Fender is the new Gibson? This is why I have trust issues with everyone but Sweetwater sweetwater.sjv.io/DK3jWo EDIT: After your suggestions, I've checked and there doesn't seem to be any room in the pocket for the neck to move for re-alignment. Rather than risk a crack, Fender's offered to just replace it. I'm just going to take them up on that, and hope that the next one comes with better frets, too!
Simply loosen the four bolts on the neck-heal, realign the neck until the low e spacing fits, and tighten them again. This is almost normal now with Fender - with every second one you have to realign the neck first.
It’s not an issue with the bridge causing the strings to be like that, it’s the necks fit in the neck pocket. Loosen the neck bolts a little, put the guitar standing on its side (tuners side down) and press down at the neck joint and re tighten the screws. I’ve had the same issue on a few fenders and this solves the issue every time. 👍🏽
My TD strat came like this, and SO DID MY CUSTOM SHOP STRAT! This is par for the course for fenders & bolt on neck guitars and easily remedied. I think they shift during shipping as theres no way that fender sis shipping out that many bad aligned guitars. The neck pockets are all machine routed so there are exactly the same shape so that neck swaps are easy. Its by design. The fact that you have such a successful channel and don't know this is kinda dumb honestly but whatever. Having said that, a new guitar should absolutely come with a straight and aligned neck and not like this, but the fix is just so easily done. 2 out of the 3 fenders I have suffered from this upon arrival. Loosen the bolts about a turn or so, align the strings so they are straight, and tighten back up. My TD strat was pretty far off and now its dead center.
@@tedmen1123 I’m based in the UK and I’ve seen some TERRIBLE set ups on Fender. You are much more likely to get a better set up out of the box from a Gibson due to the PLEK system they use & set neck design. At the same time though any guitar bought without playing it in person is a gamble. I’ve played some 6K custom shop Fenders off the walls in music shops and the set ups have been worse than some £100 guitars I’ve had straight out the box. In my own personal experience it’s usually the ones with the terrible set ups end up being keepers for me when I’ve personally set them up.
“QC tag” I feel you, I ordered a 1200$ Charvel from Sweetwater that came in pretty much unplayable. Not only was the setup a complete joke, but the neck wasn’t even completely screwed into the body to the point I choice see a picks width of clearance. The fret ends were a joke as well. Fortunately Sweetwater reimbursed me for a good amount of necessary tech work. It’s now pretty much perfect!
I'm more than amazed with how quality seems to have gone down during the years, let alone the fact that expensive guitars don't even come with a hard case anymore. When i started playing 17 years ago you really got what you paid for, and a thousand dollar guitar was already considered top tier in every aspect
Yeah, I don’t buy for a second that Sweetwater checks their guitars before they ship them out. I also bought a Charvel from them and the neck wasn’t even fully finished. Half of it was satin, the other half was raw wood.
@@Returnality wtf? That's getting really out of hand. I actually blame the fully saturated market at this point. There are a lot of great models that came out in the last year's but a lot of them are pointless and just gimmicky. Quality control is just an option nowadays
@@Professional.Bro.777 I hate that this is a thing now. Music Man is probably my favorite overall brand, but now even they've switched to MONO soft cases over a quality hardshell. PRS will straight up ship you a $2800 Silver Sky in a gig bag. It's insane.
I had that same string alignment issue on an American Original, they shift in shipping. Detune, back off the neck bolts a long way, then push the neck into alignment with one hand and screw the neck bolts back in with the other.
Wow, Fender neck pockets must be really loose if it's only the bolts holding the neck straight. Most high end builders, the neck joint is a tight interference fit, the bolts just hold it in.
Yeah they're not super great, kind of put me off Fender really. It's also partially due to their shipping+cases, they don't really do anything to support the neck, so any lateral movement shunting the neck will shift it around in the pocket.
What you do, is loosen the 4 neck screws slightly, and pull the neck towards the direction it needs. In this case down towards the high e. Hold it in place and tighten the screws back. It happens with bolt on necks. They shift sometimes if the screws weren't tightened properly in the first place, especially prior to shipping.
Try loosening the neck screws a little to let the neck find its own spot. Lossen them a turn or two, strings umder tension, then re tighten the neck and re tune. This may not help but it might.
@@michaelnugent9758 it looks to me like the bridge probably IS miss aligned, but you never know. A slightly loose neck pocket can really play havoc with strng alignment. Re aligning and remounting the bridge would be fairly easy and only take an hour or so depending on how comfortable you are with the tools. Sending it back to fender would be a mistake in my opinion. I would fix it myself, but armed with photos, i would petition Fender for some small refund, or even better, try and get them to send you some locking tuners or something like that for your troubles.
That bridge looks way off center. You can see that it's pushing up against the pickguard on the bass side, but there is a huge space on the treble side. The bridge should be centered in that space and there should be a gap between the bridge and the pickguard on both sides. There is no way there is enough play in the neck pocket to fix that.
@@kyuubi287 i agree, however, you have to be careful where you place the origin of the problem. It is more common for the bridge to be properly aligned and the pick guard to be out of alignment if your judging by the space between the pick guard and bridge. Im not saying that your wrong, just that you have to be aware of both scenarios before you come to an informed conclusion. Either way i disagree with sending it back, unless you are a true beginner. The problem is an easy fix either way, and will award you knowaladge and experience if you tackle it yourself. It beats waiting another year, thats for sure.
Sometimes you can physically bend the neck into place and then tighten the screws in to "lock" it in place. It's one of those things that might work, it might not, but it's a good last resort.
My first big purchase as a teenager back in 08 was a yellow Tom Delonge strat and it’s one of those personal items I’ll be buried with! Long live blink!!
You could loosen the neck screws and try to move the neck to where it's supposed to be. Sometime you can shim them back into place. If it's tight in the pocket then its an instant RMA. Literally never seen a major company put a bridge in the wrong place.
You'd only see it on a vintage guitar because nowadays the technology is in place to accurately measure these things. I had a vintage Mustang with the bridge slightly too far back, luckily it does intonate, it's just ever so slightly flat.
the amount needed to move far exceeds the amount of wiggle your gonna get loosening the screws and shifting the neck the millimeter or 2 it needs ......
My first electric guitar was a squier affinity in surf green with the 70s headstock. Now it’s a TD partscaster and I’m all in at about $500 and I love that guitar
That neck centering is how you know it's an original Fender bro! I used to work at a Fender dealership, I had so many of those Fenders with bad centered necks it became my own little joke. The worst part is - it's usually on USA Fenders, not as common on MIM Fenders and have never seen it on any Squiers we had in the store. Ironic, right?
Ordered two American Professional Jazzmasters the last few weeks and both went back. Sounded great and nice playability, but they both had their issues I can't accept for being 2k guitars
@@dennisfuzzhead4439 same with tele's for me. i wish i could buy in store and play before i buy but stores have very few guitars that interest me (and those were bad too).
Nice looking axe. Loosen the bolts and yank that neck into place. I love Fender instruments although they always arrive in need of a serious setup. On the other hand, the Gibson stuff that I get is spot on perfect. It's really quite shocking that Gibson made such a drastic turnaround in quality upon delivery. At any rate, I hope that you can crank that neck into position and rock that thing. It sounds great through that Rectifier amp. Rock steady brother!
I'm tired of seeing bad products. Gotta demand better. Good on ya for not just giving us all smiles and hype Hunter. The truth and intergrity are more important!!!
It's not a bad product, per se. Had he bought from a shop, this possibly would have been adjusted at the shop before it hit the floor (depends on the store, really). Buying directly from Fender opens up to issues like this. It's not a Fender or product issue, really, but actually a shipping issue. Fender, back in the 50s and 60s, were aware of this issue of guitar necks needing alignment adjustment after shipping. It's just the reality of a bolt-on guitar, and luckily very easy to remedy.
