NMD: 2007 Triggs F5

[Tjspahr1]

Well, almost. It will ship out tomorrow, and I'll have it later this week. I was familiar with Jim as a friend of mine was doing finish work (I believe) for some of his archtops done in gold. The friend passed unexpected about a year ago, and not like I don't think about him, but this will be kind of special.

And hey, if the story was a lot of bunk, I'm still getting a great mandolin!

[Captain Kirk]

Congratulations

[milli857]

Post a picture when you get it!

[Tjspahr1]

Post a picture when you get it!

Absolutely!

[Tjspahr1]

So...

Here are the pics. And the story.

I just recently purchased a great mandolin from The Mandolin Store (Dennis and Jake were great to work with). It's a 2008 Lafferty that was built by Audey Ratliff. In true guitar player fashion, I quickly felt the need to apply the "Equation for the Necessary Number of Instruments Needed", where "n" equals the number of instruments you currently own:

n+1 = The number of instruments (mandolins) necessary to own.

Honestly, maybe "m" would be a better variable. However, I digress.

So...after receiving and truly enjoying the Lafferty, I figured "Hey, why not by another great mandolin?" Unfortunately, I couldn't come up with a good reason not to. And, my wife is an enabler...so nothing from that standpoint to help rein me in.

So, after some looking, I settled on the Triggs. Other than Jim's Gibson pedigree which made it pretty enticing, a friend of mine who passed away last year was doing finish work for Jim on some of his "goldtop" arch top guitars, so I really dug the connection. I was able to strike a deal with the store that had the instrument, and made the purchase.

When I picked up the package, I opened it, expecting I would probably have to do some set up. The bridge was removed for shipment, which I was fine with; they had marked the bridge position with painter's tape, so I'm thinking "Cool, I should be able to pop the bridge on, tune 'er up, and everything should be reasonably good to go."

Yeah, no so much.

When I unpacked everything and put it on the bench, the first thing I notice was the strings were incredibly corroded. Not like they're a little old...more like there was actually rust and gunk on the strings. I wasn't expecting that it would have brand new strings, but this wasn't an inexpensive instrument (well, maybe it was by that store's standards), and being on old music instrument retail guy, would be appalled and embarrassed if a store I worked at had an instrument with strings in that condition. I figured, "Hey, let's tune it up, see what the set-up looks like, then I can make any needed adjustments, re-string, make final adjustments, and I'll be good to go." Then I started noticing the amount of dust the instrument was covered with. And gunk...on the fingerboard and body...and the oxidation on the frets. I tune it up just to get any idea of what I'm looking at, and the position of the bridge has the instrument intonated sharp...way sharp.

So...I spend the next 1 1/2 hours cleaning, polishing, re-stringing, and adjusting the truss rod and bridge height/position.

Now, I'm ready to go. Start playing. Sounds great...wait, my pick technique has me constantly hitting the fingerboard extension on the A and E strings. Wow...I never even considered that. Admittedly, that's totally on me. And impulsive buying decisions.

I contact the store immediately. Even though I was told there was a 48 hour approval window, the salesman was none too happy about the instrument coming back.
Me: I think I'm going to need to return the instrument.
Salesman: I don't know that we can take a return.
Me: You told me there was a 48 hour approval for the instrument.
Salesman: "Well, there is a restocking fee even if the instrument was shipped on approval".

Funny, he neglected to mention that when he told me about the approval window.

At this point I simply didn't have any confidence in the store, so eating the restocking fee and the shipping to me/back was worth it to me. To their credit, they didn't charge me the full amount the salesman initially stated the fee would be. On the bright side, I hope someone buys the instrument as at least it's well set up, has a decent set of strings on it, and is now playable.

The moral(s) of the story:
1) Impulse buys rarely are in anyone's best interest. Especially the person acting on impulse.
2) The care a store takes of instruments they have probably is an indication about caliber of the store. Admittedly, that might be a personal bias on my part, but one I'll stand by.
3) The relationships that can be built in situations like this make huge impressions. I didn't purchase a subsequent instrument from the first store, but did develop a relationship with a different store, that has done an amazing job with educating me on the instrument I was looking at, and has offered amazing customer service. Spoiler alert: The store is The Fiddler's Green, and Ben is simply amazing.

NMD Day Part Deux tomorrow. :D

[CES]

Duuude, sorry you had such a bad experience with the Triggs. Ben is great to work with. I’ve bought a mandolin and a guitar from FG, and both arrived ready to go with new strings, condition as described, and very playable set ups, though I did tweak both a little.

My first mando had a full fingerboard extension that I clicked like crazy. Used to joke that it was my metronome. Then I moved to mandolins with abbreviated extensions. Picked up a really nice Rattlesnake built to Loar specs iirc at Lowe Vintage (another great store with which to deal) a couple of years ago, and I couldn’t believe how much the click annoyed me. That was an exceptional mandolin, but I would have had to cut off or scoop the extension had I bought it. That will be a factor in all my future purchases, for sure. That said, it doesn’t bother me when I listen to Dawg playing on Tone Poems, lol…

[Dan in NH]

Nice looking mandolin. Lord knows I’m a sucker for flame maple. Why do great mandolins always look their best from the back?

