I love the idea of a luthier buying a guitar off the rack and checking it out. Hopefully we see more of these, I always enjoy and respect your prespective on things guitar related.
Thank you, I appreciate this very much. We will certainly keep this sort of thing coming.. it is enlightening indeed and great fun to do.. though I truly was expecting to find zero faults from this brand at this price point..
I did this with a PRS I bought earlier in the year. Only the second guitar I have bought off the shelf and was fun to take a deep dive into the details now that I know what to look for.
To watch a master luthier buy (what is essentially) a brand new guitar and do a deep-dive look, is probably the best review process we could possibly ask for. You really get a good idea of what the quality of the instrument is and what to look out for. To Ben - I salute you for doing videos like this. If at all possible, it would be fantastic to see you do a tear-down of the Indonesian made Yamaha Revstar Standard (P90 or humbucker version). So far, I have only seen reviews from guitarist-TH-camrs. Therefore, a luthier´s perspective would be of tremendous help, and no doubt very insightful. All the best to you and the Crimson team!
I have this same model. The frets were mostly covered in finish . After clean and polish it played very nicely. no need for leveling as that was good to go (Got lucky there) and just love the fretboard rolled edges. I play this guitar daily now for several months since buying it and it keeps getting better. Stripped it down last string change and am impressed with the product even more. I love this guitar, it sounds beautiful and for me it's a keeper.
This was honestly quite shocking. The poor frets, the loose wire, the bumpy pickguard... Still one of my favorite guitar shapes currently on the market
And then there’s this clown…..☝️Clearly the person with the fake telegram account is a donut. Because apparently Ben has given away a prize to himself….
Fender seems to be lacking in QA... At that price point especially... Then again, the QA of the brands they own seems to have suffered as well. (Jackson is a good example... Can't speak for Charvel.) Bought a Jackson bass that retailed for about $450 USD (now up to $500 USD)... Yeah, not exactly their top of the line... Fret ends have been noted by quite a few as being tear up your hands bad. Mine are definitely rough... But not quite that bad.
@@willbarnz6960 It is crazy how some brands can get things like that right, at a way lower price point. My G&L L-2000 Tribute was ~600€ and there was nothing to complain about when I got it. No sharp frets, no weird electronic issues, no obvious flaws ... Now, 10 years later, the frets do look like they need to be replaced. But given how much I play that thing, it only makes sense.
Great to see Josh in action again. He is a great teacher, may be you could do short videos featuring some of the other guys to showcase their expertise. Really enjoyed my two week course. One of my favourite holidays ever.
I bought a guitar today for less than 1/10 of a thousand pounds which also needs a bit of light fretwork, at the Salvation Army thrift store. For that price, I would expect a flawless instrument.
Hi Ben. The round hole under the scratch plate is a deliberate device used to indicate the guitar originated in Mexico. It’s designed to stop people passing off Mexican guitars as US ones. 👍🏻
@cs1uk, can you tell us how you know this? It would be great if you gave a reference (so we know it's not just a shared supposition that gets perpetuated}. Ditto @wilhelmtheconquerer6214. Thx!
I love the shape of this guitar. I am however disappointed at Fender for letting such obvious quality issues go without sorting them. It's fixed now and all is well. Someone is going to get a sweet deal on this guitar! Peace & Love!
Mad thing is that there seems to be a lot more care put in to the higher priced Squiers. Any Squiers I’ve tried out the past couple of years have usually had a better fit and finish and playability than the entry level “proper” Fenders.
You’d think the shop would have sent that one back before you got it? Or perhaps set it up themselves so it was ready to go? Although I don’t know the skinny so…
I have a players plus strat and it is better than it should be. Maybe i got lucky but i find it to be better than the low end American made strats. Sucks they let this one out into the wild. Probably why it was still available for sale in the first place.
Oh my dude.. I bought an American Pro II Tele last year DIRECTLY from Fender. It was a complete disaster. The bridge was so incorrectly placed or neck pocket wrong the low E was off the fretboard and high e was almost where the b should've been. The fret work looked as though they were hammered in and left alone. Amongst other issues. That guitar was promptly returned. The replacement showed up. Fretwork was much like the first and was just a total dog. On a $1500 USD guitar that's completely unacceptable.
I recently bought a Fender Meteora and unfortunately, I also had to add $150 set up on top of the $1150 price tag. The nut was cut too deep, the frets were horrible, and the action was set too high. All in all, my tech was able to fix most of the issues, but in the future I will be adding a new nut and a Vega Tremolo. I love the feel for the neck and the pick ups are really good as well. I love the guitar, but it took a little bit of work to get it up to par. Thank you for this review Crimson. I enjoyed it and I concur with your findings. Cheers!
I went out and purchased a Meteora bass in Opal Spark. I knew i wanted a fretless, but honestly the neck and fretwork is exceptional. I replaced the stock neck with a chinese replacement that I bound in cream plastic. The hardware and electronics are absolutely top notch. This is one of my best sounding basses.
Thanks for the great video guys! I've just bought one few days ago. I mean It was not love from the first sight, but I'm getting there, I think. Already had an issue with huge buzzing when touching the bridge pickup with my finger. Fixed it, it was a loose wire, poor grounding stuff. Now after watching this video, I am definitely going to give it to my local luthier, to finish the guitar... I mean QC is not perfect, but for the price it could be much much better. Now it's like I've bought a guitar that is almost finished. Not nice. But I feel that after everything is done I will fall in love with it.
I bought a Squier Strat in '96 and I still have it. Over the years I have replaced some of the hardware like pots, wires, machine heads and one of the pickups to a hot rail. This guitar has had a lot thrown at it over the years and still plays great. I also locked the trem with a wood block and cotton wool to dampen the springs. Recently did a level and crown (using some Crimson gear) and it's playing better than ever. It has a wee 40th Anniversary Fender badge on the back of the headstock and I've had pros play it (while I was doing audio engineering at college) wondering why I don't get into being a guitar tech, but I think their anti Squier snobbery might have been showing! Seeing these level of issues befall a £1,000 guitar worries me if I were to have to replace any of my instruments with off the shelf units. It will be a whole lot of fun fixing them up, but I wonder if that time might be better spent playing guitar than playing guitar repair?!
Love this that youre doing...digging into the nuts of these guitars. Cant think of a more trustworthy source of info. And the snappy comments throughout are priceless. The meteora speaks to me. Has a jazzmaster kinda vibe. The ergo shape is to die for.
Would a bit of heat (hot air gun) to the scratch plate help to make it flat again? I'd not noticed the Meteora's arrival in the Fender range. I would probably mistake it for a Jazzmaster at a glance.
The custard yellow one you bought.........I have just finished one. Vintage vibrato with roller bridge. 3 pickups with 12 position wiring..6 on the switch and doubled up on a push pull with master volume. One off pickguard with all switchgear recessed. Japanese switch cover. Locking tuners. It's a beaut!
Excellent overview of the Meteora. QC is a bit of a concern, although I’m still keen on owning one, but will pay particular attention to the fret work. I loved seeing the detail of your work, well done. Just picked up a J Mascis Tele which I adore. The Meteora is on my short list now You’ve earned a new sub, and you strangely remind of Bill Bailey, he’s a badass.
Wow amazed at some of the quality of work. Always expect a new guitar to be in playable condition from the shop 😮. Great video as always love these tear downs ❤
Great video. I checked out a left handed Fender Player Strat a few weeks ago and while I’m only new at playing a guitar, I was shocked at the quality. Frets weren’t particularly good and the nut looked like it’d been cut in the dark. It also just sounded dead - not because of strings or setup, it just had no life. But worst of all was the tone pots don’t work as they are supposed to - basically just on or off with no discernible sweep. I am informed that this is because they cheap out on the pots and just wire right handed pots in reverse. Shocking for what is a $1200 guitar in Australia.