@@EstevanOsorio I know about the bolt-on adjustment issue. The average player probably doesn't, and may look to return this. But it's not "the reality of a bolt-on guitar", this is Fender specific (or at least I'm not aware of another company who's design are so poor as to allow this problem). Their neck pockets are generally not a very good design imo. They can allow for way too much slop. I've never seen them use threaded inserts to try to get and maintain perfect alignment as opposed to just screwing in wood screws like they've always done. In this age of CNC technology with the ability to get tolerances to within 0.01 mm, the overall slop in this neck joint design is really showing it's age. To top it off, I don't think I've ever seen Fender use a bridge that had "self-alignment". What I mean by that is something like a Hipshot, where there is a wall above the low E saddle and another wall below the high E saddle. I'm saying "wall", but I think there is better terminology, I'm just forgetting. This prevents the saddles from getting too far off alignment, which I have seen happen with Fender saddles. He could work with this guitar or get a guitar tech or luthier to look at it. Maybe get the fret polish up to par since he mentioned that as well. And of course action and intonation (I think on very well built guitars, these should not end up as issues at least not as much as he described it, but the mass produced guitars that sometimes still can cost a pretty penny are having lots of reported issues....I can vouch myself). So yeah there are remedies, but better designs and manufacturing practices should also be mentioned....although I don't expect change though, Leo Fender was the king of mass produced cheap guitars and that still seems like Fender's philosophy.
@@EstevanOsorioIt's not just that, though. Maybe this certain case is, but Fender's QC, in general, is not. I just bought a Vintera Jazzmaster (my first and, most likely, last ever purchase of a Fender brand product), and it had an improperly filed nut that caused e string to constantly pop out with regular strumming, and headstock lacquer spills over onto the first fret and about halfway down the 2nd. This is shoddy production and even shoddier quality control... I've never had such issues with any of my other 11 (non-Fender) guitars, and this Jazzmaster costs 2x-10x as much as those other guitars. Unacceptable.
I recently got a Les Paul Modern that I had to return to Sweetwater. Wasn't horrible but the binding looked bad by the neck joint and there was a chip in the binding near the nut. Sweetwater support said things like "That's within spec for Gibson" "Gibson guitars are handmade". Regardless I got a new instrument without the flaws.
It could be a lot worse. I bought an acoustic guitar direct from Fender. It had a bizarre problem on the first string. Playing frets 12, 13, 14, and 15 gave these notes: E G F# G. I.e., the 13th fret gave G instead of F. A fret playing too high can be caused by a fret closer to the bridge being too high, so I just assumed that is what it was, and sent it back. It was only after it was gone that I realized that while that or something similar could explain that G on 13, that kind of problem would also cause 14 to be G. I could not figure out geometrically any way to have a saddle, bridge, neck, and fret configuration that could produce a situation where fret N+1 produces a lower note than fret N. Playing up the next should always produce a non-decreasing sequence of tones. But that guitar was doing it, so I'm missing something. I really wish I'd noticed this before sending it back and taken a close look to see what exactly was wrong.
I had guitars after being shipped the neck shifting, all I did was unscrew the neck bolt closest to the upper horn a half turn and the other 3 bolts enough to release the tension then aligned and retighten. 🎸🤘🏼✌🏼
@frankcarter6427 why would you void the warranty for slightly loosening those bolts? It's impossible to know. I agree it's their job BUT it takes 5 minutes to fix compared to the hassle of sending it back and waiting, especially when it's out of stock everywhere.
Got mine from Sweetwater. I did have to oil the fretboard and lower the saddles because they were so high I wasn't getting any pick attack. But after a good set up and string change, it plays great.
Got mine from guitarguitar here in the UK and I must have got lucky or something because mine came perfectly setup almost in tune and no QA issues. I've seen quite a few people getting bad ones with lots of issues but I can only judge by the one I got and I'm very happy with it. Saying that though it is way over priced for what it is but I couldn't miss the chance to own a guitar I've always wanted.
Hunter, the neck alignment issue is an easy fix. Loosing the screws for the neck by a couple turns, pull the neck sideways in the direction it needs to go, and retighten the screws. It happens to bolt on neck guitars all the time. It’s a 1 minute fix, all it means is that the neck was bolted on at a slight angle.
I’d be shocked at the price…but we’re in a world of $1300+ Epiphones and various made in China, Korea, and Indonesian guitars from ESP, Jackson etc. breaking $1K now. Not to mention the high prices the initial run of Tom Delonge strats were selling for on the used market before this new release. These do look cool though! Hopefully some TLC can get it up to par. I’d consider one but I snagged the Made In Japan Boxer Tele for $755 new on clearance. Way better value and does all the cool higher gain rock stuff well.
As others have said, sometimes this can be fixed by just loosening the neck and adjusting, no guarantee, if it’s really bad it may be unfixable. I’ve had it with my AVRI Strat before where I’ve had the neck off for an adjustment and then the high E was falling off the board. Worth a try anyway. I picked up a graffiti yellow, mine had some minor QC issues but plays great.
So after watching this I took another look at mine… while not as bad as yours, mine also had some bad alignment, I’ve fixed it with a small shim in the neck pocket on the bass side of the neck, I just used a small piece of folded wet and dry paper and that was just enough to put it right. Something I completely missed in my own review of the guitar.
@@JasonWharton82easy to overlook, im a real harsh judge of QC, and normally its pretty rare to find this issue,... normally:). hope yours is playing OK now👌
@@dejadejayoutube yeah all good now, to be honest it didn’t play bad even with it being out a little, still intonated ok and everything. Anyway easy fix for mine thankfully!
Easiest fix in the world on any bolt-on guitar. Loosen the strings, loosen the neck screws, shift the neck until strings align correctly, tighten everything back up. Done in at most 10 minutes. IIRC old Fender manuals actually told you to do this! (b^_^)b
No one cares about their job anymore. No one. When you order a guitar it’s expected it’s gonna be fucked up. Even if you spend 3k. You have to get into 5k to 7k to get a decent guitar. Used to be 1200 and you had a killer Japanese made esp. not any more. The only guitars you will see set up perfect are Japanese built guitars. They are the only ones left on the planet who care about what they do.
I had a Jim Root white Jazzmaster that I ordered from Sweetwater (new) and unfortunately it had some QC issues too. Played okay (not great setup), but the fit and finish was messed up. The body wasn’t evenly sanded so your arm would catch if your arm was against the body, random black paint marks on the head stock, weird marks on the fretboard, etc. it wasn’t unplayable or anything, but for the price I just returned it. Ended up with a Charvel a few months later that was much better
My dad got a MIM tele, had to adjust the neck on it because the high e was nearly off the fretboard by the time it got up to the 17th fret. Kind of a shame how often I hear about it now, same mistake, over and over again on multiple models. Edit to add: It never looks like there's room in the neck pocket, but with how long guitar necks are, a tiny bit of movement at the body is a lot of movement at the top, at the nut where the strings get their alignment. You'd be surprised. It's still insane that you'd even have to consider this.
Loosen three neck bolts, loosen the fourth SLIGHTLY (like 1/2 turn), pull up on the headstock, tighten the bolt opposite the one that's only slightly loose. Repeat as necessary to realign the string pull.
I have mine backordered on Sweetwater and although I'm excited, I don't mind waiting and being patient if it means the next wave of TD Strats have more inspection and QC because of all the reported defects with the first wave. We'll see.
I got the Daphne Blue one @agufish and it's funny you said everything about those QC issues. I had the exact same thing with mine. However, I knew the strings stock were coming off and needed to hydrate the fretborad and I slapped my favorite strings on and did a nice little 30 min setup and plays like a dream now.
Easy fix and a common problem with bolt on's. Loosen the neck bolts, re-align the neck (push down), with pressure still applied, re-tighten the neck bolts.
You can easily fix the neck alignment by loosening the neck screws and the strings and then push or pull the neck in the direction you need and then tighten the screws while you have it in the right position. It might take a few tries to get it perfect but it's not difficult to do at all. I've had to do this on two guitars, one Fender and a Squier.
My guess is that the neck isn't sitting in the pocket correctly. I had to partially fill the neck pocket with wood filler on my MIM Fender lead ii to get it to sit correctly. To be certain, pull the neck down towards your lap while holding it in the sitting position. It will probably pivot ever so slightly and the strings will align. I'm sure there are other ways to fix it as well, but I'd check that neck pocket first. I don't think it's the bridge. Best of luck to you.
After the last few years, I couldn’t imagine ordering a guitar online without playing it first. Except maybe a Squier. They’ve been killing it. I just realized all my electrics are Squier (an Affinity FMT Strat, a contemporary Tele, and a Mini P-bass).
