Got my 1991 Ibanez AF200 from music-go-round

[jzucker]

Case top is completely broken off the latches, neck pickup doesn't work, rosewood piece loose in the case!

[Archie]

Damn what’s going on in the US right now, are dealers on some sort of psychedelics?
Seems like a lot of madness is going on.

That piece of wood is the corner to the tail piece plaque, smashed clean off

[skykomishone]

Wow! That blows.

[jzucker]

Damn what’s going on in the US right now, are dealers on some sort of psychedelics?
Seems like a lot of madness is going on.

That piece of wood is the corner to the tail piece plaque, smashed clean off

Thanks for the tip on the wood piece. The technician claims everything was working perfectly before he shipped it which I could believe. However, He said he noticed the case when he was packing it and said he specifically wrapped the case closed and taped it so it wouldn't come lose during shipping. I can't believe he didn't reach out to me to tell me that the case was broken and give me the choice to:

1. accept it as is
2. offer to replace the case
3. offer an allowance

[jim777]

Not cool Jack, hopefully that neck pickup issue is just a loose wire that's easily fixable. That case - no question you should have been made aware of that, I mean come on! Fingers crossed that tailpiece is just a few drops of crazy glue away from being fine as well. It's got a nice burst anyway

[jzucker]

Not cool Jack, hopefully that neck pickup issue is just a loose wire that's easily fixable. That case - no question you should have been made aware of that, I mean come on! Fingers crossed that tailpiece is just a few drops of crazy glue away from being fine as well. It's got a nice burst anyway

I have a flexible USB Snake camera and looked around the inside at the switch, the pickups, the pots, the jack and don't see anything loose. I'm guessing it's a bad switch but I don't want to get into a situation where my repairman has to try replacing the switch, then the pots and the jack and then the pickups trying to figure out why it's not working.

Plus, because I can't try it with the neck pickup, It's hard to determine whether I like it or not...

[Archie]

Thanks for the tip on the wood piece. The technician claims everything was working perfectly before he shipped it which I could believe. However, He said he noticed the case when he was packing it and said he specifically wrapped the case closed and taped it so it wouldn't come lose during shipping. I can't believe he didn't reach out to me to tell me that the case was broken and give me the choice to:

1. accept it as is
2. offer to replace the case
3. offer an allowance

You would have thought right?
I don't know what to say about dealers over the pond right now. Seems like some really bad behaviour is going on.

I'm still really looking forward to your sound demo and review etc.. but that's going to be tricky.

That being said, the best deals I've ever had are when the seller f*cks up (as in this case) and gives you a nice discount. The tail piece should be fixable and the case can be replaced but the guitar as a whole wont have the same value without it. You also need to send it to a tech to fix the pickup. You could likely ask for a $500 partial refund.
Worth a go if you like the guitar.

[jzucker]

You would have thought right?
I don't know what to say about dealers over the pond right now. Seems like some really bad behaviour is going on.

I'm still really looking forward to your sound demo and review etc.. but that's going to be tricky.

That being said, the best deals I've ever had are when the seller f*cks up (as in this case) and gives you a nice discount. The tail piece should be fixable and the case can be replaced but the guitar as a whole wont have the same value without it. You also need to send it to a tech to fix the pickup. You could likely ask for a $500 partial refund.
Worth a go if you like the guitar.

i just don't know if I have the energy to wait this one out. My repairman takes a month for anything and I have 2 other of my main instruments that need work that I would probably place ahead of this so we're talking 2-3 months before I could get this back. And based on the fact that my flexible camera saw no loose wires it could be anything from a bad switch to a bad pickup.

[John A.]

Zoiks! This sucks. Did they offer to do anything about it? Those are are all relatively small fixes, but still. They should cover those costs + a bit for hassle factor and good will.

[Archie]

i just don't know if I have the energy to wait this one out. My repairman takes a month for anything and I have 2 other of my main instruments that need work that I would probably place ahead of this so we're talking 2-3 months before I could get this back. And based on the fact that my flexible camera saw no loose wires it could be anything from a bad switch to a bad pickup.

What do you think of the acoustic tone? Always a good indicator as to how it could sound plugged in. Is it tonally balanced, nice too play, not to crips and quick on attack, or bright etc..

[jzucker]

Zoiks! This sucks. Did they offer to do anything about it? Those are are all relatively small fixes, but still. They should cover those costs + a bit for hassle factor and good will.

Yes they did. One way or another, i'm confident they will make it right. They are reputable dealer.

[jzucker]

What do you think of the acoustic tone? Always a good indicator as to how it could sound plugged in. Is it tonally balanced, nice too play, not to crips and quick on attack, or bright etc..

it's good. I like it. It sounds better acoustically than the more recent AF200 that had fingerboard issues.

[John A.]

Yes they did. One way or another, i'm confident they will make it right. They are reputable dealer.

Well that's good, at least. I too am eager to hear you play test this.

[jzucker]

Well that's good, at least. I too am eager to hear you play test this.

Unfortunately, even if I keep it, it'll be a mid to late february based on the backlog from my repair guy

[Archie]

Unfortunately, even if I keep it, it'll be a mid to late february based on the backlog from my repair guy

Bummer was really looking forward to that.

Find a way lol

[John A.]

Unfortunately, even if I keep it, it'll be a mid to late february based on the backlog from my repair guy

Maybe try shaking it a bit, and smacking it on the side. That always works when Princeton Reverb makes funny noises (and sometimes when it makes no noise at all).

[jzucker]

Maybe try shaking it a bit, and smacking it on the side. That always works when Princeton Reverb makes funny noises (and sometimes when it makes no noise at all).

I don't know if you saw my other posting but I have a usb-snake flexible camera that I can hook up to my phone or computer. I looked inside the f-holes at the pots, jack and switch and saw nothing that looked like a bad solder joint. I also tried jiggling the wires on the volume pot and when I do that, if I jiggle the ground wire I get static through the amp so I think the pot is working and the switch seems to be switching from one pot the other because jiggling the same ground wire gets nothing through the amp when the selector is in the treble position. I'm wondering if the pickup has a short.

I tried jiggling the knobs, pickups, switch and other than my ground wire experiment, I got nothing from the neck pickup.

[jzucker]

So i spent a couple hours a/b'ing it acoustically and electrically with my Barrington BGW-700. They are close to the same guitar! Conclusion is that the barrington sounds better acoustically and electrically but another issue is that the AF200 has a slight tailrise and buzzes at the 15th fret. Not so horrible that I would want to return it based on that issue alone, but with all the other issues it has - and given that the barrington pretty much beats it at almost every turn, i'm going to return it.

[jzucker]

And another undisclosed issue...

[Archie]

And another undisclosed issue...

Back she goes.

[jzucker]

Back she goes.

Yeah, they have blamed poor carrier handling for most of the issues but that may be a stretch.

[wintermoon]

the lacquer crazing @ the heel is nothing imo, a lot of my guitars have it.
but what's going on where the heel cap meets the body binding?

[jzucker]

the lacquer crazing @ the heel is nothing imo, a lot of my guitars have it.
but what's going on where the heel cap meets the body binding?

the heel cap is loose

[wintermoon]

the heel cap is loose

I mean the stuff that looks like cream toothpaste

[Archie]

I mean the stuff that looks like cream toothpaste

Looks like a reflection of the binding going around the back plate.