I saw your first video and couldn’t believe some of what I saw. Every Sire I own has been better than my expectations and have ordered them all through Sweetwater. I’m glad Sire stepped up and gave you quality customer service to match the quality instruments they are puting out.
Great outcome. That is customer service! When I emailed Thomann about the one Harley Benton that had, they offered nothing other than "sorry." I'll never buy another HB guitar.
I've bought a HB CST24 from Thomann. After some hours of playing the otherwise flawless guitar the input jack came loose and no more sound could be heard. I send the guitar back, Thomanns service fixed and now i have a guitar that i really enjoy playing. My advantage is, i live in Germany. 😉
As a Sire owner, I was shocked by your first video. Thank you greatly for your follow up video--its nice to know Sire came through for you. Can't wait to see the T7 follow up.
i bought a used Sire Larry Carlton T7 FM and needed a replacement wiggle stick for it and contacted Sire and they got right back to me and sold me a new one for $10 and it got to me within a couple of days. I love the guitar and the company is very reliable to deal with.
Thanks so much for the follow up. I have three of four Sire guitars I ordered arriving this week and am glad to see and hear they take care of their customers. I hope things get better for you!
I ordered my Sire T7 from Sweetwater, along with a hard case. It promptly arrived with a chip in the headstock because the shipping company loves placing 'This Side Down'. Contacted my Sweetwater rep, and he promptly sent another out (which looked even better) along with the return label. Can't say enough good things about the T7, but honestly, I can't say enough good about Sweetwater and their amazing customer service. I'll gladly pay a bit more for that type of cs, even though I didn't have to with my Sire.
Even Glarry sends replacement guitars. I've gotten one before, zero hassle. A company that charges 6x the amount should DEFINITELY do the same. I agree that the minor routing issues on the back aren't worth mentioning to Sire, especially considering the upgrade. One thing your video DEFINITELY influenced: I will never do business with Thoman. If I buy any of their stuff, it will be what is now offered through an American distributor, sorry, can't think of their name right now, but well known company with a good reputation for QC and customer service. Thanks for the update on your experience!
Holy crap that’s an amazing result. First thing I wanted to say though is I didn’t expect to hear you’re playing and wow you sounded like Larry Carlton. I’ve never sounded that good on my S7 guitar and maybe never will. But it’s nice I could potentially get there. I also had my tremolo problem handled by Mariano and I’ll just mention it for the other people here sire totally replaced my tremolo system and paid for the deluxe setup at Guitar center. I was treated very well, and after I got back my old trim, or I took it apart, and frankly they could have sent me a brass in the winter with a plastic sleeve and probably would’ve resolve my problem. They could’ve save themselves probably 170 bucks. I’m almost worried watching this video Sire will go out to business going above and beyond. When they set up my guitar I felt so much better about it. I was experiencing some fret buzz which might’ve happened after changing to a lighter gauge string. I didn’t watch the entire video, so I’m not sure if the new guitar had a nice, smooth frets. Mine were perfect. And almost everyone who reviews this guitar comments on how beautifully finished the frets are.. Thank you for going the extra mile and publishing this for me and everyone else. Loved hearing your playing.
Thanks for the kind words and I'm glad to know Sire resolved your trem issue too! Mariano was great. When you're bored, maybe come back and skip over to the part where I go over the guitar in a different camera angle. The details are great and worth a watch. Thanks for watching and I hope this helps others make an informed decision. 🙏
I was thinking of getting one when they come back in stock. Yours was not the worst. I saw another on a factory 2nd. I have an H7 & it is ok for the price point but nothing special. Thanks for your videos on these. It confirmed my decision to step back & see what the future holds.
Glad to hear you got sorted mate. Nice one. It’s a Win Win - You got the guitar (eventually) that you wanted in the first place, in the condition you would expect. And they get the Good PR of properly addressing this situation etc. Very surprised Thomann didn’t help you out in the first place tbh I’m kinda looking at an S3. Will see how that goes
Great info about Sire. I just placed an order for 3 Sire guitars last week and hoping that input like this provides me with excellent guitars. Black H7V, black L7 and a blue T7FM with all three in left hand configuration. Will take 6-8 months which is ok as I work overseas. Going into retirement trying to learn guitar seems odd to me as well but hey my last hurrah. I do wish the blue was a bit deeper color. I mention this Incase Sire see’s my plea and helps me out there. Dealer says no upgrades but it seems like Sire cares more than the end of point sale. Cheers and thanks.
