@@nugget2366they're both expensive fenders with "shop" in the name so in my eyes they're interchangeable lol, not like I'm ever going to afford one anyhow haha
Quality Control is the biggest issue (in so many other products and services also), and it is great that someone in Fender took the hit and signed off on taking responsibility. This should be a call to arms for consumers because we have the power to make these big companies take notice and do the right thing by their customers but so often they don't, and we are too lazy to hold them to account. Thanks for the post man.
I got a mod shop in 2021. It came with paint missing on the bottom edge. It was obvious someone kept the buffer there too long and wore paint off. I emailed them and they never responded. I should’ve been more persistent. Glad things worked out for you. I don’t think I could order another Mod shop guitar again. The guitar sounds/plays great but I didn’t even get to put the first blemish on it. Thanks Fender.
Thanks for the heads up. I was considering the mod shop, but had reservations. After seeing the issues you had I definitely wouldn’t want to take the chance. That’s unfortunate because it could be such a cool service. Glad you finally got some satisfaction though.
I have 2 strats that both came from the Mod Shop a couple years ago. They’re my main 2 guitars to this day. I’ve never had any issues with either of them. I guess they’ve kinda gone down hill since those days. And like you said, Covid really impacted their workforce. But either way, it’s still mind blowing that you had an experience like this with Fender. So glad it was able to get resolved for you.
I bought a guitar from Sweetwater. There inspection process is bogus. I returned the guitar because it wasn’t in the best condition. The resent it and included shipping. The guitar I bought was a Gibson less Paul fifties model. The strings were defective and rusted. So much for their inspection process.
Thanks for the video, I was considering ordering one in a combo I can’t find anywhere. I am not doing this now as their quality control is terrible. I’ll look for second hand parts and put it together myself.
Well, I've scratched the Fender Mod Shop off my list - thanks for the heads up! Your Fender Customer Service experience was absolutely dismal, and there are no excuses. Despite the final outcome here, no one should ever have to go through what you did with respect to a damaged guitar. The excuses for Fender that you provided are their problem, not yours. That's just plain terrible customer service. Way too many other quality choices out there (Ibanez, Yamaha, Schecter et al) to risk putting up with Fender and their poor quality customer service. Too bad.
I’ve had issues with Fender QC and customer services. I sent a Strat back that was set up like a complete dog with wonky pickups, badly set up with other cosmetic issues. As you say buy from a retailer with a good rep for returns. I used Andertons and sent it back no issues. In the end I bought a PRS Silver Sky which was absolutely spot on.
Fender did you no favors at all, they would have ignored you and wouldn't have cared one bit, they just knew that people were watching your videos and did damage control for Fender, not you. They are not a company interested in making you or anyone else happy, they are interested in money. I stopped buying Fenders a long time ago and just built my own out of high quality parts and are better than what Fender currently makes. These were put together with great care and some great help from a very good luthier, I got exactly what I wanted and would never turn back.
I have a Mod Shop Strat from '19 and a Tele from last year. They are both perfect and arguably the two best playing guitars of owned over 30+ years. It's unfortunate that you had this experience.
youtube algorithm sent you to me just when i needed it! I have ocd (to the point my wife says, "Maybe you should stop playing. "... I've been playing for 29 years!) and it just got worse in regards to guitars over the past few years. I watched a few of your videos, and I think we may be related! hahaha, seriously, though, I am glad Fender worked with you to rectify this issue. I've been on the fence about going the mod route. I may settle on one of their blacked out LE MIM models.
I am stoked you got your Fender back as well as the refund!. But it still does not change their QC or lack there of. I'm still going to give them hell on Twitter. Enjoy!
Man, glad they refunded your order, but blemishes and scratches on the second time? That’s just not acceptable, I had Squier basses that had absolutely no marks or scratches anywhere. I do agree that it’s not entirely fenders fault due to shortage of skilled workers and such, but they definitely do need a return policy in defective items. I was going to buy a mod shop p bass due to them having a specific color I wanted. Though I will wait until fender gets its act together and get their QC in check, specifically the American factory in Corona. Great video, and glad you were able to get a refund.
Thank you Nathan! I'm glad I was able to get the refund too :) I wasn't too bothered by the blemishes on the horn, but I can feel the blemish on the back of the neck, which makes me think it might be the start of a crack. Unacceptable for a $2000 guitar. I'm glad you're holding off for now. You will save yourself a lot of frustration.
I have a custom shop fender. One of the main features of the guitar were these SUPER dirty looking pickups. Within the first few days, some of the relic work on the pickups had worn off. After a week most of it had rubbed off. It looked so goofy and this guitar retails for close to 5k. I contacted fender with the issue because I couldn’t find any similar issues on forums. Seemed like maybe the didn’t properly prep or seal the relic work. They replied and said that this was normal “play wear” and couldn’t do anything to resolve the issue. Went to cvs, got some nail polish remover and removed the rest of the relic work that day.
Thank you for the continued support! I wish my dad didn't sell his 1991 RG550. I would have loved to review that guitar. I have a JEM and PGM that I will definitely review at some point though :)
Sweetwater's 55 point inspection is little more than a marketing scam. I am currently having to get a new Player II Strat worked on because neither Fender nor Sweetwater noticed that the nut slots were cut too shallow. I've been doing my own setups for decades so I have to call bullshit on a 55 point inspection that misses something like this. All it took for me to discover the issue was tune it up and play some open chords and listen .... I have also received a bass from them that was lacking fret leveling ... severely lacking ... again, an actual setup and short play time would have highlighted this. I believe the goons Sweetwater employs to fill out the inspection cards are simply checking all the boxes as quickly as possible prior to shipment. It is true they will take care of you (Sweetwater) via factory repair, exchanges or returns but I believe it would be better to weed out the dogs at Sweetwater and send these back to Fender. If I were a VP of procurement at Sweetwater Fender would know my name and they would view me as a pain in their ass.
