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Post by blindwilly3fingers on Sept 21, 2019 13:01:01 GMT
DefJef tbh if they sent me a replacement switch I'd be happy. The only thing worrying me is if there is other damage not visible much like thunderbird posted. I love the guitar and would like to keep it. If its just the switch which has obviously taken a bang in transit I have no problem keeping and fixing it. But Thomann's avoidance of answering the question is worrying me. thunderbird what was wrong with your guitar apart from the switch? Was it due to poor handling in transit?
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thunderbird
Harley Benton Expert
Less purchase, more practice
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Post by thunderbird on Sept 21, 2019 13:18:59 GMT
DefJef tbh if they sent me a replacement switch I'd be happy. The only thing worrying me is if there is other damage not visible much like thunderbird posted. I love the guitar and would like to keep it. If its just the switch which has obviously taken a bang in transit I have no problem keeping and fixing it. But Thomann's avoidance of answering the question is worrying me. thunderbird what was wrong with your guitar apart from the switch? Was it due to poor handling in transit? It wasn't due to poor handling, as far as I could tell, it just faded away. The other issues weren't due to handling either, but Thomann came through with their warranty, admittedly, after a nervous wait on my part.
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Post by blindwilly3fingers on Sept 21, 2019 13:21:45 GMT
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Post by blindwilly3fingers on Sept 21, 2019 14:58:29 GMT
Well nothing from Thomann so perhaps monday they will get back to me?
I could easily remove the switch cover without marking the screws or leaving a trace I ever touched it. I would rather have the ok to check it but Thomann's lack of communication is annoying to say the least. Must say it seems easier for people to buy the guitars have them a day or two. Then decide they don't like them and send them back. That seems an easier process then receiving one with minor damage and getting an answer how to proceed!
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Post by hallon on Sept 21, 2019 20:10:20 GMT
Here are a couple pf pics, 2 of the broken switch! Thomann got back to me this morning telling me they had forwarded it to customer services? Anyway customer service contacted me late this afternoon! a document telling me they required 3 pics of this and 3 pics of that plus 3 pics of the defect. Also i should use software to compress the images and not to throw the packaging away. After all that they would then decide the way forward!
Got to say not impressed! I have sent several images uncompressed 1 email at a time as AOL fails if I send more than 1 image. I've not got photo editing software nor anything like winzip on my computer, I really don't need it. When I bought this computer I was determined not to fill it with stuff for work or business. While i can see Thomann need to know I'm not scamming them it is way to slow communication from them, yes they may be busy but so am I.
I'm at the point of telling them to do one and just fix it (taking the gamble there is no internal damage). Tbh if they had gave me the go ahead to look inside to check and offered to send a replacement switch I'd have been happy. I understand they are cheap instruments and may need setting up, which I take as par for the course but broken parts is another thing.
This may well be my last purchase from Thomann!
p.s Thats good to hear intenselycalm
Was just about to say congratz, when I read about your trouble, hope it works out for you man!
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freeman
Harley Benton Club Junior Member
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Post by freeman on Sept 23, 2019 7:31:12 GMT
2018 I waited for months for the GT to be in stock. In the mean time I ordered a 450Plus VB, which has turned out to be a real keeper. It was setup almost perfectly out of the box. Just a few tweaks. It had a slight indentation on the top under the pick guard screw. I could live with that, as the guitar had a great feel and sounded good. When the GT was in stock I ordered one straight away. When it came, it wasn't setup very well and this time the top had a proper hole under the screw of the pick guard. I always remove pick guards on LP's so it was bummer always having to look at this hole on the otherwise perfect top. I tried to set it up but wasn't satisfied with the results. it just didn't feel right. The older models had a nice light brown woody color on the back, like the one Henning Pauly reviewed. Mine was bright red and frankly cheap looking. So I sent it back and swapped it for a TE-70 BP which has been delightful. Have you checked the top under the pick guard screw?
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Post by blindwilly3fingers on Sept 23, 2019 8:08:48 GMT
Yes freeman I have checked under the pickguard screw, it appears fine. There is nothing wrong with this guitar I can find apart from the broken switch. The action is a tad high but not bad, I've checked with a fret rocker and there are a couple of very slight rocks. There is no string choke or buzz anywhere, I really like it. To be fair it's set up pretty good, relief is about right, no sharp fret ends. Just got to wait for Thomann to decided to contact me again!
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Post by blindwilly3fingers on Sept 23, 2019 8:57:05 GMT
Thomann replied 👏 👏 they have offered to send me a replacement switch 😊 and attached an image of a box type 3way switch they will send. I had to confirm my address which seems a bit odd?
