Ended up with a bad Rickenbacker 330

[NeverTooLateGuitar]

I just posted a story on my blog about my Rickenbacker experience.

The gist of it is, I bought a Rickenbacker 330 and when I took it in to get set up a couple months after buying it, I was told the neck was bad. I called Rickenbacker and they would repair it under warranty. When they got it, they determined it was too damaged to repair and they would be sending me a new 330.

I'm new to guitar and guitars so I would'nt necessarily know a bad neck if I saw it. When I went back to the store about the problem, the manager at the store claimed "nothing goes on the floor until it's been inspected" and "wood warps over time under certain conditions so that is likely what happened" But as I said, the guitar was only a couple months old and was lightly played in that time and sat on a stand when not being played. I find it hard to believe anything drastic could have happened in that amount of time in mild San Francisco weather.

How did a neck that was "beyond repair" get by Rickenbacker and (the questionable) scrutiny of the guitar shop? Can necks warp that quickly?

All in all I'm happy since I'm getting a new 330, but if I didn't take it in to get setup so quickly, this could have gone unnoticed for a while and I might not have been so lucky. From now on I'll be paranoid and will be taking any guitars I buy in to get properly setup ASAP.

I'm glad Rickenbacker has such good service.

[Scastles]

Welcome to the forum, Jeff. I'm glad everything worked out with RIC and your 330.
As to why that happened I'm sure someone on this forum will give you a very reasonable explanation.

[jingle_jangle]

How did a neck that was "beyond repair" get by Rickenbacker and (the questionable) scrutiny of the guitar shop? Can necks warp that quickly?

Yes, necks can warp that quickly.

To answer your question as to how, one word: WOOD.

Wood's an organic material, and, like most women (also organic material, except for Aguillera, Lohan, and Michelle Malkin), occasionally are soft and unpredictable.

[cjj]

And they can sometimes get bent out of shape rapidly as well...

[scotty]

and answer back........Seriously Jeff your new 330 looks the business i need to get me one of these soon.Congratulations and welcome to the RRF Hope you get the guitar soon.

[NeverTooLateGuitar]

Well, I would never think it would happen in such a short time. Seems like if it's happening so quickly we'd need to take them in for setup every few months. How often do you have your guitars checked out?

[scotty]

Jeff your guitar was a glitch in the mainframe.A major set up every other year should do the trick,before re stringing check the level of the neck,saddle and make sure all screws and knobs and pick guards are all screwed in well as sometimes you may get a buzz from them as opposed to the neck .My 330 is fine and never needed a neck adjustment yet.Worry not and dont listen to what non rickerbacker owners tell you about the paper thin necks and fragile bodies. Modern Rickenbackers can take the knocks.......You may be new to your rickenbacker but remember your Rickenbacker is new to you after a few months you will best friends.
Best wishes
Scott

[jingle_jangle]

What I neglected to elaborate on, which wood have clarified things:

Unpredictability leads to, in this case, a piece of wood having been cut from a tree, and ending up very soft and twisty, whereas the piece of wood next to it would have been perfectly fine, and there being no reasonable way to predict that one piece would not hold up well as a neck blank, while the other would be just fine for decades.

So, there will be a tiny minority of guitars with necks prone to twist or bend in a short time, and no way to tell until they would have been placed into service.

So, generally you won't have to keep readjusting the neck once it's dialed in, unless you made a change to strings that were higher tension or lower tension in a major way. Occasionally, there will be adjustments that are necessitated by changes in humidity or temperature or both. But there are no hard and fast rules on this.

[8mileshigher]

Welcome to the Forum, Jeff.
Sorry that you had a rough experience, but the positive and proactive manner that Rickenbacker company has sought to right the wrong speaks highly of the RIC organization and the quality people who run it.
If you ever have after-market problems with a RIC, you're lucky because Paul W. aka Jingle-Jangle, (a very talented luthier and Ric expert) is right there in your neck of the woods ....

[cjj]

What I neglected to elaborate on, which wood have clarified things:

Homonym Alert!!!

[jingle_jangle]

And if I'd have used "wood" throughout the post, as I'd originally written it, it wood've been confusing.

[Scastles]

What I neglected to elaborate on, which wood have clarified things:

Homonym Alert!!!

More like a touch of cornball.

[shamustwin]

Which wood have clarified things, anyway?

[kiramdear]

[gshadoan]

What I neglected to elaborate on, which wood have clarified things:

Unpredictability leads to, in this case, a piece of wood having been cut from a tree, and ending up very soft and twisty, whereas the piece of wood next to it would have been perfectly fine, and there being no reasonable way to predict that one piece would not hold up well as a neck blank, while the other would be just fine for decades.

So, there will be a tiny minority of guitars with necks prone to twist or bend in a short time, and no way to tell until they would have been placed into service.

So, generally you won't have to keep readjusting the neck once it's dialed in, unless you made a change to strings that were higher tension or lower tension in a major way. Occasionally, there will be adjustments that are necessitated by changes in humidity or temperature or both. But there are no hard and fast rules on this.

Im curious Paul. Is there some sort of accepted standard for aging/drying wood before a guitar is made. Is kiln drying or just aging a better method. How long is best?
I also wonder, is the older the wood, the less likely it will be that things like this will happen? In other words, is a new guitar neck more susecptable to this kind of defect devoloping, over say a 10, or 20 year old guitar? Or is it just "wood" and who knows?
I understand that wild climate changes also may be a factor, but if a guitar or bass neck is good for 10 years or so, and not subjected to said wild climate changes is it generally thought that it will not twist?
Thanks.