I ordered a matching set Telecaster and P Bass from them back in Sept 2021 and had the same issue with their lack of shipping notifications. The only reason I knew the first one was en route was because Fedex automatically notifies me of any package sent to my address. This is a big problem in my area as Fedex gives zero poops about "signature required". They just drop my packages in front of my house 3 feet from the side walk and don't even ring the bell.
They failed miserably and in their understanding that they cannot deliver a quality product gave you refund and are probably just hoping to distance themselves from the whole situation. Texas Toast just had their strat-a-thon so you could have had a really kick butt guitar for about the same and Kiesel's Delos is also competitively priced with the mod shop. I'm sure there are others as well. The mod shop can't deliver the goods and just doesn't make sense compared to other options.
It's funny that you mention this, because I'm honestly considering selling this guitar or using the refund money to order a Delos with the same specs. I just ordered a Kiesel V220 that's fantastic. Flawless in all respects. I might review it in my next video.
Kiesel's customer service has had some serious issues not that long ago too. There was one incident with them that was so bad that I decided not to buy the guitar I'd been saving up for for 2 years.
@@Douglas_I My experience has been very positive. The roasted maple incident that you may be referring to (maybe, you didn't say what the incident was) has been resolved and publicly apologized for which isn't something your going to see from Fender.
Oh yeah, Fender customer service is weak, until they finally make good on warranty’s. Very weird that there is no tracking sent. You’d think there was be an automated bar code system in place to generate that info to their customers. Especially when a big box marked Fender sits unknowingly in a sketchy neighborhood prone to parcel theft.
I have two mod shop guitars. One Strat and one Tele. My only complaint is that the necks are not oiled on these guitars and the Tele came with dirty buttons.
I'm so glad I saw your videos. I was about the pull the trigger on one. As much as I love the idea of making it what I want, I'm not OK with having no recourse when it goes wrong. I have been a Fender customer for 50 years. I'm sad to see this happening. They are one of the largest instrument and electronics companies, if not the largest. This should not be.
Well, it's probably precisely BECAUSE they are so large that these things happen. You can't ship out the volume that Fender and Gibson ship out and have them be flawless. It's a numbers game at that point. If you wanted flawless, you'd have to wait a few years to get your guitar, because they'd have to slow production down to a crawl.
@@boshi9 No, you can't. There is no way to ship the number of guitars they ship and have the be flawless. Hell, it's hard for luthiers to build you a 1:1 and have it be flawless.
Can someone tell me whats going on at Fenders American Factory? I've played a few American Fenders over the last few years and their quality was - through the bank - atrocious.
So, i ordered a mod shop strat. When I ordered it on their website, The photos showed it as a ebony burst on quilted maple. ( black around the outside with silver/ grey burst on the inside. The pickguard was black pearl, rosewood fretboard maple neck. Fucking beautiful) Received the guitar in 3 weeks. They unfortunately just left it on my porch with no notification or warning of it being being shipped. When i opened it, its was truly a gorgeous looking guitar. However the color was not the one i chose. It has a black outer area with a bronze/brown burst on the inside, quilted maple. It looked WAY better than what i ordered. Except for the pick guard. I would have used a tortoise shell rather than black pearl. I called the fender. Was on hold for 25 minutes before i spoke with anyone. I spoke with the fender rep Carina. She appologized for fender not notifying me of the shipping and said she would by all means send me a new pickguard and back tremolo cover. I also noticed a slight fret buzz on the high e and it goes out of tune when you use the tremolo. I mentioned that as well. Fortunately I live near a guitAr center with a fender approved guitar tech. Carina called fender to inform them that they are not to charge me for installing the pickguard and resolving the minor issues. It plays really well and is a very comfortable guitar. Ive never owned a fender before. Really love the feel. Carina also showed the mod shop guys my guitar. Its supposed to be what I received. Their website apparently isnt showing the color correctly. (I would have ordered what i received!!) Other than a couple of small problems, it wasn't horrible. Their customer service was excellent. Corina was more than apologetic and disexactly what she said in a timely manner. (FYI- in not helpless- I would put the pick guard on myself and did the other adjustments. But it would void my warranty.)
I can't tell if you're being sarcastic in praising Fender or not. Did they ask you to say something positive in return for keeping the guitar? lol I ordered a Fender Mod shop a few months ago, and was pretty worried about what kind of quality I was going to get. I called my local guitar store that's a Fender dealer, and asked if I could ship my order directly to them so that they could look it over first before sending it to me, so they could deal with any possible BS. I'd recommend others to do the same if they can, or better yet, just not buy Fender. I would've bought a Shijie if I were right-handed.
I wish they did hahaha. I'm just trying to be as grateful as possible to preserve my sanity. That's actually a really awesome idea that I didn't think of! I'm checking out Shijie guitars right now :)
It’s a shame It took having to post a video and get enough reviews just to get Fender to fix their errors. Such a disrespectful thing to do to your customers.
PS. It looks identical to my FSR Gilmour strat MIM. Minus the pups and truss cover wood. Hahaha. Fender ...both alder body. Black wich fender PG sss with Cts pots 250k Maple Neck and fender hardware. The truss cover is the usual suspect in MIM. That says alot about their diff. Ceramics on mine as it was a last run dec 2017 build. FSR. I love it. Just with frets were a tad taller. Feel my fingers touching the frets a bit more than the CV 60s I have and all the other guitars I've had and played.
