It must be another divine intervention that I have had such a hard time with Yamaha. Read on then you will know.
Ever since I bought the 12-String Yamaha electric acoustic guitar, the battery indicator does not seem to work. The LED light just does not light up at all. My common sense tells me that when my battery is full (by the way, in order to power the pre-amp, I need a 9V battery), the LED light should be bright red. Frustrated, couple of weeks ago, I visited the Yamaha shop that I bought the guitar from at Thomson Plaza and asked the sales person why it is so. He said my guitar is not the only one! Some of the new ones coming in also have the same problem. He suggested that I shall live with it as it does not affect the sound quality.
Live with it and I shall not! I asked where I can send my guitar for repair and the sales guy asked me to visit the main branch at Plaza Singapura.
Today, I brought the guitar all the way to Plaza Singapura only to realise that first, the shop only opens at noon, second, technicians are not in these 2 days, third, they don’t have spare parts inside the store, fourth, Yamaha technicians at the store can only do minor repair (like what??), and fifth, call the service center at the HQ for real repair.
So I did and realised that the entire HQ will not pick up phone calls during lunch hour. How big is the HQ anyway?
I called after 1pm and the not too friendly person from the other side of the phone first asked me to go back to the store where I bought the guitar … Hello? the store I bought the guitar asked to go to Plaza Singapura, Plaza Singapura asked me to call the service center, and the service center asked me to return to the store I bought the guitar. These Yamaha folks either don’t work together or they really work “together”.
Anyway, I asked them how long it takes to fix a guitar. Her reply was 2 weeks. Two weeks? I must have screamed. Then I asked her if I could make an appointment to cut short the waiting time and she told me bluntly: no! She must have sensed my tension and she suggested that I shall bring my guitar down for her technicians to estimate the time for repair. Great I said, can I come down now I asked. No she said, there is no technician around she replied.
Amazing. It is just amazing.
Feeling not so good, I visited the guitar shops at the Bras Basar Complex. In search for my electric classical, I intended to do. That is when I have discovered something interested about electric acoustic guitar.
One of the acoustic guitar I picked up has a button to check if the battery is still healthy or not. I pressed the button and the LED lights up. The brighter it is, the healthier is the battery. As I was walking out of the shop, I was both amused by the innovativeness and by the practicality of such a device. Why practical? The light cannot be lit up all the time during play time because it consumes energy.
I rushed back to my car to check if I have missed a button somewhere. Perhaps the volume dial is “pressable”? No, no such button. Too bad. I pulled out the owners manual and it read:
“… When the battery is running low, the LED will light up. Please change battery as soon as possible when that happens …”
Dah … I stupid (because there is nothing wrong with my guitar) … and I still hate Yamaha.