Glad I could help. Those are 3 great options and finish combinations! I have a blue t7 and it is a stunning lookinh guitar. The finish is gorgeous in person. Sire clearly showed they care about their consumers so I will continue to support their products. Also, it is never too late to learn! So long as you keep at it, you'll make great strides. Good luck on your journey and thanks for watching!
I think a big part of your frustration with the other Sire was the fact Thomann basically telling you to go take a hike. That would definitely frustrate me as well. And to be honest I've not heard many good things about them either. Happy that you got a proper replacement with much better quality and the V2 also. At least for me I found the V2 ST pickups sound better also than the initial version V1. I get a lot better mid-range which is what I always prefer. Have fun and enjoy it! And yeah the push/pull pot is a great bonus too ;).
nice... looks like I'm eating my words lol. I am so happy to see that they took care of you. It's nice to see a company stand behind their product for a change. And nice to see that you did not get screwed. I would like to believe that this company would have done this regardless of your video but I'm sure it did not hurt and the comments from people like myself bitching and complaining probably didn't either. I was thinking about purchasing the S3 as a mod platform and your original video really scared me. Maybe I will give them a shot after all because I guess if I get an example that isn't great at least I know that they will probably replace it. Great video brother. ☺️
That is the one I bought exactly. I always lemon pledge all my guitars before a gig. the necks always smooth and this guitar sounds great and plays great. Good video.
just pull the pickguard off the old one and put it on the new one and send the defect back with the tortoise. A tortoise shell pickguard is a defect in itself...lol
The cut looks better than my recent Charvel purchase. I took the pickguard off to put in new pickups and it was real rough looking inside. They didn’t even bother to paint the shielding paint completely. Sigh.
Not good, do not buy them. My story. Beginning of September I purchased one from Thomann SIRE S7 HSS. To my dismay the action was nearly half inch high, electrical configuration was a disaster both dials stop at 5 not 10 dull sound from G string on fret one and two. So sent it back and they sent me back same guitar action dropped perfectly but dials still messed up , quiet frankly they are a heap of shit. It’s also a 50/50 of getting a perfect guitar online so my advice is. No matter how far away you are before you purchase online to go to a store and play them and deposit on the guitar you want to buy or just buy it there . Because if you have to send it back for the second time your faith is gone on the guitar you have never even played yet. Now I go for refund and never buy a Sire ever again . Absolutely the crappiest guitar I bought and anyone on CZcams telling me that they got no discount or a free guitar perfectly designed and checked before they put it on CZcams are joking me. The time I spent 6 weeks total to send it back and now I send back this heap of crap also and refund my money and now I travel over 300km to try other guitars like fender Strat MN for and extra 280€ What a disaster of 6 weeks and now another month of travelling to find a left hand that I can play and feel good about when I play it. Please and I say please again do not purchase from anywhere online, go to the store and purchase it there.
I also think that the first guitar was completely dried out which is why there were problems with the finish on the neck and cracks in the fingerboard lacquer and sharp fret ends. My S7 was great. Good to hear that they replaced it for you.
The cracks around the frets would be an issue for me on a guitar, which, as you pointed out, could have been due to the neck being too dried out. The rest seemed cosmetic. I wouldn't care so much on a guitar lower than $1k. If they had to cut corners to keep the price down, I'd rather it be cosmetically imperfect and be otherwise better than other guitars in the price range than to look perfect and have inferior hardware or playability. $1k and up, I would definitely be picky.
I was not shocked .. those guitars are moving around the world so some of them can be broke or scratched .. Or sometimes even the manufacturing goes wrong and then a bad guitar slips trough the quality check .. I have this guitar, and i got to say it sounds very good clean and it doesnt go ou of tune and it has good tunerknobs .. And the customer service of SIRE is a good one .. But i had never a problem with the guitar ..
