PTOEguy
Well-known member
Last September I decided to take the plunge and expand my 4 string horizons with a tenor guitar - Fender was touting their new telecaster tenor model. It looked great and the price was pretty good for a made in mexico Fender. So I ordered one. They were supposed to be out in June, but they said it would be shipped mid-October. In mid-October they moved the date to mid-November. In mid-November they said mid-December. In mid-December the delivery date slipped to mid-January.
I still wanted to play tenor something so I did my research and decided that a Gold Tone AC-4 tenor banjo would be just the thing to complement a tenor guitar and my taste in ukulele music (1920's style playing). So I ordered one. They said it would take a couple of weeks. Then they said they were back-ordered and would be 45 days out. In November after 45 days I contacted the dealer and they told me to stop calling that they would call when it came in - no idea when.
In the mean time, I've been looking at the other purveyor of electric tenor guitars, Eastwood. If you get on their mailing list they do a lot of sales. And just before Christmas, they hit my combination - 33% off a semi-hollow body electric tenor guitar. So I contacted them and they said they could get it to my parents house in eastern Washington just after Christmas. So I ordered it, figuring I could play it over the new year holiday and they have a generous return policy so I could either keep it and cancel my Fender order, or return it, or keep both. But as soon as the UPS tracking number came up, it was apparent that it would not get to eastern Washington while I was there. So I emailed Eastwood and they were great about contacting UPS and changing it to ship to my home in Utah.
Except UPS is not great. They registered the address change (I could see it in the tracking software) but then shipped it to eastern Washington anyway. My father was asked to sign for it after showing the delivery person the updated address they agreed that he would not take delivery and the guitar would be shipped to me in Utah. Except UPS marked it as delivery refused and sent it back to Eastwood. They will send it on to me once it gets back to Illinois.
However, at this point, I'm wondering if the universe is trying to tell me something. Should I give up on the whole tenor guitar/banjo thing and just play ukulele?
I could take the money I've got tied up in non-delivered guitars and banjos and get a really nice ukulele. I've always been interested in the Blackbird Farallon, but there are definitely other nice ukes out there.
Any thoughts?
I still wanted to play tenor something so I did my research and decided that a Gold Tone AC-4 tenor banjo would be just the thing to complement a tenor guitar and my taste in ukulele music (1920's style playing). So I ordered one. They said it would take a couple of weeks. Then they said they were back-ordered and would be 45 days out. In November after 45 days I contacted the dealer and they told me to stop calling that they would call when it came in - no idea when.
In the mean time, I've been looking at the other purveyor of electric tenor guitars, Eastwood. If you get on their mailing list they do a lot of sales. And just before Christmas, they hit my combination - 33% off a semi-hollow body electric tenor guitar. So I contacted them and they said they could get it to my parents house in eastern Washington just after Christmas. So I ordered it, figuring I could play it over the new year holiday and they have a generous return policy so I could either keep it and cancel my Fender order, or return it, or keep both. But as soon as the UPS tracking number came up, it was apparent that it would not get to eastern Washington while I was there. So I emailed Eastwood and they were great about contacting UPS and changing it to ship to my home in Utah.
Except UPS is not great. They registered the address change (I could see it in the tracking software) but then shipped it to eastern Washington anyway. My father was asked to sign for it after showing the delivery person the updated address they agreed that he would not take delivery and the guitar would be shipped to me in Utah. Except UPS marked it as delivery refused and sent it back to Eastwood. They will send it on to me once it gets back to Illinois.
However, at this point, I'm wondering if the universe is trying to tell me something. Should I give up on the whole tenor guitar/banjo thing and just play ukulele?
I could take the money I've got tied up in non-delivered guitars and banjos and get a really nice ukulele. I've always been interested in the Blackbird Farallon, but there are definitely other nice ukes out there.
Any thoughts?
