Ebay Bodies Warning

I feel like it's my duty as a member of this community but I have to warn against certain bodies from Texas being sold on ebay. Sorry if the seller is a member of the community but this really is a disservice.
I got this for about $45 with shipping and felt apprehensive about this deal having read a couple pieces of negative feedback based on quality. I decided to give it a shot.

The good points:
It's a really nice piece of ash. (3 piece body)
It's sanded smoother than any other body blank I've received.
It comes with a nice roundover edge if that's what you're after.

The next few pictures are the bad points and I'm looking for suggestions on how to salvage this purchase.

The pictures were taken with the pick guard alligned to the neck pocket. The neck pocket is a penny-width too big. It was advertised as being routed to the minimum neck size available.

The bridge is alligned to the string holes and braced with nails.

Notice there seems to be a flaw in their template around the bridge pickup unless that serves some function that I'm not aware of.

More. Notice how the pick guard hangs over the pocet a tiny bit

And finally the neck in place which may or may not be alligned with the bridge.

So, it looks like the bridge is sitting too far "up" and not aligned properly to the neck pocket.

It also looks like the control route is not lining up either to the pickguard or that is because the bridge route is off...

Sorry this happened. I know how frustrating it is....

Yep, BTW this picture shows the pick guard as alligned with the control plate which makes the bridge look extra crooked.

as far as rectifying this goes, i would suggest first that u try and return the body to the seller.

failing that you could cut yourself a new pickguard to line up better with the hardware, it's not hard to do, all you need is a saw and a drill.

Why not first ask what pickguard he recomends? THis would not be the first time (or the 1000 time) I have heard that pickguards did not align correctly with a tele plate, a bridge or a neck width. I bought a EDEN body once that I had a hell of a time getting a pickguard to work. The guy who sold it to me, had no problems with the same body and his pickguar supplier.

In the end...you get what you pay for. I can barely buy a blank for $45 let alone one that is already cut, shaped and shipped to me.

for $45 shipped... get a drill and fix the rest. Not to sound mean, but it still seems like you got a deal. Maybe plug the ferrule holes and do a top loader? If you just aren't feeling it, perhaps you could send it back to the seller for a refund?

Yes I think $45 is definately the value that I should expect to put some work into it. Pretty sure I'm not going to go for a refund. $45 is worth the learning experience in my opinion.
How crazy would it be to fill everything (control cavity and pocket) and reroute according to my own trusted template? This was supposed to be my Don Rich tribute.

I bought one of those bodies and your right, the neck pocket is too large by a couple of thousandths, but it is a good deal. I'm not *****ing, but I dont think I will be buying another one from them.

I bought one of those.
Man am I mad, I paid $1 more than you did:lol:
Kinda wondered why these wre going for that when the sellers completed BIN bodies were almost 3 times what we paid.

Nice to know what I will be dealing with.
I haven't got all my stuff yet to start my mock up, did take a strat neck I had laying around and the neck pocket was too tight. Hard to say but if this is all I have to deal with it WILL be ok but I may refrain from getting a second one like I was until its all said & done.:wink:

Wally

Oh, yes mine has that little extra out of the neck pup area.

Trademark gouge?

The difference between a precision accurate body and a rough approximation body (I know nothing about this vendor's product, but I've seen bodies matching your description) to me is extremely, extremely important. If hard points are unreliable, the burden shifts to the buyer to set all the "off" aspects of the body back to right. Or soldier on and pretend it doesn't matter.

I think it matters.

I don't know this vendor, but sometimes I wonder at certain price points, if what is really happening is a vendor has a container full of cast offs from the Far East, or maybe a couple hundred cast offs from some unknown source in the Far East of Texas.
I mean, what do you do with guitar bodies that your primary buyer inspects? And decides to reject?

:^

Deffinately. I knew I was assuming a risk when I bid. That's also why I won't bother with a refund.

This may become a thinline. Will still need to modify the pocket. Thoughts?

I'll just reiterate that you get what you pay for when you buy a guitar body.
Personally, I've had a number of clunkers on ebay because the items I bought were lacking in the description department and I failed to ask important questions. You should however expect a quality product especially if defects are not disclosed in the description.
If the vendor is reputable, they should make good on it. If the item was depicted and disclosed as defective, then they are not at fault in this case. If it were me, I'd get you a new body because the negative feedback would be bad to get. Good luck with your build.

I feel your pain! I just received my Tele body last Thursday from a different Ebay vendor and paid 57 bucks, 42 for the body & 15 for shipping. First of all it took over two weeks before it arrived which I thought was a bit excessive for the price of shipping.

