Review of my A Mano guitar

**frederichzeitgeist** · 03-15-2012, 12:56 PM

[Mine is a 7 string guitar, x-braced solid spruce top, lovely flamed maple back, sides and neck, ebony fingerboard and Benedetto pickup. The build quality is very good.
Works very well both as an acoustic and an electric, obviously the low A string is most successful when amplified. Acoustically has a nice tone for both chording and solo lines, which have a nice punch and bite to them. The pickup amplifies beautifully the acoustic tone and gives the low A string a great woody tone.
The set-up was pretty good with just a few exceptions. The nut grooves were very high, this may have been necessary to cope with the very light gauge hopelessly inadequate strings that the guitar was shipped with. The edges of the nut are quite sharp and need to be smoothed.
In recent months the neck has developed quite a bow, so even though the truss rod is completely tightened and the bridge at its lowest possible point, the neck relief leaves a little to be desired. I think a luthier will need to look at what’s going on there.
In general I’ve had excellent customer service from A Mano, from ordering to receiving the guitar and afterwards. Unfortunately the guitar was damaged during shipping. The fingerrest broke off and damaged the finish of the soundboard ~ fortunately the damage was only cosmetic. I contacted A Mano and they offered to take back the guitar. I decided to hold on to it as I figured it would be safer to have the work done locally than chance a round trip for Ireland to China.
I’ve contacted them recently about the neck but am still awaiting a reply.
[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']To sum up I’m very happy overall with the guitar and should be able to sort out the neck etc[/font]

**frederichzeitgeist** · 03-15-2012, 01:22 PM

**Wildcat** · 03-15-2012, 01:22 PM

Originally Posted by frederichzeitgeist

[Mine is a 7 string guitar, x-braced solid spruce top, lovely flamed maple back, sides and neck, ebony fingerboard and Benedetto pickup. The build quality is very good.
Works very well both as an acoustic and an electric, obviously the low A string is most successful when amplified. Acoustically has a nice tone for both chording and solo lines, which have a nice punch and bite to them. The pickup amplifies beautifully the acoustic tone and gives the low A string a great woody tone.
The set-up was pretty good with just a few exceptions. The nut grooves were very high, this may have been necessary to cope with the very light gauge hopelessly inadequate strings that the guitar was shipped with. The edges of the nut are quite sharp and need to be smoothed.
In recent months the neck has developed quite a bow, so even though the truss rod is completely tightened and the bridge at its lowest possible point, the neck relief leaves a little to be desired. I think a luthier will need to look at what’s going on there.
In general I’ve had excellent customer service from A Mano, from ordering to receiving the guitar and afterwards. Unfortunately the guitar was damaged during shipping. The fingerrest broke off and damaged the finish of the soundboard ~ fortunately the damage was only cosmetic. I contacted A Mano and they offered to take back the guitar. I decided to hold on to it as I figured it would be safer to have the work done locally than chance a round trip for Ireland to China.
I’ve contacted them recently about the neck but am still awaiting a reply.
[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']To sum up I’m very happy overall with the guitar and should be able to sort out the neck etc[/font]

I was under the impression based on contacting A Mano several months ago that they were not making custom made guitars any longer.

**frederichzeitgeist** · 03-15-2012, 01:29 PM

Thanks Wildcat,

Makes my review somewhat obsolete.

Freddy

**Wildcat** · 03-15-2012, 01:36 PM

Originally Posted by frederichzeitgeist

Thanks Wildcat,

Makes my review somewhat obsolete.

Freddy

Freddy,

Actually I was very disappointed to find that out. I had spec out a dream model a year or so ago but did not have the money for it at the time. Then once I had the money only recently, I find out that they are not making custom guitars.

**JohnW400** · 03-15-2012, 01:39 PM

Originally Posted by frederichzeitgeist

[
The set-up was pretty good with just a few exceptions. The nut grooves were very high, this may have been necessary to cope with the very light gauge hopelessly inadequate strings that the guitar was shipped with. The edges of the nut are quite sharp and need to be smoothed.

