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Post by purplehaze on Sept 3, 2019 2:13:15 GMT
Took delivery of a Fusion-II HH EB about two weeks ago here in the US, and...
Out of the box: 1.) Locking tuners are poorly installed. One is nearly 20 degrees tilted, others not as bad, but WTH? Noticeable a mile away.
2.) The three-way switch is bad, and works in only one position. Customer service is aware and Thomanns tech believes it is the wiring touching ground somewhere. Even though the solder work is "Yikes!", some basic troubleshooting with my Fluke meter and thumb/forefinger tells me it is in fact a marginal switch (a Cor-Tek 3P).
Thomann offered a small refund to either DIY or have a luthier make the repairs. I feel comfortable with both needed repairs, so although disappointed...yeah, okay.
So, while all the above is going back and forth in email, I have yet to actually sit down with the guitar to earnestly play/noodle, further inspect, etcetera.
Segue to the last couple days: None of the other guitars I currently own, nor any of the guitars I have owned in the past, have had this issue: The high E-string slips off the edge of the fretboard. Check that - easily and often slips off the edge of the fretboard.
The nut string spacing seems fine to me, and the E-string tracks parallel down the neck. I noticed the Wilkinson bridge saddle for this string is kicked (angled) down ever so slightly towards the bottom of the guitar, but this lateral spacing/angle is not even adjustable. To my poor eyesight , it looks like they cut a 45 degree angle on the bottom fret edges then smoothed it out. Whatever is causing this, it is essentially unplayable the way it is.
Your thoughts??
P.S. I gotta add this question: How the heck did this guitar get shipped out to a customer? I mean seriously! You, me, no one, would purchase this guitar if it were taken off a sales wall and played/examined for five minutes. It'd go right back on the wall. If you think about it, this isn't even a "Deko" because of the wonky tuners! There...that's off my chest.
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Post by blindwilly3fingers on Sept 3, 2019 2:49:38 GMT
Soory to hear your problems purplehaze. Unfortunately that's the gamble with HB's and Thomann's QC. I don't know much about your model, hopefully someone on here who has one can possibly offer you some advice. As your in the US returns are bit of a pain but seriously if its unplayable I'd send it back. If its able to be sorted out? Then maybe a deal suitable to you can be worked out with Thomann. If the sting tracks correctly down the neck it's presumably not curable by a slight neck alignment adjustment. Are the saddles not adjustable, don't they have two machine set screws like on strat bridges?
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Post by blindwilly3fingers on Sept 3, 2019 3:04:22 GMT
Looking at photos of fusion 11s I notice some have they Floyd Rose bridge. I thought the Wilkinson bridge has similar saddles to a strat with two set screws adjustable up and down by use of an alen key?
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Post by purplehaze on Sept 3, 2019 5:03:35 GMT
Thanks for the reply blindwilly.
Yeah, it's disheartening since I was hoping to add a few more HB models, but if this is what gets shipped from the Pro Series no less, then I'm having second thoughts. I haven't reported this last problem to Thomann yet, in case someone here has a magical cure.
Unless I'm completely overlooking something, I'm thinking the factory just got a little too rambunctious with trying for a smooth fretboard edge and fretwire finish. I will say, the ebony fretboard itself looks terrific and the neck feels fantastic, making this all the more tragic.
None of the other repair work has been started yet, so truthfully, a replacement is probably the logical option at this point.
BTW - to try to clarify my muddy description - the saddles do have two hight adjustment setscrews, one intonation setscrew, and one larger saddle lock down setscrew. Several saddles are not parallel with one another, including the high E-string saddle, which is angled ever so slightly towards the floor (holding right-handed guitar in playing position) where the string exits the saddle. I've tried to "align" them, but when locking them down, they revert to the nonparallel positions.
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Post by blindwilly3fingers on Sept 3, 2019 8:56:06 GMT
I noticed the central screw, I have no experience of this bridge or how the locking nut works. I wouldn't give up on HB though, a lot do need a set up out of the box. I know this may sound a bit of a stab in the dark but you said one of the tuner pegs is out of line. Do you think the guitar could have taken a bang in transit? I know they are double boxed but 3 of the 4 I've had from Thomann have had holes or damage. One in particular looked like it had been dropped heavily on the bottom end even the actual guitar box had damage. The polystyrene block at the bottom strap button had virtually disintegrated but luckily had done its job. I'm sure you checked it over thoroughly but the tuner being so off line makes me wonder? Anyway good luck with whatever you decide to do with it purplehaze. Hopefully you can get a suitable outcum.
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Post by purplehaze on Sept 3, 2019 12:03:17 GMT
I noticed the central screw, I have no experience of this bridge or how the locking nut works. I wouldn't give up on HB though, a lot do need a set up out of the box. I know this may sound a bit of a stab in the dark but you said one of the tuner pegs is out of line. Do you think the guitar could have taken a bang in transit? I know they are double boxed but 3 of the 4 I've had from Thomann have had holes or damage. One in particular looked like it had been dropped heavily on the bottom end even the actual guitar box had damage. The polystyrene block at the bottom strap button had virtually disintegrated but luckily had done its job. I'm sure you checked it over thoroughly but the tuner being so off line makes me wonder? Anyway good luck with whatever you decide to do with it purplehaze . Hopefully you can get a suitable outcum. Yeah, I may not give up on HB's just yet. As I mentioned, the neck is wonderful and the ebony quality on the fretboard is quite nice. No major issues with the body or finish that I can readily see. I suppose a lot depends on how this is handled by Thomann.
The tuning peg problem is definitely with the installation. The pilot holes for the tiny mounting tabs were drilled willy nilly, with one being so outta whack that it nearly impedes the tuning of that string and the adjacent string it's tilted towards. I'm fine with doing this relatively simple repair myself, as well as the switch replacement (too many years as an electronic technician, back when repairing circuit boards on "mainframes" was a thing...which is why I cringed a second time when I saw the solder job on the switch!).
Anyways...the string-over-the-edge thing, unless I'm completely overlooking something (hence my posting), I'm fearing is not an easy fix.
I forgot to mention that the guitar, although it had quite high action out of the box, was nearly perfectly intonated. So apparently someone, or sometwo, thought nothing of the tuners <getting mad again>.
Thanks for your replies blindwilly, and yes, here's to a good outcome.
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