I don't think there's another guitar company that would go above and beyond like Sire did here. Seriously impressive. Take care and be well hope you feel better dude.
@@RickMcCargar Usually this is not typical of the manufacturer, it usually goes back to the company you bought it from then they send you a new one and lot of times not until they've received the first one. Sire went out of their way to make sure this customer want's to buy another Sire and that nothing but a positive experience is reported.
@@Stratisfied22 I have no idea what you're talking about. I've returned guitars that I bought directly from Gibson and Fender and both replaced them. They're the two biggest, and they both do it. So, you're wrong. It's typical.
@@RickMcCargar Ok you're right. I'm wrong. I've only bought 100 guitars in my life never directly from Fender or Gibson like most people and like most people sent it back to either Sweetwater, Guitar Center, etc, if there was an issue. That's what happens 99% of the time so you're fkn wrong bud. Sorry we're not all buying custom ripoffs directly from Gibson and Fender. Why don't you tell me some other companies that you don't order directly from that will do this, so far you have 2 like people only buy Fender's or Gibson's.
Unfortunately, until recently, Sire has always had a quality control issue. Having spent some time in the musical instrument retail industry and having seen literally thousands of examples from the Sire brand, it had been hit or miss whether you got a good one or bad one as far as the manufacturing quality. If you got a good example it was a fantastic player, sounded great, and functioned as you would expect given the pricepoint. However, if you got as you said in your previous video a almost quitting time Friday guitar it was all but a complete disappointment. Overall, the more recent examples that have come through our shop have been nothing but stellar. That said, I will add that the Sire pickup voicing is a bit of an acquired taste. They are a bit bright and more suited to a Jazz session player than a modern contemporary player. What is rather interesting is that from a body design the Sire line has all the modern contours that contemporary players gravitate to like a tapered heel, rolled fretboard edges, and even the angle of the headstock which eliminates the need for string trees and promotes better intonation and tuning stability. I also think another area that Sire falls short in their design cues is that they do not offer models with a flatter neck radius. Typically, their necks are a 9.5" radius which is in line with a classic S-style neck, but if a company wants to attract a broader audience offering compound radius or simply flatter 12 and 14" radius models with more contemporary appointments like hotter pickups and switching configurations for different voicing options would go a long way. I am glad to see that Sire made things right by you when Thomann did nothing. I would suggest dealing with Sweetwater from now on as they put every stringed instrument over I believe it is $300 through a 55 point inspection. The finish flaws that you had with the first guitar would have been detected and documented then the guitar would more than likely been discounted due to blemishes and sharp fret-ends. Either way you would not have been blindsided by it when opening the carton. In closing this long comment, I would say that you still get a better appointed instrument in a S or T7 from sire than you would get from an equally priced Fender Player series which use all the same contours and hardware from the classic Fender designs.
Well said. Excellent breakdown and I appreciate you sharing your shop experience and watching both videos. I agree with the Fender comparison, and any Sires that are of good quality are definitely up there in their price tier.
I can see that frets ends finish isn't so good as it's shown on your neck close up picture in video. You're correct 100%. To me if frets ends aren't rounded properly as your picture has show. I wouldn't take that guitar even if you would given me for free. That's my major problems buying guitars over internet. I'm not ordinery buyer i know more about guitars designs, variates of electronics then most those that fabricats guitars. Just by brief look at neck i can see if guitars is good or not. Your picture definitely has shiw frets endes finishing aren't good at all. Pictures don't lie. Have nice day.
Nice guitars for the price, I’ve heard people rave about them, but this doesn’t sound good. I had a guy wanting to trade me a t7 for my prs silver sky se. glad I didn’t. Though it sounded like a good deal. I haven’t played one yet, going to have to try one. Thanks , subscribed.
Shortly after commenting on your first video I also had a Sire S7 through to set up for a customer. Same rough routing. There's no doubt in my mind that however these are made (CNC or hand-routed) something's not going right with those rear cavity routs. Even on your 'better' one the lines are all slightly wavery. The lines should be clean and dead straight, and the curves smoothly radiused. If I can make straighter routs on my builds with templates I made by hand then Sire should be insisting their factory does better than this.