@@robertclarkguitar I agree hahaha. I still can't believe I got a free guitar out of this ordeal. I love David Gilmour look, but ironically I don't listen to too much Pink Floyd. The white and black combo just looks so classy.
Glad you got the mess finally sorted out Dylan. bBut in truth this has been a disaster for Fender. Well done in taking to CZcams otherwise this poor state of affairs would go unreported. I wonder how many more customers have been let down like you have? Anyhow keep the videos coming. Take care 🎸🤟🏻👍🏻
I was going to buy from the mod shop but after seeing people's videos on the quality of guitars after they got them I would rather buy a squire affinity.
I bought a mod shop Strat almost 5 years ago and it’s still my favorite guitar! I didn’t have any issues with customer service and I have never experienced any issues with it.
It’s great that they made it right in the LONG RUN, but you should never have had to go through all of that. I suppose that a free guitar is the ultimate “I’m sorry”, but having flirted with the idea of buying from their mod shop, any actual purchase will be put off for a significant time.
My take is that they failed miserably a second time. You received no special treatment and it showed. It's great they gave you the guitar, but it wasn't because they went above and beyond. It was to cover their ass, IMO. BTW, thanks for the shout out. I'll never buy another mod shop guitar. I will still buy Fender guitars but it will be in-person and probably not ever a new one.
I agree! I tried to put a nicer spin on things, because I'm really grateful for the free guitar, but I'm still soured by the whole experience. You're welcome :) Thank you for the continued support! Did Fender do anything to address the issue you had with your bridge ferrules?
I hate to be that person, the customer service is great, however, QC that is literally worse than foreign guitars from *Fender USA* is absolutely unacceptable at the price point.
I'm glad that thing eventually worked out for you, but let's face it. If you hadn't had made a CZcams video, you'd be S.O.L. I was going to order one, but I'll probably look for some other guitar company (not you, Gibson).
My Mod Shop Strat exceeded my expectations in every way. I'm super picky and have had several high-end guitars. I had second thoughts after reading the no return policy but if you order something special it may only be special to you so I kind of get that. In no way should that relieve them of building you a quality guitar. I knew exactly what I wanted and couldn't buy it off the shelf. Nothing fancy 2 tone sunburst '57 Strat spec with a modern neck shape and Fat 50's custom shop pickups. It's the best guitar I've ever owned. I should clarify, I grew up with Fender and if it doesn't have a Fender note headstock, I don't want it. If you are a younger player and not married to Fender you can probably do as well with one of the smaller custom builders. It's like motorcycles; there are 2 brands Ducati and everything else.
If this is the case that the lost of skilled workers and not enough help, then don’t offer a custom service or reduce the $$ of a custom mod setup also the lack of response for updates on a high end product is embarrassing. Pat yourself on the back for being persistent or else you wouldn’t have gotten any where
Youre grateful that they attempted to fix the issue only after you made a public stink about it? Come on.... If this happened to someone without a public platform then they wouldnt give two shits, thats what companies are like. I remember seeing a video where someone sent the game company sega a request for a replacement game because their cartridge broke, and they only fixed the issue when he made videos about it, the terms of getting the game were that he only received a digital copy of the game and he had to prove he destroyed the original cartridge first. I had a similar issue and when i contacted customer support they said they cant do anything about it, then i specifically asked them about replacement via digital codes, which they responded saying they cant do that. Then i specifically referenced the videos in question and they completely ignored me. Companies only care if you have the ability to hurt public perception.
After watching both videos, I think the problem was ordering the guitar direct. If you had a local dealer handle the ordering process, I doubt you wouldve had any of those issues. Most, if not all of those issues would’ve been corrected up front if you had ordered the guitar through your local shop, preferably an indy like Casino Guitars in Southern Pines. Having a guitar shipped to your door is NOT an advantage. Its laziness. You will NEVER have the purchasing power that a Fender authorized dealer will. Its funny how most people online that complain about qc for brands like Fender or Gibson are ordering their guitars direct, or through an authorized online store like Sweetwater. Most don’t understand that volume is the issue, even at Sweewater. How many 55 point inspections does a tech do a day? Casino may do a couple. When THEY order a guitar, if it doesn’t come perfect, they make it that way! If they can’t, they will refuse the guitar. When you buy from Casino (unless you order from THEM online. You can, but why?) the experience is a big part of the deal! It starts with a 110 mile drive from my home in Dallas, NC through the North Carolina countryside. If I leave by 10, we’re getting to Southern Pines by lunchtime! Because this is golf central (US Open is played here a lot), there are TONS of great restaurants! Thankfully I don’t play golf, this would be an expensive trip! After lunch, we’ll make our way to the shop. It’s a real old timey place with tons of fantastic guitars. Plus, it totally is an old school shop. You wanna play something? Go ahead. While I was there Thursday, I watched Baxter (the owner) send a kid no older then 10 off to one of the rooms by himself so he could turn up! You know how difficult it is to demo a MEDIUM END guitar at Guitar Center? My last trip was for a restring on a Kramer Illusionist I recently purchased at The Gibson Garage in Nashville. The guitar was set up beautifully, but they just aren’t set up for me to watch the tech, and this was my first Floyd Rose! I needed a lesson, CZcams didn’t do it for me. So I drove to Casino and got taken care of! For starters, I got a tour of the place including their CZcams studio. Baxter and I then just talked for a bit. Made me feel at home! After Sean restrung my Kramer and SHOWED me HOW, we started to talk Strats, which will be my next purchase, looking to get it by Christmas. Since Fender doesn’t make the Strat I want in regular production today, I’m looking Mod Shop or Custom shop. Either way, I’m ordering from THEM! It’s not the cheapest way, definitely not the fastest. But if I’m paying THOUSANDS of dollars for ANYTHING, I’m buying it from s store. Even my Gibsons. I drive the 7 hours to Nashville and the Gibson Garage. I’ll order strings online.
