GuitarFetish has a rating of 2.4 stars from 90 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers complaining about GuitarFetish most frequently mention customer service, neck pocket, and quality control problems. GuitarFetish ranks 51st among Guitars sites.
I received a Guitar Fetish Tele Thinline body the other day and was surprised and very impressed with the quality, especially for $69. It was double boxed and inner box was bubble wrap, body was damage free and in beautiful condition. It was sanded smooth but of course before finishing it will be grain filled and sanded. There were some kerf marks from band saw on sides where saw turned around curves nothing that a bit of sanding won't remove. The pics are before any finishing work. I had read a lot of negative comments and reviews on line especially about customer service, not the case for me I sent an email about shipping date and was answered in a few hours. Body arrived in a few days. I have only ordered a roller bridge from them before so was apprehensive about what I would get but it is all good.
Ordered relic tuners, bridge and string guides. The tuners didn't fit the sleeves they sent so I spent an hour modifying. The bridge and string guides were brand new, zero sign of any relicing. If my last order is any indication, I'll get an oh well, tough luck reply or no reply at all. These guys used to be top notch quality control and service. Not so any more.
Sold me used wiring harness. They were dirty, pots were tarnished, missing washers and bolts.
The tech dept did not know what pieces were required for a proper instalation, I had to send detailed photos to educate the tech.
Wiring was with different gages, with configuration would lose sound quality.
This is a budget company run by a bunch of rookies
Warning... it is not worth with this companya. Keep away
Bought a Slick SL54T and the frets were so badly damaged across the entire neck that the strings scratched and scraped up and down them when bending notes and vibrato as if the feet were made of sandpaper. Divots and indents on almost all the frets. Of course you can call these thieves you can only contact them through emails where some loser told me to take pictures of it if I wanted a refund. Worst customer service, worse than the guitars they sell. Any other instrument company would give you a refund if you are unhappy with your guitar, but these guys want you to prove there's something wrong with it to get a refund. And I'm afraid I probably wouldn't even get one if I sent it back. These guys are thieves and lowlife liars. I have a completely unplayable guitar for $250. Could have got a squire for 200 from Sweetwater with fantastic incredible customer service. Do not buy from these con men lowlifes.
The first neck I got had already been returned by another buyer. I figured that out when I got the replacement neck because it was double boxed. The first one had been crammed into a single box with bubble wrap. The first neck had a dent on the back. The replacement neck had frets that did not go all of the way across the fretboard. The low E string would have snagged on the fret ends if I had used it. I returned both and now Guitar Fetish has blocked me from accessing their site and buying anything. What a bunch of BS! The top of the line body I ordered had a neck pocket on which two of the three sides were milled to less than a 90-degree angle. I couldn't return it because I had already put hardware onto the body. I had to chisel the two bad sides to a 90-degree angle so it would accept the neck properly. If you want a nice build you should stay away from guitarfetish.com.
I order a J style bass kit with a Paulownia body and a maple neck w/ "rosewood" fret board from these clowns and I can say I was thoroughly disappointed. After looking for months I was mislead by reviews from other companies into using guitar fetish which resulted in a poor and sloppy grain filler job, dent in the front with other dings all around the body, and that rosewood fret board was not normal rosewood it was reengineered rosewood which they don't mention anywhere but their competitors do. Basically don't buy from them unless you want to waste money on it so see how bad it really is and have to pay return shipping because they don't provide return shipping on their manure products.
Guitar Body's have neck pockets cut to wide, very sloppy, very poor workmanship, very hard to put guitar together. Very poor quality control, will never buy another body from these JUNK dealers ever again.
Bought a XGP neck and body. Neck was said to be able to fit the body perfectly, and the same claim was made for the body. Sadly, the neck pocket was not routed large enough to allow the neck to be set. It could not go in and the width of the neck was clearly too wide for the body's neck pocket. When I reached out to Guitarfetish about the parts not fitting together they basically told me it was close enough and to sand it till it fit. Have not had this problem with Allparts or Mighty Mite so I call BS and recommend against buying from Guitarfetish. Poor quality, no service.
