My colleague Alan, a guitarist in a couple of different bands, decided to blow his bonus money (around £2400) on a decent acoustic guitar so bought a Taylor (he's not in today so I can't ask what model) from Anderton's. It came with the offer of a free set-up. Being more used to electric and wanting to be able to bend, he decided to drop from the 13s that came on it to 11s so they kept it for a few days to restring it and shim the neck (apparently Taylor supply wooden shims to their authorised dealers. He went to pick it up and found that the action was now too high and left it with them for adjustment. He got a call last week to say that the guitar was ready so popped down at lunchtime to pick it up. The action was now low, but choked on bends on the high frets and "it sounded like a banjo". Plus there was a ding in the front. The guitar tech disclaimed any knowledge of the ding, mentioned in passing that he'd re-levelled the frets and basically shrugged his shoulders and went to get someone else. Over the next couple of hours Alan and a couple of different Anderton's guys tried his guitar vs. other instances of the same model and agreed his sounded like a bit of clunker, but they'd done all they could do. In the end he said he'd have to eBay it as he couldn't live with it. The Anderton's guy said "well, would you happy to swap that one for this one? I'll just have a word with the manager". So they did.
What do I take from this anecdote? 11s are too light on Taylors? Anderton's have good customer service? Anderton's have poor Taylor set-up skills?
[edit:] Taylor 814CE
A tale about Taylor and Anderton's
Moderated By: mods
the main thing i would take away is that your friend needs to be more assertive, and that's the main reason he was run roughshod by the dimwitted clerks. if the action is too low, he then has to say that and get them to adjust it again. this is a £2400 guitar, but really, any guitar should take as many attempts as it takes until its right. which leads me on to my second point...
and yes, a lot of guitar shop setups are absolute wank anyway, which is pretty common knowledge as far as i'm concerned. this is not an insult to andertons, it's just the nature of the game. but the main failing is on them for not asking what he wants (which is why it's going to take so many attempts). a standard question when getting low action is "how many tones do you want to bend?". they then make it so you can get that all the way up the neck. one whole tone can be set pretty low, but if you want some crazy gilmour two tone bends, the action will need to be accordingly higher unless there is no radius at all. as well as that, you need to know how heavy handed they are. if it was me with my light hands, i may have gotten no rattle at all on your friend's taylor, but not everyone can.
and taylor guitars at that price are renowned to have some of the nicest setups off the shelf. fret levelling my fucking arse. he'll have polished them or given them a wire wooling at the most.
and yes, a lot of guitar shop setups are absolute wank anyway, which is pretty common knowledge as far as i'm concerned. this is not an insult to andertons, it's just the nature of the game. but the main failing is on them for not asking what he wants (which is why it's going to take so many attempts). a standard question when getting low action is "how many tones do you want to bend?". they then make it so you can get that all the way up the neck. one whole tone can be set pretty low, but if you want some crazy gilmour two tone bends, the action will need to be accordingly higher unless there is no radius at all. as well as that, you need to know how heavy handed they are. if it was me with my light hands, i may have gotten no rattle at all on your friend's taylor, but not everyone can.
and taylor guitars at that price are renowned to have some of the nicest setups off the shelf. fret levelling my fucking arse. he'll have polished them or given them a wire wooling at the most.
Last edited by George on Wed Jan 14, 2015 2:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I dunno, I don't really trust most of the twunts at guitar shops. If I've bought anything IRL in the last few years I've done my best to get it at near-internet prices. Now, the thing is, I set my own guitars up, and that's partly down to me being very, very particular (brute force and ignorance are how you're meant to play, right?), so those aspects aren't very important to me. That being said, guitar shop workers won't give you FUCK ALL, even if it's meant to actually come with the guitar in the first place, unless you pummel them into the dirt with a shovel.
Last guitar I bought was my Epiphone P93 Royale. I'd hunted the internet for it, couldn't find it for less than £399 anywhere, then I spotted it in PMT, £389. I also noticed it had a big scratch in the paint surface along the bottom edge, where it would almost never be seen. But it was big and ugly. They had another two in stock at the time when I asked. So I went back every Saturday until the display model was the last one left. Went in with £350, walked out with £330. I didn't push my luck asking for a setup or anything, but if I'd wanted one, I'd have used the money saved to pay for some badass luthier somewhere to do it for me.
I've also accompanied a friend when he's been buying £1200+ guitars. What I've noticed is this;
Shop workers basically treat guitars as products (because they are). They're usually your typical guitarists, loving PRS's, Ibanez and Jackson widdlers and loving, fucking loving, stratocasters and telecasters. That's fine. But it means that sub-£1000 guitars are almost inconsequential, and it's definitely a sliding scale; the cheaper the guitar, the less attention you warrant.
UNTIL you start bartering with them. You hook them and bash the potential sale over their dumb heads. Suddenly, that £250 Squier becomes the most important thing in the world.
The opposite sort of works on the expensive models, and it's like a role reversal. I buy a £250 guitar and then dent the paintwork within a week. Eh, who gives a shit? You buy the £2400 acoustic and find a dent on it and suddenly the shop is doing all they can to absolve themselves of guilt. Because Taylor aren't going to be happy if their dealers are denting their shit before it even leaves the door. "Here, have another one".
Dunno, I fucking hate guitar shops. But they're full of guitars.
Last guitar I bought was my Epiphone P93 Royale. I'd hunted the internet for it, couldn't find it for less than £399 anywhere, then I spotted it in PMT, £389. I also noticed it had a big scratch in the paint surface along the bottom edge, where it would almost never be seen. But it was big and ugly. They had another two in stock at the time when I asked. So I went back every Saturday until the display model was the last one left. Went in with £350, walked out with £330. I didn't push my luck asking for a setup or anything, but if I'd wanted one, I'd have used the money saved to pay for some badass luthier somewhere to do it for me.
I've also accompanied a friend when he's been buying £1200+ guitars. What I've noticed is this;
Shop workers basically treat guitars as products (because they are). They're usually your typical guitarists, loving PRS's, Ibanez and Jackson widdlers and loving, fucking loving, stratocasters and telecasters. That's fine. But it means that sub-£1000 guitars are almost inconsequential, and it's definitely a sliding scale; the cheaper the guitar, the less attention you warrant.
UNTIL you start bartering with them. You hook them and bash the potential sale over their dumb heads. Suddenly, that £250 Squier becomes the most important thing in the world.
The opposite sort of works on the expensive models, and it's like a role reversal. I buy a £250 guitar and then dent the paintwork within a week. Eh, who gives a shit? You buy the £2400 acoustic and find a dent on it and suddenly the shop is doing all they can to absolve themselves of guilt. Because Taylor aren't going to be happy if their dealers are denting their shit before it even leaves the door. "Here, have another one".
Dunno, I fucking hate guitar shops. But they're full of guitars.
Brandon W wrote:you elites.
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theshadowofseattle
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Mansons were pretty good with me with my bass I got before Christmas. I went in and asked about them and they pretty much straight away went online to check what they were going for on GAK ( £300, I knew that that was the cheapest it could be had) and immediately said they'd do it for £299 plus a set up after six months. I didn't even have to try to barter or anything like that. Then they threw in decent Warwick gig bag too for free.
