Official Luthiers Forum!

I think half the battle is knowing how to pick your customers. I know this is not always practical for a professional builder and one reason to put limitations on warranties. In Mr. Goodman's post it sounds like he had a customer who would never be satisfied with the guitar as it was and finally he had to say enough is enough! Although you want to have happy customers you have to draw a line somewhere. In Hesh's example he was trashed by someone he - wouldn't - do work for. I'm sure he was still ahead of the game, for if he had that person would most likely been a PITA and never satisfied with what was done. As the old adage goes "he wouldn't be happy if you hung him with a new rope"

And here I wanted to know if I should pay for lubricating the tuners as a result of a lifting bridge...

Sure thing, and while you are at it you might want to lubricate a few places on your person. It might make things less painful.
There are some people who will take advantage of you because they can, but generally repair shops are honest, and want to be fair to the warrantor. Was it the repair shop's idea to cover all the additional work under warranty, or were they just billing for the additional work the guitar owner requested?
How long did the client have the instrument before the bridge lifted? Fret work is usually only needed after the guitar has been played awhile.

Well unfortunately you are going to have bad customers, and as hard as it is, you will have to let them go.

People will take advantage of you when they realize they can, and when they realize that you will fix anything even when it was clear that it was their fault (fix a lifting bridge on warranty because they left it in a hot car) they will just neglect their instrument and expect you to fix it. Companies like Martin and all don't do that and they have a reputation to protect too.

You make it very clear in your warranty policy that accidental or intentional damage is not covered. Also the warranty expires after 1 year. If anything should happen to an instrument it will happen in a year, after that nothing warranty related should happen assuming the owner took care of it.

If someone's going to trash talk you online because you refused to fix their negligence, so be it. It happens and every business deals with it.

I would also build relationship with the repair shops and make the customer send it to that shop if it is close to them. You develop relationship with the shop so they can tell you if there are signs of negligence. Personally I rather fix the instrument myself than to send it to a third party because they may ignore clear sign of negligence since it's just a paycheck for them.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com