Your comment really has me thinking about doing some guitar tourism. I'd love to combine some travel with guitar shopping (but let's see what my fiancee thinks about that haha). I really miss the old school guitar shop feel. I used to have two great shops within a fifteen mile radius, but they both closed :( I would love to give Casino guitars a visit.
@@ocdguitarreviews yup. Easy fix, but I’ll be real. They feel a little cheaper than the regular production models. I also agree that they are just overwhelmed. Glad you had a better experience.
@@darthsensei3838 I agree wholeheartedly. Something about the neck just feels cheaper to me and I can't put my finger on what it is. Perhaps it's the way they finish them. They seem to have a rawer feel than the American Strats I have played in the past.
The issues that you had on your guitar are completely unacceptable for a price range like that. It's a fricking MIA Fender. I'm assuming you spend $2000 on it. Glad Fender did right by you.
Just a quick comment on production. It's distracting to watch you clicking the camera off between segments. it really takes away from your flow. Still subscribing, and keep up the good work. And enjoy the guitar - goodness knows you worked for it!
I really appreciate the advice! Ironically, my girlfriend just told me the same thing (she edits my videos). I will keep this in mind for the future. Thank you for the support :)
Never buy a Fender, period. Easily worst quality brand on the market today. As far as the way it turned out for you in the end, remember they would have never refunded you had you not release a CZcams video with tens of thousands of views.
Sad that you had to do all of this just to see if Fender could get everything done correctly. Fender Sucks! They fired workers not because of Covid but because they don't want to pay more employees. They care about how many guitars they sell & not the quality.
You should retitle the videos. It's these titles showing up in the recommended video algorithm cause damage to Fender. They tried to rectify it, but you're still using the clickbait. How about "My experience with Fender Mod Shop and how they went above and beyond to make it right"
@@ocdguitarreviews :D dude hope you dont take it as offence,youtube put me on the silent stairs for 24h, susan apperantly think its a cussword? your reviews are awesome and your habitus so calm i like the style, your representation, honesty. maybe you´d like to review a stamford semi acoustic or yamaha revstar p90 if you did sorry i did not scan your channel properly. cheers
@@ocdguitarreviews cool dude. maybe you wanna lay an eye on a "baum vega wingman" this is also one i would be interested in..at the moment im between revstar p90 standard and the baum vega wingman, i have no shop in reach and dont want to order "from the blue" well thats 1st word problem, ey :D there are such cool guitars around so i really get overfilled to find The one. cheerio and thanks for the cool channel
Wow man this whole story is just unreal, I’m glad you got a resolution you are happy with
Right? You can't make this stuff up lol.
I love the fact that some random person got gifted a new custom shop fender for completely free due to their goofy error.
I love that fact too lololol.
Mod shop, not custom shop. There is a pretty big difference
@@nugget2366 not if you throw a custom shop sticker on it 😅
@@nugget2366they're both expensive fenders with "shop" in the name so in my eyes they're interchangeable lol, not like I'm ever going to afford one anyhow haha
@@nugget2366Idk, they both have "shop" in their name and are too expensive for me lol
Quality Control is the biggest issue (in so many other products and services also), and it is great that someone in Fender took the hit and signed off on taking responsibility. This should be a call to arms for consumers because we have the power to make these big companies take notice and do the right thing by their customers but so often they don't, and we are too lazy to hold them to account. Thanks for the post man.
No problem! Thank you for watching John :) I hope my videos prompt Fender to up their game.
Buy your Fenders from an independent authorized Fender dealer. I would only buy strings online.
@@between2guitars331 this is great advice!
I don't think quality control is the issue, the issue will be the workers being pushed for more numbers out the factory door...quantity over quality.
I got a mod shop in 2021. It came with paint missing on the bottom edge. It was obvious someone kept the buffer there too long and wore paint off. I emailed them and they never responded. I should’ve been more persistent. Glad things worked out for you. I don’t think I could order another Mod shop guitar again. The guitar sounds/plays great but I didn’t even get to put the first blemish on it. Thanks Fender.
Thanks for the heads up. I was considering the mod shop, but had reservations. After seeing the issues you had I definitely wouldn’t want to take the chance. That’s unfortunate because it could be such a cool service. Glad you finally got some satisfaction though.
You're welcome! Thank you for watching :) I would recommend trying to order something similar from Kiesel.
@@ocdguitarreviewsor maybach. better than custom shop.
I have 2 strats that both came from the Mod Shop a couple years ago. They’re my main 2 guitars to this day. I’ve never had any issues with either of them. I guess they’ve kinda gone down hill since those days. And like you said, Covid really impacted their workforce. But either way, it’s still mind blowing that you had an experience like this with Fender. So glad it was able to get resolved for you.
I bought a guitar from Sweetwater. There inspection process is bogus. I returned the guitar because it wasn’t in the best condition. The resent it and included shipping. The guitar I bought was a Gibson less Paul fifties model. The strings were defective and rusted. So much for their inspection process.
I got a junk pro 2 and was considering the mod shop but just the way they responded to their errors on your guitar has completely changed my mind
Thanks for the video, I was considering ordering one in a combo I can’t find anywhere. I am not doing this now as their quality control is terrible. I’ll look for second hand parts and put it together myself.
I have been seriously considering ordering a Strat via the Mod Shop for the past few months. I won't be doing so now!
I would say hold off, unless you are a gambling man lol.
what i want does not exsist from fender, I have to go mod shop. now i know at least i can finesse fender for the cost of the guitar, thanks bro
Hahaha. You're welcome!
