Never going there again.

[laboitenoire]

Well, I've officially decided that I will never have my local guitar shop work on my bass again. I took the bass in almost a year ago now so that I could RMA the original pickups, which had cracked, and I've only just finished repairing stuff on my own time that they screwed up. First off, when I got the bass back, the action was so low it was un-playable. Several hours and a low-B string later, I had fixed that. I also used some fine steel wool to clean off the neck, which had gotten a thin layer of grime and sawdust on it while it was in the shop. Finally today, I got around to repairing my neck pickup volume knob. They put a spacer on upside down, so the pot was loose unless you severely over-tightened the nut (almost to the point where the top could have broken). Also, they bent the pot shaft so that the knob usually fell off. Finally fixed that, and then I decided to look at the pickups which they replaced. When I loosened the screws that should change the height of the pickup, the thing didn't move at all. It also wouldn't go down. They probably didn't put springs on the screws, and they also jammed the thing in there, as I can't even move the pickup when the screws are undone part of the way. Finally, there's some stuff that will be really hard or impossible to fix. First off, they somehow got a cleaner or something on the edge of the bass, and the black side is now a weird gold color in the light. Also, they did a horrible job on the wiring. I'm sure that if I replace the pickups, I'll probably have to get new pots as well, as the current ones have way too much solder on them, and it doesn't even seem to be low-acidity electrical solder. Never going there again.

[tplyons]

Yep. After 4 years at my old bass shop, they screwed me on a pair of setups, I talked to the owner, and he didn't care enough. Not seeing me back there ever again.

[invader3k]

In my experience, it's been hard to find a place that does a good job on setups. I'd do it myself, but I feel it's one of those things that you need someone to teach you to do first.

[winston]

It's definitely hard to find people to do quality work on basses. My old hometown music store BUTCHERED a StingRay I had when changing pickups. The guy did a bunch of unnecessary routing, removed the threaded inserts that held the pickup screws, swapped the pickup screw springs for rubber tubing, AND miswired series/parallel/single coil switch installed. All without asking me beforehand--I figured it out when I got home and couldn't raise the new pickup which was about flush with the pickguard.

Took it to a pro shop and had to pay for it to get fixed right...quite a learning experience.

I haven't yet found a guitar-centric repair person who will setup a bass the way I want--straight truss, action good for tapping but high enough that I can dig in fingerstyle without fretting out. So I've learned how to do it myself and save a lot of money in the process. With a strobe tuner, long and short metal straightedges, and proper bridge/truss/pickup tools (plus patience and a bit of know-how) it's easy and enjoyable. I can do basic soldering but I don't attempt any nut/fret/woodwork.