I'm just in 10minutes and I already have tears in my eyes... It really shows me again, why I don't want to buy a guitar any more, and why I have felt the urgent need to start building and maintaining myself some years ago... If you buy a used guitar and mod it to your needs you are better of... and the best part about that is: you really know who to blame for the final result :D
Great video as always. I have an MIM Player Mustang bass that i like but has a few QC issues, nothing major but needed a fret polishing, nut slots deepened and a few other tweaks. I have 3 Squiers all made in China: an Affinity Jaguar Bass and 2 paranormal 6 strings. I honestly think the Squiers after a setup actually play better wirh pickups being their shortcoming. And I swear that the China made Squiers are equal to or better than either the Cort or Samick Indonesia ones from the ones I've looked at.
My luthier found two high frets on my Meteora. He hated doing a fret job on it because Fender actually lacquered over the frets when they sprayed the maple neck and fret board. Now that all the lacquer is gone and the frets are perfect the guitar plays so well.one of my favorites.
I have seen more than a few people complaining about the lacquer being left over the frets, it is very fiddly to remove and something they should do at the factory at the very least.. Great Guitar in the end though
I just recently bought a Squier Classic Vibe Jazz bass in as new with tags condition. Yes it needed a setup including truss adjust, string height and just 3 frets on the 1st and 2nd strings above the 16th fret spot levelling. I wasn't surprised in the slightest. Most things need to be fettled to get the best out of them. But for the £220 I paid for it it's a beauty. Someome has to date the non film stars we meet in life lol
As a Hispanic and one who closely works with Mexican, I can tell you from experience that the average Mexican worker can either be your best, or laziest employee. I can see how it’s inconsistent from a person to person basis in the MIM factory.
As a tech who sees a lottttt of MiM player series guitars, I do fully agree the frets are never very good, however I have never seen brand new frets like that. Not trying to throw the guitar shop under the bus, (I've personally visited there and it's a lovely shop) but that seems like the work of a last minute quick fix to get it playable in store. Also these guitars have genuine satin finishes, I know because I have buffed a few of them up, and they buff up like a reluctant satin, not a dulled gloss. You can also see peeling in the satin, you cannot 'satin-ise' finish which isn't level, Most likely the shop used wire wool across the frets after filing them.
I was about to comment that the frets on my entry level ukulele look better than these did. But, then I remembered that I intentionally paid a premium to make sure a luthier did what I just watched you do. Regardless, I love my discontinued Dean acoustic soprano uke.
Something you might could try to straighten out the pick guard and it’s probably more trouble than it’s worth, but take it off strip all the pots off and then lay it out on the hood or roof of your vehicle on a warm day and let the heat from the sun warm it and it might return flat . I saw a video of Zimm doing this with a spring cover for a Strat that was all warped up and it flattened right out.
Wow. It sounds good (now). That buckled scratchplate is just terrible! And from a fender I would have expected a much better fret job! Very interesting.
I have the silver burst of this, fell in love with the shape when released. Mine plays like butter, frets and board are perfect, no faults. I suppose at this price these things are a bit more of a "gamble"?
A gamble indeed.. I suppose 9 out of 10 are perfect but I think that this proves we should support local and we should buy in a shop and check everything carefully before we hand over our money?
Every fender / charvel I’ve had from the factory in the last two years has had such bad frets I’ve either sent them back or had to fully service them myself. So that’s four out of four guitars that were pretty much damaged in receipt. Not from delivery but from bad QC.
The Squier John5 tele I bought a while ago had the best fretjob I’ve seen to this day. All the recent purchases from Epiphone signature series, ESP and Solar have been far from perfect. Looks like Covid has affected factories a lot.
This guitar reminds me a little of my Futurama II if Salvador Dali had designed the lower half. On a different note, I bought a JagMaster 20 years ago as I just loved the offset shape. Unfortunately the neck was a total design blunder. It was the wrong length, you just couldn't dial in the intonation at all. It's sat around hardly played for two decades but a friend bought me a new neck to bolt on, so I'm looking forward to actually enjoying it after all these years!
Back in 2020 I acquired (actually I won it but that's another kettle of amphibians) a Fender MIM/Player series Mustang and it not only had atrocious fretwork (the sharpest sproutest fret ends ever) but also the "setup" was completely unplayable out of the box, pronounced forward bow to the neck and the bridge saddles... bizarrely, had been radiused to 9.5" correctly, but the 3rd/4th saddles were at the absolute top of their adjustment range (so the 12th fret action was somewhere in the 4-5mm range) and it hadn't been intonated AT ALL, the saddles were in a perfect line. So I sat down and faffed with the thing and now it's rad as hell, but the out of box experience with it was absolutely terrible and perplexing (the saddles being radiused means a tech HAD sat down with it), if it'd been on a guitar store wallhanger rather than making it's way to me from a comp site I think it'd probably still be there, anyone who'd picked it up in a shop would have gone "ew no"
Hey James, I am more and more surprised by these stories as the week goes on, I genuinely thought that even budget Fender was better than average.. Interesting to know it came through a competition site.. we are obviously doing the same but are making damn sure each guitar is better than when we found it..
@@CrimsonCustomGuitars Yeah, of all the guitars I've won (and I'm at 10 so far, my luck has been insane) it was the most disappointingly setup out of the box, around the same time I got a Squier Classic Vibe Jaguar and that was actually great OOTB, It was like someone at Squier took offense at being called Fenders budget brand and was all "I'LL SHOW THEM!" I think the best OOTB experience I've had was a Gibson Les Paul Traditional (2019) which was basically spot on, that was drop-shipped to me from Andertons though, so they may have checked it before dispatch. The most surprising was a 2021 PRS Custom 24 35th anniversary that arrived with tarnished/dead/kinda rusty strings, but that had made it's way from Maryland to Indonesia before coming back to the UK to be in a draw and I think it still had the factory strings on it... which were apparently not at all fond of the humidity there. (edit: to be clear, the setup on the PRS was actually very good, but c'mon guys, a fresh set of strings won't kill you. I mean really.)
Disappointing to see these kinds of problems - I absolutely adore the Meteora shape, I've wanted one since they did the original tele-style setup. Guess I'll just have to enter the raffle.
this why I build my own guitars. To many short cuts and for the money I can build something way better. Yes I will spend more money than the base price, but after the fixes which most people do not know how to do, I am ahead of the game. Love these guys at Crimson. Ben is who I learned my chops from.
Had the pleasure of owning a Flea signature for a little under 24 hours. Took it home and the fret sprout the next morning was nearly 2mm on both sides of the entire neck! Every fret! Returned it the next day but that took the wind out of my sails for a while honestly. :(
I was wondering if you were going to find sawdust or shavings in the neck pocket. Something I have found on both a G&L 2000 Legacy bass and a 50 anniversary Squier by Fender P bass. Obviously neither neck was seated properly so I got both at lower than expected prices 🙂
Absolutely gorgeous shape and at first glance a worthy instrument. By the time Josh pointed out the trapped wire my jaw was bruised from hitting the floor so often. I know it's not their premium line but whoever signed this build off the shop floor and into dispatch should hang their head in shame
Enjoyable romp through a new Fender. It's all about the "Quality Assurance". I used to wire up lights for in store displays. All the lights were made in China. Some brands of lights had a lot of faults and poor work, a couple of brands had acceptable error rates. Look inside the poor brands and you will find a sticker that says "QA tested". Look inside the good brands and you find a slip of paper with the name of the QA tester signed in pen, the date and the batch number. When you know its coming back to you personally, well, you make sure its right.
I just unboxed a Fender Lead lll mim, with a Pau Ferro fretboard. The fretjob was actually quite ok, all nice and shiny, i only spotlevelled in 4 places. But the Pau Ferro....it looked like it was sanded with 100 grit and not touched again, thus bone dry. The part behind the nut is laquered and looks fine, why don't they laquer the whole board on this type of wood? I dyed it black and treated it to some deep conditioner and fixed with lemonoil, now it feels ok. I would have sent it back, but everything else is quite excellent as it is very loud acoustically and sounds absolutely amazing through my amps, a definite keeper. At 3.23kgs right in my favorite weight zone and is so comfortable to play!🎸🤘🎸
Great video... I have to agree with what you've noticed/found. Many of the Fender basses I've looked at our local guitar stores here in Toronto Canada, no matter if they're made in Mexico, or USA have frets that feel like a cheese grater on the edge, and some form of fret buzz in the higher register of the neck. This was not the case years ago with Fenders quality control. I'd be real curious what you'd find if did a tear down of a Custom Shop model???