Ha seriously. My cheap ass squire sonic strat I got on sale with a code direct from fender ($190 to my door after all fees) is absolutely amazing out of the box and needed nothing. I’m gunna mod it out and turn it into a Tom Delonge copy
I tend to agree. Although I’ve got a couple premium Ibanez basses in the last couple years and they’ve been damn near flawless. Definitely could have gotten lucky tho
Working at a Music Store, I see a lot of fenders and Jacksons come in with absolutely terrible “QC”. Fret edges poking out, dried fret boards, bad nuts, and a lot of finish issues.
I hope your situation goes smoothly. I will say that i personally have almost given up on giving fender any slack any more. Imo, their quality control has gone out the window on both their fender and squier lines. You used to be able to have confidence in their products above a certain level. Nowadays it seems that you can rely on their quality being trash on new equipment. I had to send a new telecaster (in seafoam green, how ironic) back for the exact same reason, except mine was the high e hanging off the edge of the fretboard. Their quality actually DROVE me to another manufacturer. The quality and customer service was so bad that it pissed me off and i bought from someone else instead. Now i have no love for the brand. I enjoy some of their older stuff i already have, that i take care of myself and have paid to customize to my liking, but their new stuff is dead to me.
Same issue on the Gold Foil Tele I checked out. Loved the look and sound but the neck just wasn’t straight. I get that it’s a reasonably easy fix, but it shouldn’t be necessary in the first place. These things are all cnc’d and the tolerances ought to be spot on. Hope they sort it out.
Slack the strings, loosen the neck bolts and gently push the headstock down and hold it there. Snug the screws and check the string alignment. looks like the neck is just loose in the pocket.
@Agufish Are you 100% sure it's the bridge being off center ? If it isn't, just unscrew the neck blots and push the neck left or right to align the 2 E strings and rescrew, this is a very common thing with bolt on necks
I just received a player telecaster from sweetwater with a bad nut right out of the box. Low E was hanging off the edge just like yours is. Don’t want to return it because the rest of it feels and looks great. Hopefully just get a new nut and rock with it.
neck shifted in the pocket is my guess about the alignment, just need to loosen the neck screws and align it back up then tighten the neck screws back up. if not, then id return it
The string alignment is because the neck is crooked in the neck pocket. I built a guitar that had that problem once. Sometimes you can fix it by loosening the bolts moving the neck and retightening it. If it’s too far, the neck holes will need to be filled and re-rilled
it´s the bridge placement. Had to return a new LTD M-1 Custom '87 Rainbow Crackle with the same issue recently; of course, as many here have suggested, you can easily realign the neck, but there will be an ugly neck pocket gap on the bass side; also, the strings will still not be aligned with the pole pieces and dot inlays...
Actually not only mass production guitars have problem like this, my friend bought a Strat cs62 and it has the exact same problem. Probably you need to unscrew the neck and give it a push, or take out all saddles to reposition the bridge.
I had this with a Jackson who got knocked about in transit. The luthier just gave the neck a little smack upwards to shift it in the pocket and it was perfect. I'd probably take the neck off and reseat it, though, as I don't feel comfortable smacking guitar necks.
The bass channel Lowend Lobster ran into a similar QC problem with Fender’s Gold Foil jazz bass. The bridge was misaligned, the truss rod access was at the neck heel and the electronics were mounted to the pickguard instead of a separate plate. The misalignment of the bridge meant that the E string was not aligned with the pickup, so that string just sounded dead. All for the cost of $1300 😟. His whole review is just him roasting the bass and Fender.
I bought a used 2006 MIM tele with the same problem not only was the bridge off center the neck pocket was 1/16 of an in. to big, apparently Fender Mexico has had problems for awhile
If the issue is that the neck is not correctly bolted on (as some people have mentioned) then it means the cavity is way too big, and that's not a quality instrument, also if the bridge has been misaligned keep in mind that not only the screws holding the bridge that need to be filled re-drilled but also the hole that leads to the string ferrule in the back.
I wonder if you ordered it from Sweetwater would it have the same mis-alignment issue? Perhaps the Fender folks don't have the same QA checks as Sweetwater? Although some of the comments below also note that Sweetwater seems to have a few QA mis-steps, too. It seems like a higher price tag really doesn't mean anything anymore. I'll stick to my "under $500.00" price range guitars that I know I might have to set up anyway. Why waste so much money on guitars that you have to spend hours of work on?
I also bought a fender strat that couldn't be played out of the box, paid almost $1,600 for it, and had to bring it to the shop to get fixed. Fender wouldn't even get back to me.
Classic tech trick, needs a "neck wrench". Leave it tuned to pitch, loosen the neck screws a little and pull the headstock towards the tuners then check the string alignment. Re tighten the screws. This will do the trick, QC should have caught this.
It looks like the bridge is centered to the pickguard bridge cutout. See if you can squeeze the high E & Low Saddles together it looks like the saddles might be fanned out.
That is a bummer!! I am waiting on mine to deliver from Fender. I got the Daphne Blue so I hope that I don’t have any issues. Good luck and hope it gets corrected🎸🎸
I've had 3 MIM guitars.. 2 Charvels and one Fender.. come with wonky truss rods that didn't want to turn. Yet I still think that factory puts out good stuff. I like Vintera and Pro-Mod lines a lot. I always check the truss rod as part of first inspection because Fenders always have a lot more relief than I like anyway. And lowering action helps assess fret leveling and other such things
Hunter, you need to draw a straight edge from the saddles to the nut for E and e strings.. it may NOT be the bridge in fact but the neck might be jacked in the pocket.. is a common issue with strat types.. some have to loosen the neck bolts half turn.. just enough to allow you to manipulate the neck (loosen tension of course).. jack it back in place and tighten.. unfortunately this can leave the neck pocket gaps.. if this is the case its a poorly cut pocket or undersized neck.. of course unless the bridge was in fact put in the wrong place.. that is a take off.. plug and redrill.. which sounds like a $ 500 discount to me.. hidden by bridge plate.. no big deal.. interested to know what they think..
I ordered a Telecaster Player Plus directly from Fender also because of the 10% off. I had to send it back due to issues. The tone knob was so scratchy that you couldn't touch it and the high E string was almost hanging off the fretboard. It was not playable. I wonder with the 10% if they are sending out the grade B products.
There are two fixes for the issue, one is as noted by others to lossen the neck and realign the neck, the other is to take off the strings and bridge, fill in the holes, and redrill the holes in the right spot.. These two fixes can fix the issue, most are going to say fix the neck instead of the bridge, though if you look at the pick guard vs the bridge, it looks to me like the bridge was the issue. I would think the bridge should be close to perfectly in that slot, but you can see you have much more space on the bottom than you do on the top, thus I think the issue is with the bridge.
Just losen the neck screws a bit and straighten the neck angle. Then tighten them up while holding the neck in the position you want. It's very common on many inexpensive bolt on neck guitars. It's a 5 min. fix.
Just loosen the neck screws and tilt the neck just ever so slightly toward the treble side and tighten it back up. I've fixed several strats this way. It's usually caused by either a careless worker or taking a huge bump in shipping.
This exact ISSUE with string alignment and bridges needing to be re-centered has been ongoing with Fender for years. I bought a Fender EOB Stratocaster from Sweetwater in 2020 with the same issue. I bought a couple of Squire Affinity’s & a Fender custom shop Stratocaster body for parts caster builds and ALL had same issue. Had to refill holes and re-center bridges. In short: FUCK Fender Good luck with resolving the issue. I’m not even going to tell you the bullshit I went through with Sweetwater and Fender.
I was a Fender warranty tech for about 20 years. There’s is an easy if not surprising fix for the offset string problem. Take the palm of your hand and while holding the guitar hit the side of the neck until it lines up. It’s super fast and easy and doesn’t hurt the guitar. Works every time.
it's not a bridge issue, it's the wonky strat neck pocket with a neck that'S not set in straight, which is prone to happen to strats if the necks aren't attached with care and attention, which is likely in a factory setting. This is definitely something the QC guys should've picked up. Essentially an easy fix, but that sgouldn't be your concern.
