I literally just noticed when made a photo of the fret for a friend.
Frets wear out with time, since I bought it, I have played hundreds of hours with her. My grip may be too tight from time to time, typical beginners' fault. I am trying to consciously work on it and loosen it as much as I can, but I am a novice player and this is part of the learning curve.
Snapping a bird's neck may be very easy unless it is a fret inlay. No way it should break for a tighter hand grip.
I was not criticising, its great to see a guitar that is obviously being played a LOT, enough to cause that wear in a relatively short time. However, that does make it look as if that guitar has had a 'hard' life thus far - a 'workman's' tool which is superb - but from another perspective, you could argue that its become 'damaged' due to that, not necessarily a fault of manufacture which is what is covered by warranty.
Warranties are usually for 'faulty' parts that break prematurely, a manufacturing fault that stops the product from 'functioning' as you'd expect and does not cover Accidental damage, wear and tear damage etc from using the product as intended. It would be 'difficult' to prove that the bird broke due to some manufacturing 'fault' and now its not functioning as intended. Its not different from dropping something on the guitar and scratching/denting the top from their perspective.
Again, no harm in trying to see if they will offer anything in compensation. I doubt they'd 'repair' it under warranty or replace a well used guitar with that amount of Fret Wear for a 'new' one. You may get some 'money' back, but whether you'd be 'happy' with the sum they offer, who knows. You won't know until you try...
All I was trying to do was be 'realistic' and temper expectations. Warranties don't cover Accidental damage and after this long, its difficult to prove that it was a manufacturing flaw, especially with the state of the frets, which indicate that its been played a LOT and quite hard, so more likely to be accidental damage or wear and tear from use. Its not your Tone Pot has failed so they can just easily replace under warranty as that shouldn't fail in a year and does affect the functionality - even if you 'never' use the Tone Pot and its always on 10.
I know its always disappointing to see 'damage', but its also part of that guitars story, their 'history', battle scars. Its something 'unique' to yours and no doubt, you'll have memories associated with these too - even if they are 'painful' now, those dings will bring back memories of gigs and times you've spent having fun with it.
Like I said, no harm in trying to see what, if anything, the seller is prepared to do about it. If they 'resolve' things in a way you are satisfied, great! However, if they decide its not covered by warranty for whatever reason, its not affecting the guitar or its functionality, you have a lot of memories and spent a LOT of time with it - it maybe better to accept your 'bird' as it is, associate that with positive memories so everytime you see it, you think of a special Gig for example, and it will stop being a 'bad' thing and remind you of your 'journey' as a musician and the great times you have had with that particular instrument...
