Fender dlx jazz bass neck, what is this? =/ (crack?)

April Ethereal · #1 04-20-2011, 07:28 AM

OK, I'm hoping this isn't too serious, but I just received a very nice fender dlx active mim jazz bass as a graduation gift, its great, I love it (its missing the stacked knob coverings but I already ordered them) So I really like this bass but.... a small portion of the neck seems to have a crack or glue separation? I'm by no means at all a luthier, and I'm rather ignorant of fender neck construction, so I would love if you guys could tell me exactly what I'm dealing with and what should be done. I posted some pictures with it, one showing the bass as a whole, front and back, one showing the smooth normal sections of the neck, and the other showing the cracked portion or whatever is happening. I really will appreciate any feed back from you guys!

Thanks so much, Jacob

Sharky1450 · #2 04-20-2011, 07:48 AM

Hey Jacob,
I've had a MIM Jazz bass for the last 5 years - has the same thing on the neck. I'm quite sure that it's just the grain of the wood - it looks different but I've never worried about it, all wood has its imperfections. Does it feel any different from the rest of the neck, i.e. is the finish rough/does it actually feel like there's a crack?

April Ethereal · #3 04-20-2011, 08:34 AM

thank you so much for replying, and yes, it does feel different, which is what worries me. Its not like some sharp awful hole that cuts your fingers or anything like that, but whatever it is you can easily feel it from when you run your hand up the neck going from the smooth part to that section. Its nothing major, I could easily deal with it, but I'm worried that it could eventually turn into something much more serious.

Thanks for replying! hope to hear back from you!

April Ethereal · #4 04-20-2011, 08:43 AM

Im trying to figure if what Im looking at is a crack or some small harmless factory imperfection. It very well could be a small crack I guess, but it doesnt feel or look in anyway nearly as bad as my old ibanez 6 string (I ordered one and it came with awful cracks)

ex. pic of ibanez crack

This on the ibanez is 100% a crack lol, much much more obvious/present feeling than this small "something" on the fender.

Thanks again for the help everyone, hope I hear from you guys

Beej · #5 04-20-2011, 09:51 AM

That ibanez is obviously a factory flaw as those aren't cracks per se, but rather delaminations. The fender is similar, the truss rod might be forcing out the skunk stripe on the back of the neck, or it could be a gluing issue from its construction. Just watch it carefully, there's probably no point doing anything about it until it becomes a bigger problem, and even then it will be less expensive to replace the neck than to do a proper repair, depending on the emotional value of it to you. If you don't like the feel, you can smooth the surface of the neck. In all likelihood, it will play just fine like that for years to come...

April Ethereal · #6 04-20-2011, 10:25 AM

mhm, I see what you are saying, and I understand that Ibanez flaw better as well! (I shipped that back when I got it though in nov.) thanks for the advice, but the thing is, Im wondering if I should send it back to guitar center? (The guitar center was in California, I live in West Virginia) I still have like, 29 days left to return it since it just arrived yesterday....I'm trying to avoid this for three reasons, 1, I really like the bass, and if this flaw isn't a major threat I would prefer to keep this bass, 2 Id feel bad telling the person who got it for me that something was wrong with it because I know they went through a bunch of trouble to get it for me in the first place, and 3, because shipping it back is always an annoyance and since this wasn't caused by ups guitar center would more than likely make me pay another 30$ to ship it back...ugghhh...sometimes guitar center is great, other times...well not so much. But thank you guys for listening and helping, Ill appreciate any further advice greatly!!!

Much appreciated, Jacob