CV-1 - Guild's Newest Best Kept Secret

[zplay]

Z,

I'm glad you made some progress. If that doesn't work to your satisfaction let me know as I was given a couple of other options by a trusted source. If it needs something as serious as a neck reset on a new guitar, then I would think Guild should just replace it (unless she is dear to you). The graphite neck block system and bolt-on neck is new, and it is understandable that Guild would want to establish the problem was not created by the customer. In this case, it should be quite apparent there is a defect or malfunction, and the customer should not have to bear the burden of lack of widespread understanding by some Guild techs of the issues.

We praise the hell out of Guild when they are right, but they also need to know when they have problems and they should go out of their way to resolve them. I love my CV-1, but if it develops your guit's problems I will have a screaming conniption fit until it is resolved. Just my nature. That's a privilege of reaching Geezer status.

All I can say is that I was seriously touched when I read this, so much so that I actually told my wife about it to illustrate what it is that is so cool about this forum and to give me some cover for why I spend so much time in my geezerdom
doing so!
AJ, I hope to not have to take you up on that generous offer, but will let you know if I run in to a wall with this.
Also, having just picked my up CV-1C from my tech's shop last eve and having had the opportunity to hold it and play it again after about a week and a half without, I was very pleased to find out again what a wonderful guitar it is. I would be loathe to give this one up, even if offerred a new one. Plus, it seems to me that a reset should not be a big deal in a bolt-on system like this one has. Atleast that's what I'd expect.

More later ....

 

[zplay]

UPDATE!! UPDATE!!

I'll be damned, it looks like I've got some good news regarding my CV-1C with the neck angle problem! I brought it to the guitar tech at a local Sam Ash megastore recommended by the customer rep in Scottsdale, AZ. It took almost 2 weeks, but this guy, Sam(no relation to Ash) finally got through to Fender/Guild repair central in Nashville and I guess really went to bat for me with them, because they authorized him to try to fiddle with the graphite neck attachment system to see if he can straighten out the fingerboard extension. If he can't accomplish it, they'll replace the guitar!!!
- Not something I want to see happen, but I was frankly quite surprised that they didn't insist on having it sent to Nashville, where it would have a maybe 6 month wait time, rather than allowing for a local solution or possible replacement. I was all set to be embittered and highly indignant and rabidly anti-corporate, but .... may not get the chance to be. ..... this time.
I should know if my guitar is fixable within a couple of days.

Sam did say also that just because it is a bolt-on and theoretically should be an easier reset, the new technology in this neck block system means that it is no slam-dunk. He also opined that with all of the new aquisitions, the Fender people seem to have their hands filled, which may account for the delays in getting through.

Anyway, for now I am quite relieved and pleasantly surprised.

 

[ajgorman]

Z,

I'm very glad to hear this and happy for you. I hope they can appropriately correct the neck problems on your baby. While nothing surprises me anymore, I would have been severely disappointed if they had handled it any other way. The only way to obtain and keep customers is to take care of them. Guild is gaining momentum with a new following in addition to the old geezer loyalists like us. Maybe FMIC is doing a few things right these days, and we can do our part to make sure they know we are here to help them keep pulse on what is happening at the grassroots level away from the home office.

 

[zplay]

Thanks again, AJ!

 

[zplay]

Another update on my CV-1C with the neck problem:
it took another week or so, but the tech at Sam Ash did get authorization from Fender to see what he could do to straighten out the fingerboard extension. He said he spent about 1 1/2 hours on it, but couldn't fix it. So, he talked with a guy way up in Fender service management who authorized a brand new guitar to be shipped out to the store on my behalf! - Should come in sometime in January(Let's hope it doesn't arrive with a lot of cold temp-related finish checking.)

Needless to say, I was really pleased and grateful to get this news, as it took some caring and persistance on the part of this VERY busy tech. It also suggests that Fender is willing to stand behind its new product, which is reassuring.

I have mixed feelings about having my instrument replaced: who wouldn't be excited at the prospect of a brand new guitar, after all?!
Yet, I feel bad about MY guitar, which was/is quite a good instrument and should be allowed to blossom into an even better one. It's a strange feeling. And I really hope its replacement is as good.

Chatting with the tech about the situation, it sounds like he was frustrated at the difficulty in getting specific information about working with this new graphite neck assembly. He said that noone could/would give him instruction as to how to work with the bolts, etc. So, he just tried to use the same approach as he would with another bolt-on and couldn't be sure if there might have been a better way to fiddle with it. Seems like everything is top secret with this new technology!

 

[ajgorman]

Great News, Z. I wish you good luck with your new baby. I know the feeling well...you hate to lose an instrument that you are fond of, but the excitement of a new git is exhilirating. Kind of like girls friends in the old days...