In recent months the neck has developed quite a bow, so even though the truss rod is completely tightened and the bridge at its lowest possible point, the neck relief leaves a little to be desired. I think a luthier will need to look at what’s going on there.

[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']To sum up I’m very happy overall with the guitar and should be able to sort out the neck etc[/font]

You have a few issues going on on this guitar. This is not a good thing. The neck problem by itself should be enough to warrant replacement. I would send it back to A Mano.

I hope this is not indicative of the stuff he is selling. He did say that his guitars were equal to Eastmans in quality. Your experience doesn't appear to bear that out.

**mr. beaumont** · 03-15-2012, 02:02 PM

The neck problem is a BIG deal. It will not be a cheap fix, nor easy. If A Mano is offering to take the guitar back, I would VERY strongly consider it.

**Steve Z** · 03-15-2012, 02:47 PM

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

The neck problem is a BIG deal. It will not be a cheap fix, nor easy. If A Mano is offering to take the guitar back, I would VERY strongly consider it.

I completely agree 100%

**frederichzeitgeist** · 03-15-2012, 04:00 PM

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

The neck problem is a BIG deal. It will not be a cheap fix, nor easy. If A Mano is offering to take the guitar back, I would VERY strongly consider it.

I hope A Mano respond to my emails

**BigDaddyLoveHandles** · 03-15-2012, 04:31 PM

Mr. A Mano used to post here. Is he still active?

**rickshapiro** · 03-15-2012, 04:33 PM

Originally Posted by BigDaddyLoveHandles

Mr. A Mano used to post here. Is he still active?

I had contacted him a while back and it did not seem he was making guitars.

**fws6** · 03-15-2012, 04:46 PM

wow I cannot believe what I am reading there. You're pretty happy with it and decided to keep rather than return ????

isnt the saying here; penny wise, pound foolish

cheap labor and too quickly dried woods are no shortcut too a good archtop guitar.

you got what you pay for but if they offer the possibility I'd return as quickly as possible and just hope and prey that I'd ever see some of my money back.

**frederichzeitgeist** · 03-15-2012, 05:06 PM

Originally Posted by fws6

wow I cannot believe what I am reading there. You're pretty happy with it and decided to keep rather than return ????

isnt the saying here; penny wise, pound foolish

cheap labor and too quickly dried woods are no shortcut too a good archtop guitar.

you got what you pay for but if they offer the possibility I'd return as quickly as possible and just hope and prey that I'd ever see some of my money back.

I decided to keep it last April when it arrived when the issues were simply cosmetic ~ but a lot can happen in a year as I have now discovered

**Wildcat** · 03-16-2012, 11:23 AM

Originally Posted by frederichzeitgeist

I hope A Mano respond to my emails

He responded to my email several months ago. Seems like a strait up do the right thing kind of guy.

**PTChristopher** · 03-19-2012, 12:11 PM

>>> Seems like a strait up [...] kind of guy.

Am I the only one who finds this a humorous typo.

I really hope you get the guitar sorted out to your satisfaction.

************************

Business 101:

Wage is what you get for work you perform.

Profit is what you get for money you put at risk.

(With credit and thanks to Peter McHenry, Boston College and Cranfield University - arguably the #1 Bizz School in the UK.)

These two types of money (wage and profit) are easily confused or blurred. They are absolutely not the same thing.

I am sure the Amano guy meant well at all times, but,...

Do you want to buy something from someone who has not really put money at risk? They arguably do not have even the same stake in the game as you do as a customer.

If you walk into a luthier's shop and you see tools, wood, floor space, etc. - that is money at risk. You are a secondary stakeholder compared to the luthier. This would be a confidence builder for me as a customer.

If you buy a guitar from a sort of broker with a website with a picture of two guitars, then you are paying an entity who may very well have less of a stake in the business than you do as a single unit buyer.

