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The guitar itself looks wonderful in your pictures, as do your two others :D...
Aengland77
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Oh, yeah, thanks. I love the way it looks. I probably should have said what I like about the guitar in my OP. I chose not to because the post was already getting pretty long.
So let’s see, positives. Yeah, it’s a good looking guitar. And the sound is very good, especially unplugged, though it sounds very nice through the amp as well. The Fishman electronics are not the very best I’ve seen, but they’re good. And the feel of the guitar, except for the action, is nice as well. It’s not quite as comfortable as my Hohner, but then the body is a tad larger than my Hohner. And for that matter, the Hohner is like my main Bible; it is comfortable in my hand precisely because we’ve spent so much time together. So maybe the comfort aspect is not a fair comparison.
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but have you tried talking to Breedlove about the problem? I'd have to imagine since most people don't have to deal with customer support, they would usually be pretty top notch.
Aengland77
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Yes, I did talk to their customer support, and they were prompt and courteous. But none of the suggestions they proffered resolved the issues.
As I said in my OP, one of their techs talked me through the truss rod adjustment (they said in a reply to an email query that there would be no warranty issues *if* I let them talk me through the process). Again, he was willing to help and courteous, but the adjustment didn’t take care of the problem. The action still is too stiff, and now it buzzes with lighter gauge strings (11s instead of 12s). I asked him about the saddle, but he discouraged shaving it any.
As for the issues about the fretboard “paint,” the tech theorized that it could be either the fretboard itself was gunky from however long it sat out on display at the GC, or gunk from the strings. He suggested cleaning the board with mineral oil, and changing strings. I did not think that was the problem, because the black on my fingertips also left discoloration on the board. I probably should have argued the point with him more, but at the time the guitar was pretty new to me. So I wiped down the fretboard and changed the strings…and almost a year later I *still* get blackened fingertips and “fading paint.” I have concluded that this was just one of the areas where they cut corners to put out a Breedlove model w/o the custom price (street price was $800 before the discounted price of $550).
BTW, other of their cost-cutting measures are: using laminate wood for the sides of the guitar (in the case of my guitar, mahogany); the lack of decorative binding on the neck and headstock of the guitar; the binding material around the top and back of the body is plastic fashioned with a “tortoise” look (much like the pickguard). These were cost-cutting measures I knew about going in, and I was and I am okay with them.
As for it being under warranty, yeah, it might still be. I’ll have to check my paperwork on that. But I guess since I had these issues and at least one other guy had the very same problems, I am reluctant to get another. I figure I can live with what I’ve got; it’s not unusable, I wouldn’t say it’s “falling apart.” I’m just not sure I want to go with the Atlas series (or any other series) of Breedlove again.