I have agreed to the switch replacement, but they still avoided the warranty issue? I have asked again regarding this matter so it's back to waiting to see what happens next?
I am more than happy to swap out the switch just wish Thomann's process was a bit quicker. It may be I'm impatient but hey, no one is perfect!
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Post by blindwilly3fingers on Sept 23, 2019 16:00:10 GMT
Thomann replied and gave me go ahead to remove switch and check for damage. Took off switch cover plate and removed nut holding the switch. 😊 No damage under the poker chip or inside the cavity 😊 The switch is a branded JA box switch, the internal part that has the lugs at the bottom for soldering has been pushed/forced about a 1/3 of the way out of the switch case/body. There are 3 lugs one side and ground lug on the opposite side which the ground wires are soldered to the body. This prevents it being taken apart fully until it is desoldered. It has bent the metal lugs that are folded to join the the two parts together virtually straight. This looks to have saved further damage to the guitar by failing. I haven't got time to upload the pic of the damaged switch now. I will when I have time probably tomorrow. I have just layed the switch (still soldered) back in the cavity for now. I have emailed Thomann to say the guitar is OK apart from the switch. I will give more detail when time permits. But the main thing is the guitars is OK no damage 🙏 😊
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Post by blindwilly3fingers on Sept 23, 2019 19:21:28 GMT
Good stuff. So basically it's taken one heck of a whack? I don't know DefJef, that was my initial thought but the guitar bears no sign of impact damage? I'm starting to wonder if it was compression damage by this I mean it was stacked under something heavier or pressed up against solid that was concentrated on the switch tip. I can only surmise as the outer Thomann box is unmarked, as I mentioned before there is a tiny hole approximately where the switch would be on the HB box and the polystyrene block used to cover the switch had a hole right trough it. I would have thought if it had taken a big whack the pick guard would have been pushed to the body similar to freeman suggested and left a hole or indentation. Or maybe even the knobs would be tight down against the body? It's bit of a mystery, I weighed it this morning it goes just under 9 & 3/4 lbs (4.4kg) its bit of a beast. I have been over it several times and can not find fault other than the switch. Your guess is as good as mine 🤔
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Post by blindwilly3fingers on Sept 26, 2019 18:42:57 GMT
Below are pics of the damaged 3 way switch. Also a description of how it was fixed. You can see how its been forced apart. here you can see the ground wire joined together and to the case. These are the switches from my spares stash. I decided to remove the damaged switch and replace it with a spare I had but on looking at the original it looked better quality than the spare one I have, so do I wait for the one Thomann are sending? Anyway after de soldering the switch curiosity got the better of me to take a look inside and see how badly damaged it was? I had to slightly bend the lugs/crimps out to get the case from the body. On looking inside there was a loose metal rocker/contact plate, the stem is permanently attached to the casing as a plate is fixed about a third of the way up the casing with a slot to allow the stem to move, the inside was lubricated with some sort of fine grease. I was looking thinking something is missing when I spotted a thin plastic spike with a ball on one end, it was stuck to the inside corner of the casing by the lubricant. Using tweezers I got the spike out (no room for sausage fingers), the bottom of the stem has a hole in it so I didn't need Holmes to work out where the spike went. The rocker plate had square cut outs either side and was dished in the middle so seating this over the contacts correctly was easy. However trying to slide the case back over the body caused either the spike or the plate to fall out depending what angle I tried. So to overcome this I put a dab of Vaseline in the hole in the stem slid the spike in and it stayed in position I then slid the case over the body but had to apply slight pressure to keep the two parts together while using a large pair of long nosed pliers to bend the lugs/crimps back into position. It fitted together perfectly and even better appeared to work with nice firm clicks into each position. This took all of a few minuets, so now I'm thinking can I be this lucky? So as the soldering iron was out I soldered it back into the guitar hooked up a multimeter via the jack lead and got readings in all positions. I put the switch cover back on the guitar and for the last two hours have been knocking myself out. I have to say this is a fantastic sounding guitar, in any of the 3 positions it has a killer sound. I can't believe how good it is for the price, the thing I didn't realise until writing was at no point did I use OD or pedals! Clean this if by far the best guitar I have, I don't know who makes the pickups (they are both over 9k dcr) but they sound incredible using my Bugera and Joyo amps. I will do a proper test for Henries later and the exact resistance if anyone is interested. While the switch appears ok the bottom lugs did not look as tidy as they did new, as its working I will leave it as it is. I never expected to fix the switch it was one of those instances where you get taken over by curiosity and it leads you something completely unexpected. I had my camera handy but tbh it happened so quickly I never thought of taking pics, at least I know not to think something is completely broken without taking it apart in future.
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