Floyd Rose CNC cut defect - is this normal/acceptable?

Gear
#1

I have purchased a new Solar A1.6FRC, when it arrived I noticed a defect with the floyd rose cavity (see pictures attached).

I took the guitar to an experienced luthier, his assessment is that the routing for the floyd rose was correctly done with a CNC, however after this work was done, more material was likely removed at the top edge of the cavity by hand, leaving the cavity unnecessarily large for a floyd rose tremolo and the noticeable roughness mentioned above.

After contacting customer service, their explanation is that all cavities are CNC routed, and depending on the grain direction the cut can be more or less smooth.

Considering this is a cosmetic issue and everything else on the guitar was done well, is this normal/acceptable for a guitar at the $900 price point, and has anyone seen this problem before? My Jackson SL2 also made in Indonesia does not have this problem.

I’m trying to figure out if I should keep it for a 10% refund, or return it for a full refund (I’ll have to eat the 55 USD import tax paid to UPS + return shipping cost).

Any input would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

[Album] CNC cut defect
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#2

How does the guitar play? How does it sound?

That route looks like it was a little rough, and I suspect your luthier was right, there may have been a little tear out or rough edge there that was smoothed out by hand after the route was cut but before the body was finished. However, it won’t impact playability at all, is probably invisible from playing position, and doesn’t jump out from a cursory look at the guitar - it took me scrolling back and forth in the album a few times before I could be sure I saw the issue you were talking about.

If the guitar itself is great but there’s just a bit of unevenness to the bass side of the trem route, I’d take the offered 10% discount all day long. That’s a non-issue from a playing perspective, and an extra $90 in your pocket.

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#3

If you think you’ll be the only owner of this guitar, I’m with @Drew; I’d take the discount for a cosmetic issue every time.

But if you’re the kind of person who will be driven nuts by this every time you look at it, or if you think there’s a good chance you’ll try to sell the guitar used at some point, maybe it would be worth it to you to have it replaced. Potential drawback is that if you like “everything else” about this guitar, the replacement might not live up to it on every one of those points.

#4

Yeah from what I’ve read tear outs do happen, though they are rare. It plays and sounds great to me, specially the neck profile. I’m going to keep it.

Thank you all for the replies :slight_smile:

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