Well, I've scratched the Fender Mod Shop off my list - thanks for the heads up! Your Fender Customer Service experience was absolutely dismal, and there are no excuses. Despite the final outcome here, no one should ever have to go through what you did with respect to a damaged guitar. The excuses for Fender that you provided are their problem, not yours. That's just plain terrible customer service. Way too many other quality choices out there (Ibanez, Yamaha, Schecter et al) to risk putting up with Fender and their poor quality customer service. Too bad.
So unacceptable for a custom build, shame on you Fender
That's what I'm saying!
I’ve had issues with Fender QC and customer services. I sent a Strat back that was set up like a complete dog with wonky pickups, badly set up with other cosmetic issues. As you say buy from a retailer with a good rep for returns. I used Andertons and sent it back no issues. In the end I bought a PRS Silver Sky which was absolutely spot on.
I've been really tempted to get a Silver Sky!
So glad I watched this, I was just about to put an order for a telecaster. Think I'll leave it.
Fender did you no favors at all, they would have ignored you and wouldn't have cared one bit, they just knew that people were watching your videos and did damage control for Fender, not you. They are not a company interested in making you or anyone else happy, they are interested in money. I stopped buying Fenders a long time ago and just built my own out of high quality parts and are better than what Fender currently makes. These were put together with great care and some great help from a very good luthier, I got exactly what I wanted and would never turn back.
This is so true. I play bass. There are plenty of other brands with better quality control & customer service than Fender. Shame on them!
I’m glad they came through in the end. I want to keep loving Fender.
Me too! The first guitar I ever played was my dad's American Stratocaster, so Fenders will always hold a special place in my heart :)
I have a Mod Shop Strat from '19 and a Tele from last year. They are both perfect and arguably the two best playing guitars of owned over 30+ years. It's unfortunate that you had this experience.
I'm glad to hear you had some great builds! How did you spec them out?
youtube algorithm sent you to me just when i needed it! I have ocd (to the point my wife says, "Maybe you should stop playing. "... I've been playing for 29 years!) and it just got worse in regards to guitars over the past few years. I watched a few of your videos, and I think we may be related! hahaha, seriously, though, I am glad Fender worked with you to rectify this issue. I've been on the fence about going the mod route. I may settle on one of their blacked out LE MIM models.
I am stoked you got your Fender back as well as the refund!. But it still does not change their QC or lack there of. I'm still going to give them hell on Twitter.
Enjoy!
Thank you! Hahaha. Go for it. It's crazy both guitars had glaring quality control issues.
@@SilverKnife0311 that's hilarious!
Glad to see your story got what some call "the good ending" if it can be considered like that 😄
It's certainly a bittersweet ending! I'm still a bit soured by the whole experience, but I got a free guitar, so I can't be too angry lol.
Man, glad they refunded your order, but blemishes and scratches on the second time? That’s just not acceptable, I had Squier basses that had absolutely no marks or scratches anywhere. I do agree that it’s not entirely fenders fault due to shortage of skilled workers and such, but they definitely do need a return policy in defective items. I was going to buy a mod shop p bass due to them having a specific color I wanted. Though I will wait until fender gets its act together and get their QC in check, specifically the American factory in Corona. Great video, and glad you were able to get a refund.
Thank you Nathan! I'm glad I was able to get the refund too :) I wasn't too bothered by the blemishes on the horn, but I can feel the blemish on the back of the neck, which makes me think it might be the start of a crack. Unacceptable for a $2000 guitar. I'm glad you're holding off for now. You will save yourself a lot of frustration.
I have a custom shop fender. One of the main features of the guitar were these SUPER dirty looking pickups. Within the first few days, some of the relic work on the pickups had worn off. After a week most of it had rubbed off. It looked so goofy and this guitar retails for close to 5k. I contacted fender with the issue because I couldn’t find any similar issues on forums. Seemed like maybe the didn’t properly prep or seal the relic work. They replied and said that this was normal “play wear” and couldn’t do anything to resolve the issue. Went to cvs, got some nail polish remover and removed the rest of the relic work that day.
Another great vid! I'd love to see you review an Ibanez Destroyer or an older Ibanez RG from the 90s/early 2000s someday in the distant future!
Thank you for the continued support! I wish my dad didn't sell his 1991 RG550. I would have loved to review that guitar. I have a JEM and PGM that I will definitely review at some point though :)
Sweetwater's 55 point inspection is little more than a marketing scam. I am currently having to get a new Player II Strat worked on because neither Fender nor Sweetwater noticed that the nut slots were cut too shallow.
I've been doing my own setups for decades so I have to call bullshit on a 55 point inspection that misses something like this. All it took for me to discover the issue was tune it up and play some open chords and listen ....
I have also received a bass from them that was lacking fret leveling ... severely lacking ... again, an actual setup and short play time would have highlighted this.
I believe the goons Sweetwater employs to fill out the inspection cards are simply checking all the boxes as quickly as possible prior to shipment.
It is true they will take care of you (Sweetwater) via factory repair, exchanges or returns but I believe it would be better to weed out the dogs at Sweetwater and send these back to Fender. If I were a VP of procurement at Sweetwater Fender would know my name and they would view me as a pain in their ass.
Wow! I wonder if they would do that if you didn't put it on CZcams. I hope so but I'm not so sure. Nice videos BTW 👍
I don't think they would have done anything if I didn't put them on blast :( Thank you for the support Bradley!
Go with Sweetwater. I got a USA J Bass from them and I got super whiny about the tinest of cosmetic defects and they shipped me a new one immediately.
