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Joined:
January 2012
Posts: 53
Location: NW Montucky | That sux a lot! Hold on to those date stamped photos and all the packing materials. See about getting an affidavit from the seller as to the condition prior to shipping. Photos speak volumes when it comes to insurance claims. Alternatively, make a video and put it on Youtube...."UPS destroys guitars!" Good luck. |
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Joined:
September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | If you file a claim, the truck will be coming to your house to pick-up the guitar and it's packaging.
(that is how FedEx does it) So all that should be packed and ready to go...
Meaning you won't have much time to be playing the guitar.
If UPS sends an actual person to inspect the guitar, they might be there promptly.
If you are claiming damage you probably shouldn't be playing the guitar when they come for it.
I don't know how UPS works... But FedEx just sends a truck to pick-up the box.
They do the evaluation at their facility.
Also, FedEx pays the original shipper... You have to get your money from him.
I believe that both Miles and Al have used UPS a lot and filed a claim or two.
Hopefully one of them will chime-in or you could contact them.
Sorry to hear that this happened.
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Joined:
September 2011
Posts: 402
Location: New Hartford CT | A picture can obscure a cracked top with ease.
Are you absolutley certain the crack wasn't there before shipment?
Seems highly coincidental that simply shipping the guitar caused this issue...just askin' |
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Joined:
November 2011
Posts: 741
Location: Fort Worth, TX | UPS called me back awhile ago and said the adjuster would be here tomorrow and for me to have the packaging ready as it was when I opened it. They also said the adjuster will most likely take it with him. Don't see how he could do that unless he settled up with me first? IN THE MEANTIME, I have located a 1778 Elite on Craigslist in a little town up the road from me. Just got done talking with the owner after looking at the pics. He said he never learned to play it, wanted to for his church, and that there are no dings or scratches on it. He also said he bought it brand new at GC in 2009 and the pic of the label is plainly a US made guitar. I said it had to be used and he insists it was brand new according to the store. How could this be? Even though it isn't the cedar top I've wanted all along, after playing this damaged one I'll "settle" for it. |
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November 2011
Posts: 741
Location: Fort Worth, TX | George Frey - 2013-01-22 1:57 PM
A picture can obscure a cracked top with ease.
Are you absolutley certain the crack wasn't there before shipment?
Seems highly coincidental that simply shipping the guitar caused this issue...just askin'
There's another semi circular crack around a ding on the top that wasn't in the pics either. Of course, I don't see how this could have happened with it in the case, which isn't damaged. I asked the owner a lot of questions in phone calls and in emails and based my decision to buy it on the gut feeling of the impression I formed of him. He was genuinely shocked when I called to tell him it arrived cracked, he never protested it wasn't that way when he shipped it which is what a liar would do. |
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September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | IN THE MEANTIME, I have located a 1778 Elite on Craigslist in a little town up the road from me.
This one? (Waxahachie?)
It doesn't matter if it was new when he bought it, cuz it is used now.
You will see any wear-n-tear when you go get it.
They were still making Standard Elites in CT back in '08...
It took a while to migrate all of the manufacture to Korea.
So it may have been listed as new in "09... If it sits in the store for a year, it is still new.
(and rumor has it that some GC's would sell the cases and guitars separately which would explain the RR case) |
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November 2011
Posts: 741
Location: Fort Worth, TX | arthurseery - 2013-01-22 2:24 PM
IN THE MEANTIME, I have located a 1778 Elite on Craigslist in a little town up the road from me.
This one? (Waxahachie? )
It doesn't matter if it was new when he bought it, cuz it is used now.
You will see any wear-n-tear when you go get it.
They were still making Standard Elites in CT back in '08...
It took a while to migrate all of the manufacture to Korea.
So it may have been listed as new in "09... If it sits in the store for a year, it is still new.
(and rumor has it that some GC's would sell the cases and guitars separately which would explain the RR case )
Man you're fast! And yes, same exact one in the pic. I just thought all gits were made in Korea after '06 or '07 except for the Adami and customs. |
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January 2009
Posts: 4535
Location: Flahdaw | Well THAT sucks. |
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Joined:
September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | When I originally bought my Sweet T (2078T), it was in May of 2008.
I had to wait for them to make me one.
