Advice - neck rattle

Looking for some advice here. I have a 2019 F40 Traditional still within the return period, purchased for what I think is a pretty good price. It's B-stock. gorgeous with two tiny dings and sounds fantastic. However, while I was restringing it and tuning to pitch, I noticed a weird vibration that I eventually traced to the neck. It's only noticeable when you go looking for it by tapping on the neck - loudest around the 9th - 12th fret. I haven't played with the truss rod at all for fear of doing more damage and being unable to return it. FWIW, it is supposedly still under warranty. I'm waiting to hear back from the seller, who seems reputable and straight up - I don't think he was aware of any issue when he sold it.

What would you folks do? How concerned would you be?

I have found two things to cause neck rattles on my guitars - loose tuner bushings and a loose truss rod.

Stop tapping. If you must investigate, you won't do any harm by moving the truss rod a bit to see if you can make it change or disappear.

GGJaguar said:

I have found two things to cause neck rattles on my guitars - loose tuner bushings and a loose truss rod.

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Yeah - I was hoping it was the bushings. No such luck.

My guess is the TR. Whatever it is, it sounds pretty minor. I'd have a good tech/Luthier look at it before I returned it.

richardp69 said:

My guess is the TR. Whatever it is, it sounds pretty minor. I'd have a good tech/Luthier look at it before I returned it.

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I was thinking that, but didn't want to inadvertently void the warranty (for either me or the seller) by having an unauthorized tech do any further damage to the TR. It's why I haven't monkeyed around with it myself.

I seem to be more concerned about truss rods than most here (aside from the passion surrounding TRCs). I was under the impression they are one of the most difficult and expensive things to diagnose and fix. Maybe I'm overly cautious.

Coop47 said:

I was thinking that, but didn't want to inadvertently void the warranty (for either me or the seller) by having an unauthorized tech do any further damage to the TR. It's why I haven't monkeyed around with it myself.

I seem to be more concerned about truss rods than most here (aside from the passion surrounding TRCs). I was under the impression they are one of the most difficult and expensive things to diagnose and fix. Maybe I'm overly cautious.

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Not horribly expensive but not free either. I just had the TR replaced on my D 40T Deluxe. Had to have the fingerboard removed, the TR replaced and then the board glued back down again. Total cost would have been about $250 but my 1st guy messed up a bit and I had to have some additional work done so it was more costly.

I'll be putting that D 40T Deluxe out for sale early next week if anyone is looking for such a guitar. It's one of the 8 (I think it was 8 but whatever it was, it was low production) that were made for Sweetwater. It has the sweet inlays etc. Nice guitar. In fact, I own 2 of them. Keeping one for sure.

Coop47 said:

FWIW, it is supposedly still under warranty.

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Guild says "This warranty applies only to the original retail purchaser when this instrument is purchased as new from an Authorized Guild Dealer" so unless you are buying from an Authorized Dealer or expecting some kind of scheme where the seller takes care of the warranty claim for you I'm not expecting a warranty claim to be honored.

Since you said "B-stock" that also means it doesn't have a warranty from Guild since no matter who sells "B-Stock" it is not considered "as new" for warranty purposes.

fronobulax said:

Guild says "This warranty applies only to the original retail purchaser when this instrument is purchased as new from an Authorized Guild Dealer" so unless you are buying from an Authorized Dealer or expecting some kind of scheme where the seller takes care of the warranty claim for you I'm not expecting a warranty claim to be honored.

Since you said "B-stock" that also means it doesn't have a warranty from Guild since no matter who sells "B-Stock" it is not considered "as new" for warranty purposes.

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Need to confirm with Guild on Monday, but the seller is an authorized dealer who got it directly from a Guild rep and says the warranty is valid. But again, will confirm on Monday.

Hello

Do not fear the truss rod. As long you do not force anything, you'll be fine. Besides - trussrod adjustment should be a procedure, that EVERY guitar player does. Because temperature- and humidity variations may change your neck a bit. So instead of having to find someone to do that for you - why not learn to do it.

In this particular case I would first check, that the trussrod is not simply too loose - if you have skinny strings, the neck wood alone is strong enough to stay straight. So remove TRC and insert the tool. I assume - I do not know - that they still have thet 1/4 inch nut there. So regular 1/4 inch nut wrench will fit. Try to turn it clockwise and feel how tight it is. At minimum it should be snug.

When tightening beyond snug - my favourite way is to hold the guitar standing on the floor between my knees while I'm sitting. Since I'm more right-handed than lefty - I have the back of the guitar facing left. Then I grab the top of the neck at nut - not at the top of headstock - and pull it slightly back to ease tension on trussrod - simultaneously turning the nut with right hand. Reason for this is - I try not to strip the thread.

