Birdseye neck warranty

[pcovers]

I read in another forum that G&L does not cover a birdseye neck under the standard 10 year warranty. Is this true?

[jonc]

from my understanding that is true. birdseye, which is a "defect," albeit a very attractive one, in the wood makes it less stable so many builders limit the warranty on these necks. i've had a few heavily birdseye'd necks over the years and never had a problem but i guess they might be more prone to "failure" than a straight grained, hard rock maple neck. for my $ and in my experience i'm willing to take the "risk."

a birdseye'd up the wazoo but sadly departed friend:

[Craig]

I read in another forum that G&L does not cover a birdseye neck under the standard 10 year warranty. Is this true?

That is correct: Bird's Eye Maple necks are warranted for 90 days.

See the G&L website USA Guitar Options page.

Hope this helps.

[NickHorne]

Stunningly figured piece of wood!
But the rear view has got me worried, and asking for advice (again) about my upcoming custom order from far-away, darkest England, where G&L info is hard to find.
I have a G&L Will Ray, and I love everything about its neck except that I could do with it being wider; hence my custom order (Asat Classic) will be for the 1 3/4" nut width.
BUT my WR's neck morphs smoothly into the headstock, without the bulging, almost "volute"-like step that's visible in your picture.
It's a purely personal thing, I'm sure, but I'd much rather have the smooth transition. I tried a Tribute a while back, and it had the the "step" like in the photo, and I really couldn't get on with it.
I seem to remember reading somewhere that the WR has (or had) a "Comanche"-type neck. Is this right, and does it explain how mine flows so smoothly into the headstock? Is this how Comanches are, while Asats have the "stepped" area behind the nut?
I've never met another USA Asat over here to compare mine with, and I really don't want to get this order wrong!!
Help....
Best,
Nick

[yowhatsshakin]

I keep repeating this: it is somewhat strange to me that models, like the ASAT Deluxe and some even highly collectible models (think ASAT Classic III and 20th Anniversary) come standard with BEM necks and now all of a sudden, after the transition from Bi-Cut necks to the new neck with with non-compression truss rod, the warranty is shortened to a 90-day period. This is either a statement on the current technology used or the quality of wood currently available. I leave it up to the powers at G&L to comment on that, which I have not seen yet. But so far, and unless new convincing data is provided, it does not pass my BS test.

- Jos

[Darth Invader]

Hi guys,

I'm not going to really get in deep here, but hopefully enough that it makes sense. I went over this sometime in the past, so hopefully I've done a decent job of hitting the salient points.

Back in the '90s we started offering BE because dealers were asking for it. Trouble was, it doesn't hold up as well as straight grain maple, as you guys know. We had some idea of this but frankly, we didn't know how quite what to expect. So, our warranty repair frequency rose dramatically on instruments with BE.

The other point you guys understand, but is worth repeating here, is that the stability of BE depends on environment to a far greater extent than straight grain maple. If you take a BE guitar on tour you're much more likely to have difficulties with it. Maybe it will just need more frequent adjustments, or maybe a particularly weak area will give way permanently. The current truss rod design reduces this somewhat, because at least it doesn't contribute to the longitudinal compression of the wood, though there is still plenty of that from the strings.

We did not offer BE for some years but guys continued to demand it. Frankly, we just kept saying "no" but eventually we decided we'd offer it on the condition that the owner is accepting risk. We looked around at what some others were doing and realized they were seeing the same thing we were, so we also went with 90 days. We'll cover it up front during that first few months while the neck is deciding how good of a citizen it is inclined to be, but after that, the owner is accepting the risk. With BE comes increased responsibility of the owner. If you throw it in the cargo hold as you go from an outdoor gig in Miami to the next stop in Denver, you're asking for trouble. The situation was even more difficult overseas, where distributors had greatly varying degrees of problems with BE. How much of that was due to their climates and seasonal variance, or how much the local dealers and musicians were aware of the need to treat BE carefully, I don't know. The bottom line is that if you keep your guitar in a climate controlled environment, respecting it as you would a nice acoustic guitar, you're far less likely to encounter problems. We figured we'd let prospective owners make the decision about what's right for them.

Looking at it another way, it's sort of an insurance risk. I suppose we could just charge a lot more for BE and cover the risk that way, where everyone who chooses to tick that box pays the same and gets the full 10-year coverage. I don't know how much that would have to be, though, and at present we don't have the headroom to pool data, study it, and come up with some figure.

You'll also notice that we've added another option: quarter-sawn maple. If you're a touring guy who puts your instrument through hell as in that Miamo-cargohold-Denver example, you might want to think less about the bling and more about structural integrity. Quarter-sawn is best suited to withstand that kind of rugged use.

Dave

[jonc]

Hi Nick

The neck on the BE'd ASAT is a deep V which is why I believe there's the "extra" bit of wood near the neck/headstock transition. You might also be seeing the effect of the way the picture was taken as in person there is no noticeable "hump." I would also think that it being a 2004/2005 build that the neck would have been made a bit differently. Hopefully Craig or Darth or others who have a number of ASAT's will chime in as well.

Jon

[NickHorne]

Thanks Jon, + others too - I'm hoping this is going to work out...
Restarting as own thread, as a bit of a side-issue to the real matter here, of Birdseye...
Many thanks
Nick

[yowhatsshakin]

Dave,

Thanks for taking the time to explain the business reasons behind the decision. Guess that with 10 guitars with BEM necks in my collection, all but one Bi-Cut and none having giving me trouble (but they don't leave the house either), I have to call myself lucky

- Jos