Banana does not wish to be modified

(For those who don't know, Banana is my 2010 Squier Bullet Strat, listed on my gear page. I call her Banana because she's banana-colored.)

I am a believer in the cosmic forces that keep this wacky world of ours put together, and yes this does extend to guitars.

I know a guitar is an inanimate object. I know it does not have feelings or desires. I understand all that. However there are certain times when a guitar will 'say' to you, "don't modify me". So you don't, otherwise the guitar will somehow ruin itself.

I just said recently that I bought a prewired HSS pick guard and an additional replacement humbucker for Banana.

Then I get this email (the parts with X's are things I commented out for security reasons):

Subject: Backorder Notice from GF Sales ********

Richard,

Thank you for your order *****.

We are emailing you to inform you that the item you ordered "Alnico Fat Pat Boutique Humbucker Chrome Bridge Position - H14" is currently out of stock. Your order must have gotten through before the system took them down.

We can help you out in a few ways.

- You can exchange to a different item if you would like.

- We can place you on a backorder list, we will ship any other items on your order and ship the backordered item when it comes back into stock.

- We can also cancel the backordered item, or your order, and refund you.

Please advise on how you would like to proceed. We apologize for any inconvenience, and we appreciate your assistance.

-GFS Support Staff

First I'm going to say it was very cool the way GFS handled this. Instead of just blindly shipping out half the order and leaving me hanging out to dry wondering where the other half is while it was on backorder, they stopped the order, emailed me and waited for my reply before doing anything.

That's awesome customer service. Truly. Vendors ordinarily never do anything that would "break the sales chain" so to speak, but GFS actually cares about the customer and puts him first, so good on them.

My reply was simply this:

If none of the order has shipped yet, cancel the whole thing and please refund, thank you.

I didn't know at the time I sent the reply whether they'd gone ahead and shipped half the order out. I went on the assumption they did, so I mentioned that if none of it shipped, then cancel the whole thing, and if not, they would have emailed me back and said "HSS pick guard already shipped out but we can refund you the backordered part if you want", and go from there. Fortunately they did put a stop on the order and waited for my reply before doing anything, which again is great customer service.

Today I received the email that I was refunded in full. After a few days I should get my money back (it takes a day or so before the processing completes on a refund).

Anyway..

The message sent to me here by the cosmic forces that be is, "Don't modify Banana. Don't do it." So I'm not.

In my experience, whenever you buy hardware specifically to modify a guitar and have a really hard time getting the stuff you want, cosmic forces are telling you not to do it, and that you should listen. The last time I didn't listen, I ended up with the Surf Strat and hated the pickups in it. When you don't listen, that's what happens.

The same thing happens in reverse, by the way. If you walk into a guitar store one day, pick up a guitar that for some strange reason "called out" to you, play it and it's the best freakin' thing you've ever played, you should buy it. Right there, right then. If you can't afford it, put it on layaway. Do whatever you have to do. Just get the thing. If you say to yourself, "Well, I can't afford it now but another one will come along and I'll get it then when I have the money", that's a mistake. The next one won't play or sound the same.

Many guitar players buy guitars this way, and the story is always the same. "I went in to buy strings but I saw [insert guitar here], played it and just had to have it because it played so awesome."

The 'magic' of any guitar can be wrecked by modifying it. Some guitars are made to be modded and this is true. But others for whatever weird wacky reason just absolutely do not want to be modified. Whenever you go to buy stuff to mod the guitar, you'll always have a difficult time. Something happens that prevents you from going to the music shop that day. On an online order, something like what I described above happens. On the way to the music store you get a flat tire. Any number of things can happen. Again, that's the cosmic forces telling you not to mod the guitar.

Banana spoke, and said she wants to stay as is, so she will.

Published 2012 May 9