I ordered one of the newish gold-foil pickup Fender basses. First one came like this, with the misalligned strings. Sent it back, the next one same thing. Sent it back and got store credit rather than try for a third time. I am an Ibanez guy, though I have a vintage modified jag bass. I was really digging the look of the gold foil pickup bass, and thought it would be a good intoduction for me to a proper fender. Safe to say, I'm still an Ibanez guy.
It's pretty obvious when you see the difference in clearance between the fingerboard dot and the D and G strings. Could it be that the bridge is in place but the neck was put in angled? I'd expect perfect alignment of the body with parts if you'd CNC the thing. Putting the neck into the pocket is hand work.
It's not too uncommon for a neck to need to some re-alignment: 1) Loosen the string tension so there is barely any. 2) Slightly loosen the neck mounting screws. 3) Slightly push/pull the neck into alignment so the high/low E strings are where they should be. 4) Tighten up the neck screws. 5) Tune up the guitar. 6) Should be ready to go. If it's still not right and FUBAR, send it back.
Too many people saying just adjust the neck but failed to see that the bridge is indeed misaligned. You can see the uneven gaps between the left and right side of the bridge relative to the pickguard.
I noticed this same issue on a fender at guitar showcase, it is not an isolated problem. You can try to loosen the neck to fix but it may chip the finish at the neck pocket and that would likely not be covered under warrantee.
that explains the $200-300 drop in the Vintera and Aerodyne series guitars, as well as the 10% off that Fender is offering when you order from them. These big business think we won’t notice, but we do. Now we decide where our money goes
I've had to use Fenders customer service on a charvel. It took them maybe a day to respond and they told me to take it to my guitar center and they would take care of me. It was a very easy process and had my guitar back next day.
In all your years of collecting guitars, didn't you know that Stratocasters and other guitars with bolt-on neck have problems with neck slope? All you have to do is loosen the bolts in the neck pocket and straighten out the slope with your hands. And that's it, the problem’s solved
Echoing what others say: Neck shifted in shipping. Loosen the bolts and straighten the neck then retighten them. I had the same thing happen to my CME Jazzmaster from CME. Fender's QC has been awful lately (look at any AMV2 review) this could have happened even if sweetwater oe someone set it up before shipping.
Loosen the neck screw for about a quarter turn. Push the neck from headstock downwards from the bass side untill the strings are centered on the fretboard. Keep neck on its place while tightening the screw and your'e fixed 👌
Really sorry that the DeLonge wasn't right. You're right that you shouldn't have to fix that big a fault on a brand new guitar. Sucks a mountain, though!
I work at a guitar store, ours sold the hour it came in on a truck, we didn't even get to open or display it, watching this video I hope whoever bought it didn't need to do all that work like you did
honestly if I wanted the Tom Delonge strat, I would rather buy a MIM strat and replace the pickguard w/ a single pickup slot and drop an invader in there
I'm liking the mini Jazzmaster, I've put a shim, (for) an adjustable Schaller tune-o-matic, Sperzels, a bog standard Jazzuar trem and some triple-shots, thinking about some versatile pups next, and I'm trying to see if I can install a cheap bluetooth transmitter instead of the output jack, and have the Blackstar one on my amp in. If it works, it'll be weird. I was pretty flabbergasted that mine was intonated perfectly despite the millimetre range on the bridge. I gave it some red oak dowels just to make sure the new bridge will be stable, the original body wood feels quite soft, but even at its lowest, the action was abysmal compared to the shredder 1.2 that it was shipped with, so I cut a shim and Bob's yer uncle. For less than a tenner, the Jazzuar trem does exactly what I want, and lets me get some twangly twang. I do wish Sperzels had a screw attachment though, that spikey thing gives me the heebie jeebies. Trying to get the first one straight didn't go quite perfectly. YNWA and lots of hope for the new season. What size LFC jersey should we all get you?
It's surf green.🧐 Also that might be the classic fender neck pocket "fit". You can try(with strings on but detuned a bit) loosening all 4 bolts and reposition the neck and tighten them again. I've had American Fenders back in the 90's or early 2000's arrive like that. Looks like it's been sitting for quite a while, Fender must have delayed this release.
Everyone of my early 2000 strats have had the same thing happen, the strings fall off the board, from shrinking of the neck, I ground the bent saddles and made them super skinny, which made the strings perfect. It happens all the time tho. It's didn't happen to my maple neck strats, just the rosewood ones. Why I prefer roasted maple, 22 guitars and the only ones I didn't have to adjust was the ones with roasted necks, from winter to spring.
Oh man I had the exact same issue 5 or 6 years ago with a Jim Root Telecaster I bought direct from Fender. No matter what I did I could not get the guitar to intonate. Took it to a noted good guitar tech in Denver and he happened to be a Fender dealer. Got it replaced for me. Something to be said for getting Sweetwater to do an inspection before the guitar ships on to you for sure!
I had a string alignment issue with a Harley Benton guitar I got (the MR Modern Baritone) and it was really easy to fix. All I had to do was unscrew the neck a little to loosen it and then pull it to the side to get the strings aligned again. After that all I had to do was tighten it up and everything was fine.
I got on at GC launch, and had to return it. the Nut weas cut to wide for the G and B strings, the fretboard felt like sandpaper and it was just so horrible put together. I could not jusity it for $1,300. I returned it and go the PRS CE DW for $2,100. Ill wait and get a OG TD
Sweet water is a fender dealer, try hitting up fender to see if you can send to sweet water for the warranty work. That way you don’t void your warranty
THAT is why I sold all my expensive guitars and have started playing Harley Benton. I am not joking! The new ones are mostly built by Cort in Indonesia and the quality went up extremely over the last years.
Hey, this review really got me thinking now; I made a partscaster about 10 years ago using a Tom Delonge signature neck and I had EXACTLY the same align problem! I barely could do a vibrato on the low E. I thought I messed up combining the pieces (that were all MIM Fender partes) but now I'm wondering if there's something different in this neck... 🤔🤔🤔
Fender is the new Gibson? This is why I have trust issues with everyone but Sweetwater sweetwater.sjv.io/DK3jWo
EDIT: After your suggestions, I've checked and there doesn't seem to be any room in the pocket for the neck to move for re-alignment. Rather than risk a crack, Fender's offered to just replace it. I'm just going to take them up on that, and hope that the next one comes with better frets, too!
Simply loosen the four bolts on the neck-heal, realign the neck until the low e spacing fits, and tighten them again. This is almost normal now with Fender - with every second one you have to realign the neck first.
Oh, weird. The neck looked snug in the pocket so I didn't even think of checking. Thanks, I'll try that!
The official guitar for the song Damnit 😉
@@agufish don't, you'll invalidate the warranty - send the POS back to Fender
@@frankcarter6427 I doubt loosening the neck screws slightly would invalidate you're warranty.
It’s not an issue with the bridge causing the strings to be like that, it’s the necks fit in the neck pocket. Loosen the neck bolts a little, put the guitar standing on its side (tuners side down) and press down at the neck joint and re tighten the screws. I’ve had the same issue on a few fenders and this solves the issue every time. 👍🏽
This is the answer, although it should have never left Fender like this...especially at this price point.
My TD strat came like this, and SO DID MY CUSTOM SHOP STRAT! This is par for the course for fenders & bolt on neck guitars and easily remedied. I think they shift during shipping as theres no way that fender sis shipping out that many bad aligned guitars. The neck pockets are all machine routed so there are exactly the same shape so that neck swaps are easy. Its by design. The fact that you have such a successful channel and don't know this is kinda dumb honestly but whatever. Having said that, a new guitar should absolutely come with a straight and aligned neck and not like this, but the fix is just so easily done. 2 out of the 3 fenders I have suffered from this upon arrival. Loosen the bolts about a turn or so, align the strings so they are straight, and tighten back up. My TD strat was pretty far off and now its dead center.
Agreed the neck is probably just on crooked and can be fixed as described above.
@@robertkorn totally agree.
@@tedmen1123 I’m based in the UK and I’ve seen some TERRIBLE set ups on Fender. You are much more likely to get a better set up out of the box from a Gibson due to the PLEK system they use & set neck design. At the same time though any guitar bought without playing it in person is a gamble. I’ve played some 6K custom shop Fenders off the walls in music shops and the set ups have been worse than some £100 guitars I’ve had straight out the box.
