Author Topic: Headstock discolouration Tayor Swift baby  (Read 3123 times)

SDTaylorman

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Re: Headstock discolouration Tayor Swift baby
« Reply #15 on: August 30, 2021, 12:06:36 PM »
Hi Earl,

Thanks for your suggestions and insights. Yeah I sure have heard about swollen bellies, bracing coming loose, high action, etc due to high humidity, but not this sort of discolouration/ laminate peeling (unless in some really old guitars). For it to happen just after a few months, to me this reflects very poor workmanship and choice of materials. If really their guitar is so feeble and not able to stand a little humidity then perhaps they shouldn't be selling them in these parts at such prices. Instead of taking this opportunity to look into their quality monitoring and improve their materials, they blame the environment and dismissed my queries. Nevertheless, appreciate your help.

To me the big issue here seems to be your bashing Taylor after watching this degrade over the past 3 plus years no matter what the original cause was. It seems obvious that if this started happening one would immediately take it in for inspection/repair. Waiting another 3 years and then blaming Taylor is a bit disingenuous IMHO.

BJ_Bear

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Re: Headstock discolouration Tayor Swift baby
« Reply #16 on: August 30, 2021, 01:55:18 PM »
Looks like a painted coating, rather than a laminate.  In any case, shouldn't it be covered by your warranty?
Good luck on this one, sorry to see it $$'s are hard to come by!

Earl

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Re: Headstock discolouration Tayor Swift baby
« Reply #17 on: August 30, 2021, 02:43:37 PM »
.....I sure have heard about swollen bellies, bracing coming loose, high action, etc due to high humidity, but not this sort of discolouration/ laminate peeling (unless in some really old guitars)...... If really their guitar is so feeble and not able to stand a little humidity then perhaps they shouldn't be selling them in these parts at such prices.

Moisture is a PITA (pain in the .... behind) and can migrate under the finish causing this kind of finish separation on ANY brand of instrument.  In this case, the peg head is a black Lexan plastic overlay glued on top of the wooden peg head, then sprayed over with the normal UV cured poly finish that Taylor uses.  This problem is quite rare, and I'm sorry that you are suffering.  You might be happier with some other brand going forward.  But don't be surprised if your extreme environment causes similar issues with another brand of guitar.  Only carbon fiber guitars are immune to very high or very low humidity, but all CF instruments are quite expensive.

As to your second point, Taylor is really clear and forthright with information about proper humidity care for their guitars -- the best in the industry, candidly.  Check this out:  https://www.taylorguitars.com/support/maintenance/symptoms-wet-guitar    If you chose to ignore that advice and now have issues, how is that their fault?  If your car engine blows up because you let it run low on oil, your auto warranty will not cover the repair. 

Vent your frustration if you must, but having now received multiple constructive suggestions and yet continuing on with your pejorative commentary, it is not clear what else we can do for you here as an on-line community.  This is meant gently and in the nicest possible way, but if you are not listening then I'm done trying to help.   :(
Taylors:  424-LTD (all koa) and a 114ce that lives with friends in Alaska.  Low maintenance carbon fiber guitars are my "thing" these days, but I will always keep the koa 424.  Several ukulele and bass guitars too. 
*Gone but not forgotten:  a 2001 414ce, 410, 354-LTD twelve string, 314-N, 416-LTD baritone, T5 Classic, 615ce, 2006 GS-K, 1996 (first year) Baby

SDTaylorman

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Re: Headstock discolouration Tayor Swift baby
« Reply #18 on: August 30, 2021, 05:11:12 PM »
Looks like a painted coating, rather than a laminate.  In any case, shouldn't it be covered by your warranty?
Good luck on this one, sorry to see it $$'s are hard to come by!

Hi BJBear. Looks like you're new here so welcome to it.

It's always good to read through what others have posted before you do. Here, if you read through the earlier part of this thread you'll see the OP was told this was not a warranteed issue.

Truc

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Re: Headstock discolouration Tayor Swift baby
« Reply #19 on: September 05, 2021, 08:37:03 AM »
Thank you JPmist!

You have some fine suggestions there, and i might consider a little bit of those D-I-Y myself.

I still don't get it why some people are still harping on 'humidity'. I thought the head was a plastic thing, some Lexan overlay whatever? And i thought the whole idea of using laminates is to prevent issues related to humidity? To me the issue here is poor material use as coating, or poor spraying/ laminating/ coating techniques. Clearly the manufacturer's fault, won't touch another of their instrument ever again.

Doc Dan

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Re: Headstock discolouration Tayor Swift baby
« Reply #20 on: September 07, 2021, 08:02:17 AM »
Hi Truc, if you are in Vietnam, there are a lot of very good luthiers there that could fix this problem (I don't know any personally. I've seen their work, though). There are some good ones in Malaysia and Indonesia, as well. They could easily fix this for you. A good one might even figure out a way to put the logo back on for you. It will take some looking around on your part.

SDTaylorman

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Re: Headstock discolouration Tayor Swift baby
« Reply #21 on: September 07, 2021, 09:57:59 AM »
Thank you JPmist!

You have some fine suggestions there, and i might consider a little bit of those D-I-Y myself.

I still don't get it why some people are still harping on 'humidity'. I thought the head was a plastic thing, some Lexan overlay whatever? And i thought the whole idea of using laminates is to prevent issues related to humidity? To me the issue here is poor material use as coating, or poor spraying/ laminating/ coating techniques. Clearly the manufacturer's fault, won't touch another of their instrument ever again.

And many of us are still wondering why you're harping on about Taylor lack of quality control for something you admittedly let get worse for a long time before addressing it and are now blaming the manufacturer for. We get it, you're mad at Taylor for this (justified or, as here, not) and you won't get another one. Thanks for letting us all know so many times in this thread.

Truc

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Re: Headstock discolouration Tayor Swift baby
« Reply #22 on: September 09, 2021, 02:29:05 AM »
Thanks Doc Dan,

Yeah indeed there are some good luthiers in this region, i have bought some wonderful handmade instruments from them in the past. All-solid and exotic tone-wood, mind you, and not a single problem with 'humidity' so far.