Tip for consumers:
DOn't buy from Guitarfetish
Products used:
Body and neck
I will say that it took a little while to get the guitar that I wanted to get in stock but, wow, it was worth it. I ordered the pro 510. I was thrilled when it got to me. Once in stock it shipped within a few days and arrived promptly. I am just learning to play but I took this guitar to a friend who is an extremely accomplished guitarist who plays in a successful band.(Not his first) He normally plays a Gibson LP that cost about 10x the amount of this guitar. I took it to him straight out of the box with no adjustments. He loved it. Even compared it favorably with his. Mentioned a few minor adjustments that it could use. Overall (again... straight out of the box) he loved it. Said he is thinking of ordering one for gigs at smaller venues "just in case" someone grabs his gear. In the end, I am very pleased with the purchase (with professional opinion to back me up).
Products used:
Guitar
The guitar stand stained ruined the finishes on my Gibson guitars. Do not buy. I'll submit another review of how their customer service resolves this issue.
I have read reviews of people having hassles getting replacement/exchange parts from guitar fetish.
I live in Australia and just recently orderd some guitar necks that had pearl & abalone, on the head stock. When they arrived the pearl one was a shocker!
I contacted Guitar fetish and explained my disappointment, I received a reply within 24 hrs given the time frame difference, They offered me some reasonable solutions but not what I wanted. I put to them what I thought was a resonable solution to solve this matter. My reply from them was very positive and they went with my solution.
I do not think GFS is a unreasonable company - what has happened to other people, seems odd - may be they did not follow due process to have there faulty goods replaced - don't know.
Hope this helps. Regards
JT
Tip for consumers:
Be prepared to use tools for a exact fit up.
I ordered the hh pickguard, the switch is not functioning well, the bridge humbucker is very low powered, very low volume, on the plus side, the neck humbucker sounds very good, as long as you do not play at higher volumes, I really would not recomend this product, but if everything had worked properly, it would be a nice deal.
I listened to the hype and got burned buying junk dry splitting necks because their hyping their products! It may look good on the outside but NO GOOD! I wish I could show pictures. I bought several Abalone inlay necks for Stratocaster and Telecasters both are dry bleached necks that split when screws install! Unfortunately listened to their spew about elbow grease on their junk build yourself Hollow body kits but I found beautiful assembled guitars on eBay for LESS $$than guitar fetishes price where you have to assemble it! After grinding and filing the neck down there's a huge gap and after trying to get it to fit over a month they just said they DON'T accept returns! I have 2 junk necks that aren't going to work and another Hollowbody guitar that is basically firewood! I deleted their website from my home screen and planned on building new guitars every month but not now!
I bought a "blemished" paulownia tele body from their clearance section.
Their description said it had some nicks and sanding marks. That was true. But what they didn't say was the neck position route was cut wrong making it impossible to mount the neck on straight. It is out 1/16th of an inch. By the time the low E string hits the nut end of the bridge it's not on the neck! Maybe they knew it too? That's why it wasn't routed for a bridge and string hole mounts. No possible way to make it straight, it's firewood. The best part? I had a Slick SL 60 in my cart and the kids were going to buy it for me for Christmas! Not anymore!
Oh and one more thing. I own a house in Bradenton FL... going there in a few weeks maybe I'll stop by and say hello to them in Sarasota and return this piece of garbage to them rectally.
Tip for consumers:
STAY AWAY... PARTS WHOLESALER AND NO TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE WHAT SO EVER...
Go to the site and read the “HAPPY TO REFUND” policy and see why you won’t get a refund.
Really....don’t use them.
Products used:
Tele body burned it in my fireplace...completely useless.
I have purchased two Xaviere guitars in the past two years, 2021 and 2022, and have had great experience with GFS. I purchased a Pro 510 and XV 825. Both are quality instruments and I have yet to find flaw with them. I wouldn't hesitate to buy from GFS again.