New to the channel, and found this really informative. I’ve had a meteora for a couple on months and the frets do need a little work but everything else has been really good with it
I worked in a PMT store for a while last few years and it’s really a shame to see all the Mexican run models having more frequent QA issues such as poor frets, bubbly finishes/blemishes and even bad fitted necks or chips in the body. 95% are great playing and feeling but then more and more come in like this, on really cool guitars too. I notice it more on basses and offset models(jm, jaguar, mustang, etc) than I have on strays and teles. It’s like it’s a different line for these bodies that aren’t as well maintained or have as well trained eyes in the team. Such a shame for great spec guitars, especially when prices are rising and the overall quality of the squier factories are catching rapidly.
@@lindamcguigan5989 I love those guitars based on the ones I’ve played. I just have a soft spot for Jazzmasters so fender or maybe Balaguer are where I go
I do fret work professionally and as a hobbyist to my own guitar collection. Fenders are notorious for coming out of the factory with virtually no fret work done. The frets are high, not crowned, and the edges are not dressed. It usually takes me around 10 hours of labor to fix a "brand new" Fender neck. For this reason, I stopped buying Fenders. The only brand I have ever purchased with perfect fret work right out of the box is Schecter. Especially S. Korean made guitars. The S.Koreans understand quality and they understand how important the fret work is to the overall sound, playability, and enjoyment of the instrument.
I was so hot for one of these and am grateful to see this video. I wanted this to replace my 1981 Lead lll (CBS). I just don’t see this being worth the money. They look so cool but looks isn’t everything. Thank you for all the quality and educational videos you do.
And yet, I have a Squier Classic Vibe Tele that's absolutely flawless. I went over that guitar with a microscope after I bought it (I'm a luthier too), and I couldn't find a damn thing wrong with it. The only thing it needed (IMO) was a 4-way switch. It's one of the best off-the-rack guitars I've ever owned, and it only cost $400. I love the Meteora as well. I built a copy out of Ash, with Jazzmaster pickups and trem.
What kind of microscope do you use? I tried searching guitar microscope and the only thing I could find was the kind we used in science class back in school' microscope worms and included.
Ya just have blown my mind, an amazing builder buying not one but 2 guitars!!!! I kept telling myself no way is he gonna buy it then mind exploding! I'm a plumber by trade work has been slow with covid and all, I had nothing to do so I bought the cheapest kit money could buy and decided to in your words make it totally awesome!!!!! Dig the channel and love the jokes!! I'm a fan for life!!!!! Keep Rockin!!!!!!
TH-cam's new mobile look (at least on Android) made it incredibly difficult to find either the subscribe button, or comments. This is a terrific video, so I hope you get all the love!
Interesting to note he masked it first before the crowning despite your reply to why you dont mask first. No right or wrong way just always interesting to compare everyones approach. Also every MIM fender guitar ive ever stripped has had those weird random holes, no matter the age lol.
I always mask maple, just haven't had one on the bench/camera for a while, tbh, and to add to my previous reply, I stopped masking before leveling mainly due to having to get the best fret ends possible on new guitars.. on an old one that is already rounded etc there is not much to gain from avoiding the masking.. your comment last time had me question myself all over again!
@@CrimsonCustomGuitars as i say im not trying to say theres right and wrong. Just as someone who has had to learn all this sort of stuff and does it all the time i always pay extra attention to how everyone approaches things haha. Thankfully i havent ever had to do any microtonal fret jobs 😅
I was intrigued about the weird random hole a few years ago and asked around friends. There were oddball theories (weight relief to keep in in tolerance etc) but nothing plausible. So I ventured online. According to folklore and guitar forums its a consistent Mexico telltale - they use it as a locating hole for the routing jig. USA don't do it that way. But it could also be storage for a pinch of salt.
It's a stunning shape. I want one, but not in the specs that fender do. It would be great is someone was to make an accurate "M-type" laser cut template set, I would definitely be down for buying one of those. I just wish I could think of someone who would do that... 🤔
I don't think you metioned it as a gripe. . . . but how many springs are on the whammy unit for it to look like that ? I might just be unfamilliar with a strat style bridge setup but it looks like it could be flatter to the body than it is.
I had the same experience with a Fender Telecaster Performer I bought a few years back. The frets were awful. Ends hadn't been dressed properly and you could feel the scratches on every fret when bending. Not nearly good enough on a guitar costing over a grand.
My Favorite is when you buy a brand new fender and the neck is so warped that you can only get relief on the treble side but the bass side is laying on the feet board as of backbowed. The tech at the store works on it for a while and tell you it can’t be fixed - the next is simply badly warped. They give you your money back but then you go back to the store the next day and there it is on the rack for sale to the next sucker.
I purchased the American Ultra Luxe Stratocaster sunburst with Rosewood fingerboard. The stainless steel frets were not placed correctly. They hang off the edge of the low E and there is empty space on the edge of the high e. I bought that guitar online. Luckily fender is warranty if it but that’s the most expensive mass production model of theirs. The QA is slipping hard at fender
I absolutely love the shape, ever since it first came out with the odd Tele layout as part of the Parellel Universe series. It looks like a 21st century Jazzmaster, I think. I wish the attention to detail was as good as its design.
I have the same guitar exact... and when i got mine from my local shop here in Canada , the frets are totally covered in laquer overspray and look almost brown .. I didn't really realize until I played it for a day or so and some frets became shiny as the laquer wore off ... but its just so annoying. I dont want to get into polishing the frets and possibly messing up the shine on the board .. best way to do so I assume would be to mask the frets and gently steel wool the frets?
For that price point, these should come in near perfect shape imo. I can buy a $500 guitar with the exact same issues. Why would I pay Fender more than twice as much for the same thing? The extra money these big brands charge should be going to fit and finish. If they're not, there's no reason to not buy a cheaper brand and just pay for a decent setup (or better yet, do it yourself and save even more $$$).
You mention fretting quality on expensive guitars. About 10, 15 or so years ago, OK maybe more, I was goaded by an article in Guitarist magazine to look at the frets on my collection of guitars. I sent an email to guitarist at the time as I found that my collection of fenders, (strat) Gibson ,(Les paul standard, J40, Hummingbird) , Ibanez(Jem),PRS (Hollowbody, Custom) Godin, Vox (soundcaster), Eggle (Berlin, LA, NY) all had flat frets with little or no attempt to round them off, dress or polish or all the things that smaller luthier businesses point to being their strength. I pointed this out to guitarist at the time but received no comment. I can also say that up until this point i had not noticed that the performance of the guitars was poorer. The exception was a few Warmoth necks I replaced some guitars with which I found excellent although generally a fendery kind of screw in style. The frets on them were perfect and rounded and looked suspiciously as if the fingerboards were so accurate and the fretting installation technique so good that they hadn't done anything to them! (Maybe polish)They all play perfectly. And lastly 60 years ago I had a Tatay from Valencia nylon accoustic and the frets were unashamedly flat, sharp edged and rectangular which they are to this day and I never had any problem with them. The vox soundcaster is from 1966ish and plays fine and is I suspect somewhat underated if you want to take a detailed look at one. Please note all the guitars mentioned are pretty old and I'm sure all the manufacturers will point to increasing their standards since then.
I feel like I'm preaching to the choir, but like many here I love the shape of the Meteora but am aghast at the QC. I'm glad that I've spent enough time on this channel and others to be able to fix things but there would be many that have dropped a decent amount of their hard-earned on a guitar and brought it home only for it to play poorly. In 2022 I find that to be plain wrong.