In my own personal experience it’s usually the ones with the terrible set ups end up being keepers for me when I’ve personally set them up.
“QC tag”
I feel you, I ordered a 1200$ Charvel from Sweetwater that came in pretty much unplayable. Not only was the setup a complete joke, but the neck wasn’t even completely screwed into the body to the point I choice see a picks width of clearance. The fret ends were a joke as well.
Fortunately Sweetwater reimbursed me for a good amount of necessary tech work. It’s now pretty much perfect!
I'm more than amazed with how quality seems to have gone down during the years, let alone the fact that expensive guitars don't even come with a hard case anymore. When i started playing 17 years ago you really got what you paid for, and a thousand dollar guitar was already considered top tier in every aspect
Yeah, quality is at an all time low in guitar companies across the board.
Yeah, I don’t buy for a second that Sweetwater checks their guitars before they ship them out. I also bought a Charvel from them and the neck wasn’t even fully finished. Half of it was satin, the other half was raw wood.
@@Returnality wtf? That's getting really out of hand. I actually blame the fully saturated market at this point. There are a lot of great models that came out in the last year's but a lot of them are pointless and just gimmicky. Quality control is just an option nowadays
@@Professional.Bro.777 I hate that this is a thing now. Music Man is probably my favorite overall brand, but now even they've switched to MONO soft cases over a quality hardshell. PRS will straight up ship you a $2800 Silver Sky in a gig bag. It's insane.
I had that same string alignment issue on an American Original, they shift in shipping. Detune, back off the neck bolts a long way, then push the neck into alignment with one hand and screw the neck bolts back in with the other.
Came here to say this. 🤘🏻
Wow, Fender neck pockets must be really loose if it's only the bolts holding the neck straight. Most high end builders, the neck joint is a tight interference fit, the bolts just hold it in.
Yeah they're not super great, kind of put me off Fender really. It's also partially due to their shipping+cases, they don't really do anything to support the neck, so any lateral movement shunting the neck will shift it around in the pocket.
What this guy said.
What you do, is loosen the 4 neck screws slightly, and pull the neck towards the direction it needs. In this case down towards the high e. Hold it in place and tighten the screws back. It happens with bolt on necks. They shift sometimes if the screws weren't tightened properly in the first place, especially prior to shipping.
Exactly. I’m guessing it suffered a jolt in shipping.
third that. It's not uncommon.
disagree - you complain and send it back
@@frankcarter6427would you rather try a fix that might sort it in a couple of minutes, or send it back and maybe be waiting weeks for a new one?
Wrong way. The low E string is the one almost falling off the fretboard. Meaning he needs to move the neck towards the low E.
Last time I was this early Hunter had a goatee.
I didn’t know he was capable of a beard.
@@deadinsidemcgee411 He looked older when he was younger, now he looks younger but is older. He’s the modern day Michael Anthony.
@@TylerJohnstonGuitaraugufishbutton
@@deadinsidemcgee411 He had it around 2018-2019 lol.
W comment
Try loosening the neck screws a little to let the neck find its own spot. Lossen them a turn or two, strings umder tension, then re tighten the neck and re tune. This may not help but it might.
Read my mind. That alignment looks WAYY out, though so who knows if that’d actually do the trick. Give it a shot, Hunter!
@@michaelnugent9758 it looks to me like the bridge probably IS miss aligned, but you never know. A slightly loose neck pocket can really play havoc with strng alignment. Re aligning and remounting the bridge would be fairly easy and only take an hour or so depending on how comfortable you are with the tools. Sending it back to fender would be a mistake in my opinion. I would fix it myself, but armed with photos, i would petition Fender for some small refund, or even better, try and get them to send you some locking tuners or something like that for your troubles.
That bridge looks way off center. You can see that it's pushing up against the pickguard on the bass side, but there is a huge space on the treble side. The bridge should be centered in that space and there should be a gap between the bridge and the pickguard on both sides. There is no way there is enough play in the neck pocket to fix that.
@@kyuubi287 i agree, however, you have to be careful where you place the origin of the problem. It is more common for the bridge to be properly aligned and the pick guard to be out of alignment if your judging by the space between the pick guard and bridge. Im not saying that your wrong, just that you have to be aware of both scenarios before you come to an informed conclusion. Either way i disagree with sending it back, unless you are a true beginner. The problem is an easy fix either way, and will award you knowaladge and experience if you tackle it yourself. It beats waiting another year, thats for sure.
Sometimes you can physically bend the neck into place and then tighten the screws in to "lock" it in place. It's one of those things that might work, it might not, but it's a good last resort.
My first big purchase as a teenager back in 08 was a yellow Tom Delonge strat and it’s one of those personal items I’ll be buried with! Long live blink!!
You could loosen the neck screws and try to move the neck to where it's supposed to be. Sometime you can shim them back into place. If it's tight in the pocket then its an instant RMA. Literally never seen a major company put a bridge in the wrong place.
You'd only see it on a vintage guitar because nowadays the technology is in place to accurately measure these things. I had a vintage Mustang with the bridge slightly too far back, luckily it does intonate, it's just ever so slightly flat.
the amount needed to move far exceeds the amount of wiggle your gonna get loosening the screws and shifting the neck the millimeter or 2 it needs ......
My first electric guitar was a squier affinity in surf green with the 70s headstock. Now it’s a TD partscaster and I’m all in at about $500 and I love that guitar
That neck centering is how you know it's an original Fender bro! I used to work at a Fender dealership, I had so many of those Fenders with bad centered necks it became my own little joke. The worst part is - it's usually on USA Fenders, not as common on MIM Fenders and have never seen it on any Squiers we had in the store. Ironic, right?
@@rocketpigrecords3719my slick sl57 has a better neck than a lot of higher end guitars imo.
@@rocketpigrecords3719not even that was the case sometimes during the 70s, ill fitted pockets and bolted on slanted
Ordered two American Professional Jazzmasters the last few weeks and both went back. Sounded great and nice playability, but they both had their issues I can't accept for being 2k guitars
@@dennisfuzzhead4439 same with tele's for me. i wish i could buy in store and play before i buy but stores have very few guitars that interest me (and those were bad too).
Amen! you are spot on in everything you said here an Yes, it is ironic is mainly in US guitars you fins this issue.
Nice looking axe. Loosen the bolts and yank that neck into place. I love Fender instruments although they always arrive in need of a serious setup. On the other hand, the Gibson stuff that I get is spot on perfect. It's really quite shocking that Gibson made such a drastic turnaround in quality upon delivery. At any rate, I hope that you can crank that neck into position and rock that thing. It sounds great through that Rectifier amp. Rock steady brother!
I'm tired of seeing bad products. Gotta demand better. Good on ya for not just giving us all smiles and hype Hunter.
The truth and intergrity are more important!!!
It's not a bad product, per se. Had he bought from a shop, this possibly would have been adjusted at the shop before it hit the floor (depends on the store, really). Buying directly from Fender opens up to issues like this. It's not a Fender or product issue, really, but actually a shipping issue. Fender, back in the 50s and 60s, were aware of this issue of guitar necks needing alignment adjustment after shipping. It's just the reality of a bolt-on guitar, and luckily very easy to remedy.
@@EstevanOsorio I know about the bolt-on adjustment issue. The average player probably doesn't, and may look to return this. But it's not "the reality of a bolt-on guitar", this is Fender specific (or at least I'm not aware of another company who's design are so poor as to allow this problem).
Their neck pockets are generally not a very good design imo. They can allow for way too much slop. I've never seen them use threaded inserts to try to get and maintain perfect alignment as opposed to just screwing in wood screws like they've always done. In this age of CNC technology with the ability to get tolerances to within 0.01 mm, the overall slop in this neck joint design is really showing it's age.
To top it off, I don't think I've ever seen Fender use a bridge that had "self-alignment". What I mean by that is something like a Hipshot, where there is a wall above the low E saddle and another wall below the high E saddle. I'm saying "wall", but I think there is better terminology, I'm just forgetting. This prevents the saddles from getting too far off alignment, which I have seen happen with Fender saddles.
