173 bought in 1960 (retired)
Alvarez AC60S
Eastman AC320ce BOOKMATCHING BOOKMATCHING WE DON'T NEED NO STINKING BOOKMATCHING!
http://www.massstreetmusic.com/store/sh ... id-Cutaway
GAD-JF30E(blonde)
JF-55 1997 just came!

 

[evenkeel]

Next email will be to the seller telling him how lucky he was. We could take a lesson from this and next time we ship a guitar perhaps wrap it in Saran Wrap and send it through

Congrats. The story started out with trouble all over it. Glad it all came out OK in the end.

The Saran Wrap commment is pretty much how the Morgan Monroe in my sig arrived. Ebay purchase, guitar arrived in a well traveled, shrink wrapped hard case (seller was very accurate in all his descriptions). No cardboard box, no padding, nada. A few "fragile" stickers and a address label. :shock: No packing/padding inside the case. But, story ended just fine as the guitar was perfect. Not a mark on her.

FWIW the "000" size Morgan Monroe is a terrific guitar. All solid spruce and rosewood, very nicely finished. China built. Reminds me a lot of the GAD series Guilds.

 

[spiderman]

Emailed the seller about the various issues with the JF55. Much to my surprise he offered to take it back if there were serious issues, and to pay for minor repair on the undisclosed items. I suspected he did not pack the guitar and was correct. He had it packed by a "professional" :twisted:

Picked up the guitar from the luthier Saturday. There was no internal damage and the minor repairs were done, one other undisclosed issue was the low E peg kept popping out when string was tuned up. The luthier and I agreed this was a fine instrument, he set it up with medium D'Addario PB mediums, and plays great. Its a keeper. I'll repair the case corner myself with a piece of vinyl. Sounds very different from the maple GAD JF30 which is more chimey, the JF55 roars like a big Guild should. The neck seems a bit different from the GAD even though its the same nut width, but playability is the same just will take a little practice. Odd thing is the easy Am chord is one I mess up the most, can't seem to feel it as easy as on the GAD, on the other hand I have played the GAD far longer.

Emailed the seller with the repair bill, his share will come to $40, if he pays I'll give him an excellent rating on Ebay.

Came with a dark red interior, black TKL case with no Guild markings, is this OHSC?

Thanks to all for the various items I browsed on the forum that were an immense help in pointing out what to look for when buying a sight unseen guitar.


Harmony H-173 bought in 1960 (retired)
Alvarez AC60S
Eastman AC320ce BOOKMATCHING BOOKMATCHING WE DON'T NEED NO STINKING BOOKMATCHING!
http://www.massstreetmusic.com/store/sh ... id-Cutaway
GAD-JF30E(blonde)
JF55 1997

 

[12stringer]

Glad to hear it all came out well in the end Spidey :wink: ...There have been a few horror stories around in regards to shipping disasters...glad this was not one of them...sounds like you have a great guitar there...it's now ready to Roar up a storm!
Happy pickin!
Randy

 

[jcwu]

The Saran Wrap commment is pretty much how the Morgan Monroe in my sig arrived. Ebay purchase, guitar arrived in a well traveled, shrink wrapped hard case (seller was very accurate in all his descriptions). No cardboard box, no padding, nada. A few "fragile" stickers and a address label. :shock: No packing/padding inside the case. But, story ended just fine as the guitar was perfect. Not a mark on her.

Maybe the shippers handled it more carefully, since it was just an instrument case? I know I'd be more prone to toss a cardboard box around than an instrument case.

 

[spiderman]

Actually it was in a non-guitar cardboard box. It was two longish boxes taped together, one smaller than the other the bigger one acting as a partial sleeve for the shorter one. Then came the packing pellets, and then the hard case. The hard case was not visible. My personal feeling is that most things that are shipped through arrive fine regardless of packing (up to a point!), but if you do it correctly you reduce the chances of failure more.
When I worked in the Post Office as a Christmas temp many years ago I remember one item that came through on the belt. It was obviously a dinner plate size thing glass or porcelain, very tightly wrapped in brown packing paper but without any packing, and not in a box. On the belt it held its shape, but when picked up from any side it sagged, put down again it looked whole. Nice wrapping job but zero protection. :twisted:

Harmony H-173 bought in 1960 (retired)
Alvarez AC60S
Eastman AC320ce BOOKMATCHING BOOKMATCHING WE DON'T NEED NO STINKING BOOKMATCHING!
http://www.massstreetmusic.com/store/sh ... id-Cutaway
GAD-JF30E(blonde)
JF55 1997

 

[spiderman]

The saga is at its end. The seller sent me a check for the repairs that I asked for. Nice to see honest people around.

Harmony H-173 bought in 1960 (retired)
Alvarez AC60S
Eastman AC320ce BOOKMATCHING BOOKMATCHING WE DON'T NEED NO STINKING BOOKMATCHING!
http://www.massstreetmusic.com/store/sh ... id-Cutaway
GAD-JF30E(blonde)
JF55 1997

 

[killdeer43]

The saga is at its end. The seller sent me a check for the repairs that I asked for. Nice to see honest people around.

My similar situation had a similar ending. The seller sent me half of the repair price for my *new* D35. So, there are at least two "honest people around." :wink:

Joe