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Post by daveb on Mar 20, 2015 21:19:42 GMT
Here's another pic that shows the problem more clearly. It's a crack in the lacquer right where the neck has been laminated to the heel joint. I'd really appreciate everyone's opinions on this - what would you do in my situation? And yes, the pickup cover is missing a big chunk in one corner. Weird.
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Post by doofus on Mar 20, 2015 21:41:58 GMT
That Lacquer crack wouldn't put me off it at all, If it plays & sounds the business I'd consider keeping it after a chat with Thomann's people, either a discount as It's B stock with those issues or a replacement, From what I've heard about their returns It's a painless business as in they send you a UPS label and you just need to go to the UPS website and book a collection.
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Post by annoyingtwit on Mar 21, 2015 16:26:58 GMT
Interesting review. Hopefully your purchase will come to a good resolution, whether that be a smooth return or keeping the instrument.
Fascinating to see inside the instrument with your spy cam.
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Post by daveb on Mar 24, 2015 13:04:22 GMT
Amicable resolution reached with Thomann . They offered me a discount, and their 'technical department' believe the crack won't get any worse (from additional pictures I emailed them). Good enough for me, this one's a keeper. (Also, I have to say, this is the first time I've had to approach Thomann customer service, and they were an absolute pleasure to deal with. Polite, efficient and professional. I'm impressed!) Now, I can get down to wrangling this big beastie of a guitar into proper playable shape. Frets need levelled, crowned & polished, nut slots need attention. And the bridge & tremolo. Oh, where to start with those! All I can say is that Gretsch & archtop fans must be a very patient crowd. A floating (non-fixed) bridge on an archtop with a Bigsby trem is a fiddly, temperamental thing. Some work is required, just not sure what yet. But right now, the break angle of the strings leaving the bridge is so steep that the bridge keeps moving around under the tension. I still love this guitar. But compared to the simple design of say a telecaster, it feels like a very fiddly, fragile thing.
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Post by doofus on Mar 24, 2015 17:49:09 GMT
That's Cool It's nice to know Thomann put their money where their mouth is & make things right.
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Post by kgmf on Dec 29, 2015 12:56:29 GMT
It's been awhile since daveb did his in-depth review here. Has anyone else picked up one of these in the past few months? Would love to hear some more thoughts on it.
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Post by gullum on Dec 29, 2015 14:01:54 GMT
I'm going to get one even if it might end up as only a decor in my living room the withe just looks so freaking awesome
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Post by nickinthestates on Dec 29, 2015 16:51:38 GMT
I have one en route but it takes a while these days to get to the states. Hopefully I'll have it within the week. There's a good thread going on the aguitarforums.com forums from one of my buddies who just got his.
This order on my part is an orange Big Tone, JA-60 (for a different friend) and the SC550 Paradise Amber. It will hopefully be a happy new year indeed!
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Post by kgmf on Dec 30, 2015 7:17:37 GMT
I have one en route but it takes a while these days to get to the states. Hopefully I'll have it within the week. There's a good thread going on the aguitarforums.com forums from one of my buddies who just got his. This order on my part is an orange Big Tone, JA-60 (for a different friend) and the SC550 Paradise Amber. It will hopefully be a happy new year indeed! Very much looking forward to that video, Nick!
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Post by marit on Jan 3, 2016 21:37:09 GMT
Hi there, new on this forum. Thomann and HB have seduced me by the looks and prices of their guitars. Just stumbled upon this Gretsch lookalike too. Am looking for a Gretsch White Falcon lookalike. Back in stock 10 Feb, has it been on sale before or is this a case of delay after delay? Maybe someone has had its eyes on it for longer than I have
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Post by fixxxerjh on Jan 3, 2016 22:02:41 GMT
Well that's a little worrying seeing the issues you received on that guitar. Glad you got a hold of them easily and came to an agreement though. Make sure you fix that crack in the lacquer, if you don't it will surely cause problems in that area down the line. All you have to do is sand it with some 400 grit brush on a little lacquer, wet sand, and polish to match the existing area.
