Telecaster Guitar Forum - View Single Post - frustrated HW1 owner...anyone else had fret rattle issues?

bluepill · November 8th, 2008, 01:03 AM

hi guys, after months of looking around and reading threads here i bought a new HW1, very pretty in wine and rosewood, my first tele after 16 yrs of playing and owning too many guitars

all good right....well nope!

playing it in the shop the guitar fret rattled badly, i mean all over....the shop said it needs to set in, play it for a week and see what happens...so i did

a week or so playing, rattles rattles rattles...took it back and the shop set it up, not much better, they dropped the E strings...put them up when i got home and played on...setup at this time was even higher action than the fender setup guide i got with the guitar

not long after back in the shop, being sent to the fender warranty repairs in melbourne...took a few weeks...got it back, same thing..perhaps midley better but looks like they did sweet FA

so back to the shop, the guitar gets flown up to sydney for repairs there, comes back..lots better but still rattles, especially when bending on the high E, i mean it just goes dead

so back to the shop, how many time now..****. the shop owners at this point hate me but are still cool and understand the frustration as well as they play it and same thing (of course).

so the shop owner says he is seeing a luthier for another reason and hell take the guitar, then i ring today to hear the following

'the luthier says its a known issue on some fender strat and teles due to the fret radius, and that you can lower the fret hight in the middle of the neck so when you bend it doesnt fret out'....what the ****!! i mean common i own about 15 guitars atm, many 400 jobs from ebay and ive never had this before

so i need to go back to the shop in a few days to try and up the action / string height, and if no fix a call to the fender importer will be made...so in the last approx 3 months, the guitar has been in the shop for 2 months!!!

so question is, any other HW1 tele owners had this issue?

if this is a design issue, then imo these guitars should never have been made....sorry for the long write up, one frustrated guy

November 8th, 2008, 01:03 AM	#1 (permalink)
bluepill TDPRI Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: st kilda Age: 32 Posts: 92	frustrated HW1 owner...anyone else had fret rattle issues? hi guys, after months of looking around and reading threads here i bought a new HW1, very pretty in wine and rosewood, my first tele after 16 yrs of playing and owning too many guitars all good right....well nope! playing it in the shop the guitar fret rattled badly, i mean all over....the shop said it needs to set in, play it for a week and see what happens...so i did a week or so playing, rattles rattles rattles...took it back and the shop set it up, not much better, they dropped the E strings...put them up when i got home and played on...setup at this time was even higher action than the fender setup guide i got with the guitar not long after back in the shop, being sent to the fender warranty repairs in melbourne...took a few weeks...got it back, same thing..perhaps midley better but looks like they did sweet FA so back to the shop, the guitar gets flown up to sydney for repairs there, comes back..lots better but still rattles, especially when bending on the high E, i mean it just goes dead so back to the shop, how many time now..**. the shop owners at this point hate me but are still cool and understand the frustration as well as they play it and same thing (of course). so the shop owner says he is seeing a luthier for another reason and hell take the guitar, then i ring today to hear the following 'the luthier says its a known issue on some fender strat and teles due to the fret radius, and that you can lower the fret hight in the middle of the neck so when you bend it doesnt fret out'....what the **!! i mean common i own about 15 guitars atm, many 400 jobs from ebay and ive never had this before so i need to go back to the shop in a few days to try and up the action / string height, and if no fix a call to the fender importer will be made...so in the last approx 3 months, the guitar has been in the shop for 2 months!!! so question is, any other HW1 tele owners had this issue? if this is a design issue, then imo these guitars should never have been made....sorry for the long write up, one frustrated guy