Am I crazy, is Fender pumping out guitars with awful QC or am I just unlucky?

[foggy palm]

I've been playing for a few years now and I have few guitars. Nothing too expensive or over the top. A GS mini, a Squier MiC 2014 strat wit rosewood board with upgraded electronics, and and Epiphone 339.

I play the Strat a lot and I've noticed that I get cramps because the neck is very thin. I tried a lot of guitars now and I've decided to upgrade to a Fender with a thicker neck. Went to a bunch of local music shops and tried a bunch tried ones from my friends and so on. Decided 60's with 7.25R board is my jam. Really liked the Vinteras and AVII's.

Decided to really save up. I'm not rich and it took a year or so of solid penny pinching and around Christmas got myself over Thomann a brand new AVII 1961 sunburst. The price was around 1950Euros so it was the cheapest I've ever seen it here in Europe from a store.
The guitar arrived with:

• Lacquer over bunch of places on the sides of the fret board, on the fret board below the 21'st fret
• Neck so much away from the body you could barely play the high E string. You could fit between 1.5mm and 2mm pick between the neck and the body.
  As it was around Christmas I wasn't able to get a hold of my local guitar tech to see if and how this can be handled and as I've never had such an expensive guitar I just decided to return it. I didn't want to risk it.

Fast forward to mid January. I saw that some Vintera II Road Worns Limited in Sonic Blue (which is my favorite color) were dripping in and out of stock in some stores. Decided to contact Thomann to possibly reserve and get one in reservation min January. It arrived 2 days ago and I've been playing with it a bit. The guitar arrived with:

• Body Lacquer on the back of the neck.
• Laquer below the nut over the first fret.
• An indentation in the back of the neck on the first fret that you feel whenever you play a barre chord.

Am I overreacting and being pedantic? Would you guys return these guitars if you were in my shoes?

[lucid spade]

Bit of both .. if you drop serious money on a guitar you are allowed to expect some sort of quality for your money

on the other hand ... these are minor, mostly cosmetic defects that can be fixed or simply ignored

but in general, yes, Fender's QC is definitely not on par with their pricing

this is also kinda on you cause there's about a gazillion companies making strats that are nicer and better than Fenders, since Fender has been coasting on their past fame for years without any innovation

[foggy palm]

The AVII was 1950euros. The Vintera is 1600euros. The median salary in my city is 1350Euros. Both of these are more than a months salary here. The Vintera is 3x the price of my next most expensive guitar I own and the AVII is almost 4x. To me this is too much to have such defects. I'm not expecting everything to be perfect out of the box but when I've played other ones that are cheaper and still have better QC it makes me feel like I'm dropping money just to be disrespected. The GS Mini I have I paid around 570Euros new. It feels and plays amazing. No blemishes, perfect fretboard, perfect action great intonation. And I can't get a good electric for 3x the price?

[lucid spade]

1950 for a (sorry for this) basic bitch strat ?

you kinda set yourself up to fail here

is there a reason why you did not just get a high end strat from another brand ?

[fiery tree]

I don’t think they make those AVii for people that focus on playing, seems like they miss the mark on those more than the regular pro line. Which is weird cause collectors notice every last detail that isn’t right

[wispy gale]

That is unfortunate. I have been out of the Fender market for a while now so I can't comment on their latest QC. But have played a bunch or AV1s or OV in the past and they are almost always good, with none of the problems you mentioned here. I understand buying a Fender (most copies actually don't get near the sound and feel imo) and I would expect them to be perfect too with the upcharge they are costing. I hope you have a better luck on your next purchase, I always try to test and buy locally whenever possible.

[gilded silo]

Other than having to build it, is there anything stopping you from building a "partscaster" S-style guitar? For that money you should be able to put together something much nicer than what you ended up buying. Especially given that you've already upgraded the electronics in one of your guitars and you're attention to detail in what you've seen.

Adding the cost of a drill (& some screwdrivers), the following has higher quality components and comes to less than you were paying for.

https://northwestguitars.co.uk/products/stratocaster-compatible-body-sss-daphne-blue
https://northwestguitars.co.uk/products/wilkinson-wv2-stratocaster-tremolo-with-solid-steel-block-for-extra-sustain?variant=44417601208594
https://northwestguitars.co.uk/products/stratocaster-compatible-guitar-neck-rosewood-fretboard-satin
https://northwestguitars.co.uk/products/11-hole-stratocaster-compatible-scratchplate?variant=51942728565010
https://northwestguitars.co.uk/products/schaller-m6-135-locking-tuning-machine-heads?variant=50009984991506
https://northwestguitars.co.uk/products/stratocaster-telecaster-compatible-neck-plate-matching-screws
https://northwestguitars.co.uk/products/schaller-s-locks-locking-strap-button-system-nickel?variant=52000382353682
https://northwestguitars.co.uk/products/stratocaster-compatible-jack-plate
https://northwestguitars.co.uk/products/fender-accessory-kit?variant=47823886221586
https://www.montysguitars.com/products/montys-62-strat-pickup-set?variant=28014053458019
https://www.montysguitars.com/collections/wiring-looms/products/50s-wiring-stratocaster-loom

Pickups: https://youtu.be/nvJTZBjXzg4

[fierce tendon]

Yeah, I don't understand why people continue to buy Fender. They do make some very good stuff, but a lot of mediocre stuff for the price. And the yellow that is supposed to look aged, imo is not a good look. I have flowers that color and they are pretty.

[lucid spade]

because people still associate Fender with quality and want that name on the headstock

[fierce tendon]

Yes, and I wonder why.? Because clearly its not the case. Yet people buy them. So weird.

[fiery tree]

I have 3 fenders and they're all high quality, no issues so idk