 

[zplay]

Great News, Z. I wish you good luck with your new baby. I know the feeling well...you hate to lose an instrument that you are fond of, but the excitement of a new git is exhilirating. Kind of like girls friends in the old days...

Thanks again AJ.
But, as to the girlfriends part, I'm not sure I can remember back that far.

 

[sitka_spruce]

Hellfire! I think my Porter has a similar issue with its neck. Not quite what I had in mind.

 

[ajgorman]

Wow! I'm surprised and disappointed to hear that. If it turns out to be that issue, at least maybe there's some small comfort for you from Z's experience that Guild will stand behind it.

I'm still waiting for delivery of my CD-1 I ordered in early October which has been pushed back to the end of the month. I hope it will be as good structurally as my CV-1.

 

[zplay]

Hellfire! I think my Porter has a similar issue with its neck. Not quite what I had in mind.

Oh S..T, Sitka, I'm very sorry to hear it! In this case, misery certainly does not love company! I was really hoping that for the good of this line, my CV was just an aberation.

Do you have a Fender-approved tech to look at it?

 

[sitka_spruce]

Hellfire! I think my Porter has a similar issue with its neck. Not quite what I had in mind.

Oh S..T, Sitka, I'm very sorry to hear it! In this case, misery certainly does not love company! I was really hoping that for the good of this line, my CV was just an aberation.

Do you have a Fender-approved tech to look at it?

Thanx mate! I'm affraid words like 'approved' and 'certified' are rare to be applied on anyone around here. The fact I bought it off a US dealer doesn't help either.

What I'll do is I'm going to let it set in for a while before doing anything drastic. I've ordered a proper key for the trussrod nut and I'll see where, if anywhere, fiddling that nut would get me. Somehow I'm trying to convince myself into thinking I may have cried wolf a bit early. The neck is actually straight from the 11th fret and up but in an angle to the remaining ten frets, hence the action is at its highest at around the 12th fret...

After all it's still a great sounding and playing instrument, we mustn't forget that!

 

[ajgorman]

Sitka,

I successfully adjusted the truss rod on my CV-1 to lower the action a while back and it really helped the playability for me. For most folks it would have probably been ok as is, but now it's much easier for me. It's the standard Guild 1/4 socket wrench. Good luck and I'll keep the fingers crossed for you. I'd love to have a Willy if I could spring for the $$$...gorgeous looking and sounding. But with the CD-1 purchase, that's an '09 project.

 

[zplay]

[quote="sitka_spruce":bd3f2]Hellfire! I think my Porter has a similar issue with its neck. Not quite what I had in mind.

Oh S..T, Sitka, I'm very sorry to hear it! In this case, misery certainly does not love company! I was really hoping that for the good of this line, my CV was just an aberation.

Do you have a Fender-approved tech to look at it?

Thanx mate! I'm affraid words like 'approved' and 'certified' are rare to be applied on anyone around here. The fact I bought it off a US dealer doesn't help either.

What I'll do is I'm going to let it set in for a while before doing anything drastic. I've ordered a proper key for the trussrod nut and I'll see where, if anywhere, fiddling that nut would get me. Somehow I'm trying to convince myself into thinking I may have cried wolf a bit early. The neck is actually straight from the 11th fret and up but in an angle to the remaining ten frets, hence the action is at its highest at around the 12th fret...

After all it's still a great sounding and playing instrument, we mustn't forget that![/quote:bd3f2]

Sitka,

I successfully adjusted the truss rod on my CV-1 to lower the action a while back and it really helped the playability for me. For most folks it would have probably been ok as is, but now it's much easier for me. It's the standard Guild 1/4 socket wrench. Good luck and I'll keep the fingers crossed for you. I'd love to have a Willy if I could spring for the $$$...gorgeous looking and sounding. But with the CD-1 purchase, that's an '09 project.

Absolutely agree with with using the truss rod to reduce the relief in the neck before doing anything else. Might just be that the angle Sitka speaks of around the 11th fret will come down nicely in-so-doing. My CV's problem began around the 14th fret or so heading toward the soundhole(fingerboard extension). Good luck, Sitka!

Man, I miss that guitar! I just spoke with my contact people at the local Sam Ash who persevered again in getting through to Fender to find out when abouts i should be getting a new CV-1C. Sounds like like early-mid Feb. most likely. They said it should ship from somewhere with the unlikely name of Ontario, CA. - Not Corona, CA. How many warehouses does Fender have??!!

 

[sitka_spruce]

Cheers guys - you are the best. It actually is quite playable as it is right now. Chance of buzz at the first and last frets.

It would seem, though, that a surgical operation of the neck of my guitar is inevitable. Still waiting for the trussrod key to arrive. Even with one in my possession I'm slowly realising it won't work miracles on the instrument. The neck being at its extreme (before negative bow occurs) would probably not give me room for any adjustment or the action would either reach the clouds or the strings would probably buzz.