They want the guitar BACK so they can inspect it and "put the wood" to their Quality Control. There is ALOT to be said for a company that steps up and does the right thing.
I think you shouldn't have made the video until you followed all the way through. That way you wouldn't have to post another video to correct the first one. Look at my first comment. I basically said that your defect was most likely an anomaly and that you didn't follow through enough. Then this video pops up.
You're looking at it entirely wrong though. This isn't a 'correction' video. When I made the first video I had many positive things to say but of course discussed all of the qc issues. Before I had made that video I had already reached out to Thomann and they told me to shove it so I thought it would be important to share all of those details with the world. Especially for people who had been saving up for a long time to buy a Sire and were under the impression that they are flawless because of all of the positive reviews. It also served as a note.for current owners to maybe check under the hood. Once I dropped that video I received a few comments and suggestions to reach out to Sire. I did and this video came as a result of their response. I'm glad I uploaded both. I think, in a way, both serve to promote the guitars in way more of a positive context than a negative one as it showed many of the folks in the first video (this example is as bad as it gets, but still sounds great and with some work will play great). It also shows in this video, if there is an issue Sire will take care of you. I call it a win-win.
And to add another message, I just found out all sire guitars for lefthand have all the electrics reversed for a right hand. Who was that guy played guitar from the sixties again? Jimi ……Mac ?
To be totally honest with you I didn't find anything wrong with the first guitar you had let's be honest it's a damn guitar not a calibration tool add fret Sprout can happen to any guitar that guitar would have been perfectly acceptable to me but I guess I'm just a lot more handier than you are I would have fixed all of these issues and called it a day
Thanks for watching. That's a tough matchup for the Firefly becuase of the price difference. As nice as the FFST is (and it is super nice) the S7's build quality is better, the neck is a bit smoother but where you get the most is in the quality of the hardware (tuners, tremolo) and pickups. It's not so say that the Sire is neccesarily 3 tines the guitar but even with a proper set up on the FFST, the Sire is a substantially better sounding and playing guitar. One thing I will give the FFST's is the fretboard. I prefer Rosewood which some of the Ffst's have and even the bare roasted maple fretboard works nicely. The Sire's have a lacquer/clear coat which isn't bad at all but if it was standard or even sealed rosewood I'd prefer that. Still for the money the FFST is hard to beat, but if you can afford the extra $450-$500, the Sire is definitely a worthy instrument.
BTW, ADHD ON THAT ROUTE AINT CHA?! Lol just the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard was taking it to a luthier to fix the route. Sorry that’s just really weird. Replacement or refund period…
Lol. You can always put a dremmel to it and make it pretty. I could do it as well but with the first one I got I didn't feel like I should have had to.
I am not interested in your whining. Be honest, you are basically just bad mouthing the company. Take it up with the company. Be responsible for your situation. Other people don't really want to waste time with this blow by blow bs.
Badmouthing? I did a video talking about how they went above and beyond on a guitar that had issues, isn't that called praising? Also, tons of people seem to appreciate informative videos on either negative or in this case, positive experiences. Sounds like someone didn't watch the video and just came by to drop a hateful comment 🤣
I saw your first video and couldn’t believe some of what I saw. Every Sire I own has been better than my expectations and have ordered them all through Sweetwater. I’m glad Sire stepped up and gave you quality customer service to match the quality instruments they are puting out.
I'm glad they did too!
Great outcome. That is customer service! When I emailed Thomann about the one Harley Benton that had, they offered nothing other than "sorry." I'll never buy another HB guitar.
Yeah I lost a bit of faith in Thomann myself. 😮💨
I've bought a HB CST24 from Thomann. After some hours of playing the otherwise flawless guitar the input jack came loose and no more sound could be heard. I send the guitar back, Thomanns service fixed and now i have a guitar that i really enjoy playing. My advantage is, i live in Germany. 😉
As a Sire owner, I was shocked by your first video. Thank you greatly for your follow up video--its nice to know Sire came through for you. Can't wait to see the T7 follow up.
i bought a used Sire Larry Carlton T7 FM and needed a replacement wiggle stick for it and contacted Sire and they got right back to me and sold me a new one for $10 and it got to me within a couple of days. I love the guitar and the company is very reliable to deal with.
