I'm consistenly blown away by Sweetwater's service. Also they have individual photos for each guitar, so you know exactly what you're getting. Obviously some people are going to want to try out stuff before they buy, but usually high end guitars are quite solid out of the box and after a setup(and especially if you get it PLEXed)
Honestly all guitars are pretty solid now. CNC has made the lower end significantly better than they used you. You don't often have misaligned necks and stuff like you used to because it fits pretty dang good already out of the CNC machine.
Totally agree about Sweetwater's service. I had trouble finding a peculiar A/C adapter for a Roland synth. The part costs like $60, so it was never going to be a high-margin sale for Sweetwater.
Not only the the CS rep get me a predicted availability date by talking to their internal supply guy, but he also checked back in with me about a month later to see if I was all set.
I'm now highly biased towards buying from them.
EDIT1: Credit where credit is due: The CS rep was Calvin H.
EDIT2: As an interim solution I had to build my own AC-DC converter to meet the unusual specs. It was surprisingly cheap and easy. I can post details if anyone is interested.
Funny thing about Sweetwater service. (and I say this even though I've got a friend boycotting them because he says their hiring practices are outright racist)
I've got stuff from them, even large quantities of stuff. I leaned on them for special pricing seeing as I was spending thousands of dollars with them, and got some traction with that: moderate extra discounts and price breaks. I didn't like the candy thing, so I told them not to do that. They stopped doing that.
They badgered me to see if everything was okay. I got phone calls while I was making livestreams, stuff like that. I told them not to do that: in fact, to never speak to me again and I would call THEM if I wanted to get anything else. They stopped badgering me.
It's been maybe a year now. Not a phone call.
I did also tell them not to send me postal mail advertising either, because I will just recycle it. They have not honored that one. So: their service extends to listening when you tell them NOT to badger you for more sales, and they listen ALMOST completely.
I love that feature. Photos of the actual guitar under consideration are important if you're buying a clear coat electric guitar and you want to see the wood grain you're shopping for.
Honestly all guitars are pretty solid now. CNC has made the lower end significantly better than they used you. You don't often have misaligned necks and stuff like you used to because it fits pretty dang good already out of the CNC machine.