Fender are really doing some rough work these days. I just bought one with bad fret work. Terrible for a £1000 + guitar. I also bought a £2000 Jackson(by fender) that needed a full fret level, crown and polish. The guitar arrived with frets polished to a beautiful lustre. Why bother if you haven't even leveled the fretboard? You know what I did buy recent.y that is flawless. A Gibson Les Paul. Who'd have thunk it.
As they used to say on ‘I’m sorry I haven’t a clue’ - “it’s buttock clenchingly piss poor!”. Of all the places you want clean and well finished, it’s the neck! It’s what has put me off saving up for a Fender Strat - the unknown build quality. I’m probably going to look at a PRS Silver Sky (SE because I’m not loaded!)
I fell in love with the Meteora bass at first sight. After 30 seconds playing one, I put it back on the rack and grabbed another. Both were absolute garbage for what Fender is asking. Out of curiosity I played two other MIM jazz basses. Same thing. Fender really should have made the Meteora in Japan.
To be honest Ben I wouldn't buy another higher end guitar again after the sub standard QC of my les paul standard and my American standard tele 2 years ago. Bad frets and the tooling marks on the les paul are horrible and you just can't stop seeing the faults! The neck on the tele was twisted ( replaced under warranty) but how do they leave the factory like this!
Excellent video. It has really helped me decide on a future purchase, not going to buy one, I intend to sign up for for one of the guitar making courses and make one . Would love to see a video on a Godin A6, or Summit, if you haven’t already.
Years ago I noticed something similar on the frets of a telecaster Highway one (2002), despite a bad fretwork in few years frets became smooth, was an ok guitar
Ben would have a field day with my Harmony sunburst Strat style guitar I got at Sears in 86. My first guitar. I still have it. I really enjoy these tear down vids.
I'm looking forward to playing with some catalogue guitars.. we expect them to be problematic from that era though.. I honestly thought a modern Fender would be built to a budget but basically sound.. 😅
Interesting video and made me thing at something I forgot to ask : how do you make sure that when you level your frets, you're not creating a slope on each side of a high fret ? Not sure if it's clear but let's say your 10th fret is higher than the others. When you run your sanding beam along the frets, it will rest on that high fret and the lowest fret on each side which would cause some sort of slope on each side, the 10th fret being the top on the slope. How do you make sure you get this fret down to a certain point that is low enough so that the leveling beam removes material from that higher fret and not on the others ? And by the way I didn't knew that guitar either ;)
This can be a problem and is why we always double check with a fret rocker before moving on. Basically you need to pass the leveling beam over the whole fretboard a few times after you think you have it levelled just to mop up any inconsistencies
What would be the average cost of fixing the frets ( like shown in this video) in England ( I live in the States and have no idea of the cost here) Great Video, thanks!
That was what I was expecting.. a mediocre to good guitar with nice pickups needed a little tickle to get up to scratch.. not scratches and buckled scratchplates.
@@CrimsonCustomGuitars yeah its unfortunate. It seems I get lucky as my local fender dealer is a ma and pa business and they put alot of setup work and maintenance into anything that has qc issues. Obviously on the lower end stuff less care is taken but I have noticed as of late that quite a few Mexican fenders are turning out to be lemons with issues very similar to this meteora I miss the old made in Mexico strats of the late 90s
Clearly, and regardless of the country of manufacture, any instrument costing that much should be completely set up and ready to play, with needing to be tuned up the only possible thing after uncasing. Bit of a train wreck. Great body shape. Would love to see Fender try out some new, and more complimentary headstock shapes as well.
I don't have the opportunity to check out a guitar like this in a shop. No guitar shops within a hundred miles - these days that adds a lot to the price in go juice. I've had good luck on a couple of cheapos so I guess it will be a while before I consider a purchase at a $1,000 +. I have also had pretty good success with Sweetwater purchases in the past. They just go ahead and charge a little extra to make sure the set-up is good before they let it out of the cage.
A little over a month ago i traded my gibson faded les paul HP...I like shorter scale super-strats mainly, but I really wanted somthing that had the same stratty sweetness my 1st guitar had...i got a super spec'd out Warmoth! Lol and had a ⅞ S-style(24 fret 24¾" scale) warmoth build finally finished a few weeks b4 that. The guy I traded it too told me he recently ordered a USA fender neck. It was bowed, but still couldn't be returned/replaced... Warmoth makes the finest guitars iv played. Iv had SO many different guitars the past 3 years and warmoth takes the whole friggn cake...i still love my bc rich mockingbird legacy ST and carvin dc400 and ibanez AZ242F, but my two warmoth's are as good as a guitar can play imo. Love to see you review one of there necks/full setup one day! Thanks for another great video...Skurge!
I like your analysis of this fender. It would be cool if you took a look at some other Asian brands like maybe Ibanez. Specifically their higher end models that aren’t at their “prestige” category. I’ve seen people review their prestige models and their lower entry level models, the it’s a little harder finding good opinions from experienced builders where they review the non-prestige high end models. You might actually already have some videos on this, so I’ll keep searching. I just found your channel and I’m really liking the content. While on that note, I’m off to subscribe right now.
I once bought a new Gibson ES335 for almost $3,000 from one of the big online music shops. The guitar came, looked beautiful and I was excited. At least until I played it and my left hand started hurting and bleeding sliding up and down the neck. Holy Cow! They forgot to file down the frets. I called Gibson and was practically cussed out by their rep. That was the last guitar I will ever buy from Gibson!
Really shocking TBH. A proper service rendered here so thank you! Ibanez are the only major manufacturer I see being consistent with regards to fit and finnish. Not always perfect but pretty damn good.
So far (after 27 years) I've only got 3 guitars with no issues at all. En ESP Eclipse custom shop. A Fender American Pro II and the Ibanez RG550 for "only" 900€. But this specific Meteora isn't worth the asking price. Really bad quality control.
I love the idea of a luthier buying a guitar off the rack and checking it out. Hopefully we see more of these, I always enjoy and respect your prespective on things guitar related.
Thank you, I appreciate this very much. We will certainly keep this sort of thing coming.. it is enlightening indeed and great fun to do.. though I truly was expecting to find zero faults from this brand at this price point..
Yeah it's a cool idea.
Great comment. 👍
@@CrimsonCustomGuitars $1800 canadian taxes included
I did this with a PRS I bought earlier in the year. Only the second guitar I have bought off the shelf and was fun to take a deep dive into the details now that I know what to look for.
To watch a master luthier buy (what is essentially) a brand new guitar and do a deep-dive look, is probably the best review process we could possibly ask for. You really get a good idea of what the quality of the instrument is and what to look out for.
To Ben - I salute you for doing videos like this.
If at all possible, it would be fantastic to see you do a tear-down of the Indonesian made Yamaha Revstar Standard (P90 or humbucker version).
So far, I have only seen reviews from guitarist-TH-camrs. Therefore, a luthier´s perspective would be of tremendous help, and no doubt very insightful.
All the best to you and the Crimson team!
I forward the motion on Revstars
Do it!
I have this same model. The frets were mostly covered in finish . After clean and polish it played very nicely. no need for leveling as that was good to go (Got lucky there) and just love the fretboard rolled edges. I play this guitar daily now for several months since buying it and it keeps getting better. Stripped it down last string change and am impressed with the product even more. I love this guitar, it sounds beautiful and for me it's a keeper.
I literally just noticed the finish all over my frets totally gross.
This was honestly quite shocking. The poor frets, the loose wire, the bumpy pickguard...
Still one of my favorite guitar shapes currently on the market
I couldn't agree more, we are making a template set so that I can make myself a version at a proper quality level..
And then there’s this clown…..☝️Clearly the person with the fake telegram account is a donut. Because apparently Ben has given away a prize to himself….
@@CrimsonCustomGuitars consider me ordering one 😊
Fender seems to be lacking in QA... At that price point especially... Then again, the QA of the brands they own seems to have suffered as well. (Jackson is a good example... Can't speak for Charvel.)
