Terrible Chicago Music Exchange/Reverb Guitar

Romo82

Romo82

Experienced
Purchased a 2017 Ibanez Prestige RG752 and was anticipating great things but oh how wrong i was.

I inquired about setup before purchasing and was told the price included full setup, restring etc. Awesome i thought, made the purchase, sent them my specs only to be told "oh we already restrung it with 10 and packed it up".

So i ask what it was setup up with since the add said "Plays well with low action and optimal neck relief. Frets are tall and show little sign of play wear. Currently set up with .011-.074 gauge strings in DAFCGDA tuning". Absolutley no use to me in that string gauge and tuning which is why i wanted it PROPERLY set up as i didn't want to piss about doing it myself, i even asked how much they would charge to do this and was more than willing to pay but nope, they seemingly weren't interested.

After being told i was getting 10's i asked what tuning it was in at least since intonation will be shot if not adjusted and was told it was in B standard, "OK" i thought, this was close enough for me to tweak myself since i tune to ADADGBE so minimal adjustment.

So i get the guitar and open it up and this is what i found:

Wayyy high action that was more akin to a bass guitar than a prestige Ibanez.
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Bridge was totally out of level.
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"New" strings were already tarnished and corroded
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And this one sent me over the edge and totally pissed me off, rounded out trem claw screws meaning i couldn't even adjust the trem to proper position.
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And finally when i put the tuner on it i found out its still in A standard tuning, so every single thing i was told was absolute bullshit. It played like complete crap and now i have to take it to the tech and get it completely setup and replace the claw screws. Ruined my hopes of it being a ripping player and as far as i'm concerned, CME is a garbage company. My buddy had lauded them to me when i told him where i got it and said they were very reputable and well known so i had great hopes but in reality they suck the fat one.

I even emailed them to address the issues before i left feedback and didn't get a reply, sent another direct message via the website and got an initial response then.......... crickets. Great service there CME. The only good point i can say of the whole thing is the packaging was faultless and the guitar is in overall great condition. But other than that, what a pile of shit and an insult to a Prestige Ibanez!

BEWARE FOLKS!!
 
It's hard to believe they shipped your guitar in that condition. You would think they would restring the guitar with new strings at the very least. Those rounded out screws are easy to replace, which they should have done also. Basic stuff! I'm sure you'll be able to get it setup properly, but CME really dropped the ball on this one. Thank you for the warning and good luck with your guitar.
 
And this is the number one reason why I do setups myself. I have never had a satisfactory setup by anyone, for the exception of my friend who is a luthier.

Buy the essential tools and learn how to do it yourself, because you will hardly ever be satisfied with someone else’s setup. If you were located close to me, I’d do a complete setup for you, free of charge.
 
Wow, that is terrible. Thanks for the heads up, I was browsing some of their online selection. Not going to risk ordering anything expensive there.
 
@Romo82 I think I have a pair of claw screws if you need them. I know I got these from an Ibanez parts site. Measure the ones you have and let me know if they’re the same.
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Wow, thanks guys you’re a great bunch! Truth be told I normally do all my set ups, or used to when I had my horde of guitars but now I’m a family man and just starting to rebuild my collection after having parted with them along the way, but with 2 young kids time to myself is scarce which is why I wanted it to be a player out of the box!

But rest easy compadres, the Ibby is into the tech getting what she deserves as we speak and I’ll hopefully be pounding the nickel in no time! X x x
 
lyricbread said:
And this is the number one reason why I do setups myself. I have never had a satisfactory setup by anyone, for the exception of my friend who is a luthier.

Buy the essential tools and learn how to do it yourself, because you will hardly ever be satisfied with someone else’s setup. If you were located close to me, I’d do a complete setup for you, free of charge.
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Me too on doing my own. Saves a ton of hassle. About the only thing I have done for me is woodworking and nut work, as I lack a proper workbench and those particular tools.

I have to say Andy Babuik's Fab Gear sent my 620/12 out with fresh strings and a perfect setup, though, so it is possible to find a dealer that does a good job
 
if you can’t do your own setups, you probably shouldn’t be buying online unless you’ve budgeted for a pro setup.

I’ve bought several dozens of guitars online. I just bought a new LP Special from Gibson direct from the manufacturer. Lo and behold, it needed a setup. 90% of the guitars I buy online need something, regardless of vendor. They aren’t set up “wrong”. They’re just not to my taste. I’ve setup guitars to ship and thought they were impeccable only to have some newbie think the necks were warped or some such nonsense. There’s nothing worse than taking a return of a perfectly good guitar from from someone who thinks, “the action is too high” or some other personal preference that takes less time to change than putting it back in the box.

I’ve purchased a couple of Fender Custom Shop guitars and amps from CME - just got a Princeton Chris Stapleton from them. Never had a problem. I wonder if their lack of response on this is CV related?
 
AndyOrr said:
if you can’t do your own setups, you probably shouldn’t be buying online unless you’ve budgeted for a pro setup.

I’ve bought several dozens of guitars online. I just bought a new LP Special from Gibson direct from the manufacturer. Lo and behold, it needed a setup. 90% of the guitars I buy online need something, regardless of vendor. They aren’t set up “wrong”. They’re just not to my taste. I’ve setup guitars to ship and thought they were impeccable only to have some newbie think the necks were warped or some such nonsense. There’s nothing worse than taking a return of a perfectly good guitar from from someone who thinks, “the action is too high” or some other personal preference that takes less time to change than putting it back in the box.

I’ve purchased a couple of Fender Custom Shop guitars and amps from CME - just got a Princeton Chris Stapleton from them. Never had a problem. I wonder if their lack of response on this is CV related?
Click to expand...

I tried asking them to do a setup on the guitar, even asked how much they want to charge for doing it but got chinned off. Did you look at the pics and read what they had told me? This guitar isn't even slightly set up to a bare minimum standard. I've set up numerous guitars through the years but now i have little time to do so which is why i wanted to pay a "professional" to do the grunt work for me. And besides the point of all that, when you pay $1800 for a guitar it absolutely should not show up like this.

I think this is actually one of only 2 guitars I've bought online that wasn't in decent shape, the other ones i can think of were 2 Gibson Les Paul's that were horrible. The first one came with chipped and flaking top coat, sent it back and the replacement they sent had a broken pot shaft!
 
Given the timing and the lockdown status of essential jobs only in Illinois, I’d bet they rushed it out the door rather than have you wait several weeks. But yes, from the pictures, it looks like several bad decisions were made.
 
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