Commercial Quality Control

[Simon Barden]

I'd have thought the Jem was rather heavy for you Phroz? My mate Max with the bad back had to give up his beloved Jem and switch to S-series models because they are nearly half the weight. I must say that my RG is a very heavy guitar.

[DrNomis_44]

Funnily enough, my genuine 2013 Gibson USA Les Paul Studio has at least one issue which I think is due to less than good quality control, the high e-string seems to be closer to the edge of the fretboard than the low e-string, note this is an instrument that I paid Au$2000.00 for.







I tried to aim the camera as close to 90 degrees to the centreline of the neck as I possibly could, it's possible that either the neck was glued-on slightly crooked, or it is being pulled sideways by the string-tension, or the bridge mounting-stud holes are a bit off-centre.

[Dedman]

I'll just play the devils advocate here and while agree there is no excuse for obvious flaws, having been in online and real world retail literally since I was born I'll just say that people can expect an awful lot from a mass produced item. When I was selling high end pocket knives I'd get guys wanting to return a knife because the blade was off centre by .02mm, yes it was a $500 pocket knife, yes it was also produced in a factory that had an expected quota of finished items for the staff to produce daily. I think that what happens is people see custom made very high end items online, gear that has taken a single craftsman weeks to produce, then expect the same level of fit and finish in a mass produced item. You get what you pay for for, if you want perfection be prepared to pay a luthier or custom shop prices. I have only bought 2 new guitars, a Korean Gretsch and a Japanese Fender neither is 100% perfect but for the prices I'm amazed at the quality. So yea, there will always be those Monday morning or Friday afternoon guitars that slip through QC with a fault but a realistic expectation of what you are going to get for your money goes a long way.


My biggest gripe with Ebay sellers is the old click bait/up-sell ploy. They advertise an amp or guitar for a good price, then after you buy it they message that their stock count was wrong and they don't actually have one, but can offer $20 off a higher priced item. Some will also say it might take a week to process your refund. Don't fall for it, demand the refund immediately or you'll report them to both Ebay and consumer affairs. I've had this done to me twice with big online stores and my nephew had it done to him by one of the same stores, so it's obviously their standard mode of operation.

edited to say I once had a guy send me a photo he had taken with a MICROSCOPE of the tip on a knife blade showing it had minuscule scratches and demanding a refund because it was "faulty".

[JohnH]

edited to say I once had a guy send me a photo he had taken with a MICROSCOPE of the tip on a knife blade showing it had minuscule scratches and demanding a refund because it was "faulty".

Urgh, what a d**k. I've known people like that, and I'm certain they woke up looking for something to complain about. One lady in particular made my life a nightmare, but I think she was using it almost like a procrastination tool - like if there were all these issues in her life then she couldn't possibly get on with the job