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Post by oghkhood on Jan 3, 2016 22:21:46 GMT
The roller bridge on my €piphone Swingster was doing the same rocking back & forth, though it never caused me any problem. Floatting bridges probably all do that on hollowbody guitars when there is a Bigsby on. Anyway, I had another problem comming from vibrating roller saddles that caused bad harmonics and killed the sustain. I tried several models of roller bridge, and couldn't find any giving satisfaction. So in fine, I equipped my guitar with a Gretsch Rocking bar that is just working like you guess It does it really fine. And more : it gave a bit more low end to the sound Say : "thank you mr Chet Atkins"
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DefJef
THBC Moderator
Due to musical differences I've decided I can't work with myself any more.
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Post by DefJef on Jan 4, 2016 12:13:18 GMT
So, the BigTone arrived today. Bit of a mixed bag, this one. First, this thing is HUGE. I mentioned above that it looked bigger than a Gretsch, and it is - 3.25" deep on the body, to be precise. For comparison, a Gibson ES335 is 2", and the biggest Gretsch models are 2.75". On the plus side, this means that the guitar has a lovely tone. On the downside, it's kind of uncomfortable to play standing up. I haven't had the chance to play it much yet (and probably won't bother - see below) but from a quick audition through a clean '65 Twin Reverb preset on my Mustang III, the neck pickup has lots of guts & presence, the bridge pickup less so (it feels quite muffled). The unbranded Bigsby-style trem works just fine. I ran through a couple of standard Stray Cats tunes, and was smiling at the end, so this guitar definitely has something going for it. Initial impressions - looks as good as I hoped it would. More of a visible wood grain than this picture shows. Binding is done nicely. Clear pickguard tacky looking, not in keeping with the rest of the guitar. Yet another half-arsed fret levelling fail from Thomann's factory. My TE-70 was exactly the same. Notice how the frets have been roughly ground flat, but not crowned or polished. Unplayable, feels like sandpaper. I would far prefer the factory to leave the frets intact. Roller bridge is an oddity. Looks decent enough quality, but since the whole bridge (which is floating i.e. NOT glued to the guitar) just rocks back & forth when you use the tremolo, it's kind of redundant. While I'm in a moaning mood - this should never have passed quality control. Curious about the construction, I whipped out the cheapo eBay inspection camera . Wiring is nicely done, internal construction is solid and clean. There is no bracing inside the guitar, other than this 2"x1" support post directly under the bridge. Internal view of the pickups. This certainly is a full hollow body guitar! Unfortunately, I will almost certainly be trying out Thomann's returns policy on this guitar, due to this at the heel of the neck: I had a half arsed fret level like that on a Yamaha Pacifica 112. They were like speed bumps. Just as I slid up to a high fret I'd pull up a whole fret early. Nasty. But fixable.
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Post by daveb on Jan 4, 2016 13:30:03 GMT
Well that's a little worrying seeing the issues you received on that guitar. Glad you got a hold of them easily and came to an agreement though. Make sure you fix that crack in the lacquer, if you don't it will surely cause problems in that area down the line. All you have to do is sand it with some 400 grit brush on a little lacquer, wet sand, and polish to match the existing area. Thanks for the tip. Since I posted my review (in March last year) the lacquer crack hasn't changed. Since this guitar doesn't get gigged I don't expect it to become an issue. Also, there's over two years of Thomann warranty left. If I attempted a repair myself and something serious went wrong at the heel joint in the future, Thomann could rightly refuse any warranty claim.
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Post by oghkhood on Jan 4, 2016 16:06:53 GMT
You're reason : either you accept the guitar like you received it, or you return, and Thoman won't make any problem to refund or change, according to the several examples I know.
Imho : I would return a guitar having such flaws (neck crack, pup cover .... ), be it sweet and nice in other aspects, with no doubt. The more than there is nothig to fix with this crack that is under the lacquer, as it seems.
Tip : ask for a quality control before shipping. This may lengthen the lead time, but they'll do it
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