Thanks so much for the follow up. I have three of four Sire guitars I ordered arriving this week and am glad to see and hear they take care of their customers. I hope things get better for you!
Thank you so much! 🙏
I ordered my Sire T7 from Sweetwater, along with a hard case. It promptly arrived with a chip in the headstock because the shipping company loves placing 'This Side Down'. Contacted my Sweetwater rep, and he promptly sent another out (which looked even better) along with the return label. Can't say enough good things about the T7, but honestly, I can't say enough good about Sweetwater and their amazing customer service. I'll gladly pay a bit more for that type of cs, even though I didn't have to with my Sire.
Even Glarry sends replacement guitars. I've gotten one before, zero hassle. A company that charges 6x the amount should DEFINITELY do the same.
I agree that the minor routing issues on the back aren't worth mentioning to Sire, especially considering the upgrade.
One thing your video DEFINITELY influenced: I will never do business with Thoman. If I buy any of their stuff, it will be what is now offered through an American distributor, sorry, can't think of their name right now, but well known company with a good reputation for QC and customer service.
Thanks for the update on your experience!
Holy crap that’s an amazing result. First thing I wanted to say though is I didn’t expect to hear you’re playing and wow you sounded like Larry Carlton. I’ve never sounded that good on my S7 guitar and maybe never will. But it’s nice I could potentially get there. I also had my tremolo problem handled by Mariano and I’ll just mention it for the other people here sire totally replaced my tremolo system and paid for the deluxe setup at Guitar center.
I was treated very well, and after I got back my old trim, or I took it apart, and frankly they could have sent me a brass in the winter with a plastic sleeve and probably would’ve resolve my problem. They could’ve save themselves probably 170 bucks. I’m almost worried watching this video Sire will go out to business going above and beyond.
When they set up my guitar I felt so much better about it. I was experiencing some fret buzz which might’ve happened after changing to a lighter gauge string. I didn’t watch the entire video, so I’m not sure if the new guitar had a nice, smooth frets. Mine were perfect. And almost everyone who reviews this guitar comments on how beautifully finished the frets are..
Thank you for going the extra mile and publishing this for me and everyone else. Loved hearing your playing.
Thanks for the kind words and I'm glad to know Sire resolved your trem issue too! Mariano was great.
When you're bored, maybe come back and skip over to the part where I go over the guitar in a different camera angle. The details are great and worth a watch.
Thanks for watching and I hope this helps others make an informed decision. 🙏
I was thinking of getting one when they come back in stock. Yours was not the worst. I saw another on a factory 2nd. I have an H7 & it is ok for the price point but nothing special. Thanks for your videos on these. It confirmed my decision to step back & see what the future holds.
Awesome video brother! Thanks for letting us know the outcome, appreciate it!
Thanks man!
Glad to hear you got sorted mate. Nice one. It’s a Win Win - You got the guitar (eventually) that you wanted in the first place, in the condition you would expect. And they get the Good PR of properly addressing this situation etc. Very surprised Thomann didn’t help you out in the first place tbh
I’m kinda looking at an S3. Will see how that goes
I was surprised at Thomann's response too but at least Sire stepped up!
I have the saem guitar. I have none of the issues you mentioned. great neck, great finish. pickups took some getting used to they are okay.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing. Great response from them.
Agreed!
Great video raf, thanks for the update!
Thanks for watching!
Great info about Sire. I just placed an order for 3 Sire guitars last week and hoping that input like this provides me with excellent guitars. Black H7V, black L7 and a blue T7FM with all three in left hand configuration. Will take 6-8 months which is ok as I work overseas. Going into retirement trying to learn guitar seems odd to me as well but hey my last hurrah. I do wish the blue was a bit deeper color. I mention this Incase Sire see’s my plea and helps me out there. Dealer says no upgrades but it seems like Sire cares more than the end of point sale. Cheers and thanks.