Bought a Jackson bass that retailed for about $450 USD (now up to $500 USD)... Yeah, not exactly their top of the line... Fret ends have been noted by quite a few as being tear up your hands bad. Mine are definitely rough... But not quite that bad.
@@willbarnz6960 It is crazy how some brands can get things like that right, at a way lower price point. My G&L L-2000 Tribute was ~600€ and there was nothing to complain about when I got it. No sharp frets, no weird electronic issues, no obvious flaws ... Now, 10 years later, the frets do look like they need to be replaced. But given how much I play that thing, it only makes sense.
Great to see Josh in action again. He is a great teacher, may be you could do short videos featuring some of the other guys to showcase their expertise. Really enjoyed my two week course. One of my favourite holidays ever.
For sure! And thanks for the feedback. We're really glad that you enjoyed your course.
@@chrisholcombe2514 That "telegram' account is a spammer - do not interact with them.
I bought a guitar today for less than 1/10 of a thousand pounds which also needs a bit of light fretwork, at the Salvation Army thrift store. For that price, I would expect a flawless instrument.
I've bought some Monoprice guitars from Amazon for less than $100 and they had better build quality than this guitar.
Good to see red speed sharpies being used to mark the frets. It’ll play as fast as hell after this!
Hi Ben.
The round hole under the scratch plate is a deliberate device used to indicate the guitar originated in Mexico. It’s designed to stop people passing off Mexican guitars as US ones. 👍🏻
It's also an index hole for the CNC-machine
@cs1uk, can you tell us how you know this? It would be great if you gave a reference (so we know it's not just a shared supposition that gets perpetuated}. Ditto @wilhelmtheconquerer6214. Thx!
This has quickly become one of my favorite guitar channels. In great company indeed.
Thank you very much, I really appreciate this comment
I love the shape of this guitar. I am however disappointed at Fender for letting such obvious quality issues go without sorting them. It's fixed now and all is well. Someone is going to get a sweet deal on this guitar! Peace & Love!
Picked up a few tickets for the raffle. It’s a gorgeous guitar, and with the work you’ve done, it’ll be a hell of a fun player.
Thanks for making this! I have learnt a lot from this, especially what details to look for when buying a new guitar! Really awesome video
Shame on Fender for such slap-dash quality control for the retail price of that instrument.
I agree
Mad thing is that there seems to be a lot more care put in to the higher priced Squiers. Any Squiers I’ve tried out the past couple of years have usually had a better fit and finish and playability than the entry level “proper” Fenders.
You’d think the shop would have sent that one back before you got it? Or perhaps set it up themselves so it was ready to go? Although I don’t know the skinny so…
I have a players plus strat and it is better than it should be. Maybe i got lucky but i find it to be better than the low end American made strats. Sucks they let this one out into the wild. Probably why it was still available for sale in the first place.
Oh my dude.. I bought an American Pro II Tele last year DIRECTLY from Fender. It was a complete disaster. The bridge was so incorrectly placed or neck pocket wrong the low E was off the fretboard and high e was almost where the b should've been. The fret work looked as though they were hammered in and left alone. Amongst other issues. That guitar was promptly returned. The replacement showed up. Fretwork was much like the first and was just a total dog. On a $1500 USD guitar that's completely unacceptable.
Good to see Josh in a video. I hope all is well, my friend.
I recently bought a Fender Meteora and unfortunately, I also had to add $150 set up on top of the $1150 price tag. The nut was cut too deep, the frets were horrible, and the action was set too high. All in all, my tech was able to fix most of the issues, but in the future I will be adding a new nut and a Vega Tremolo. I love the feel for the neck and the pick ups are really good as well. I love the guitar, but it took a little bit of work to get it up to par.
Thank you for this review Crimson. I enjoyed it and I concur with your findings. Cheers!
I went out and purchased a Meteora bass in Opal Spark. I knew i wanted a fretless, but honestly the neck and fretwork is exceptional. I replaced the stock neck with a chinese replacement that I bound in cream plastic. The hardware and electronics are absolutely top notch. This is one of my best sounding basses.
This is a IKEA guitar. You bond with the thing because You put some work in. Brilliant!!
This is why I learned the basics of set up and fret leveling/ polishing.
Thanks for the great video guys!
I've just bought one few days ago. I mean It was not love from the first sight, but I'm getting there, I think. Already had an issue with huge buzzing when touching the bridge pickup with my finger. Fixed it, it was a loose wire, poor grounding stuff. Now after watching this video, I am definitely going to give it to my local luthier, to finish the guitar... I mean QC is not perfect, but for the price it could be much much better. Now it's like I've bought a guitar that is almost finished. Not nice. But I feel that after everything is done I will fall in love with it.
I bought a Squier Strat in '96 and I still have it. Over the years I have replaced some of the hardware like pots, wires, machine heads and one of the pickups to a hot rail. This guitar has had a lot thrown at it over the years and still plays great. I also locked the trem with a wood block and cotton wool to dampen the springs.
Recently did a level and crown (using some Crimson gear) and it's playing better than ever. It has a wee 40th Anniversary Fender badge on the back of the headstock and I've had pros play it (while I was doing audio engineering at college) wondering why I don't get into being a guitar tech, but I think their anti Squier snobbery might have been showing!
Seeing these level of issues befall a £1,000 guitar worries me if I were to have to replace any of my instruments with off the shelf units. It will be a whole lot of fun fixing them up, but I wonder if that time might be better spent playing guitar than playing guitar repair?!
Love this that youre doing...digging into the nuts of these guitars. Cant think of a more trustworthy source of info. And the snappy comments throughout are priceless. The meteora speaks to me. Has a jazzmaster kinda vibe. The ergo shape is to die for.
Would a bit of heat (hot air gun) to the scratch plate help to make it flat again? I'd not noticed the Meteora's arrival in the Fender range. I would probably mistake it for a Jazzmaster at a glance.
The custard yellow one you bought.........I have just finished one. Vintage vibrato with roller bridge. 3 pickups with 12 position wiring..6 on the switch and doubled up on a push pull with master volume. One off pickguard with all switchgear recessed. Japanese switch cover. Locking tuners.
It's a beaut!
Excellent overview of the Meteora. QC is a bit of a concern, although I’m still keen on owning one, but will pay particular attention to the fret work.
I loved seeing the detail of your work, well done. Just picked up a J Mascis Tele which I adore. The Meteora is on my short list now
You’ve earned a new sub, and you strangely remind of Bill Bailey, he’s a badass.
Wow amazed at some of the quality of work. Always expect a new guitar to be in playable condition from the shop 😮. Great video as always love these tear downs ❤
Great video. I checked out a left handed Fender Player Strat a few weeks ago and while I’m only new at playing a guitar, I was shocked at the quality. Frets weren’t particularly good and the nut looked like it’d been cut in the dark. It also just sounded dead - not because of strings or setup, it just had no life. But worst of all was the tone pots don’t work as they are supposed to - basically just on or off with no discernible sweep. I am informed that this is because they cheap out on the pots and just wire right handed pots in reverse. Shocking for what is a $1200 guitar in Australia.
I'm just in 10minutes and I already have tears in my eyes... It really shows me again, why I don't want to buy a guitar any more, and why I have felt the urgent need to start building and maintaining myself some years ago... If you buy a used guitar and mod it to your needs you are better of... and the best part about that is: you really know who to blame for the final result :D
Great video as always. I have an MIM Player Mustang bass that i like but has a few QC issues, nothing major but needed a fret polishing, nut slots deepened and a few other tweaks.
I have 3 Squiers all made in China: an Affinity Jaguar Bass and 2 paranormal 6 strings.
I honestly think the Squiers after a setup actually play better wirh pickups being their shortcoming. And I swear that the China made Squiers are equal to or better than either the Cort or Samick Indonesia ones from the ones I've looked at.
