[Uncle Daddy]

So I went to the local music store to try out a delay pedal, and whilst there thought I'd grab the Blacktop Projet to give it a tryout. Looks great on first impressions, but as soon as I tried it out the master volume knob fell off, and on closer inspection the bridge pickup was leaning over and set way low.

So I asked the guy why it hadn't had a setup before going on the shop floor, to which he replied that they always set up more expensive guitars, but budget range guitars get done as and when they get time.

My thoughts were that this is likely to put potential purchasers off, not exactly good business practice. Secondly, why would Gretsch allow these to leave the factory still needing work?

First time I tried Blacktops too. Not that keen on the tone.

[araT]

Gretsch do give them a preliminary setup before they leave the factory, but you have to imagine what ~6 weeks in a hot humid shipping container & then a bunch of climate changes do to the wood... there's really no point giving them a proper setup as all that time, work & money will be wasted as soon as it sets off on it's journey.

I shipped all my guitars from Sydney, Australia to here (Berlin, Germany) when we moved here last year, as a guitar tech I (and many of my old Sydney clients who hang out here can testify to this) have my guitars set-up like butter, perfect as they can be... when they landed here I had to start from scratch all over again with all of them, good thing there's nothing I love more than tinkering with guitars because It took me about a week to get through all 15 of them!

[jflintmac]

I agree that they should at least put in a few minutes to do a basic setup but then, it is kind of pointless. One tap on the bridge and it's a mess again.
People that can't set up their own guitars are not really good candidates to play Gretsches. I would think it would just seem like a money pit. Imagine having to pay for a setup every time you change your strings? Or worse - settling for what ever happens when you do change the strings...
Either way, it would be a problem that I wouldn't want to deal with, (Couldn't afford to deal with)

[JRS11]

This is what I have against buying from the big box shops, they do not, never, do set ups unless you pay, so why not deal with a shop that does and probably is even less expensive once you find a forum like this and get help from members about where to go. I brought a 5420 in, the neck pickup was dead. Because MF screwed up on sending another right out (I have an issue and need it fast) I cancelled the order and bought a 6118 from Rocky and have no complaints, MF did me a huge favor I think.