FitRocker33
My tone is tighter than my hamstrings
This post might be a little lengthy but I feel it necessary to talk about my experience from beginning to end.
It is very common for people to voice displeasure or complaints with a company but don’t often take the time to speak or when a company truly cares for their customer and stands behind their product.
The story starts late last year when I was shopping reverb GAS’ing for a Suhr Modern. I had previously had a modern pro a couple of years ago and sold it to cover something else at the time and had kinda regretted doing so. So after a couple of months of watching the listings one particular one caught my eye. A REALLY killer spec’d 2014 modern custom with amongst other great features a killer looking cocobolo neck and macassar ebony fretboard, flame headstock veneer and abalone logo. Immediately I connected with the seller and we spent a few days throwing counter offers at each other until we reached a damn good deal (in my favor too which rarely happens). So the desk was made and I received the guitar a couple of days later. Opening the case it was every bit as gorgeous as the pics and the look and feel of the neck was incredible. Literally the smoothest fastest neck I’ve personally felt.
Upon plugging it in and hitting a chord that’s where the smile faded….the setup appeared to have been done by a manatee because aside from being horribly out of tune it sounded very dull, kinda thuddy and lacking note ring especially acoustically.
Thankfully I’m somewhat knowledgeable in how to perform a basic setup so after a little while taking measurements and making adjustments I got it playing a little better but something was bothering me…hitting chords it really seemed flat & dead and it didn’t seem to matter what I did.
I decided to take it to my tech and see if maybe having an expert perform a setup and evaluation would make a difference.
Fast forward a couple of weeks and 60 bucks later and the difference was almost nil. I wondered if he even did anything to it. I found out my regular tech didn’t get the guitar and it was given to another guy in house so I met with my tech when I came back with the guitar…he took a look down the neck and almost immediately said he saw a little bit of a warp….what?!?!
I was devastated and pissed at the same time knowing this was about to cost me some serious $$ to fix
Knowing previous stories about Suhr taking care of their guitars I decided to reach out to Suhr and open a repair claim.
Within a couple of days I was messaged by Ed in customer service who asked me questions about the condition of the guitar and the symptoms I was experiencing. He also asked if I was the original owner and I told the truth and said I wasn’t. Suhr only warrants their guitars to the original purchaser, so I fully expected to be billed for work done. After several days of messaging I got a return auth. Number and I sent my guitar all the way back to California from Florida. This was a couple of weeks shy of the Xmas holiday. I decided not to constantly pester for updates so I waited a little over a month after they received it before I inquired back. By this point it seemed Ed left the company and was replaced by another super helpful guy named Ricardo and he told me to it was disassembled and on Johns bench ti be looked at personally. I can’t say I expected John Suhr to be looking over my guitar. They assessed the neck and it seemed to have stabilized into a small backbow. They said the fretboard would need a fresh level and full refret job followed by a neck refinish. Sounded extremely pricey to me but I agreed to the work because I knew it would be done right.
Almost 2 more months past and I decided to check on it and Ricardo once again was fast to reply and state my neck repair was complete and was being given the final look over before reassembly and set up. My shock came when he told me that because the neck issue wasn’t customer caused and it was structural that the entire repair AND return shipping was free of charge! I had no idea they would take care of me to that level, not being the original owner. Both Ed & Ricardo responded to all my emails quickly and provided lots of information. They were an absolute pleasure to deal with…so it was sent to the factory December 16th…and arrived home today March 27th. And I’ll tell you it plays UN. FREAKING. REAL now…
Suhr customer service is incredible and their guitars, while very pricey, they stand behind if anything goes wrong with it.
It is very common for people to voice displeasure or complaints with a company but don’t often take the time to speak or when a company truly cares for their customer and stands behind their product.
The story starts late last year when I was shopping reverb GAS’ing for a Suhr Modern. I had previously had a modern pro a couple of years ago and sold it to cover something else at the time and had kinda regretted doing so. So after a couple of months of watching the listings one particular one caught my eye. A REALLY killer spec’d 2014 modern custom with amongst other great features a killer looking cocobolo neck and macassar ebony fretboard, flame headstock veneer and abalone logo. Immediately I connected with the seller and we spent a few days throwing counter offers at each other until we reached a damn good deal (in my favor too which rarely happens). So the desk was made and I received the guitar a couple of days later. Opening the case it was every bit as gorgeous as the pics and the look and feel of the neck was incredible. Literally the smoothest fastest neck I’ve personally felt.
Upon plugging it in and hitting a chord that’s where the smile faded….the setup appeared to have been done by a manatee because aside from being horribly out of tune it sounded very dull, kinda thuddy and lacking note ring especially acoustically.
Thankfully I’m somewhat knowledgeable in how to perform a basic setup so after a little while taking measurements and making adjustments I got it playing a little better but something was bothering me…hitting chords it really seemed flat & dead and it didn’t seem to matter what I did.
I decided to take it to my tech and see if maybe having an expert perform a setup and evaluation would make a difference.
Fast forward a couple of weeks and 60 bucks later and the difference was almost nil. I wondered if he even did anything to it. I found out my regular tech didn’t get the guitar and it was given to another guy in house so I met with my tech when I came back with the guitar…he took a look down the neck and almost immediately said he saw a little bit of a warp….what?!?!
I was devastated and pissed at the same time knowing this was about to cost me some serious $$ to fix
Knowing previous stories about Suhr taking care of their guitars I decided to reach out to Suhr and open a repair claim.
Within a couple of days I was messaged by Ed in customer service who asked me questions about the condition of the guitar and the symptoms I was experiencing. He also asked if I was the original owner and I told the truth and said I wasn’t. Suhr only warrants their guitars to the original purchaser, so I fully expected to be billed for work done. After several days of messaging I got a return auth. Number and I sent my guitar all the way back to California from Florida. This was a couple of weeks shy of the Xmas holiday. I decided not to constantly pester for updates so I waited a little over a month after they received it before I inquired back. By this point it seemed Ed left the company and was replaced by another super helpful guy named Ricardo and he told me to it was disassembled and on Johns bench ti be looked at personally. I can’t say I expected John Suhr to be looking over my guitar. They assessed the neck and it seemed to have stabilized into a small backbow. They said the fretboard would need a fresh level and full refret job followed by a neck refinish. Sounded extremely pricey to me but I agreed to the work because I knew it would be done right.
Almost 2 more months past and I decided to check on it and Ricardo once again was fast to reply and state my neck repair was complete and was being given the final look over before reassembly and set up. My shock came when he told me that because the neck issue wasn’t customer caused and it was structural that the entire repair AND return shipping was free of charge! I had no idea they would take care of me to that level, not being the original owner. Both Ed & Ricardo responded to all my emails quickly and provided lots of information. They were an absolute pleasure to deal with…so it was sent to the factory December 16th…and arrived home today March 27th. And I’ll tell you it plays UN. FREAKING. REAL now…
Suhr customer service is incredible and their guitars, while very pricey, they stand behind if anything goes wrong with it.