My luthier found two high frets on my Meteora. He hated doing a fret job on it because Fender actually lacquered over the frets when they sprayed the maple neck and fret board. Now that all the lacquer is gone and the frets are perfect the guitar plays so well.one of my favorites.
I have seen more than a few people complaining about the lacquer being left over the frets, it is very fiddly to remove and something they should do at the factory at the very least.. Great Guitar in the end though
I bought my American made Strat for the sound, sustain and feel.
The fact that the final fit and finish was excellent was a welcome bonus.
That is it in the end.. either you buy something with great fit and finish or you buy a cheaper guitar that needs work..
Ben,
I Looking forward to a video on the cream triple humbucker SG you also purchased 👍
Mexican Fenders are all over the place with fret work. I currently have my eye on a Player Plus strat at a local shop that has amazing fret work.
I just recently bought a Squier Classic Vibe Jazz bass in as new with tags condition. Yes it needed a setup including truss adjust, string height and just 3 frets on the 1st and 2nd strings above the 16th fret spot levelling. I wasn't surprised in the slightest. Most things need to be fettled to get the best out of them. But for the £220 I paid for it it's a beauty. Someome has to date the non film stars we meet in life lol
As a Hispanic and one who closely works with Mexican, I can tell you from experience that the average Mexican worker can either be your best, or laziest employee. I can see how it’s inconsistent from a person to person basis in the MIM factory.
As a tech who sees a lottttt of MiM player series guitars, I do fully agree the frets are never very good, however I have never seen brand new frets like that. Not trying to throw the guitar shop under the bus, (I've personally visited there and it's a lovely shop) but that seems like the work of a last minute quick fix to get it playable in store. Also these guitars have genuine satin finishes, I know because I have buffed a few of them up, and they buff up like a reluctant satin, not a dulled gloss. You can also see peeling in the satin, you cannot 'satin-ise' finish which isn't level, Most likely the shop used wire wool across the frets after filing them.
I'm pretty sure that was my epiphone SG, or Les Paul as it calls itself. Sold it in Bath a few years back. Really great guitar!
I was about to comment that the frets on my entry level ukulele look better than these did. But, then I remembered that I intentionally paid a premium to make sure a luthier did what I just watched you do. Regardless, I love my discontinued Dean acoustic soprano uke.
Great video. I saw similar problems with the MIM Player Strat HSS I purchased. Definitely would like to see the SG in a deep dive if you get a chance.
Something you might could try to straighten out the pick guard and it’s probably more trouble than it’s worth, but take it off strip all the pots off and then lay it out on the hood or roof of your vehicle on a warm day and let the heat from the sun warm it and it might return flat . I saw a video of Zimm doing this with a spring cover for a Strat that was all warped up and it flattened right out.
Unfortunately Ben lives in the UK. We don’t have warm days 😜
@@davidburke2132 oh yeah that’s right it’s always damp and gloomy over there right ?
The production on this videos is really great. Well done.
Wow. It sounds good (now). That buckled scratchplate is just terrible! And from a fender I would have expected a much better fret job! Very interesting.
I had fun with it, and after a set up Josh really got her singing, but yeah.. I wasn't expecting quite so many issues.
I have the silver burst of this, fell in love with the shape when released. Mine plays like butter, frets and board are perfect, no faults. I suppose at this price these things are a bit more of a "gamble"?
A gamble indeed.. I suppose 9 out of 10 are perfect but I think that this proves we should support local and we should buy in a shop and check everything carefully before we hand over our money?
Every fender / charvel I’ve had from the factory in the last two years has had such bad frets I’ve either sent them back or had to fully service them myself. So that’s four out of four guitars that were pretty much damaged in receipt. Not from delivery but from bad QC.
The Squier John5 tele I bought a while ago had the best fretjob I’ve seen to this day. All the recent purchases from Epiphone signature series, ESP and Solar have been far from perfect. Looks like Covid has affected factories a lot.
This guitar reminds me a little of my Futurama II if Salvador Dali had designed the lower half. On a different note, I bought a JagMaster 20 years ago as I just loved the offset shape. Unfortunately the neck was a total design blunder. It was the wrong length, you just couldn't dial in the intonation at all. It's sat around hardly played for two decades but a friend bought me a new neck to bolt on, so I'm looking forward to actually enjoying it after all these years!
Back in 2020 I acquired (actually I won it but that's another kettle of amphibians) a Fender MIM/Player series Mustang and it not only had atrocious fretwork (the sharpest sproutest fret ends ever) but also the "setup" was completely unplayable out of the box, pronounced forward bow to the neck and the bridge saddles... bizarrely, had been radiused to 9.5" correctly, but the 3rd/4th saddles were at the absolute top of their adjustment range (so the 12th fret action was somewhere in the 4-5mm range) and it hadn't been intonated AT ALL, the saddles were in a perfect line. So I sat down and faffed with the thing and now it's rad as hell, but the out of box experience with it was absolutely terrible and perplexing (the saddles being radiused means a tech HAD sat down with it), if it'd been on a guitar store wallhanger rather than making it's way to me from a comp site I think it'd probably still be there, anyone who'd picked it up in a shop would have gone "ew no"
Hey James, I am more and more surprised by these stories as the week goes on, I genuinely thought that even budget Fender was better than average..
Interesting to know it came through a competition site.. we are obviously doing the same but are making damn sure each guitar is better than when we found it..
@@CrimsonCustomGuitars Yeah, of all the guitars I've won (and I'm at 10 so far, my luck has been insane) it was the most disappointingly setup out of the box, around the same time I got a Squier Classic Vibe Jaguar and that was actually great OOTB, It was like someone at Squier took offense at being called Fenders budget brand and was all "I'LL SHOW THEM!" I think the best OOTB experience I've had was a Gibson Les Paul Traditional (2019) which was basically spot on, that was drop-shipped to me from Andertons though, so they may have checked it before dispatch. The most surprising was a 2021 PRS Custom 24 35th anniversary that arrived with tarnished/dead/kinda rusty strings, but that had made it's way from Maryland to Indonesia before coming back to the UK to be in a draw and I think it still had the factory strings on it... which were apparently not at all fond of the humidity there. (edit: to be clear, the setup on the PRS was actually very good, but c'mon guys, a fresh set of strings won't kill you. I mean really.)
Disappointing to see these kinds of problems - I absolutely adore the Meteora shape, I've wanted one since they did the original tele-style setup. Guess I'll just have to enter the raffle.
this why I build my own guitars. To many short cuts and for the money I can build something way better. Yes I will spend more money than the base price, but after the fixes which most people do not know how to do, I am ahead of the game. Love these guys at Crimson. Ben is who I learned my chops from.
Had the pleasure of owning a Flea signature for a little under 24 hours. Took it home and the fret sprout the next morning was nearly 2mm on both sides of the entire neck! Every fret! Returned it the next day but that took the wind out of my sails for a while honestly. :(
I was wondering if you were going to find sawdust or shavings in the neck pocket. Something I have found on both a G&L 2000 Legacy bass and a 50 anniversary Squier by Fender P bass. Obviously neither neck was seated properly so I got both at lower than expected prices 🙂
Absolutely gorgeous shape and at first glance a worthy instrument.
By the time Josh pointed out the trapped wire my jaw was bruised from hitting the floor so often.
I know it's not their premium line but whoever signed this build off the shop floor and into dispatch should hang their head in shame
Enjoyable romp through a new Fender. It's all about the "Quality Assurance". I used to wire up lights for in store displays. All the lights were made in China. Some brands of lights had a lot of faults and poor work, a couple of brands had acceptable error rates. Look inside the poor brands and you will find a sticker that says "QA tested". Look inside the good brands and you find a slip of paper with the name of the QA tester signed in pen, the date and the batch number. When you know its coming back to you personally, well, you make sure its right.