No offense at all to the Amano (a mano, ironically ~ "by hand") guy, but this is a conceptually risky situation right from the get-go.

Again, best of luck sorting out your guitar.

Chris

**Spook410** · 03-23-2012, 01:28 PM

Is there any insight on the source of these in China? Yunzhi? The neck problem is kind of shocking. Would have thought that a multi-piece neck and steel truss rod would ensure avoiding this. Hope you get some decent support. Not like these guitars are all that cheap.

**El V.** · 03-23-2012, 07:07 PM

frederichzeitgeist:

Did you ever hear back from the seller about the neck problem?

**PTChristopher** · 03-23-2012, 07:24 PM

Or has a pro taken a look at it?

>>> In recent months the neck has developed quite a bow, so even though the truss rod is completely tightened and the bridge at its lowest possible point, the neck relief leaves a little to be desired. I think a luthier will need to look at what’s going on there.

This may not be the ultimate clear diagnosis?

**ptrallan01** · 03-23-2012, 11:11 PM

I was in the process of working out the specs on an A Mano, when he told me that he would not sell a custom guitar to me because of some quality problems that arose from trying to keep up with the volume. I was at the point of writing and mailing the check when this happened. He indicated that he was going to put the staff through some more training and then come back with a few standard models to avoid the quality problems and he would let me know when they were available. This was several months ago.

My thought is that he showed considerable integrity in the process by not taking the order and being concientious about quality. When he's back in business I will look at what he has and may try again.

Hope you get things worked out.

**frederichzeitgeist** · 03-24-2012, 06:26 AM

No reply yet to my many emails, voice messages and a letter so not looking good and I know I'm not the only dissatisfied customer...

...but maybe I'll experience some of his integrity yet.

**PTChristopher** · 03-24-2012, 08:44 AM

>>> No reply yet to my many emails, voice messages and a letter

Right.

So have you loosened the strings and arranged for someone who knows what they are doing to look at it?

Most things are fixable.

While hope springs eternal, it may be possible that your salesman's lack of response is a problem. And responding is the EASY part. Actually fixing things (if there is a genuine problem of some magnitude) in an effective manner is another thing entirely.

"Ptrallan01" Sorry for my obnoxious Business 101 comment above, but are you really planning to force $$$ down that tunnel?

>>> He indicated that he was going to put the staff through some more training

With all due respect to the person saying this, what expertise and process control knowledge would he bring to bear here? Is there a team in China ready to receive his instruction on wood selection and construction methods? Does this make any sense at all unless one is trying to find any excuse at all to buy such a potential guitar?

There are good reasons why this sort of "business model" (being kind here) is unusual and needs some mild 'visions of sugarplums' included.

My opinion. Surely there will be alternate points of view.

Chris

**frederichzeitgeist** · 03-24-2012, 08:53 AM

Chris,

I found your business 101 comment very useful as most of my instruments have been bought online BUT directly from the maker.

I'm bringing the guitar to a local luthier to see what can be done.

**PTChristopher** · 03-24-2012, 09:03 AM

FrederichZG,

Good luck with this. Where (approximately) is "local" for you?

Chris

**El V.** · 03-24-2012, 12:54 PM

Glad to hear it, frederichzeitgeist, though of course I wish that the seller will do the right thing and get in touch with you to work this out. Between now and then it couldn't hurt to have a reputable luthier take a look at the instrument and let you know exactly what's wrong. If and when you do speak with the seller, you could at least let them know a pro has examined the guitar and explain the problem as determined by a craftsman who knows the instrument.

Personally, except in cases of medical emergency when a seller may not be able to respond to email/voice mail/postal inquiry, I find "the silent treatment" you are receiving to be unacceptable. It is rude, unprofessional, and very un-businesslike. If it continues and you feel there will be no response forthcoming, you may want to consider filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau or even contacting a lawyer. I know that I would, rather than live with a defective instrument and a unresponsive seller.