Dear Reverb friends,
I put this together so all the information is in one location. Each image has explanatory notes, but I’ve listed a summary here as well. Thank you for your help.
- Item was listed in “MINT’ condition.
- Notice the green line that follows the angle at the top of the nut. This should be parallel to the guitar body. Notice how angled it is. This twist in the neck renders the guitar unplayable anywhere higher then the 5th to 7th fret. See my video below. You will clearly hear the fret buzz.
3. Guitar had been stored with the wrong strings on it. Instead of a correct set of “12 string guitar strings” in which each open string has (1) larger and (1) smaller string (an octave apart), this person used two sets of regular six string guitar strings, meaning every set was the same size. This dramatically changes the tension on the neck. I have never seen anyone do this, and notice his listing said “paired strings”. Additionally, when the guitar arrived, the lower E, D and A sets were loosened, with no tension, and the upper G, B, and E were at tension. This means half of the neck was under tension and half wasn’t. All of the above is most likely the reason for the neck twisting. If you look at how much dust was on the headstock, it probably sat like this for a long time. The first image is his set, the second is the correct set. Notice the difference in sizes of the strings. Also look at the dust on the headstock.
4. Additionally, the saddle was sanded down to lower the string height/action. While this is common practice, if you lower it too much, this also contributes to fret buzz and unplayability. Notice how low the white saddle is into the bridge. At the high E, there is barely any saddle above the bridge.
5. Below is the video. The first tones are fairly clear. A soon as I move to the next string, you will hear the problem.
Below is how the “MINT” case arrived. Covered in stickers and dirt. There is also a hole in the finish on the soundboard. I don’t even care about those things, but the neck and saddle issues above make this an unplayable guitar that was listed as MINT. Please assist me in getting this returned to the seller and my money refunded to me. Note that all of this was done and sent within 4 hours of the guitar’s delivery. Thank you.