He could work with this guitar or get a guitar tech or luthier to look at it. Maybe get the fret polish up to par since he mentioned that as well. And of course action and intonation (I think on very well built guitars, these should not end up as issues at least not as much as he described it, but the mass produced guitars that sometimes still can cost a pretty penny are having lots of reported issues....I can vouch myself). So yeah there are remedies, but better designs and manufacturing practices should also be mentioned....although I don't expect change though, Leo Fender was the king of mass produced cheap guitars and that still seems like Fender's philosophy.
@@piptyson5512 Good thing there’s plenty of options for you to buy something else then. 👍🏼
@@EstevanOsorio Well I usually build my own nowadays. The old saying goes "want something done right, do it yourself".
@@EstevanOsorioIt's not just that, though. Maybe this certain case is, but Fender's QC, in general, is not. I just bought a Vintera Jazzmaster (my first and, most likely, last ever purchase of a Fender brand product), and it had an improperly filed nut that caused e string to constantly pop out with regular strumming, and headstock lacquer spills over onto the first fret and about halfway down the 2nd.
This is shoddy production and even shoddier quality control... I've never had such issues with any of my other 11 (non-Fender) guitars, and this Jazzmaster costs 2x-10x as much as those other guitars.
Unacceptable.
I recently got a Les Paul Modern that I had to return to Sweetwater. Wasn't horrible but the binding looked bad by the neck joint and there was a chip in the binding near the nut. Sweetwater support said things like "That's within spec for Gibson" "Gibson guitars are handmade". Regardless I got a new instrument without the flaws.
They ain't wrong about it being in spec for Gibson. Gibson QC sucks
It could be a lot worse. I bought an acoustic guitar direct from Fender. It had a bizarre problem on the first string. Playing frets 12, 13, 14, and 15 gave these notes: E G F# G. I.e., the 13th fret gave G instead of F. A fret playing too high can be caused by a fret closer to the bridge being too high, so I just assumed that is what it was, and sent it back. It was only after it was gone that I realized that while that or something similar could explain that G on 13, that kind of problem would also cause 14 to be G. I could not figure out geometrically any way to have a saddle, bridge, neck, and fret configuration that could produce a situation where fret N+1 produces a lower note than fret N. Playing up the next should always produce a non-decreasing sequence of tones.
But that guitar was doing it, so I'm missing something. I really wish I'd noticed this before sending it back and taken a close look to see what exactly was wrong.
I had guitars after being shipped the neck shifting, all I did was unscrew the neck bolt closest to the upper horn a half turn and the other 3 bolts enough to release the tension then aligned and retighten. 🎸🤘🏼✌🏼
Loosen neck screws. Pull neck downwards, tighten screws. Alignment fixed!
or you scratch it, the neck doesn't align and you've voided the warranty. Putting the neck on straight is their job, not the customer's
@frankcarter6427 why would you void the warranty for slightly loosening those bolts? It's impossible to know.
I agree it's their job BUT it takes 5 minutes to fix compared to the hassle of sending it back and waiting, especially when it's out of stock everywhere.
@@mikedamisch If there's that much movement in the neck pocket? No way! Send it back!
@@devinsinderwitcz9134 it takes a tiny amount at the pocket to move quite a bit at the nut. You can do this to almost all bolt ons.
Got mine from Sweetwater. I did have to oil the fretboard and lower the saddles because they were so high I wasn't getting any pick attack. But after a good set up and string change, it plays great.
If the neck is bowed, is that sort of an accident a Fender Bender?
Got mine from guitarguitar here in the UK and I must have got lucky or something because mine came perfectly setup almost in tune and no QA issues. I've seen quite a few people getting bad ones with lots of issues but I can only judge by the one I got and I'm very happy with it. Saying that though it is way over priced for what it is but I couldn't miss the chance to own a guitar I've always wanted.
Hunter, the neck alignment issue is an easy fix. Loosing the screws for the neck by a couple turns, pull the neck sideways in the direction it needs to go, and retighten the screws. It happens to bolt on neck guitars all the time. It’s a 1 minute fix, all it means is that the neck was bolted on at a slight angle.
I’d be shocked at the price…but we’re in a world of $1300+ Epiphones and various made in China, Korea, and Indonesian guitars from ESP, Jackson etc. breaking $1K now. Not to mention the high prices the initial run of Tom Delonge strats were selling for on the used market before this new release. These do look cool though! Hopefully some TLC can get it up to par. I’d consider one but I snagged the Made In Japan Boxer Tele for $755 new on clearance. Way better value and does all the cool higher gain rock stuff well.
As others have said, sometimes this can be fixed by just loosening the neck and adjusting, no guarantee, if it’s really bad it may be unfixable. I’ve had it with my AVRI Strat before where I’ve had the neck off for an adjustment and then the high E was falling off the board. Worth a try anyway.
I picked up a graffiti yellow, mine had some minor QC issues but plays great.
So after watching this I took another look at mine… while not as bad as yours, mine also had some bad alignment, I’ve fixed it with a small shim in the neck pocket on the bass side of the neck, I just used a small piece of folded wet and dry paper and that was just enough to put it right. Something I completely missed in my own review of the guitar.
@@JasonWharton82easy to overlook, im a real harsh judge of QC, and normally its pretty rare to find this issue,... normally:). hope yours is playing OK now👌
@@dejadejayoutube yeah all good now, to be honest it didn’t play bad even with it being out a little, still intonated ok and everything. Anyway easy fix for mine thankfully!
Wonder what's going on with their neck alignments? those Goldfoil basses also had that issue.
Easiest fix in the world on any bolt-on guitar. Loosen the strings, loosen the neck screws, shift the neck until strings align correctly, tighten everything back up. Done in at most 10 minutes. IIRC old Fender manuals actually told you to do this! (b^_^)b
No one cares about their job anymore. No one. When you order a guitar it’s expected it’s gonna be fucked up. Even if you spend 3k. You have to get into 5k to 7k to get a decent guitar. Used to be 1200 and you had a killer Japanese made esp. not any more. The only guitars you will see set up perfect are Japanese built guitars. They are the only ones left on the planet who care about what they do.
I had a Jim Root white Jazzmaster that I ordered from Sweetwater (new) and unfortunately it had some QC issues too. Played okay (not great setup), but the fit and finish was messed up. The body wasn’t evenly sanded so your arm would catch if your arm was against the body, random black paint marks on the head stock, weird marks on the fretboard, etc. it wasn’t unplayable or anything, but for the price I just returned it. Ended up with a Charvel a few months later that was much better
My dad got a MIM tele, had to adjust the neck on it because the high e was nearly off the fretboard by the time it got up to the 17th fret. Kind of a shame how often I hear about it now, same mistake, over and over again on multiple models.
Edit to add: It never looks like there's room in the neck pocket, but with how long guitar necks are, a tiny bit of movement at the body is a lot of movement at the top, at the nut where the strings get their alignment. You'd be surprised. It's still insane that you'd even have to consider this.
Loosen three neck bolts, loosen the fourth SLIGHTLY (like 1/2 turn), pull up on the headstock, tighten the bolt opposite the one that's only slightly loose. Repeat as necessary to realign the string pull.
I have mine backordered on Sweetwater and although I'm excited, I don't mind waiting and being patient if it means the next wave of TD Strats have more inspection and QC because of all the reported defects with the first wave. We'll see.
I got the Daphne Blue one @agufish and it's funny you said everything about those QC issues. I had the exact same thing with mine. However, I knew the strings stock were coming off and needed to hydrate the fretborad and I slapped my favorite strings on and did a nice little 30 min setup and plays like a dream now.
Easy fix and a common problem with bolt on's. Loosen the neck bolts, re-align the neck (push down), with pressure still applied, re-tighten the neck bolts.
You can easily fix the neck alignment by loosening the neck screws and the strings and then push or pull the neck in the direction you need and then tighten the screws while you have it in the right position. It might take a few tries to get it perfect but it's not difficult to do at all. I've had to do this on two guitars, one Fender and a Squier.
Undo the screws to the neck by like a quarter turn, pull the neck into alignment, tighten screws.🤘🏼
My guess is that the neck isn't sitting in the pocket correctly. I had to partially fill the neck pocket with wood filler on my MIM Fender lead ii to get it to sit correctly. To be certain, pull the neck down towards your lap while holding it in the sitting position. It will probably pivot ever so slightly and the strings will align. I'm sure there are other ways to fix it as well, but I'd check that neck pocket first. I don't think it's the bridge. Best of luck to you.