I just unboxed a Fender Lead lll mim, with a Pau Ferro fretboard. The fretjob was actually quite ok, all nice and shiny, i only spotlevelled in 4 places. But the Pau Ferro....it looked like it was sanded with 100 grit and not touched again, thus bone dry. The part behind the nut is laquered and looks fine, why don't they laquer the whole board on this type of wood? I dyed it black and treated it to some deep conditioner and fixed with lemonoil, now it feels ok. I would have sent it back, but everything else is quite excellent as it is very loud acoustically and sounds absolutely amazing through my amps, a definite keeper. At 3.23kgs right in my favorite weight zone and is so comfortable to play!🎸🤘🎸
Great video... I have to agree with what you've noticed/found. Many of the Fender basses I've looked at our local guitar stores here in Toronto Canada, no matter if they're made in Mexico, or USA have frets that feel like a cheese grater on the edge, and some form of fret buzz in the higher register of the neck. This was not the case years ago with Fenders quality control. I'd be real curious what you'd find if did a tear down of a Custom Shop model???
Ben this new series is so great! Keep it up. Do some more Matsumoku guitars
New to the channel, and found this really informative. I’ve had a meteora for a couple on months and the frets do need a little work but everything else has been really good with it
I worked in a PMT store for a while last few years and it’s really a shame to see all the Mexican run models having more frequent QA issues such as poor frets, bubbly finishes/blemishes and even bad fitted necks or chips in the body. 95% are great playing and feeling but then more and more come in like this, on really cool guitars too. I notice it more on basses and offset models(jm, jaguar, mustang, etc) than I have on strays and teles. It’s like it’s a different line for these bodies that aren’t as well maintained or have as well trained eyes in the team. Such a shame for great spec guitars, especially when prices are rising and the overall quality of the squier factories are catching rapidly.
Buy Japanese Fender !
@@malcolmhardwick4258 I would over others any day. Just struggle to afford one 😂
Buy a FGN made in Japan
@@lindamcguigan5989 I love those guitars based on the ones I’ve played. I just have a soft spot for Jazzmasters so fender or maybe Balaguer are where I go
I do fret work professionally and as a hobbyist to my own guitar collection. Fenders are notorious for coming out of the factory with virtually no fret work done. The frets are high, not crowned, and the edges are not dressed. It usually takes me around 10 hours of labor to fix a "brand new" Fender neck. For this reason, I stopped buying Fenders. The only brand I have ever purchased with perfect fret work right out of the box is Schecter. Especially S. Korean made guitars. The S.Koreans understand quality and they understand how important the fret work is to the overall sound, playability, and enjoyment of the instrument.
I was so hot for one of these and am grateful to see this video. I wanted this to replace my 1981 Lead lll (CBS). I just don’t see this being worth the money. They look so cool but looks isn’t everything. Thank you for all the quality and educational videos you do.
Glad I could help
You don't need much cavity paint with humbuckers. I like how you did make over but you could have cable tied the wires
Love this format , get something new , what does it need . Well done Ben and team 👏
And yet, I have a Squier Classic Vibe Tele that's absolutely flawless. I went over that guitar with a microscope after I bought it (I'm a luthier too), and I couldn't find a damn thing wrong with it. The only thing it needed (IMO) was a 4-way switch. It's one of the best off-the-rack guitars I've ever owned, and it only cost $400.
I love the Meteora as well. I built a copy out of Ash, with Jazzmaster pickups and trem.
What kind of microscope do you use? I tried searching guitar microscope and the only thing I could find was the kind we used in science class back in school' microscope worms and included.
Ya just have blown my mind, an amazing builder buying not one but 2 guitars!!!! I kept telling myself no way is he gonna buy it then mind exploding! I'm a plumber by trade work has been slow with covid and all, I had nothing to do so I bought the cheapest kit money could buy and decided to in your words make it totally awesome!!!!! Dig the channel and love the jokes!! I'm a fan for life!!!!! Keep Rockin!!!!!!
Absolutely!! So awesome! Love the content!!!
TH-cam's new mobile look (at least on Android) made it incredibly difficult to find either the subscribe button, or comments. This is a terrific video, so I hope you get all the love!
Interesting to note he masked it first before the crowning despite your reply to why you dont mask first. No right or wrong way just always interesting to compare everyones approach. Also every MIM fender guitar ive ever stripped has had those weird random holes, no matter the age lol.
I always mask maple, just haven't had one on the bench/camera for a while, tbh, and to add to my previous reply, I stopped masking before leveling mainly due to having to get the best fret ends possible on new guitars.. on an old one that is already rounded etc there is not much to gain from avoiding the masking.. your comment last time had me question myself all over again!
@@CrimsonCustomGuitars as i say im not trying to say theres right and wrong. Just as someone who has had to learn all this sort of stuff and does it all the time i always pay extra attention to how everyone approaches things haha. Thankfully i havent ever had to do any microtonal fret jobs 😅
I was intrigued about the weird random hole a few years ago and asked around friends. There were oddball theories (weight relief to keep in in tolerance etc) but nothing plausible. So I ventured online. According to folklore and guitar forums its a consistent Mexico telltale - they use it as a locating hole for the routing jig. USA don't do it that way.
But it could also be storage for a pinch of salt.
23:08 what's up with the bridge staggering here? Should look like a lightning bolt in the layout, right? High strings seem not intonated.
It's a stunning shape. I want one, but not in the specs that fender do. It would be great is someone was to make an accurate "M-type" laser cut template set, I would definitely be down for buying one of those. I just wish I could think of someone who would do that... 🤔
I'll make you a Meteora copy lol
Thanks for sharing your vast knowledge! Truly informative and enjoyable!
Wait a minute.. The cable stuck under the PG is from factory?
Do they have any QC at all?
I don't think you metioned it as a gripe. . . . but how many springs are on the whammy unit for it to look like that ? I might just be unfamilliar with a strat style bridge setup but it looks like it could be flatter to the body than it is.
I had the same experience with a Fender Telecaster Performer I bought a few years back. The frets were awful. Ends hadn't been dressed properly and you could feel the scratches on every fret when bending. Not nearly good enough on a guitar costing over a grand.
My Favorite is when you buy a brand new fender and the neck is so warped that you can only get relief on the treble side but the bass side is laying on the feet board as of backbowed. The tech at the store works on it for a while and tell you it can’t be fixed - the next is simply badly warped. They give you your money back but then you go back to the store the next day and there it is on the rack for sale to the next sucker.
I purchased the American Ultra Luxe Stratocaster sunburst with Rosewood fingerboard. The stainless steel frets were not placed correctly. They hang off the edge of the low E and there is empty space on the edge of the high e. I bought that guitar online. Luckily fender is warranty if it but that’s the most expensive mass production model of theirs. The QA is slipping hard at fender
I absolutely love the shape, ever since it first came out with the odd Tele layout as part of the Parellel Universe series. It looks like a 21st century Jazzmaster, I think. I wish the attention to detail was as good as its design.
I have the same guitar exact... and when i got mine from my local shop here in Canada , the frets are totally covered in laquer overspray and look almost brown .. I didn't really realize until I played it for a day or so and some frets became shiny as the laquer wore off ... but its just so annoying. I dont want to get into polishing the frets and possibly messing up the shine on the board .. best way to do so I assume would be to mask the frets and gently steel wool the frets?
For that price point, these should come in near perfect shape imo. I can buy a $500 guitar with the exact same issues. Why would I pay Fender more than twice as much for the same thing? The extra money these big brands charge should be going to fit and finish. If they're not, there's no reason to not buy a cheaper brand and just pay for a decent setup (or better yet, do it yourself and save even more $$$).