Any suggestions on where to go from here? This instrument technically bought in the States - that's all Guild and subsequently Fender need to know - would have some guarantee from faulty workmanship I gather, being brand spanking new and all.

 

[ajgorman]

Sitka,

If you are tired of waiting, you can go to any hardware store or equivalent and obtain any suitable 1/4 inch socket wrench/screwdriver to do the adjustment. If the neck is possibly irreparably warped, you may want to take it to a luthier before you attempt any adjustment.

As far as warranty, although it may be new, the key to a repair under warranty is that it was purchased from an authorized dealer and that you have the original sales receipt. You may possibly have a cause of action with the seller if he represented it was under warranty and it is not.

Best of luck with this.

 

[zplay]

Sitka,

If you are tired of waiting, you can go to any hardware store or equivalent and obtain any suitable 1/4 inch socket wrench/screwdriver to do the adjustment. If the neck is possibly irreparably warped, you may want to take it to a luthier before you attempt any adjustment. Just be very careful to do any adjustments a little at a time and keep tuned to pitch to allow it to set in without damaging it.

As far as warranty, although it may be new, the key to a repair under warranty is that it was purchased from an authorized dealer and that you have the original sales receipt. You may possibly have a cause of action with the seller if he represented it was under warranty and it is not.

Best of luck with this.

Sitka, there has got to be a Fender warranty shop somewhere in your area, since their electrics are distributed world-wide. They don't have to be familiar with Guilds as such, as long as they're Fender-approved. If you can find such a warranty repair shop, I'd strongly recommend you take your CV there, as someone in Fender/Guild customer service here in the US just needs to be called by the guitar tech. If you find a tech and he/she needs the right phone numbers, I could probably get them from the people here with whom I'm working .

 

[sitka_spruce]

Sitka,

If you are tired of waiting, you can go to any hardware store or equivalent and obtain any suitable 1/4 inch socket wrench/screwdriver to do the adjustment. If the neck is possibly irreparably warped, you may want to take it to a luthier before you attempt any adjustment. Just be very careful to do any adjustments a little at a time and keep tuned to pitch to allow it to set in without damaging it.

As far as warranty, although it may be new, the key to a repair under warranty is that it was purchased from an authorized dealer and that you have the original sales receipt. You may possibly have a cause of action with the seller if he represented it was under warranty and it is not.

Best of luck with this.

Sitka, there has got to be a Fender warranty shop somewhere in your area, since their electrics are distributed world-wide. They don't have to be familiar with Guilds as such, as long as they're Fender-approved. If you can find such a warranty repair shop, I'd strongly recommend you take your CV there, as someone in Fender/Guild customer service here in the US just needs to be called by the guitar tech. If you find a tech and he/she needs the right phone numbers, I could probably get them from the people here with whom I'm working .

Cheers, mate! I think I'll get in touch with 'that firm in Stockholm', the one Ulf on here hired for a neck reset of a D25 recently. They do sell the CV-1C and other Guilds, and by all means Fenders and other FMIC sub-brands.

You might be right about what's straight and what's not, having looked into it deeper. It might be the portion of fretboard over the top that could do with a trimming, same as on AJ's CV-1. Funny though as this part, supported by the graphite spindle thing, is supposed to be the flattest/ straighest part of the instrument I understand. That as it may, this would not call for an actual reset, rather a sanding of the (underside (?) of the) fretboard or parts of it, I gather.

 

[sitka_spruce]

ZP: Thanx mate! We seem to have cross posted. See post above. At least I think it's the over-the-body part of the fb that has gone pearshaped or what ever.

 

[zplay]

ZP: Thanx mate! We seem to have cross posted. See post above. At least I think it's the over-the-body part of the fb that has gone pearshaped or what ever.

Hi Sitka,

Yeah, I think that over-the-body portion is referred to as the fretboard extension, if I understood my tech correctly. That's the portion that sloped upwards and away from the the line of the fretboard along the neck, kind of like a ski jump. I saw this again on an F-47M at a shop yesterday, so I assume that it's not just and issue with Contemporaries. And yes, you'ld think that the graphite supports would keep the upper bout very stable, once the fretboard is properly seated.

Glad to hear you have that shop in Stockholm to go through.

 

[sitka_spruce]

Had it been a dovetail I'm sure the tech would just have ripped out all the frets and sanded the thing down and re-freted it. Now that it's basically screwed on I'm curious if they would just do their magic to the underside of the fb extension (which btw sounds like a plausible name for what I'm after). Would save them a lot of work and me a lot of money, I guess. I feel almost temped to give it a go myself, if it's that straight forward.

Edit: There's noone I could have a chat with so the cost for seating the extension at a better angle won't be that high?