but this isn't a case of the specs changing. the manufacturer didn't begin installing this other pickup for all guitars.
in the example i'm providing, the manufacturer goofed on ONE guitar and installed the incorrect pickup. no formal specification change took place. none was announced. they simply put in the wrong pickup at the factory.
i can see this is becoming a logical chore for some of you. so let me tell you the real issue which in fact did occur.
a guy bought a nice guitar used. it is a little over 3 years old and thus past the warranty. he discovered that the guitar had a case of fret buzz and took it to a luthier. not some kid in the back room of billy bob's bait, tackle, and guitars, but a luthier at a university music department.
the luthier told him the problem was that the truss rod had not been installed correctly and that the guitar would never be "right" until that problem was corrected. the truss rod was not broken. the problem, according to the uthier, was that the truss rod was installed incorrectly at time of manufacture.
in my opinion, the problem should be corrected free of charge by the manufacturer and they should pay all associated shipping charges. even though the problem was diagnosed after the warranty had run out.
i read of this problem on another forum. i wrote there that the manufacturer shouldn't be obligated to just take the luthier's word for it, but that they should offer to fix the guitar free IF the manufacturer could confirm that the truss rod was indeed installed improperly.
this set off a truckload of fireworks that ultimately resulted in my getting banned for life. (oh, how will i ever get to sleep tonight worrying about that).
ultimately the manufacturer disagreed with the luthier and charged the customer. the customer is very happy with the guitar, as i am mine, but unhappy that he was charged to fix something that his own people were telling him was a manufacturer introduced problem.
this just struck me as an interesting case and i would hope that manufacturers would take the attitude that the customer is always right until they are proven wrong.
a better way for the manufacturer to have handled the problem, in my opinion, would have been to offer to discuss the matter over the phone with the luthier and hear him out. then, if the luthier is still certain about his conclusion, offer to reimburse the customer for all charges IF and only if the manufacturer, upon inspecting the guitar themselves, agrees that the problem was caused by the factory.
one point here. i use the word "customer" rather loosely here because the person involved was a second-hand buyer of the instrument. he was not the original customer. however, since the original owner never had the guitar checked out, in my mind, it shouldn't make any difference if he was the second owner or the twenty-second owner. he paid good money for something that didn't work properly due to a fault caused by the factory.
there is much more to this story as the actual owner of said company immediately dismissed the luthier's conclusion and refused to entertain the notion that the guitar should be fixed for free "because it is a 3+ year old guitar".
this is wrong thinking in my book, an incredibly arrogant attitude, and an obvious attempt to protect his business at any cost including humiliating someone on a public forum before finding out what the facts were.
