CONTACTING TANGLEWOOD

[carisbrooke]

Is there anyone on this Harmony Central forum who might be able to offer some advice as regards the following matter?

A few weeks ago I purchased a new black Tanglewood TSE505 electric guitar (Les Paul copy) with gold fittings from a music shop in Nottingham (UK) for £229 - my first beginners electric.

The guitar looks very nice but once I started to pick the strings, the machine heads began to 'buzz' and 'rattle' quite loudly. To my ears they seemed to be making more noise than the guitar strings themselves. I discovered that the problem was due to the green plastic tulip shaped knobs being loose on several machine heads.

I rang the music shop and they agreed to replace the defective machine heads as well as sorting out some other more minor defects when I visited the city again a few weeks later.

Regretably, by the time I got to the shop, they had ( as well all of their other outlets across the country) gone into administration and had ceased trading.

My problem now is that I cannot, after extensive searching, locate any UK or other readily available contact point for Tanglewood guitar manufacturers for the defective machine heads to be replaced under warranty.

Having elastic bands all over the headstock and machine heads to stop the rattles and buzzing has just about put me off this otherwise very attractive instrument, and no readily available contact point for Tanglewood may just have convince me to stay away from that brand altogether.

Any advice on a Tanglewood contact point would be much appreciated.

Regards,

carisbrooke.

[Edward]

They have a website at www.tanglewoodguitars.co.uk - worth checking that for contact details, they'll be on there somewhere.

[carisbrooke]

Thank you for coming back so quickly Edward,

The tanglewood Web Site was the first of my many ports of call. All avenues come to a blank almost immediately on their site.

Regards,

carisbrooke

[tom_s252]

Don't go off the instrument because of some defective third-party-supplied parts! Worse case scenario, you'll have to pay to get them replaced; put some metal button Grover Rotomatics on and you'll never have a problem again.

[Edward]

That's disappointnig you've not heard from them.... I've laways had great experience with Tanglewood's guitars, but never had occasion to try and contact them. If you can't get the company directly, doesn't the website have a list of distributors - maybe try the one for your area?

Grovers are a good idea for replacement - Epiphone seem to be fitting them on all their guitars coming out of China now, in place of the old style tulip knobbed jobbies. You should be able to find a set fairly cheap if you have to repalce them yourself - try ebay, though you might find a better bargain at www.axesrus.co.uk, who will also offer free postage. I've bought a few bits and pieces from them - their stock can be erratic, but they're always great value and they ship fast.

[carisbrooke]

tom_s252, Edward,

The axesrus site looks good. Thanks for the comments, I'll do some hunting for distributors of Tanglewood guitars: but if push comes to shove, I'll just fit better quality machine heads.

It is a bit annoying to have to sort out problems on a new guitar before a chord has been struck,however, my irritation is subsiding now I have heard from the two of you. I'll probably enjoy the guitar more when I've done the improvements.

Thanks again,

carisbrooke

[carisbrooke]

tom_252 and Edward,

Cheerful charlie carisbrooke just letting you know that I found the UK 'distributor' for Tanglewood guitars in Kent. I explained my situation and they are sending me replacement machine heads in the post tonight.

They couldn't have been more helpful.

Thanks for your comments.

Regards,

carisbrooke.

[sealtestmilkco]

cool