I placed an order for 2 guitar cases and a bridge. The one case had many cracks in it from the rivets put in to attach the latches and the other looked as if a 2 year old glued the cloth on it glue all over the fabric i had to drive 2 hours to send them back since my town had no fed ex i just got my replacements last night the same with the one case cracks in it the other was a little better only one sloppy glue spot but the glue is still wet to like there using wood glue for the cloth instead of a spray glue. First and last time i order from them the place is a joke no quality control i am just glad i didn't order a guitar or parts to build one like i planned since they cant seem to even send me a cases thats not junk id hate to see a guitar body or neck from them so now i am out over 200 bucks and i still have junk to show for it thanks for nothing guitarfetish.com your products are crap after sending me junk the first time you would think someone would of checked the second ones sent to me the first time they tried to blame FedEx but you could clearly see it was already like that not sue whats up with that place but i hope they get what they deserve and go out of business
Bought an unfinished neck. In order to make a warranty claim and receive a refund, I had to notify them within 10 days. Of course, when you're building a guitar, you're not always going to be ready to assemble in 10 days.
So, after that, you get 60 days to get store credit. I assembled within 60 days. Of course, to see if the neck was playable, I had to drill into the neck to mount it to the body, and drill into the headstock to install tuners.
What I found was that the nut was poorly cut. Strings were so high that they bent the notes sharp just fretting a D chord (or any other). The neck was actually bent backward, so I put 1/4 turn in the truss rod and the neck bent wildly in the other direction. So, I walked the truss rod back a few millimeters at a time until it looked acceptable. It never was. I've set up guitars many, many times and have never had issues like this.
So, thinking I got a bad one, I decided to return it. But, I had already drilled more than 10 holes into it to mount the tuners and mount the neck to the body.
Guitar Fetish's return policy states,"We will gladly issue Store Credit for all items returned within 60 days as long as they are returned with all original packaging and have not been modified or altered in any way."
So, the catch 22. You don't know if the neck is defective unless you alter it, and once you alter it, you can't return it.
That's really all you need to know. If you're thinking about using Guitar Fetish, just flush your money down the toilet, because you still won't have a working neck, but at least you'll save time and effort.
Tip for consumers:
Read the RETURN POLICY before you order.
Products used:
GF Basics 22 Fret TE Neck Rosewood NO FINISH Paddle Headstock
I purchased a J-bass kit from Guitarfetish a few weeks ago, and just finished assembling it. For a modest $105, the kit was fun to build... not without problems. But anyone who expects Fender quality for $105 is simply being unreasonable.
The paulownia body was very roughly machined, and the wood itself is very light... TOO light, relative to the weight of the neck. I wanted to finish the guitar natural, using Tru-Oil, and that worked well, although paulownia is a poor choice for it... the end grain has lots of pores which didn't look good after using a wood filler, and clear finishing.
The neck, however, was far better than I expected... nice, smoothhard maple, well machined, with a really nice optional rosewood fingerboard that featured smooth, level frets (the ends of which need to be dressed... they were cut sharp).
I did have some assembly problems. The neck angle was off, and I had to add a 1 degree shim to get the neck properly aligned with the bridge. There was no pre-drilled hole for a bridge ground wire, into the control pocket... I managed to find a way to drill one. I also mis-measured the lateral position of the bridge, and had to move it once.
The components (bridge, tuners, etc.) are certainly bottom of the line... but I didn't think it was worth spending money to upgrade them.
Regardless, the result works... the sound is pretty good. If you're looking for a fun kit, and don't have unreasonable expectations, this kit was a decent deal.
Tip for consumers:
GF offers 6 string kits with mahogany bodies, which are probably a better choice.