Glad I could help. Those are 3 great options and finish combinations!
I have a blue t7 and it is a stunning lookinh guitar. The finish is gorgeous in person. Sire clearly showed they care about their consumers so I will continue to support their products. Also, it is never too late to learn! So long as you keep at it, you'll make great strides. Good luck on your journey and thanks for watching!
Kudos to Sire’s customer service department. There are a few other companies who could learn from this.
I think a big part of your frustration with the other Sire was the fact Thomann basically telling you to go take a hike. That would definitely frustrate me as well. And to be honest I've not heard many good things about them either. Happy that you got a proper replacement with much better quality and the V2 also. At least for me I found the V2 ST pickups sound better also than the initial version V1. I get a lot better mid-range which is what I always prefer. Have fun and enjoy it!
And yeah the push/pull pot is a great bonus too ;).
Yeah that definitely was a factor in my frustration at the time!
nice... looks like I'm eating my words lol. I am so happy to see that they took care of you. It's nice to see a company stand behind their product for a change. And nice to see that you did not get screwed. I would like to believe that this company would have done this regardless of your video but I'm sure it did not hurt and the comments from people like myself bitching and complaining probably didn't either. I was thinking about purchasing the S3 as a mod platform and your original video really scared me. Maybe I will give them a shot after all because I guess if I get an example that isn't great at least I know that they will probably replace it. Great video brother. ☺️
Glad you liked it! I was hopeful with how good my T7 is and was pleasantly surprised to see this outcome.
That is the one I bought exactly. I always lemon pledge all my guitars before a gig. the necks always smooth and this guitar sounds great and plays great. Good video.
just pull the pickguard off the old one and put it on the new one and send the defect back with the tortoise. A tortoise shell pickguard is a defect in itself...lol
Loool. I dig it! I can see why you might prefer the pearl white though.
The cut looks better than my recent Charvel purchase. I took the pickguard off to put in new pickups and it was real rough looking inside. They didn’t even bother to paint the shielding paint completely. Sigh.
Not good, do not buy them.
My story. Beginning of September I purchased one from Thomann SIRE S7 HSS. To my dismay the action was nearly half inch high, electrical configuration was a disaster both dials stop at 5 not 10 dull sound from G string on fret one and two. So sent it back and they sent me back same guitar action dropped perfectly but dials still messed up , quiet frankly they are a heap of shit. It’s also a 50/50 of getting a perfect guitar online so my advice is. No matter how far away you are before you purchase online to go to a store and play them and deposit on the guitar you want to buy or just buy it there . Because if you have to send it back for the second time your faith is gone on the guitar you have never even played yet. Now I go for refund and never buy a Sire ever again . Absolutely the crappiest guitar I bought and anyone on CZcams telling me that they got no discount or a free guitar perfectly designed and checked before they put it on CZcams are joking me. The time I spent 6 weeks total to send it back and now I send back this heap of crap also and refund my money and now I travel over 300km to try other guitars like fender Strat MN for and extra 280€ What a disaster of 6 weeks and now another month of travelling to find a left hand that I can play and feel good about when I play it. Please and I say please again do not purchase from anywhere online, go to the store and purchase it there.
I also think that the first guitar was completely dried out which is why there were problems with the finish on the neck and cracks in the fingerboard lacquer and sharp fret ends. My S7 was great. Good to hear that they replaced it for you.
The cracks around the frets would be an issue for me on a guitar, which, as you pointed out, could have been due to the neck being too dried out.
The rest seemed cosmetic. I wouldn't care so much on a guitar lower than $1k. If they had to cut corners to keep the price down, I'd rather it be cosmetically imperfect and be otherwise better than other guitars in the price range than to look perfect and have inferior hardware or playability.
$1k and up, I would definitely be picky.
I was not shocked .. those guitars are moving around the world so some of them can be broke or scratched .. Or sometimes even the manufacturing goes wrong and then a bad guitar slips trough the quality check .. I have this guitar, and i got to say it sounds very good clean and it doesnt go ou of tune and it has good tunerknobs ..
And the customer service of SIRE is a good one .. But i had never a problem with the guitar ..
