Acousticraft Posted March 11, 2007 Report Share Posted March 11, 2007 Hi folks out there, I am looking at building some solid body guitars with some High School students. Guitarfetish prices are quite a bit cheaper than Stewart MacDonald which is where I have bought all my axe parts from to date. Has anyone from the far flung parts of the world like me in New Zealand bought stuff from them and been pleased at the products and service? I give the thumbs up! to Stewart Macdonald for an awesome website, quality stuff and fast, reasonably priced shipping. Greatful for any feedback on this. P.S I have been really enjoying jammin on my recently finished semi-hollow 335. Man it was made to play the blues. Really sings thru my Valvetronic VT50. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted March 11, 2007 Report Share Posted March 11, 2007 I'm in Canada, which is "technically" international. They sent me some stuff without any problems. Can't vouch for "halfway across the world"-style international, but there it is. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattia Posted March 11, 2007 Report Share Posted March 11, 2007 Jay (Mr. GuitarFetish) always ships quickly, shipping prices are good, and the hardware's what you'd expect; decent quality, import stuff. This is to the Netherlands, btw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acousticraft Posted March 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2007 Guys thanks for the quick replies. Anything to keep prices down is appreciated especially when converted to NZ dollars. It is like building a boat. The hull is the cheap part and the cost is in the hardware. Those Wilkinson locking tuners look tempting at such a good price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oz tradie Posted March 11, 2007 Report Share Posted March 11, 2007 I've ordered stuff from Guitarfetish a few times to Australia. Their service is nearly as good as Stew-mac's and delivery time is also on par. I've only positive things to say about them. I think the last lot of stuff took 5 working days door to door. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metalwarrior Posted March 11, 2007 Report Share Posted March 11, 2007 I was planning to order a bunch of cheap pickups and some other stuff from them. Their bulk string prices are by far the cheapest anywhere I've found. (20 packs for about US$40) Unfortunately by the time I got around to placing my order they were out of strings, so I will wait til they get more in before I make my order. I am in Australia BTW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andronico Posted March 11, 2007 Report Share Posted March 11, 2007 I'm in Argentina and I bought pickups and bridges without any problems, delivery was fast and with good package Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted March 11, 2007 Report Share Posted March 11, 2007 I've bought a few times from him (to France), and yeah, he's fast and reliable. At one point though he raised the shipping rate by a lot and it just wasn't worth it for just one part. For a larger order though, that's different. On the other hand, all he's selling for the most part is the same cheap Asian-made parts you'll find anywhere else (including StewMac). Seems to me you could probably find a seller located closer to the source --there's a sellerPTS Guitar Parts he's got a lot of parts and his prices are reasonable. So far I've only ordered once from him and it got here pretty quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aidlook Posted March 12, 2007 Report Share Posted March 12, 2007 Their shipping to sweden was both fast and cheap. Nothing but good things to say about the shipping and products. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted March 12, 2007 Report Share Posted March 12, 2007 If you're talking about the "EZ-Lock" tuners, I got a set of those. They're as good quality as most "off the shelf" mid-priced guitars. Which means, they're good. They're not big strong beefy grovers, but they're quite good. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted March 12, 2007 Report Share Posted March 12, 2007 If you're talking about the "EZ-Lock" tuners, I got a set of those. They're as good quality as most "off the shelf" mid-priced guitars. Which means, they're good. They're not big strong beefy grovers, but they're quite good. Do the EZ-locks have longer shafts? Or are the shafts thicker than normal shafts? Because it seems to me that's an easy mod-- just drill the extra hole at the base, just above the nut. At least, that's what I'm planning to do. But if there's a marked difference between the Ez-locks and normal tuners, maybe that won't work? I figure the advantage is that you can feed the strings into the lower holes --gives you a couple more millimeters of downward pressure. I had a big issue with the Wilkinson bridge I bought--it didn't fit snug on the posts. Not at all. Apparently they've since added locking screws though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted March 12, 2007 Report Share Posted March 12, 2007 The shafts aren't significantly longer. They're entirely cylindrical, though, which IMO is one of the down-sides. You don't get that nice taper that forces your wraps up; however, I guess that's in keeping with the theme-- you shouldn't need that kind of wrapping. I haven't actually used them yet. The buttons were too large for the guitar I meant to put them on. However, I suspect that if you have the precision equipment to do the job, drilling your own second hole would work fine. It's not a job I could do with the tools I have access to, but if you DO have them, I can't see it being a problem. Obviously you'll want to do extra things like make sure the edges of the holes are smoov and all that, but I'm sure that's already occurred to you. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted March 12, 2007 Report Share Posted March 12, 2007 However, I suspect that if you have the precision equipment to do the job, drilling your own second hole would work fine. It's not a job I could do with the tools I have access to, but if you DO have them, I can't see it being a problem. Obviously you'll want to do extra things like make sure the edges of the holes are smoov and all that, but I'm sure that's already occurred to you. Yeah, I didn't want them because I don't like the buttons either. I have a set of Gotohs here that I've already changed the buttons on. I did a test mod on a broken tuner I had --I didn't need precision tools to get a pretty good hole on there. I just clamped the tuner in a viser and went at it with a drill. But for the 'real' mod, I'll mount the tuners in a block of wood so they can't move, add a support for the top of the shaft, so that can't move either. And use my new drill stand/press to drill it. I think the main issue might be if the shaft somehow gets too weak to hold the pressure, that's why I'm wondering if the shaft is thicker on the Ez-lock. But it looks like at least half of the hole will be in the non-tapered part of the shaft, so that should work out. And the fact that the taper is there will hopefully help guide the string up to the second hole --with the test mod I did, it was difficult to pull the string tight to get a nice smooth wrap for the lock. Worse comes to worse, I'll put a set of Grovers locking tuners, like I usually do. But I think the Ez-lock is an excellent idea--I like the simplicity, the way it gets rid of moving parts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted March 12, 2007 Report Share Posted March 12, 2007 Yup, I agree. The shafts were pretty thin. I can do a measurement when I get home for you, and if my camera co-operates, I can take a picture from any angle you like. What kind of drill bit does one use to drive through a metal shaft? With the exception of my Forstners, I only have cheap drill bits that come in bargain packs at Walmart or Canadian Tire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted March 12, 2007 Report Share Posted March 12, 2007 What kind of drill bit does one use to drive through a metal shaft? With the exception of my Forstners, I only have cheap drill bits that come in bargain packs at Walmart or Canadian Tire. I just used ordinary metal drill bits...the small ones are pretty fragile though, I'll have to lay in a new supply, since I've broken all my small diameter bits...oops! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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