I ordered a matching set Telecaster and P Bass from them back in Sept 2021 and had the same issue with their lack of shipping notifications.
The only reason I knew the first one was en route was because Fedex automatically notifies me of any package sent to my address.
This is a big problem in my area as Fedex gives zero poops about "signature required". They just drop my packages in front of my house 3 feet from the side walk and don't even ring the bell.
They failed miserably and in their understanding that they cannot deliver a quality product gave you refund and are probably just hoping to distance themselves from the whole situation. Texas Toast just had their strat-a-thon so you could have had a really kick butt guitar for about the same and Kiesel's Delos is also competitively priced with the mod shop. I'm sure there are others as well. The mod shop can't deliver the goods and just doesn't make sense compared to other options.
It's funny that you mention this, because I'm honestly considering selling this guitar or using the refund money to order a Delos with the same specs. I just ordered a Kiesel V220 that's fantastic. Flawless in all respects. I might review it in my next video.
@@ocdguitarreviews I know I really like my DC127 I'll look forward to seeing the V220.
Kiesel's customer service has had some serious issues not that long ago too. There was one incident with them that was so bad that I decided not to buy the guitar I'd been saving up for for 2 years.
@@Douglas_I My experience has been very positive. The roasted maple incident that you may be referring to (maybe, you didn't say what the incident was) has been resolved and publicly apologized for which isn't something your going to see from Fender.
@@Douglas_I if you are referring to the issue I'm thinking of, this almost prompted me to hold off on buying a Kiesel as well!
Oh yeah, Fender customer service is weak, until they finally make good on warranty’s. Very weird that there is no tracking sent. You’d think there was be an automated bar code system in place to generate that info to their customers. Especially when a big box marked Fender sits unknowingly in a sketchy neighborhood prone to parcel theft.
I have two mod shop guitars. One Strat and one Tele. My only complaint is that the necks are not oiled on these guitars and the Tele came with dirty buttons.
That was another thing I noticed about my mod shop strat. The neck seemed like a raw piece of wood. I would have liked some type of finish.
I very nearly pulled the trigger on something from the Fender Mod Shop...I'm glad I didn't
It might be best to wait until they get their quality control/customer service sorted out :)
I'm so glad I saw your videos. I was about the pull the trigger on one. As much as I love the idea of making it what I want, I'm not OK with having no recourse when it goes wrong. I have been a Fender customer for 50 years. I'm sad to see this happening. They are one of the largest instrument and electronics companies, if not the largest. This should not be.
Well, it's probably precisely BECAUSE they are so large that these things happen. You can't ship out the volume that Fender and Gibson ship out and have them be flawless. It's a numbers game at that point.
If you wanted flawless, you'd have to wait a few years to get your guitar, because they'd have to slow production down to a crawl.
@@thegrandpencil4374 You totally can, but then Fender would have to give a shit.
@@boshi9 No, you can't. There is no way to ship the number of guitars they ship and have the be flawless. Hell, it's hard for luthiers to build you a 1:1 and have it be flawless.
Nice, "happily ever after", story. Congrats!
Can someone tell me whats going on at Fenders American Factory? I've played a few American Fenders over the last few years and their quality was - through the bank - atrocious.
I would love to know as well, because so many people have been sharing their stories of American Fenders with atrocious quality control.
what it write behind the head of the guitar?
Do you mean what's on the back of the headstock?
I purchased 2 guitars from the mod shop. I’m really satisfied
Well done
Thank you Tim!
Man, there’s a new mod shop in Japan lol. I think imma try it. Fender japan’s qc is quite good…
I would be very tempted! I hear only good things about Japanese craftsmanship :)
So, i ordered a mod shop strat. When I ordered it on their website, The photos showed it as a ebony burst on quilted maple. ( black around the outside with silver/ grey burst on the inside. The pickguard was black pearl, rosewood fretboard maple neck. Fucking beautiful) Received the guitar in 3 weeks. They unfortunately just left it on my porch with no notification or warning of it being being shipped.
When i opened it, its was truly a gorgeous looking guitar. However the color was not the one i chose. It has a black outer area with a bronze/brown burst on the inside, quilted maple. It looked WAY better than what i ordered. Except for the pick guard.
I would have used a tortoise shell rather than black pearl. I called the fender. Was on hold for 25 minutes before i spoke with anyone.
I spoke with the fender rep Carina. She appologized for fender not notifying me of the shipping and said she would by all means send me a new pickguard and back tremolo cover. I also noticed a slight fret buzz on the high e and it goes out of tune when you use the tremolo. I mentioned that as well. Fortunately I live near a guitAr center with a fender approved guitar tech.
Carina called fender to inform them that they are not to charge me for installing the pickguard and resolving the minor issues. It plays really well and is a very comfortable guitar. Ive never owned a fender before. Really love the feel.
Carina also showed the mod shop guys my guitar. Its supposed to be what I received. Their website apparently isnt showing the color correctly. (I would have ordered what i received!!)
Other than a couple of small problems, it wasn't horrible.
Their customer service was excellent. Corina was more than apologetic and disexactly what she said in a timely manner.
(FYI- in not helpless- I would put the pick guard on myself and did the other adjustments. But it would void my warranty.)
I can't tell if you're being sarcastic in praising Fender or not. Did they ask you to say something positive in return for keeping the guitar? lol
I ordered a Fender Mod shop a few months ago, and was pretty worried about what kind of quality I was going to get. I called my local guitar store that's a Fender dealer, and asked if I could ship my order directly to them so that they could look it over first before sending it to me, so they could deal with any possible BS. I'd recommend others to do the same if they can, or better yet, just not buy Fender. I would've bought a Shijie if I were right-handed.