After the last few years, I couldn’t imagine ordering a guitar online without playing it first.
Except maybe a Squier.
They’ve been killing it. I just realized all my electrics are Squier (an Affinity FMT Strat, a contemporary Tele, and a Mini P-bass).
Ha seriously. My cheap ass squire sonic strat I got on sale with a code direct from fender ($190 to my door after all fees) is absolutely amazing out of the box and needed nothing. I’m gunna mod it out and turn it into a Tom Delonge copy
I tend to agree. Although I’ve got a couple premium Ibanez basses in the last couple years and they’ve been damn near flawless. Definitely could have gotten lucky tho
I had a same problem with the PRS mark Holcomb. (Set neck). Impossible to do the vibrato on 6th string.
Working at a Music Store, I see a lot of fenders and Jacksons come in with absolutely terrible “QC”. Fret edges poking out, dried fret boards, bad nuts, and a lot of finish issues.
I hope your situation goes smoothly. I will say that i personally have almost given up on giving fender any slack any more. Imo, their quality control has gone out the window on both their fender and squier lines. You used to be able to have confidence in their products above a certain level. Nowadays it seems that you can rely on their quality being trash on new equipment.
I had to send a new telecaster (in seafoam green, how ironic) back for the exact same reason, except mine was the high e hanging off the edge of the fretboard. Their quality actually DROVE me to another manufacturer. The quality and customer service was so bad that it pissed me off and i bought from someone else instead. Now i have no love for the brand. I enjoy some of their older stuff i already have, that i take care of myself and have paid to customize to my liking, but their new stuff is dead to me.
Mine came a totally disaster, returning too
It feels like Squire and Epiphone are sort of beating their parent companies in QC lately...
the aligment issue has been happening for a while now. Fender basses have been coming like this also. And were talking about expensive ones.
Same issue on the Gold Foil Tele I checked out. Loved the look and sound but the neck just wasn’t straight. I get that it’s a reasonably easy fix, but it shouldn’t be necessary in the first place. These things are all cnc’d and the tolerances ought to be spot on. Hope they sort it out.
fender needs to fix that um lets call it drift issue , low-end lobster has same issue wit gold foil bass
Slack the strings, loosen the neck bolts and gently push the headstock down and hold it there. Snug the screws and check the string alignment. looks like the neck is just loose in the pocket.
@Agufish Are you 100% sure it's the bridge being off center ? If it isn't, just unscrew the neck blots and push the neck left or right to align the 2 E strings and rescrew, this is a very common thing with bolt on necks
It’s the neck, it’s shifted in the neck pocket.. Loosen the neck bolts and align the neck where you want it and tighten em back.
I had the same issue.
I just received a player telecaster from sweetwater with a bad nut right out of the box. Low E was hanging off the edge just like yours is. Don’t want to return it because the rest of it feels and looks great. Hopefully just get a new nut and rock with it.
neck shifted in the pocket is my guess about the alignment, just need to loosen the neck screws and align it back up then tighten the neck screws back up. if not, then id return it
The string alignment is because the neck is crooked in the neck pocket. I built a guitar that had that problem once. Sometimes you can fix it by loosening the bolts moving the neck and retightening it. If it’s too far, the neck holes will need to be filled and re-rilled
If it's too far, requiring drilling new holes, it should have never left the factory and it should be sent back to the buffoons who screwed it up.
@@UTubeHandlesSuckoh yeah. I just didn’t want him trying to move the bridge when that isn’t the problem.
it´s the bridge placement. Had to return a new LTD M-1 Custom '87 Rainbow Crackle with the same issue recently; of course, as many here have suggested, you can easily realign the neck, but there will be an ugly neck pocket gap on the bass side; also, the strings will still not be aligned with the pole pieces and dot inlays...
Actually not only mass production guitars have problem like this, my friend bought a Strat cs62 and it has the exact same problem. Probably you need to unscrew the neck and give it a push, or take out all saddles to reposition the bridge.
I had this with a Jackson who got knocked about in transit. The luthier just gave the neck a little smack upwards to shift it in the pocket and it was perfect. I'd probably take the neck off and reseat it, though, as I don't feel comfortable smacking guitar necks.
The bass channel Lowend Lobster ran into a similar QC problem with Fender’s Gold Foil jazz bass. The bridge was misaligned, the truss rod access was at the neck heel and the electronics were mounted to the pickguard instead of a separate plate. The misalignment of the bridge meant that the E string was not aligned with the pickup, so that string just sounded dead. All for the cost of $1300 😟. His whole review is just him roasting the bass and Fender.
I bought a used 2006 MIM tele with the same problem not only was the bridge off center the neck pocket was 1/16 of an in. to big, apparently Fender Mexico has had problems for awhile
If the issue is that the neck is not correctly bolted on (as some people have mentioned) then it means the cavity is way too big, and that's not a quality instrument, also if the bridge has been misaligned keep in mind that not only the screws holding the bridge that need to be filled re-drilled but also the hole that leads to the string ferrule in the back.
I wonder if you ordered it from Sweetwater would it have the same mis-alignment issue? Perhaps the Fender folks don't have the same QA checks as Sweetwater? Although some of the comments below also note that Sweetwater seems to have a few QA mis-steps, too. It seems like a higher price tag really doesn't mean anything anymore. I'll stick to my "under $500.00" price range guitars that I know I might have to set up anyway. Why waste so much money on guitars that you have to spend hours of work on?
I also bought a fender strat that couldn't be played out of the box, paid almost $1,600 for it, and had to bring it to the shop to get fixed. Fender wouldn't even get back to me.
Classic tech trick, needs a "neck wrench". Leave it tuned to pitch, loosen the neck screws a little and pull the headstock towards the tuners then check the string alignment. Re tighten the screws. This will do the trick, QC should have caught this.
The neck shifted during shipping, loosen the neck bolts straighten and tighten back up. Maybe, that happened to one I ordered from another company.
LowEndLobster recently had a brand new gold foil Jazz Bass come in where the bridge wasn't drilled and in place properly.
It looks like the bridge is centered to the pickguard bridge cutout. See if you can squeeze the high E & Low Saddles together it looks like the saddles might be fanned out.
Re: string alignment, the gold foil basses had the same issues. Fender’s QC from Mexico has been horrific the last few years.
That is a bummer!! I am waiting on mine to deliver from Fender. I got the Daphne Blue so I hope that I don’t have any issues. Good luck and hope it gets corrected🎸🎸
I've had 3 MIM guitars.. 2 Charvels and one Fender.. come with wonky truss rods that didn't want to turn. Yet I still think that factory puts out good stuff. I like Vintera and Pro-Mod lines a lot. I always check the truss rod as part of first inspection because Fenders always have a lot more relief than I like anyway. And lowering action helps assess fret leveling and other such things
Mind arrived perfectly
Hunter, you need to draw a straight edge from the saddles to the nut for E and e strings.. it may NOT be the bridge in fact but the neck might be jacked in the pocket.. is a common issue with strat types.. some have to loosen the neck bolts half turn.. just enough to allow you to manipulate the neck (loosen tension of course).. jack it back in place and tighten.. unfortunately this can leave the neck pocket gaps.. if this is the case its a poorly cut pocket or undersized neck.. of course unless the bridge was in fact put in the wrong place.. that is a take off.. plug and redrill.. which sounds like a $ 500 discount to me.. hidden by bridge plate.. no big deal.. interested to know what they think..
I ordered a Telecaster Player Plus directly from Fender also because of the 10% off. I had to send it back due to issues. The tone knob was so scratchy that you couldn't touch it and the high E string was almost hanging off the fretboard. It was not playable. I wonder with the 10% if they are sending out the grade B products.
There are two fixes for the issue, one is as noted by others to lossen the neck and realign the neck, the other is to take off the strings and bridge, fill in the holes, and redrill the holes in the right spot.. These two fixes can fix the issue, most are going to say fix the neck instead of the bridge, though if you look at the pick guard vs the bridge, it looks to me like the bridge was the issue. I would think the bridge should be close to perfectly in that slot, but you can see you have much more space on the bottom than you do on the top, thus I think the issue is with the bridge.
