PumpkinPieces wrote:Man, you are really passionate about a faint little scratch on something that is going to be scratched anyways. I would buy it in the store if I inspected it. I have been a customer and a salesperson, and honestly for a fainst scratch like that on a scratchplate it would be more hassle than its worth to ship it back and order another.
Meh... I don't see how I was being really passionate. I just explained a different point of view than yours. I mean, the scratch is why the original poster started this topic, right?
For me, no matter how hard I play my guitars, I don't ever scratch the pickguards with my pick. Poly guitars don't seem to wear unless you beat the crap out of them. After 20 years, a modern guitar that is taken care of will probably look pretty much how it looked when it was new, flaws and all.
All of the Squiers I bought brand new have little problems, as do the Fenders. In the past few years, I have bought a VM Jazzmaster (dark flecks and paint ripple on the back) a Cyclone (bad neck pocket paint), CV 50s Tele (near perfect), VM Jag Bass SS (dimples in the neck, crooked tuners), and a VM Jaguar (scrape between bridge and tremolo). My Fender standard strat came with a hariline crack in the neck pocket, just like my Am. Std. strat had when I bought it 20+ years ago.
These were all fine with me. You just have to decide what is acceptable to you. In an age where many guitars are bought sight unseen from retailers with extremely liberal return policies, we each get to decide when and why we send a guitar back.
Mike