I wish they did hahaha. I'm just trying to be as grateful as possible to preserve my sanity. That's actually a really awesome idea that I didn't think of! I'm checking out Shijie guitars right now :)
Well that will keep from mod shop
It’s a shame It took having to post a video and get enough reviews just to get Fender to fix their errors. Such a disrespectful thing to do to your customers.
A free mod shop strat. Thats killer. I mean jesus. That set them up for a win.
PS. It looks identical to my FSR Gilmour strat MIM. Minus the pups and truss cover wood. Hahaha. Fender ...both alder body. Black wich fender PG sss with Cts pots 250k Maple Neck and fender hardware. The truss cover is the usual suspect in MIM. That says alot about their diff. Ceramics on mine as it was a last run dec 2017 build. FSR. I love it. Just with frets were a tad taller. Feel my fingers touching the frets a bit more than the CV 60s I have and all the other guitars I've had and played.
@@robertclarkguitar I agree hahaha. I still can't believe I got a free guitar out of this ordeal. I love David Gilmour look, but ironically I don't listen to too much Pink Floyd. The white and black combo just looks so classy.
Glad you got the mess finally sorted out Dylan. bBut in truth this has been a disaster for Fender. Well done in taking to CZcams otherwise this poor state of affairs would go unreported. I wonder how many more customers have been let down like you have? Anyhow keep the videos coming. Take care 🎸🤟🏻👍🏻
I'm sure hundreds more. I'm glad I could shed some light on Fender's quality control/customer service issues. Will do!
I was going to buy from the mod shop but after seeing people's videos on the quality of guitars after they got them I would rather buy a squire affinity.
I bought a mod shop Strat almost 5 years ago and it’s still my favorite guitar! I didn’t have any issues with customer service and I have never experienced any issues with it.
A good result, but too many hoops were jumped. Very poor on Fenders part
Of course, if you order from Sweetwater, you don't get all the Mod Shop options.
This is true! I do appreciate the flexibility that Fender's Mod Shop offers.
It’s great that they made it right in the LONG RUN, but you should never have had to go through all of that. I suppose that a free guitar is the ultimate “I’m sorry”, but having flirted with the idea of buying from their mod shop, any actual purchase will be put off for a significant time.
Where are the mod shop ones made?
They should be made in America, but who knows if they are outsourcing parts and just assembling them here.
My take is that they failed miserably a second time. You received no special treatment and it showed. It's great they gave you the guitar, but it wasn't because they went above and beyond. It was to cover their ass, IMO. BTW, thanks for the shout out. I'll never buy another mod shop guitar. I will still buy Fender guitars but it will be in-person and probably not ever a new one.
I agree! I tried to put a nicer spin on things, because I'm really grateful for the free guitar, but I'm still soured by the whole experience. You're welcome :) Thank you for the continued support! Did Fender do anything to address the issue you had with your bridge ferrules?
And he made no more new video's after this one. ...
I hate to be that person, the customer service is great, however, QC that is literally worse than foreign guitars from *Fender USA* is absolutely unacceptable at the price point.
Fender doesn’t care
And in the end they managed to sort it
@@MrRafaztar I'm glad they did, but it's only because I put them on blast lol.
What I've taken from this is if you complain enough to fender you might just bag yourself a free guitar 🤔
Sounds like a bunch of clowns
That's what I'm saying hahaha.
I'm glad that thing eventually worked out for you, but let's face it. If you hadn't had made a CZcams video, you'd be S.O.L. I was going to order one, but I'll probably look for some other guitar company (not you, Gibson).
Absolutely. Fender didn't care whatsoever until this video started gaining traction. I highly recommend buying an ESP/LTD, but I'm biased hahaha.
Your misfortune turned out pretty well for you!
Yes it did :) Never thought I would get a free guitar from Fender.
My Mod Shop Strat exceeded my expectations in every way. I'm super picky and have had several high-end guitars. I had second thoughts after reading the no return policy but if you order something special it may only be special to you so I kind of get that. In no way should that relieve them of building you a quality guitar. I knew exactly what I wanted and couldn't buy it off the shelf. Nothing fancy 2 tone sunburst '57 Strat spec with a modern neck shape and Fat 50's custom shop pickups. It's the best guitar I've ever owned. I should clarify, I grew up with Fender and if it doesn't have a Fender note headstock, I don't want it. If you are a younger player and not married to Fender you can probably do as well with one of the smaller custom builders. It's like motorcycles; there are 2 brands Ducati and everything else.
If this is the case that the lost of skilled workers and not enough help, then don’t offer a custom service or reduce the $$ of a custom mod setup also the lack of response for updates on a high end product is embarrassing. Pat yourself on the back for being persistent or else you wouldn’t have gotten any where
Yeah man, persistence definitely seems to be key in situations like this. Squeaky wheel gets the grease lol.
Lucky dog!!
Youre grateful that they attempted to fix the issue only after you made a public stink about it? Come on....
If this happened to someone without a public platform then they wouldnt give two shits, thats what companies are like. I remember seeing a video where someone sent the game company sega a request for a replacement game because their cartridge broke, and they only fixed the issue when he made videos about it, the terms of getting the game were that he only received a digital copy of the game and he had to prove he destroyed the original cartridge first. I had a similar issue and when i contacted customer support they said they cant do anything about it, then i specifically asked them about replacement via digital codes, which they responded saying they cant do that. Then i specifically referenced the videos in question and they completely ignored me.
Companies only care if you have the ability to hurt public perception.
Fender has become a joke.
After watching both videos, I think the problem was ordering the guitar direct. If you had a local dealer handle the ordering process, I doubt you wouldve had any of those issues. Most, if not all of those issues would’ve been corrected up front if you had ordered the guitar through your local shop, preferably an indy like Casino Guitars in Southern Pines.