You mention fretting quality on expensive guitars. About 10, 15 or so years ago, OK maybe more, I was goaded by an article in Guitarist magazine to look at the frets on my collection of guitars. I sent an email to guitarist at the time as I found that my collection of fenders, (strat) Gibson ,(Les paul standard, J40, Hummingbird) , Ibanez(Jem),PRS (Hollowbody, Custom) Godin, Vox (soundcaster), Eggle (Berlin, LA, NY) all had flat frets with little or no attempt to round them off, dress or polish or all the things that smaller luthier businesses point to being their strength. I pointed this out to guitarist at the time but received no comment. I can also say that up until this point i had not noticed that the performance of the guitars was poorer. The exception was a few Warmoth necks I replaced some guitars with which I found excellent although generally a fendery kind of screw in style. The frets on them were perfect and rounded and looked suspiciously as if the fingerboards were so accurate and the fretting installation technique so good that they hadn't done anything to them! (Maybe polish)They all play perfectly. And lastly 60 years ago I had a Tatay from Valencia nylon accoustic and the frets were unashamedly flat, sharp edged and rectangular which they are to this day and I never had any problem with them. The vox soundcaster is from 1966ish and plays fine and is I suspect somewhat underated if you want to take a detailed look at one. Please note all the guitars mentioned are pretty old and I'm sure all the manufacturers will point to increasing their standards since then.
I feel like I'm preaching to the choir, but like many here I love the shape of the Meteora but am aghast at the QC.
I'm glad that I've spent enough time on this channel and others to be able to fix things but there would be many that have dropped a decent amount of their hard-earned on a guitar and brought it home only for it to play poorly.
In 2022 I find that to be plain wrong.
A quality fret job is why I buy guitars and basses made by Schecter. Even their entry-level models look, feel and play great.
Fender are really doing some rough work these days. I just bought one with bad fret work. Terrible for a £1000 + guitar. I also bought a £2000 Jackson(by fender) that needed a full fret level, crown and polish. The guitar arrived with frets polished to a beautiful lustre. Why bother if you haven't even leveled the fretboard?
You know what I did buy recent.y that is flawless. A Gibson Les Paul. Who'd have thunk it.
As they used to say on ‘I’m sorry I haven’t a clue’ - “it’s buttock clenchingly piss poor!”. Of all the places you want clean and well finished, it’s the neck! It’s what has put me off saving up for a Fender Strat - the unknown build quality. I’m probably going to look at a PRS Silver Sky (SE because I’m not loaded!)
I fell in love with the Meteora bass at first sight. After 30 seconds playing one, I put it back on the rack and grabbed another. Both were absolute garbage for what Fender is asking. Out of curiosity I played two other MIM jazz basses. Same thing. Fender really should have made the Meteora in Japan.
I would like to see a deep dive with some of the the higher priced budget guitars like Harley Bentond and Epiphones.
To be honest Ben I wouldn't buy another higher end guitar again after the sub standard QC of my les paul standard and my American standard tele 2 years ago. Bad frets and the tooling marks on the les paul are horrible and you just can't stop seeing the faults! The neck on the tele was twisted ( replaced under warranty) but how do they leave the factory like this!
Excellent video. It has really helped me decide on a future purchase, not going to buy one, I intend to sign up for for one of the guitar making courses and make one . Would love to see a video on a Godin A6, or Summit, if you haven’t already.
Thanks for a great video. Love the ending guitar solo.
Mine has similar issues along with electronic ground and soldering mistakes. After tlc it is lovely but it was a road to get there.
Years ago I noticed something similar on the frets of a telecaster Highway one (2002), despite a bad fretwork in few years frets became smooth, was an ok guitar
Ben would have a field day with my Harmony sunburst Strat style guitar I got at Sears in 86. My first guitar. I still have it. I really enjoy these tear down vids.
I'm looking forward to playing with some catalogue guitars.. we expect them to be problematic from that era though.. I honestly thought a modern Fender would be built to a budget but basically sound.. 😅
@@CrimsonCustomGuitars That will be a joy to watch.
Interesting video and made me thing at something I forgot to ask : how do you make sure that when you level your frets, you're not creating a slope on each side of a high fret ? Not sure if it's clear but let's say your 10th fret is higher than the others. When you run your sanding beam along the frets, it will rest on that high fret and the lowest fret on each side which would cause some sort of slope on each side, the 10th fret being the top on the slope. How do you make sure you get this fret down to a certain point that is low enough so that the leveling beam removes material from that higher fret and not on the others ?
And by the way I didn't knew that guitar either ;)
@Crimson Custom Guitars And the good old scammer is back...
Blocked them, they keep changing accounts and use different words.. bastards
This can be a problem and is why we always double check with a fret rocker before moving on. Basically you need to pass the leveling beam over the whole fretboard a few times after you think you have it levelled just to mop up any inconsistencies
2:58 that's my first electric guitar. Epi G400 Custom. Gigantic D neck on that one.
What would be the average cost of fixing the frets ( like shown in this video) in England ( I live in the States and have no idea of the cost here)
Great Video, thanks!
All the meteora guitars at my local shop played just fine and had pretty much great fretwork aside from one of em with a scratchy 12th fret
That was what I was expecting.. a mediocre to good guitar with nice pickups needed a little tickle to get up to scratch.. not scratches and buckled scratchplates.
@@CrimsonCustomGuitars yeah its unfortunate. It seems I get lucky as my local fender dealer is a ma and pa business and they put alot of setup work and maintenance into anything that has qc issues. Obviously on the lower end stuff less care is taken but I have noticed as of late that quite a few Mexican fenders are turning out to be lemons with issues very similar to this meteora I miss the old made in Mexico strats of the late 90s
Waiting for that EPI SG tear down. I want one so bad. In left handed though.
Clearly, and regardless of the country of manufacture, any instrument costing that much should be completely set up and ready to play, with needing to be tuned up the only possible thing after uncasing.
Bit of a train wreck.
Great body shape. Would love to see Fender try out some new, and more complimentary headstock shapes as well.
I don't have the opportunity to check out a guitar like this in a shop. No guitar shops within a hundred miles - these days that adds a lot to the price in go juice. I've had good luck on a couple of cheapos so I guess it will be a while before I consider a purchase at a $1,000 +. I have also had pretty good success with Sweetwater purchases in the past. They just go ahead and charge a little extra to make sure the set-up is good before they let it out of the cage.
A little over a month ago i traded my gibson faded les paul HP...I like shorter scale super-strats mainly, but I really wanted somthing that had the same stratty sweetness my 1st guitar had...i got a super spec'd out Warmoth! Lol and had a ⅞ S-style(24 fret 24¾" scale) warmoth build finally finished a few weeks b4 that. The guy I traded it too told me he recently ordered a USA fender neck. It was bowed, but still couldn't be returned/replaced...
Warmoth makes the finest guitars iv played. Iv had SO many different guitars the past 3 years and warmoth takes the whole friggn cake...i still love my bc rich mockingbird legacy ST and carvin dc400 and ibanez AZ242F, but my two warmoth's are as good as a guitar can play imo. Love to see you review one of there necks/full setup one day!
Thanks for another great video...Skurge!
You still have to level Warmoth necks.
I like your analysis of this fender. It would be cool if you took a look at some other Asian brands like maybe Ibanez. Specifically their higher end models that aren’t at their “prestige” category. I’ve seen people review their prestige models and their lower entry level models, the it’s a little harder finding good opinions from experienced builders where they review the non-prestige high end models. You might actually already have some videos on this, so I’ll keep searching. I just found your channel and I’m really liking the content. While on that note, I’m off to subscribe right now.
I once bought a new Gibson ES335 for almost $3,000 from one of the big online music shops. The guitar came, looked beautiful and I was excited. At least until I played it and my left hand started hurting and bleeding sliding up and down the neck. Holy Cow! They forgot to file down the frets. I called Gibson and was practically cussed out by their rep. That was the last guitar I will ever buy from Gibson!
Really shocking TBH. A proper service rendered here so thank you! Ibanez are the only major manufacturer I see being consistent with regards to fit and finnish. Not always perfect but pretty damn good.
I’d like to know what you think of a Harley Benton ‘LP’ after it has been properly set up and finished.
So far (after 27 years) I've only got 3 guitars with no issues at all. En ESP Eclipse custom shop. A Fender American Pro II and the Ibanez RG550 for "only" 900€. But this specific Meteora isn't worth the asking price. Really bad quality control.