(Sweetwater sold more that they originally had made)
That was the end of the USA Production of Elite T's.
Elite T's and Standard Balladeers were the first to go overseas,
but they were still making them here in "08.
Then went the other models later in '08 and '09.
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November 2011
Posts: 741
Location: Fort Worth, TX | Man I love the mellow sound of this cedar top sooo much I've actually thought about keeping it. I researched top crack repair and know I could pull it off. There's just one problem with that idea. I held it up sideways to a light and there are four other cracks radiating up from the bottom, the longest one is only a couple inches long. Still though, this thing took a HARD hit on the bottom. Last thing I need is for braces to start dropping off next. Makes me sick to see this thing headed for a UPS damaged goods auction. Wish there was a way I could take a partial reimbursement and keep it. |
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Joined:
November 2011
Posts: 741
Location: Fort Worth, TX | I was advised to open a claim with PayPal for recovery of my money ASAP that I paid for this guitar. I did that yesterday. I got up this morning to find a frantic email to me from the seller that PayPal had withdrawn all his available funds from his bank account while they investigate this claim. Had I known they would do that to this guy I never would have opened the claim. He's extremely down on his luck and I feel terrible now, The guy is hovering around homelessness. I have decided to cancel the claim immediately and keep the guitar. In addition, I will offer to reimburse him for any overdraft charges he might have levied against him. I just can't do this to someone. I was advised not to even wait for the UPS adjuster as I have been told their primary purpose is to find a way to deny the claim anyhow, even though it's obvious this guitar took a hard hit in transit. We have a young friend who works at a UPS distribution center who laughed to us about how they treat packages at work.
I'm going to do my best to stabilize the crack. Even if UPS doesn't deny the claim, as I said I don't want this guitar to end up at one of their damaged goods auctions. Even though I live on a disability income, there is always the chance I will have a financial windfall someday and be able to return this to the MS for a top replacement. Until then, I will consider myself fortunate to have acquired an old cedar top O, love it,and hope the other smaller cracks don't spread. In a way, I see the guitar as a metaphor for my life. After 18 major surgeries to my abdomen, if I was a blues player I would adopt the stage name of Scar Belly Dave since me and this guitar are in the same shape. I've read on AGF that playing a vintage guitar with a cracked top is no big deal and I believe with an article I found on DIY crack repair I can remedy the situation for now.
This is the only way I can see to best handle the circumstances of this unfortunate situation. I can piece a thin slice of wood into the missing piece of the epaulet and stain it to match easy enough. It's weird, but after over 20 years I can still smell the cedar top thru the biggest soundhole! I'll adjust my attitude about having a less than perfect guitar and just get on with my life and play the living daylights out of this thing. It's all I can see to do to make this the best outcome for all involved. Can anybody give me an idea of what a top replacement is going to approximately run me? |
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Joined:
November 2011
Posts: 741
Location: Fort Worth, TX | Wow!!! I just heard from the same forum member who kicked in a fourth of the cost of this Elite to help me buy it. He said if I ever send it back to the MS for a top replacement a very generous dollar amount will be forthcoming to help with that expense as well. So nice to know there are still such people in the world! |
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Joined:
November 2011
Posts: 741
Location: Fort Worth, TX | This will end this saga altogether. A UPS driver arrived today saying he was here to pick up the guitar. I said I was told an adjuster was supposed to come today. He told me they pick up damaged items and take them to a place where they evaluate them. I said no thanks, if I can't discuss it with an adjuster and point out the damage I'm keeping it. I got an email from the seller today telling me he was running all over Valdosta to pawn shops trying to pawn his tools and a shotgun he has had for forty years that has been in his family forever. I told him I stabilized the crack and that we're good, and to put this all out of his mind. He said he has a line on a job at a bag making factory and after he is on his feet will help me with the cost of sending it in to have a new top on it. Hopefully I can do this shortly after my new OM is completed by a luthier this spring. So now I'll have two people contributing to the cost which I gather is in the vicinity of $500? I'm concerned a new cedar top won't have the tone this 20+ year old one has. I'll also have them refret it while it's there because there's a lot of divots all the way up to the fifth fret. For a bass player primarily, he obviously wasn't limited to cowboy chords. |
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1768 C Elite