With any luck your rattle will be gone.

Nuuska said:

Do not fear the truss rod.

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Thanks. Just to be clear, I don't fear making truss rod adjustments. I'm just concerned with buying a guitar with a broken or ineffective one. Still waiting to hear back from the seller before doing anything with it.

Coop47 said:

Thanks. Just to be clear, I don't fear making truss rod adjustments. I'm just concerned with buying a guitar with a broken or ineffective one. Still waiting to hear back from the seller before doing anything with it.

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'at'd be the first time I ever heard of a bad TR in a new guitar.

fronobulax said:

Guild says "This warranty applies only to the original retail purchaser when this instrument is purchased as new from an Authorized Guild Dealer" so unless you are buying from an Authorized Dealer or expecting some kind of scheme where the seller takes care of the warranty claim for you I'm not expecting a warranty claim to be honored.

Since you said "B-stock" that also means it doesn't have a warranty from Guild since no matter who sells "B-Stock" it is not considered "as new" for warranty purposes.

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Actually "that depends".
Although I don't know if Cordoba has a blanket rule regarding B-stock it sounds like they're still using Fender's scheme of limited warranty being available, especially since in Coop's case the reason for the "B" stock designation appears to be cosmetic. So while finish may not be covered, construction and materials might, and I suspect this is why Coop's been told he does have a warranty.
I also recall one of our members (was it Dap'mDave?) buying a New Hartford manufacturer's rep D40 "demo" guitar a few years back that was sold as B-stock with a 2-year limit on its warranty, (which he did in fact wind up needing to use.)
On the other side of the scale I recall that when New Hartford was shutting down they sold some B-stock inventory to dealers for a great price but they were specifically excluded from warranty. I assume they were able to provide Cordoba with a list of the s/n's on those guitars since Cordoba did commit to honor warranties on NH instruments purchased from authorized dealers.

adorshki said:

'at'd be the first time I ever heard of a bad TR in a new guitar.

.......
I also recall one of our members (was it Dap'mDave?) buying a New Hartford manufacturer's rep D40 "demo" guitar a few years back that was sold as B-stock with a 2-year limit on its warranty, (which he did in fact wind up needing to use.)

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Thanks Al. I'm not even sure if it's bad, but have you heard of one loose in a new guitar? That seems odd to me.

And from what I've been told, his one was a trade show demo.

Have you looked and poked at the nut to see if it's loose? Just a look see should be somewhat informative. A tiny little tweak to the truss rod is not gonna explode the guitar. Aren't you even curious??

"warranty" can be ambiguous and I confess I assumed "warranty" meant limited lifetime warranty from the Guild factory.

There are cases where a different warranty has been offered or negotiated. There have been cases where the selling dealer has offered a warranty (m=not Guild). And there are cases where Trade Show demos, floor models and the like have been sold as something other than "B-Stock".

But if my decision about what to do with this guitar depended upon warranty status I'd get something in writing before I mad a decision

I have experienced a double action truss rod rattle before. The rattle happened to me when the truss rod nut was in a position where the nut was not putting pressure on the truss rod in either direction allowing the truss rod to rattle around in the channel of the neck. This happened to me when a new to me guitar settled into the environment at my home. My thought at the time was the temperature and humidity in my home was much different from the environment the guitar came from. The rattle stopped after tension was applied to the truss rod adjustment nut.

I think the selling shop will correct this for you in a matter of minutes.

Thanks Budha - Is the TR on the Oxnard six strings double action? I thought only the 12 strings had them.

Still waiting to hear back from the seller. Basically just want to talk with them before doing anything.

You may be thinking of the older 12 strings with two truss rods. My 1990 JF30-12 has two truss rods. My new Oxnard F512 has one double-action truss rod. I don't know if all of the Oxnard Guilds are double-action truss rods. Someone will chime in and let us know about the other Oxnard Guilds.

Update: the Guild website lists the F40 as having a single action truss rod.

Coop47 said:

Thanks Al. I'm not even sure if it's bad, but have you heard of one loose in a new guitar? That seems odd to me.

And from what I've been told, his one was a trade show demo.

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Sweetie, if you saw what the public does to these instruments at a trade show...

Plus the shipping back and forth...

If all it needs is a truss rod adjustment, you've got a good deal.

If you get the seller's ok to have it looked at by a tech, it could be a very small issue.

Good luck

Coop47, any updates on your neck rattle?