Thanks' a lot for the follow up. And respect for Sire USA. Here, in Europe, is as inexistent.
Sorry to hear that but yeah they definitely went above and beyond.
I don't think there's another guitar company that would go above and beyond like Sire did here. Seriously impressive. Take care and be well hope you feel better dude.
Agreed and thank you so much!
Every company I've dealt with accepts returns and ships a new replacement. This is expected..it's the low bar..
@@RickMcCargar Usually this is not typical of the manufacturer, it usually goes back to the company you bought it from then they send you a new one and lot of times not until they've received the first one. Sire went out of their way to make sure this customer want's to buy another Sire and that nothing but a positive experience is reported.
@@Stratisfied22 I have no idea what you're talking about. I've returned guitars that I bought directly from Gibson and Fender and both replaced them. They're the two biggest, and they both do it. So, you're wrong. It's typical.
@@RickMcCargar Ok you're right. I'm wrong. I've only bought 100 guitars in my life never directly from Fender or Gibson like most people and like most people sent it back to either Sweetwater, Guitar Center, etc, if there was an issue. That's what happens 99% of the time so you're fkn wrong bud. Sorry we're not all buying custom ripoffs directly from Gibson and Fender. Why don't you tell me some other companies that you don't order directly from that will do this, so far you have 2 like people only buy Fender's or Gibson's.
New one seems good!
Unfortunately, until recently, Sire has always had a quality control issue. Having spent some time in the musical instrument retail industry and having seen literally thousands of examples from the Sire brand, it had been hit or miss whether you got a good one or bad one as far as the manufacturing quality. If you got a good example it was a fantastic player, sounded great, and functioned as you would expect given the pricepoint. However, if you got as you said in your previous video a almost quitting time Friday guitar it was all but a complete disappointment.
Overall, the more recent examples that have come through our shop have been nothing but stellar. That said, I will add that the Sire pickup voicing is a bit of an acquired taste. They are a bit bright and more suited to a Jazz session player than a modern contemporary player.
What is rather interesting is that from a body design the Sire line has all the modern contours that contemporary players gravitate to like a tapered heel, rolled fretboard edges, and even the angle of the headstock which eliminates the need for string trees and promotes better intonation and tuning stability. I also think another area that Sire falls short in their design cues is that they do not offer models with a flatter neck radius. Typically, their necks are a 9.5" radius which is in line with a classic S-style neck, but if a company wants to attract a broader audience offering compound radius or simply flatter 12 and 14" radius models with more contemporary appointments like hotter pickups and switching configurations for different voicing options would go a long way.
I am glad to see that Sire made things right by you when Thomann did nothing. I would suggest dealing with Sweetwater from now on as they put every stringed instrument over I believe it is $300 through a 55 point inspection. The finish flaws that you had with the first guitar would have been detected and documented then the guitar would more than likely been discounted due to blemishes and sharp fret-ends. Either way you would not have been blindsided by it when opening the carton.
In closing this long comment, I would say that you still get a better appointed instrument in a S or T7 from sire than you would get from an equally priced Fender Player series which use all the same contours and hardware from the classic Fender designs.
Well said. Excellent breakdown and I appreciate you sharing your shop experience and watching both videos. I agree with the Fender comparison, and any Sires that are of good quality are definitely up there in their price tier.
Very good responce!
Sire,u wlii be my next purchase,Bec of this!
I can see that frets ends finish isn't so good as it's shown on your neck close up picture in video. You're correct 100%. To me if frets ends aren't rounded properly as your picture has show. I wouldn't take that guitar even if you would given me for free. That's my major problems buying guitars over internet. I'm not ordinery buyer i know more about guitars designs, variates of electronics then most those that fabricats guitars. Just by brief look at neck i can see if guitars is good or not. Your picture definitely has shiw frets endes finishing aren't good at all. Pictures don't lie. Have nice day.
There should be no question that they replace it.
Nice guitars for the price, I’ve heard people rave about them, but this doesn’t sound good. I had a guy wanting to trade me a t7 for my prs silver sky se. glad I didn’t. Though it sounded like a good deal. I haven’t played one yet, going to have to try one. Thanks , subscribed.