Having a guitar shipped to your door is NOT an advantage. Its laziness. You will NEVER have the purchasing power that a Fender authorized dealer will. Its funny how most people online that complain about qc for brands like Fender or Gibson are ordering their guitars direct, or through an authorized online store like Sweetwater. Most don’t understand that volume is the issue, even at Sweewater. How many 55 point inspections does a tech do a day? Casino may do a couple. When THEY order a guitar, if it doesn’t come perfect, they make it that way! If they can’t, they will refuse the guitar. When you buy from Casino (unless you order from THEM online. You can, but why?) the experience is a big part of the deal! It starts with a 110 mile drive from my home in Dallas, NC through the North Carolina countryside. If I leave by 10, we’re getting to Southern Pines by lunchtime! Because this is golf central (US Open is played here a lot), there are TONS of great restaurants! Thankfully I don’t play golf, this would be an expensive trip!
After lunch, we’ll make our way to the shop. It’s a real old timey place with tons of fantastic guitars. Plus, it totally is an old school shop. You wanna play something? Go ahead. While I was there Thursday, I watched Baxter (the owner) send a kid no older then 10 off to one of the rooms by himself so he could turn up! You know how difficult it is to demo a MEDIUM END guitar at Guitar Center?
My last trip was for a restring on a Kramer Illusionist I recently purchased at The Gibson Garage in Nashville. The guitar was set up beautifully, but they just aren’t set up for me to watch the tech, and this was my first Floyd Rose! I needed a lesson, CZcams didn’t do it for me. So I drove to Casino and got taken care of! For starters, I got a tour of the place including their CZcams studio. Baxter and I then just talked for a bit. Made me feel at home! After Sean restrung my Kramer and SHOWED me HOW, we started to talk Strats, which will be my next purchase, looking to get it by Christmas. Since Fender doesn’t make the Strat I want in regular production today, I’m looking Mod Shop or Custom shop. Either way, I’m ordering from THEM! It’s not the cheapest way, definitely not the fastest. But if I’m paying THOUSANDS of dollars for ANYTHING, I’m buying it from s store. Even my Gibsons. I drive the 7 hours to Nashville and the Gibson Garage. I’ll order strings online.
Your comment really has me thinking about doing some guitar tourism. I'd love to combine some travel with guitar shopping (but let's see what my fiancee thinks about that haha). I really miss the old school guitar shop feel. I used to have two great shops within a fifteen mile radius, but they both closed :( I would love to give Casino guitars a visit.
Mine came without one of the neck screws. 😂
Did it really? That's crazy hahaha.
@@ocdguitarreviews yup. Easy fix, but I’ll be real. They feel a little cheaper than the regular production models. I also agree that they are just overwhelmed. Glad you had a better experience.
@@darthsensei3838 I agree wholeheartedly. Something about the neck just feels cheaper to me and I can't put my finger on what it is. Perhaps it's the way they finish them. They seem to have a rawer feel than the American Strats I have played in the past.
Buy prs.
I'm really tempted to get one of their Mark Holcomb signatures hahaha.
The issues that you had on your guitar are completely unacceptable for a price range like that. It's a fricking MIA Fender. I'm assuming you spend $2000 on it.
Glad Fender did right by you.
I think I'll go with Suhr next time. I was considering Fender, but this sounds like a nightmare.
It was, trust me hahaha.
Just a quick comment on production. It's distracting to watch you clicking the camera off between segments. it really takes away from your flow. Still subscribing, and keep up the good work. And enjoy the guitar - goodness knows you worked for it!
I really appreciate the advice! Ironically, my girlfriend just told me the same thing (she edits my videos). I will keep this in mind for the future. Thank you for the support :)
Seems like you were such a problem customer they decided to do whatever to get rid of you
😀
Go ESP
With all due respect to you “shit service” from fender! And so they should refund you and let you keep the guitar!
Never buy a Fender, period. Easily worst quality brand on the market today. As far as the way it turned out for you in the end, remember they would have never refunded you had you not release a CZcams video with tens of thousands of views.
Sad that you had to do all of this just to see if Fender could get everything done correctly. Fender Sucks! They fired workers not because of Covid but because they don't want to pay more employees. They care about how many guitars they sell & not the quality.
You’re the customer no one wants.. all it took was a free guitar..
definitely not ocd..much..
You should retitle the videos. It's these titles showing up in the recommended video algorithm cause damage to Fender. They tried to rectify it, but you're still using the clickbait.
How about "My experience with Fender Mod Shop and how they went above and beyond to make it right"
good move, aspergers-man. on the way! i is glad fory you
You are probably correct in saying I have Asperger's hahaha.
@@ocdguitarreviews :D dude hope you dont take it as offence,youtube put me on the silent stairs for 24h, susan apperantly think its a cussword? your reviews are awesome and your habitus so calm i like the style, your representation, honesty. maybe you´d like to review a stamford semi acoustic or yamaha revstar p90 if you did sorry i did not scan your channel properly. cheers
@@felixflatterer6646 thank you! I really appreciate the support :) I will definitely review one of those if I decide to get one.
@@ocdguitarreviews cool dude. maybe you wanna lay an eye on a "baum vega wingman" this is also one i would be interested in..at the moment im between revstar p90 standard and the baum vega wingman, i have no shop in reach and dont want to order "from the blue" well thats 1st word problem, ey :D there are such cool guitars around so i really get overfilled to find The one. cheerio and thanks for the cool channel
All this, because You had an individual bad experience yet you seek to burn the mod shop. You must be really important?
Yes I am! Thank you for noticing :)