GuitarFetish

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).

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

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.

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

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.

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

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 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 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!

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.

In my experience with building guitars from their bodies/necks, I believe the overall quality of the materials is fantastic and are as advertised. Are they perfect right out of the box? No. But no one should expect them to be at these prices. You want to know why a Squier is so much cheaper than a Mexican or US made Fender? It's mostly in the finishing work. This is how GFS sells these necks and bodies so cheap - because there is a little finishing work involved in most of what they sell. The necks often require nut work (nut height and slot depths) as well as a fret leveling/crowning/polishing. Some bodies might require some sanding or filing here and there to ensure proper neck or tremolo fitment. Most true builders don't care about those things, and see the imperfections as a means of being more involved in the build and taking more pride in completing it. If you want all the finishing work done for you and just want a plug and play product, pay the extra and go with Warmoth, Allparts, or genuine Fender products. If you don't mind getting your hands dirty and put a little elbow grease into it, you can build a seriously sweet guitar for under $300. My latest build was a blue paisley strat with PAF pickups and a 70's style rosewood block inlay neck, Schaller style locking tuners, brass trem block, and stainless string saddles. Not only does it look, play and sound awesome, it's a unique guitar that you'll never see in a store. Best part is that it only cost $250 to build. Only reason i gave 4 stars is that orders sometimes take a while to fulfill, and shipping takes forever to get to the northwest where I am. Other than that, i've been nothing but satisfied.

Yea wow. Just wow. I got a Floyd Rose tremolo and a jazz bass with case. All exceeded my expectations For the price! Just wow!

... I prolly woulda given MUCH less. Here's my experience...
I bought it expecting the World out of the XV500- right out of the box.

The guitar was basically unplayable out of the box. It musta had 1/4" action on it.

So, I took it to a "guitar setup" shop and they too were not able to do much.
So, I was about ready to chuck it when I decided to try and straighten the neck
Myself.

After over ONE FULL TURN of the trussrod adjusment the neck straightened
Out, and this instrument is now playing at almost a fantasy-level of playability.
Most "Gibiphone" guitars I've ever played aren't as nice. ESPECIALLY not at this
Price point.

BUT... It took a LOT of tweaking to get there... Not "monetary" tweaking, but figuring
Out how seat the tailpiece and bridge and apply trussrod tension-- All the things that go
Into a "bench" setup.

I think there should be SOME sort of notice to the buyer that this instrument MAY
Need a full setup, but that may just be my experience... Personally I'd rather
Keep the pricepoint and tweak it... As it's sold as a "tweaker's" guitar anyway.