Shortly after commenting on your first video I also had a Sire S7 through to set up for a customer. Same rough routing. There's no doubt in my mind that however these are made (CNC or hand-routed) something's not going right with those rear cavity routs. Even on your 'better' one the lines are all slightly wavery. The lines should be clean and dead straight, and the curves smoothly radiused. If I can make straighter routs on my builds with templates I made by hand then Sire should be insisting their factory does better than this.
They want the guitar BACK so they can inspect it and "put the wood" to their Quality Control. There is ALOT to be said for a company that steps up and does the right thing.
Absolutely. A+ in my book to them.
I think you shouldn't have made the video until you followed all the way through. That way you wouldn't have to post another video to correct the first one. Look at my first comment. I basically said that your defect was most likely an anomaly and that you didn't follow through enough. Then this video pops up.
You're looking at it entirely wrong though.
This isn't a 'correction' video. When I made the first video I had many positive things to say but of course discussed all of the qc issues. Before I had made that video I had already reached out to Thomann and they told me to shove it so I thought it would be important to share all of those details with the world. Especially for people who had been saving up for a long time to buy a Sire and were under the impression that they are flawless because of all of the positive reviews. It also served as a note.for current owners to maybe check under the hood. Once I dropped that video I received a few comments and suggestions to reach out to Sire. I did and this video came as a result of their response.
I'm glad I uploaded both. I think, in a way, both serve to promote the guitars in way more of a positive context than a negative one as it showed many of the folks in the first video (this example is as bad as it gets, but still sounds great and with some work will play great). It also shows in this video, if there is an issue Sire will take care of you. I call it a win-win.
I just got mine..i needs a nut shim,fret leveling.😿
And to add another message, I just found out all sire guitars for lefthand have all the electrics reversed for a right hand. Who was that guy played guitar from the sixties again? Jimi ……Mac ?
I got one then sent it back
I didn't like the tone. I like my Harley benton better👍🎸🤠 SC 550 👍
Props to Sire trying to make it right, but that route still looks pretty bad. Especially for a guitar in that price range.
The push down pot to bring in humbucker feature .... does not hold down on mine .. any ideas what I can do? 😢
To be totally honest with you I didn't find anything wrong with the first guitar you had let's be honest it's a damn guitar not a calibration tool add fret Sprout can happen to any guitar that guitar would have been perfectly acceptable to me but I guess I'm just a lot more handier than you are I would have fixed all of these issues and called it a day
Thanks for sharing! How is it compared to the FFST HSS?
Thanks for watching. That's a tough matchup for the Firefly becuase of the price difference. As nice as the FFST is (and it is super nice) the S7's build quality is better, the neck is a bit smoother but where you get the most is in the quality of the hardware (tuners, tremolo) and pickups.
It's not so say that the Sire is neccesarily 3 tines the guitar but even with a proper set up on the FFST, the Sire is a substantially better sounding and playing guitar. One thing I will give the FFST's is the fretboard. I prefer Rosewood which some of the Ffst's have and even the bare roasted maple fretboard works nicely. The Sire's have a lacquer/clear coat which isn't bad at all but if it was standard or even sealed rosewood I'd prefer that.
Still for the money the FFST is hard to beat, but if you can afford the extra $450-$500, the Sire is definitely a worthy instrument.
BTW, ADHD ON THAT ROUTE AINT CHA?! Lol just the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard was taking it to a luthier to fix the route. Sorry that’s just really weird. Replacement or refund period…
Lol. You can always put a dremmel to it and make it pretty. I could do it as well but with the first one I got I didn't feel like I should have had to.
I am not interested in your whining. Be honest, you are basically just bad mouthing the company. Take it up with the company. Be responsible for your situation. Other people don't really want to waste time with this blow by blow bs.
Badmouthing? I did a video talking about how they went above and beyond on a guitar that had issues, isn't that called praising? Also, tons of people seem to appreciate informative videos on either negative or in this case, positive experiences.
Sounds like someone didn't watch the video and just came by to drop a hateful comment 🤣