Damage by guitar shop?

[rotini]

Hi guys,

I took my new strat in to get it professionally set-up today - figured since it was new and I almost always do it myself that I'd spend a few dollars to have someone with a lot more experience go over it.

This particular strat has the truss rod adjustment at the base of the neck, so you would have to take apart the neck to make adjustments. Well, where there is typically a little semicircle indent in the pickguard where it meets the neck, it looks like someone dug a screwdriver in there and now there is a small indent. Not noticeable from far away but it is obvious the pickguard is chipped/damaged.

Not a big deal since I can always replace it but I'm a little pissed off that someone would be so careless with a $1500+ instrument, AFTER I gave them my money to set it up. Is this something I should complain about or should I just suck it up? The point is that I feel the guitar was in better condition going INTO the shop than out of it. Definitely the last time I go to this luthier who claims to be "one of the best" in the country. The long list of items on their "setup" I highly doubt were all done from the looks of it. Anyone else have similar experiences?

/rant

 

[tnt365]

Yep, 5 Star Guitars in Hillsboro, OR has did this to me numerous times when I was in highschool about 4-5 years ago. I'm sure its run the same way. They have employees who know nothing about guitar do setups, most of the time they don't even do the entire list of what they define a setup to be . Then they charge $35-$50. Complete bull. Guitar Center has done that to me a couple times too.

 

[nrandall85]

You pay BEFORE the setup is complete? Not a good idea.

 

[rockonomics]

I'd complain. It may be too late now that you have it home. It's best, whenever taking anything into the shop from your car to your wife's vibrator, to give it a complete once over and do an operational check. If you notice new damage, complain right away. If you do the ops check and it ain't fixed, don't take delivery until it's right. If there's damage, demand it's fixed. I learned the hard way from the other end. Now before taking an airplane in for repairs, I list all damage, scratches, etc. and get the owner's sig BEFORE I even start troubleshooting. Yes, I've had them try to say I did something that was already there. Airplanes ain't cheap to repair by any means.