Michael,
I didn't MD-40 anything, I was making a funny, a long with the "Shout it out." There was nothing wrong with the strings or the way they were installed. They were Elixers. I put them in myself. I have restrung guitars thousands of times.
The Tech stated that the holes "are too small." I believe him. He's checking to see if they will send a replacement bridge. He also stated that Taylor has replaced AA battery compartments in the past, when batteries have become fixed in them. Whether they should have replaced them or not is a matter of their internal customer relations policy. This tech told me they stopped doing it because they had an overwhelming number of them. I choose to believe this also, since I've seen this complaint many times on other BB's.
He offered an opinion that Taylor, while highly innovative, sometimes doesn't get the bugs out of everything before they release it to the public. That's a point in their favor. We wouldn't have electric lights if they had to be perfected in the lab before they were used. This kind of thinking is why we lag behind the rest of the world in renewable energy sources. Somehow, people are convinced that the technology must be perfect before it's used on a mass scale. It cost 4 cents per watt for photo-electric energy in Germany vs. 6 cents here. All technologies are a work in progress. Many times it makes more sense to run with the concept and let it evolve to perfection. Presumably, that's what Taylor has done. Good for them!
All I am am doing is reporting what the Tech told me has historically been the case.
To be honest, he had his back turned to me when he removed the stuck ends, so I'm not sure how he did it. I do know he needed to remove the whole bridge assembly- something I would not have attempted for fear of throwing off the intonations.
To top it off, he charged nothing.
In conclusion, I installed Clear Coat Strings and they fit the existing holes perfectly. The guitar sounds fabulous. I never used Clear Coats before. I have been using Infields on most of my electrics. with great success. I now live happily ever after with a fabulous Taylor Solid body Classic that sounds better than ever.
SB