[Tjspahr1]

Duuude, sorry you had such a bad experience with the Triggs. Ben is great to work with. I’ve bought a mandolin and a guitar from FG, and both arrived ready to go with new strings, condition as described, and very playable set ups, though I did tweak both a little.

My first mando had a full fingerboard extension that I clicked like crazy. Used to joke that it was my metronome. Then I moved to mandolins with abbreviated extensions. Picked up a really nice Rattlesnake built to Loar specs iirc at Lowe Vintage (another great store with which to deal) a couple of years ago, and I couldn’t believe how much the click annoyed me. That was an exceptional mandolin, but I would have had to cut off or scoop the extension had I bought it. That will be a factor in all my future purchases, for sure. That said, it doesn’t bother me when I listen to Dawg playing on Tone Poems, lol…

Dan,

You couldn't have said it any better. Honestly, I didn't even think about it when I bought it. I'll own that mistake; that was totally on me.

I had absolutely no issue with the Triggs other than that. I don't know if the picture captured it, but the headstock was absolutely beautiful as well. My understanding is everything Jim builds is wonderful, and this was no exception.

As far as the store, that was my experience. That's why I didn't name them. Maybe the salesman I got was having a bad day. Maybe it was just a vibe I was getting. Bottom line, I hope someone buys the instrument soon, because it was an absolutely great mandolin. The upside for me...meeting Ben. Honestly, the guys at both The Mandolin Store and Ben at Fiddler's Green have been great to deal with.

[urobouros]

They either didn't bother checking the mandolin before shipping or don't know better. Either way, I wouldn't trust them enough to buy picks. My manager at a fast food place once who said "You may have a thousand chances to get their order right but only once to get it wrong."

[Jeff Mando]

I had absolutely no issue with the Triggs other than that. I don't know if the picture captured it, but the headstock was absolutely beautiful as well. My understanding is everything Jim builds is wonderful, and this was no exception.... I hope someone buys the instrument soon, because it was an absolutely great mandolin.

I know outside factors such as poor customer service and filth will sour our impression of an otherwise great instrument. I think I carefully read your posting, but was the reason for returning it the pick click on the extension or the fact you had to clean it and set it up, or both?

Not being devil's advocate, but wouldn't knowing this about your technique be a reason to avoid mandolins with a full-length fingerboard, prior to making a purchase?

Nobody likes restocking fees, myself included. However, any return is a losing proposition to the store, as well. Besides the cost of the return, the paperwork, etc. -- the store now has an instrument that to those who have been following it -- know that it has been returned and now suspect something is wrong with it, even though it is fine for someone with a different picking technique. We read these type of postings all the time on this forum, especially considering the relatively small market for something as specific as a Triggs. That and the ease of being a "online detective" with a few clicks of a mouse. (do people still use a mouse?)

No offense, just sharing my experiences from working in music instrument retail, myself.

Anyway, sorry you had a bad experience. I hope your next purchase is a WINNER!

[Tjspahr1]

I know outside factors such as poor customer service and filth will sour our impression of an otherwise great instrument. I think I carefully read your posting, but was the reason for returning it the pick click on the extension or the fact you had to clean it and set it up, or both?

Not being devil's advocate, but wouldn't knowing this about your technique be a reason to avoid mandolins with a full-length fingerboard, prior to making a purchase?

Nobody likes restocking fees, myself included. However, any return is a losing proposition to the store, as well. Besides the cost of the return, the paperwork, etc. -- the store now has an instrument that to those who have been following it -- know that it has been returned and now suspect something is wrong with it, even though it is fine for someone with a different picking technique. We read these type of postings all the time on this forum, especially considering the relatively small market for something as specific as a Triggs. That and the ease of being a "online detective" with a few clicks of a mouse. (do people still use a mouse?)

No offense, just sharing my experiences from working in music instrument retail, myself.

Anyway, sorry you had a bad experience. I hope your next purchase is a WINNER!

Jeff,

Great questions. The reason I returned the Triggs was because of the fingerboard extension. Like I said, that was totally on me, and something I'll have to me mindful of going forward. The instrument I purchased has a scooped extension, and I had extensive discussions with Ben at Fiddler's Green and he was great to send me detailed pictures before I purchased.

I was really surprised at the condition the instrument was in when unpacked. There wasn't any physical damage, but as stated I would never have allowed an instrument to be on the floor in that condition when I was in music retail. If someone had been considering the instrument locally, they likely removed it from consideration after playing it in the condition it was in. The store also promised a couple of things that they didn't deliver on prior to my receiving the instrument. Between that and the salesman's attitude, it was worth paying a couple of hundred bucks to be done with the transaction. And it's admittedly been a while since I've been in music retail, but I never worked at a store that charged a restocking fee, and I worked at the major/larger stores in the city I was in. Returns were simply a cost of doing business, and in the end we made it up in our treatment of the customer and futures sales down the road.