sorry Richard, we bow to your superior knowledge..., sadly your comments mean sod all in the real world. I was merely stating exactly the kind of thing that happens every day.
Exactly how long after purchase of an item can a customer reasonably expect to walk back into a store and demand a warranty repair or replacement ?
Unless there is absolute proof that the fault could be traced back to the point of manufacture, I doubt very much that waving the sales of goods act around would mean a thing.

Stu, sorry for adding this response to the thread, I realise that it does not help you further, however, I really do hope that your friend manages to get this guitar back into playable condition.