Hey everyone,

I’d appreciate any thoughts on my experience (so far) with getting my U8 repaired.

A little background.
I recently bought a Touch Guitar U8. It’s a beautiful guitar but after 4 weeks I tried to adjust the truss rod and it was loose. I contacted Stefan at Touch Guitars and he told me to send it back for repair.

After receiving it he told me that the wood on the fretboard had “moved”. So the fretboard had to be replaced and to be safe he would install a dual truss rod. He also wrote "I am also thinking about switching the whole U8 models to a 2-way truss rod in the future”. So that sounds good to me and great for anyone who orders one in the future. He told me he thought I’d have it back my mid July. And he assured me that he had "speeded up the process by changing priorities and putting your guitar first on the line".

But then the date kept changing.
On July 7th he wrote this: "The guitar will arrive at my place with the next run which will hopefully be next weekend or the week after. I’ll kick their asses.” So he knows there’s a problem, or at least wants me to know.

11 days later he wrote: "I picked up new guitars yesterday and sadly the neck was still in the press. I kicked their asses so fingers crossed they will be quick now”. So he again kicked their asses, whatever that means, and he is again letting me know there’s still a problem. Of course I have no idea where the problem is. And it's also pretty obvious that my guitar was not "first on the line".

Another 10 days later he wrote this: "they finished the neck and will ship it to me next week. At least that is what they say but now I am (sic) the problem since I will leave to teach in the US end of next week … Anyway I can tell you that I will start to work with a different cnc company, soon"

What makes this odd to me is that he wrote they will ship it next week "At least that is what they say”. That phrase seems odd. And because of this he’s going to work with a different CNC company? It's a little hard to believe that he’s changing them because, for whatever reason, they let my neck sit for a month. Which has nothing to do with cnc work as far as I know.

So the neck is done (??), but instead of shipping it back right away so he can set it up and get it back to me before he leaves for 3 weeks, they’re waiting a week to ship it (maybe), which to me sounds somewhat intentional. It seems that he’s buying himself more time with each update. Maybe it's the cynic in me that thinks that there might be something odd going on here? I’m concerned that there seem to be a lot of excuses for why the neck hasn’t been finished. It’s not a difficult job. It should take a professional a few days at most.

At this point, I don't know when I'll get it back. Maybe I’m making a big deal about nothing. I’d appreciate anyone’s comments.

Kenn

Frustrating for sure but things like this are going on all over construction, manufacturing etc. Could be he's changing CNC companies because he has a history of similar events with them and this one just happens to be one of the last straws. It's hard to be the "customer facing guy" as you're going to draw the ire of the consumer and, not knowing this guy at all, maybe he deserves it. But it's hard to say. Sounds like there are a few cogs in the chain here. Don't blame you for being frustrated though.

I too would be nervous given all that. But the issue could be just a case of someone that hasn't learned the under-promise, over-deliver principle. This is what happens. You end up over-promising over, and over, and over...

Sadly, you're at his mercy now.

As to the CNC issue, there are CNC routers and if he's replacing the neck, it could be his supplier is using CNC routers for the neck shaping. The last guitar I built was originally going to be a project to use CNC for shaping the entire thing, but my skill with 3D CAD wasn't up to my vision for the axe, and I ended up just carving the whole thing by hand (which to be honest is more fun than watching a machine do it.)

Getting good people to work in manufacturing is not easy nowadays. Hopefully Europe is better than where I'm at. As more experienced CNC technicians retire, not seeing many with experience entering the job market, meaning teaching new people. Here in the US working in manufacturing has a noticeably declining interest.

However, I found this article about Germany, seems they are actually in worse shape than what I'm seeing over here. The story is familiar though - aging workers retiring, no replacements:
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory ... %20shrinks.

Welcome to my world, dealing with issues caused by a lack of help is something a lot of us in manufacturing have not dealt with before. If Touch Guitars is outsourcing their CNC work your experience does not surprise me at all.

Thanks for the replies. A few things, this company has been around for a while.

The workshop (cnc) is in Austria. It's hard to know if there anything wrong with their work. When I ordered my guitar I was told the run would be done at the end of March. It was done on time and the guitar was shipped soon after.

They were only replacing the fretboard and the truss rod. The neck is fine. Not a difficult job.

Does anyone really believe he told them it was first on line and they let it sit for a month? That he "kicked their asses" and they still did nothing?

He told me was invited to the states to "teach". He is not teaching. He is showing/demonstrating the Touch Guitar.

If you owned a company and told someone to fix something right away, and two weeks later they hadn't touched it - and you told them again to do it right away. And two weeks later it still wasn't done, you'd probably fire the person and look for a replacement (CNC). But who would do that? Who would ignore that request? And who would finish the job they were told is first on line, and then ship it a week after they finish it? Does that make sense?

Sorry you're going through that. I'm having similar troubles with the same company, and I recommend patience and persistent, open communication. At least until your guitar is safely back in your hands, then you can be brutally honest in an open forum.

And to answer your last round of questions: most of what you're being told doesn't make sense, nor seem right. Yes, the person/company telling you information that isn't true should be fired and replaced. But, when everything you sell is made by someone else, it's difficult for smooth operations. If this is the only/closest/most-affordable luthier, you have to take the good with the bad. Many companies that don't make things practice business in this way. Get the sale, and then move on to get more sales. Good luck.

In Austria is only the (Handmade) Workshop for the U8 Deluxe. The (CNC) Workshop for the U8 models is in Poland.

UPDATE:
The guitar has finally been returned to me.
The good news is that they put on a new neck. Not just a replacement fretboard. Stefan also included a gig bag and extra strings at no cost. Which was very nice of him.

My only complaint is that the setup (action) was horrific. It looks like it was done my an amateur. It was easy to correct, but it was so bad you could visibly see the wound strings were all at a different height. None of them even remotely correct. Plus one string had an exposed core, the others did not. Very odd.

I have no idea what a proper setup for the Touch Guitar is. But it is now set up the way a stick or Warr Guitar is setup. Very (very) low action. And consequently very playable for both touch style and strumming.

If you're thinking of buying a Touch Guitar, just be aware, if it needs to be returned to them, you are in for a world of pain.

HaHa. Glad I went with a Stick. (Whoops) Hey, what did you expect I would say, this is Stickist.com

If the odd exposed core string is the lowest bass string, that’s likely normal for that set. I’ve had four string bass sets like that way back.