The first thing I did was to test fit the MIM neck I bought from you & the neck pocket is a touch too big and mounting holes don't line up either. Neck pocket dimensions were provided on the ebay listing, but DO NOT match the measurements I get. And last, I don't have a bridge yet to check alignment, but the ferrule holes aren't in a straight line.

When I received the body and noticed the issues I have, I sent the seller an email. Since I got no reply from the seller within a couple days, I added negative comments on ebay concerning my purchase. I then checked my email the next morning to see a response from the seller. He didn't provide any suggestions or help, but instead *****ed at me because I didn't wait longer before submitting negative input on ebay. I also replied to that email & now two days later I still don't have any helpful input from the seller.

SO, I've just chalked this one up to experience and now expect that I'll need to figure out how to fix the problems. I've begun the finishing of the body and have it sanded down and grain filled. I'll probably do the first run of sand and sealer later today. I'm not so sure that I want to do the color and clear coats until I get a bridge, control plate, and pick guard to see how things line up first.

Hope you can fix your issue without too much problem. Guess the next time around, we'll have to remember that cheap bodies are cheap for a reason. Oh well...

Yep always wize to do an assembly first before you pass the modifiable point. Good luck

Forget the pickguard. Buy a trim ring for the neck pickup.

Set the neck and adjust the bridge until it's in the right spot. No big deal.

If the neck pocket doesn't match the neck, then you have something to bother about.

For 45 bucks I could make it work. I don't make exact copies of anything so its all good... and like Joe D says... you can't buy the wood, glue it up, cut it out, rout, shape, sand, etc. etc. for that price.

Where can I get a couple dozen of them? :grin:

Burn it in the Xmas fire....have a large whiskey...then get a good one next year.

45 space bucks with shipping? Not sure what one should expect exactly for that price. :confused:

Due respect... But shouldn't the price be warning enough :oops:


Just saying...

I got burned by one of those as well. Great looking piece of wood, but there was a gap of around 1/16" on both sides of the neck pocket. Grabbed a Warmoth body instead, and now it fits like a very tight glove.

Buddy and Julie Millers new record is real good.

Yea, I've been trying to be discreet about it.

Maybe it's the lack of nicotine speaking since I'm quitting smoking but...WOW! Lots of whining about neck pocket gaps. The last time I looked...that's raw wood your dealing with there...not the finished product. Have we ever heard the term "shim"?

Just glue some shims on either side of the neck pocket and get to work. Don't expect a Custom Shop prize for $45.

Once you get a nice fit out of the neck pocket then apply your bridge with "screws" and align your strings along the neck.

If people can't do a little bit of trouble shooting then they probably shouldn't be buying rough bodies and claiming their building a guitar.

:idea:

That's actually a nice chunk of wood. I like the no pickguard look so the gouge in neck slot is a real drag. The pocket sides can be filled and re-routed with similar colored wood. That would look best. The easiest way is build up the sides of the neck to just the body height and sand to a snug fit.

The control plate doesn't look too bad, and the pickguard should be slid around til it looks ok. If your bridge isn't lining up, try grinding a bit away from the bottom side of the counter sink on the mounting screws. It's a bit tricky and bi-focals and a pair of pliers will help you from grinding off your finger tips. Ground like this the screws will have a little play and you will be able to tighten down your bridge in a few different positions. Slightly enlarging the mounting holes will also give you bit of play. From what I can see in your pictures, you should be ok.

For forty five bucks, you did ok. Not fabulous, but ok.

That's some great encouragement. Thanks.

The pocket sides can be filled and re-routed with similar colored wood. That would look best. The easiest way is build up the sides of the neck to just the body height and sand to a snug fit.


And then a 2T burst, the dark finish will cover the wood fill patches if you need to do that. 2 cents worth. ;)

I've had a similar experience with a different builder on eBay. The body looked great in the pictures. The body looked great when I got it, but once the work began I started to discover the defects. The neck pocket was wrong (thankfully too small), and the neck holes were mis-located, and not perpendicular to the body. Ditto the string holes. The bridge mounting holes were not drilled, which gave me some latitude lining up the neck, but the bridge/pickup route was ~ 1/8" off as well. Edge roundovers were incomplete and "chattery". It turned out OK at the end of the day, but next time I may machine my own body blank, so I can spend the time fixing my own mistakes instead of someone else's. Have a look:

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home-depot/187696-my-flame-maple-tele.html

If you are going to sparkle it (Don Rich style) you will end up with enough clear and sparkles to fill the neck pocket gap. If you are going to paint it, Bondo the pocket sides and re-route. If the holes are off, Bondo them and redrill. If natural then I do not know.

Thanks for a well written post.