twokatmew
Well-known member
I started playing uke because of issues with my fretting wrist that makes playing guitar very painful. I've been gradually selling off my guitars, and yesterday I took my Carvin CL450 in to Elderly.
I was shocked when they gave it back to me saying they weren't interested because it "needed too much work." I asked specifically what it needed. They said it needed a neck reset and that it had been that way when I bought it. Well, when I bought it, I thought the action was too high, and it looked to me like there wasn't much room to lower the saddle. I took it in and told the tech (Arnold), that I'd just bought this new guitar from Carvin, that I was concerned about the lack of adjustability in the saddle, and that I could return the guitar. I also told him I was certainly no expert, and that I would defer to his judgment. Arnold inspected it, said it was "fine" and lowered the action. 12th fret action is ~3.5mm on the 6th string, and ~2.75mm on the 1st string. It's been stored in its humidified case since I stopped playing.
Before I took the guitar in to Elderly, I cleaned it up, changed the strings, made sure everything worked fine, and now I'm told the guitar is pretty much worthless. From what I can glean off the Internet, the 12th fret action is well within spec. True, the action can't really be lowered, but the guitar plays nicely. Is it really worthless? What should I do with it? Toss it in the trash?
I know Carvin is not a big name and that the guitar wouldn't retain its value like a Fender or Gibson, but I was certainly not prepared for this turn of events. I've lived in Lansing since 1980, and I've given Elderly lots of business. With the exception of Arnold, everyone there has done a lot of great work for me over the years, so I don't mean this as a slam against Elderly. Just wondering what to do with the guitar!
Edit: Here's the guitar in the Carvin Museum: http://www.carvinmuseum.com/instockarchive/cl450.html
Thoughts and/or advice?
I was shocked when they gave it back to me saying they weren't interested because it "needed too much work." I asked specifically what it needed. They said it needed a neck reset and that it had been that way when I bought it. Well, when I bought it, I thought the action was too high, and it looked to me like there wasn't much room to lower the saddle. I took it in and told the tech (Arnold), that I'd just bought this new guitar from Carvin, that I was concerned about the lack of adjustability in the saddle, and that I could return the guitar. I also told him I was certainly no expert, and that I would defer to his judgment. Arnold inspected it, said it was "fine" and lowered the action. 12th fret action is ~3.5mm on the 6th string, and ~2.75mm on the 1st string. It's been stored in its humidified case since I stopped playing.
Before I took the guitar in to Elderly, I cleaned it up, changed the strings, made sure everything worked fine, and now I'm told the guitar is pretty much worthless. From what I can glean off the Internet, the 12th fret action is well within spec. True, the action can't really be lowered, but the guitar plays nicely. Is it really worthless? What should I do with it? Toss it in the trash?
I know Carvin is not a big name and that the guitar wouldn't retain its value like a Fender or Gibson, but I was certainly not prepared for this turn of events. I've lived in Lansing since 1980, and I've given Elderly lots of business. With the exception of Arnold, everyone there has done a lot of great work for me over the years, so I don't mean this as a slam against Elderly. Just wondering what to do with the guitar!
Edit: Here's the guitar in the Carvin Museum: http://www.carvinmuseum.com/instockarchive/cl450.html
Thoughts and/or advice?
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