Well I took a shot in the dark I order a $35 Telecaster neck and we'll the base was cut too thick so I wound up with a Telecaster body with neck pocket cut too deep so perfect fit Well I got the neck bolted in and it was bowed out on the wrong direction anyway the neck has dual adjust action
Tip for consumers:
Yes good deal
Products used:
All parts Guitar fetish
Bought a Slick strap... can you say junk? Almost paper thin, I mean ridiculous thin. I didn't bother with a return I just trashed it. I wouldn't trust it to hold the weight of my p bass.
I am blown away by the quality craftsmanship that goes into these guitars. They are an amazing value and GF customer service is second to none. I'm a new fan!
I purchased an "Anvil" style flight case for my guitar from Guitar Fetish. I was so impressed I went back and bought one in each color. They were not quite "Anvil" quality but they were extremely close and for $99... which is less than what a cardboard case would cost. I bought three flight cases for the price of one.
Their guitar PARTS have been hit and miss. The hardware seems pretty OK but some of their wood work leaves a bit to be desired. Not bad... just not first class.
I purchased a mahog strat body that had less than wonderful glue joints. With a bit of filler and a coat of paint I believe it can be used even though my intention was to tung oil it and leave it otherwise unfinished.
The pre-finished neck I purchased had 9mm tuner holes and I needed 10mm. Boring the holes out without chipping the finish was a trick but I believe I got it done. It had better than mediocre fret work and was straight but still inexpensive. (JUST like they say on their web sight) The next neck I get from them will be their PREMIUM neck which is still cheap as poop.
If you want PRS quality then move along but I loves me some cheap guitars sometimes and Guitar Fetish provides.
I could not be happier with your products and customer service. My 14 year old son built his guitar and it's perfect.
I have bought 6 tele bodies, the 'better' XGP ones,
From this company, 5 of them had defects. I sent 2 back and they would not refund any shipping costs. Their website is full of hype that these are the best on the market, don't believe it! I have been working on guitars for 35 yrs. And they act like you are the problem. Don't waste you money on this junk. If you want an inexpensive guitar, buy a Epi or a Squire. I have done work for people who brought me the Xavier GFS guitars, total junk! Or if you must put together your own ax, go to AllParts. Top quality, more money, no lies or frustrations! GFS mostly appeals to Beavis Butthead types that think they can 'build' a guitar with a screwdriver and a soldering iron. Remember, cheap guitars are not good guitars, nothing to be proud of. Its better to save your money and buy one good high quality instrument that will inspire you to play instead of some Chinese junk that you with trade off next week. Don't be inticed by the cheap price, you get what you pay for! I know, and won't be fooled again!
All I did was ask was to pick me out a good one...& they did, sngl p90
In the bridge & out of the box, I coulnt be happier. Plays like butter & great tone... jackpot for & $200.
I had ordered two Strat pick guards, ordered from an American company thinking they would be a safe option for quality over products direct from China. Boy was that a mistake!
These pick guards were absolute garbage. Didn't even fit. The neck cut out was to small didn't fit the neck profile of the Stratocaster, cut out wasn't even straight, the pick up mounting holes were wrong and the finishing was so bad on the edges it was like someone chewed them out of a sheet of plastic.
Two dimensional routed piece of plastic, they've been making this guitar since the 50s, it shouldn't be that hard to get parts that fit.
I received the standard reply stating that there are many variations in Stratocasters and pick guards and I should expect to have to modify them... No this is not so, there are far less variations than people might expect, and basically any 11 hole pick guard off a
Recent Fender or Squier strat will interchange without having to employ a routing machine.
As on previous postings, it is clear these wrong parts have been supplied to customers for quite a while yet they still sell these parts. So they clearly don't care, and are knowingly selling you parts that don't fit, that are not as described, but are happy to keep taking your money.
As with a previous posting, I'm also an overseas client and have no simple option to return these parts, hence these guys didn't care one bit about my concerns.
Avoid the pain and frustration and shop elsewhere.
Unlike many guitars I have used, yours seemed to meet all the qualification I was looking for. Thanks.
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