Would you reject a guitar like this?

[phavriluk]

This being a shiny new instrument, chewing is not allowed.

[Wade Hampton]

That’s an exceptionally chewed up bridgeplate for a brand new guitar. Like others who’ve commented in this thread, normally I advise people to hang onto instruments when there’s a minor problem. But this goes beyond minor, it’s the sort of major bridgeplate damage you would wince at even in a guitar that’s been played a decade or two.

Something went wrong at the factory, whether it was the choice of an inappropriate wood for the bridgeplate or something else.


Wade Hampton Miller

[phavriluk]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

That’s an exceptionally chewed up bridgeplate for a brand new guitar. Like others who’ve commented in this thread, normally I advise people to hang onto instruments when there’s a minor problem. But this goes beyond minor, it’s the sort of major bridgeplate damage you would wince at even in a guitar that’s been played a decade or two.

Something went wrong at the factory, whether it was the choice of an inappropriate wood for the bridgeplate or something else.


Wade Hampton Miller

I concur. This might have been sold as new, but I'd be curious about its history and how many frequent-flyer miles it has, or how many trips it made through the dealer's revolving door.

[H165]

Looks to me like the plate damage is BESIDE the holes, not in front of the holes (where the ball ends would be). Out of curiousity, I'd look at the centerline of the top and see if it matches the centerline of the bridge. Looks to me like the bridge got moved after the top was drilled, or a mis-drilled bridge was installed and then replaced.

[Railroad Bum]

Originally Posted by redi

Hi,

Bought a brand new CSF3M parlor guitar (online) to play with and thought I would put a new set of strings on it to attempt to liven it up. A couple of the bridge pins were tight. Reached inside to push them up an noticed a lot of chaff and blow-out around the bridge plate and bridge pin holes. Thought I would take a look with the phone cam (sorry for the quality).

I know bridge plates look a bit rough sometimes, but this seems a lot of tear-out. My kids have a couple of older, less expensive Yamies where the bridge plate looks way better.

Would you send one like this back? There is a return policy.

Yes, that sort of thing weakens the bridge plate. I have that problem with an Alvarez MD60BG, and I didn't catch it until it was past the point where I could return it. Basically, my top bellied like crazy until I went to a much lighter string gauge. I also had to sand the heck out of the saddle to make the action playable.

But anyway, send that back and get a perfect one.

[redi]

Originally Posted by H165

Looks to me like the plate damage is BESIDE the holes, not in front of the holes (where the ball ends would be). Out of curiousity, I'd look at the centerline of the top and see if it matches the centerline of the bridge. Looks to me like the bridge got moved after the top was drilled, or a mis-drilled bridge was installed and then replaced.

That is what it looks like to me too. As if it were drilled at the factory, checked (oopsie), got moved a little and re-drilled. These CSF have a weirdly shaped asymmetric bridge that defies normal measuring.

[redi]

The replacement is much better.

[rollypolly]

that still looks kind of weird.

I have an old Seagull S6 that's probably 20 years old. I just looked at the bridge plate and all I see are 6 holes. No extra holes, chunks, splinters, or anything else. I've never really looked at any bridge plates before but on a new guitar I'd expect just 6 clean holes.

[redi]

Looks fine to me. Compared to the first one.

[dnf777]

Yeah, on the fence here. If I saw that on one of my guitars of several years (and string changes) probably wouldnt think twice about it, other than note to self to seat strings better! But on a NEW guitar? How did it even get that way? Is it really new?? New tech learning on it? Thats a little concerning and unexplained. Having said that, if I really liked it otherwise, would probably keep it at put overplate as mentioned above.