Just losen the neck screws a bit and straighten the neck angle. Then tighten them up while holding the neck in the position you want. It's very common on many inexpensive bolt on neck guitars. It's a 5 min. fix.
I changed my mind and rasped a 'negative shim' from the neck, it's got a MUCH better action now!
Just loosen the neck screws and tilt the neck just ever so slightly toward the treble side and tighten it back up. I've fixed several strats this way. It's usually caused by either a careless worker or taking a huge bump in shipping.
This exact ISSUE with string alignment and bridges needing to be re-centered has been ongoing with Fender for years.
I bought a Fender EOB Stratocaster from Sweetwater in 2020
with the same issue.
I bought a couple of Squire Affinity’s & a Fender custom shop Stratocaster body for parts caster builds and ALL had same issue.
Had to refill holes and re-center bridges.
In short: FUCK Fender
Good luck with resolving the issue.
I’m not even going to tell you the bullshit I went through with Sweetwater and Fender.
I was a Fender warranty tech for about 20 years. There’s is an easy if not surprising fix for the offset string problem. Take the palm of your hand and while holding the guitar hit the side of the neck until it lines up. It’s super fast and easy and doesn’t hurt the guitar. Works every time.
it's not a bridge issue, it's the wonky strat neck pocket with a neck that'S not set in straight, which is prone to happen to strats if the necks aren't attached with care and attention, which is likely in a factory setting. This is definitely something the QC guys should've picked up.
Essentially an easy fix, but that sgouldn't be your concern.
I ordered one of the newish gold-foil pickup Fender basses. First one came like this, with the misalligned strings. Sent it back, the next one same thing. Sent it back and got store credit rather than try for a third time. I am an Ibanez guy, though I have a vintage modified jag bass. I was really digging the look of the gold foil pickup bass, and thought it would be a good intoduction for me to a proper fender.
Safe to say, I'm still an Ibanez guy.
It's pretty obvious when you see the difference in clearance between the fingerboard dot and the D and G strings. Could it be that the bridge is in place but the neck was put in angled? I'd expect perfect alignment of the body with parts if you'd CNC the thing. Putting the neck into the pocket is hand work.
I had the same problem with Mejer PRS.And it was my last meeting with PRS.
It's not too uncommon for a neck to need to some re-alignment: 1) Loosen the string tension so there is barely any. 2) Slightly loosen the neck mounting screws. 3) Slightly push/pull the neck into alignment so the high/low E strings are where they should be. 4) Tighten up the neck screws. 5) Tune up the guitar. 6) Should be ready to go.
If it's still not right and FUBAR, send it back.
Too many people saying just adjust the neck but failed to see that the bridge is indeed misaligned. You can see the uneven gaps between the left and right side of the bridge relative to the pickguard.
I noticed this same issue on a fender at guitar showcase, it is not an isolated problem. You can try to loosen the neck to fix but it may chip the finish at the neck pocket and that would likely not be covered under warrantee.
Fender clearly has some major issues right now, cause this was a consistent issue with the gold foil series they put out recently as well
that explains the $200-300 drop in the Vintera and Aerodyne series guitars, as well as the 10% off that Fender is offering when you order from them.
These big business think we won’t notice, but we do.
Now we decide where our money goes
Exactly. Fender and neck pockets are terrible at times.
I've had to use Fenders customer service on a charvel. It took them maybe a day to respond and they told me to take it to my guitar center and they would take care of me. It was a very easy process and had my guitar back next day.
In all your years of collecting guitars, didn't you know that Stratocasters and other guitars with bolt-on neck have problems with neck slope? All you have to do is loosen the bolts in the neck pocket and straighten out the slope with your hands. And that's it, the problem’s solved
I’m pretty sure you can loosen the screws holding the neck on and adjust the neck until it’s correct, then tighten back up…
Echoing what others say: Neck shifted in shipping. Loosen the bolts and straighten the neck then retighten them.
I had the same thing happen to my CME Jazzmaster from CME.
Fender's QC has been awful lately (look at any AMV2 review) this could have happened even if sweetwater oe someone set it up before shipping.
Loosen the neck screw for about a quarter turn. Push the neck from headstock downwards from the bass side untill the strings are centered on the fretboard. Keep neck on its place while tightening the screw and your'e fixed 👌
Really sorry that the DeLonge wasn't right. You're right that you shouldn't have to fix that big a fault on a brand new guitar. Sucks a mountain, though!
I work at a guitar store, ours sold the hour it came in on a truck, we didn't even get to open or display it, watching this video I hope whoever bought it didn't need to do all that work like you did
honestly if I wanted the Tom Delonge strat, I would rather buy a MIM strat and replace the pickguard w/ a single pickup slot and drop an invader in there
I'm liking the mini Jazzmaster, I've put a shim, (for) an adjustable Schaller tune-o-matic, Sperzels, a bog standard Jazzuar trem and some triple-shots, thinking about some versatile pups next, and I'm trying to see if I can install a cheap bluetooth transmitter instead of the output jack, and have the Blackstar one on my amp in.
If it works, it'll be weird.
I was pretty flabbergasted that mine was intonated perfectly despite the millimetre range on the bridge.
I gave it some red oak dowels just to make sure the new bridge will be stable, the original body wood feels quite soft, but even at its lowest, the action was abysmal compared to the shredder 1.2 that it was shipped with, so I cut a shim and Bob's yer uncle.
For less than a tenner, the Jazzuar trem does exactly what I want, and lets me get some twangly twang.
I do wish Sperzels had a screw attachment though, that spikey thing gives me the heebie jeebies.
Trying to get the first one straight didn't go quite perfectly.
YNWA and lots of hope for the new season.
What size LFC jersey should we all get you?
It's surf green.🧐
Also that might be the classic fender neck pocket "fit". You can try(with strings on but detuned a bit) loosening all 4 bolts and reposition the neck and tighten them again. I've had American Fenders back in the 90's or early 2000's arrive like that.
Looks like it's been sitting for quite a while, Fender must have delayed this release.
Everyone of my early 2000 strats have had the same thing happen, the strings fall off the board, from shrinking of the neck, I ground the bent saddles and made them super skinny, which made the strings perfect. It happens all the time tho. It's didn't happen to my maple neck strats, just the rosewood ones. Why I prefer roasted maple, 22 guitars and the only ones I didn't have to adjust was the ones with roasted necks, from winter to spring.
Oh man I had the exact same issue 5 or 6 years ago with a Jim Root Telecaster I bought direct from Fender. No matter what I did I could not get the guitar to intonate. Took it to a noted good guitar tech in Denver and he happened to be a Fender dealer. Got it replaced for me. Something to be said for getting Sweetwater to do an inspection before the guitar ships on to you for sure!
Mine came with the nut on the E string filed down to low 😢 it rattles a lot .. fixed it with a piece of paper though .
5:27 *Dammit,* I remember learning the _Dammit_ riff back in high school.
I had a string alignment issue with a Harley Benton guitar I got (the MR Modern Baritone) and it was really easy to fix. All I had to do was unscrew the neck a little to loosen it and then pull it to the side to get the strings aligned again. After that all I had to do was tighten it up and everything was fine.
I got on at GC launch, and had to return it. the Nut weas cut to wide for the G and B strings, the fretboard felt like sandpaper and it was just so horrible put together. I could not jusity it for $1,300. I returned it and go the PRS CE DW for $2,100. Ill wait and get a OG TD
Sweet water is a fender dealer, try hitting up fender to see if you can send to sweet water for the warranty work. That way you don’t void your warranty
THAT is why I sold all my expensive guitars and have started playing Harley Benton. I am not joking! The new ones are mostly built by Cort in Indonesia and the quality went up extremely over the last years.
Its the neck alignment. Need to reset the neck. Loosen screws and pull to align, retighten.
Same string alignment issue on my new mim EVH Wolfgang special Ash. Only 120 made so I didn’t return it either :(
Hey, this review really got me thinking now; I made a partscaster about 10 years ago using a Tom Delonge signature neck and I had EXACTLY the same align problem! I barely could do a vibrato on the low E. I thought I messed up combining the pieces (that were all MIM Fender partes) but now I'm wondering if there's something different in this neck... 🤔🤔🤔