Tony Franklin Fretless problemsss
 

I've heard that some fretless bass would have a lower nut height than fretted bass, but the T Franklin fretless I got has no nut height. The "real nut" is the ebony part past the nut at the headstock side. You can see a groove chewed into the ebony in the picture. And if i'm using the hipshot d tuner i guess its going to chew in more

For those who have the same bass, do you have a similar issue?

I've only got this bass for like 2 weeks. It plays fine now, but I'm not sure if it is going to cause any problems in the future, that nut slot certainly doesn't look healthy.

I left the plastic protector film on the p pickups for sometime until i took it off recently and found that one of the pole pieces stick out from the rest of the poles. :rollno:This is really weird. Luckily the pole piece that stick out didn't cause sound problems. Just ugly looking pickups…i guess that's going to have some impact when I resell this bass.

And the bass i got has a black pick guard instead of the brown shell one (i got a sunburst model). As I know, Fender did not offer this as an option on their site. Not really a fan of a black pick guard.:hmm:Why is Fender doing this, do they just put on any pick guard they wish?:spit:

What sucks the most is I ordered this online and I'm not living in US. I guess i've missed the 48hr policy for refund as more problems creep out. I've purchased basses online for a few times and it's always been good experience. But this time….:hmm:sigh…..

What colour is the bass?

And heres the pic for the pickup

Its a sunburst model

Send it back.

The wear in the board past the nut I could live with - the wrong pickguard and dodgy pickup... not so much.

Wear beyond the nut is common on a good bass. The nut is cut lower hence the wear marks. All of my EBMM fretless basses have had them, and never created a problem. Can't comment on your other issues.

+1
this exactly
i had a fretless sterling which had the same nut situation; thought it was weird until i compared it with my buddy's sterling fretless and he had the exact same thing going on.
i kinda like the black PG.

Where did you buy this bass? The string grooves beyond the nut are not an issue but I don't know if they are standard. I have a much cheaper MIM Fretless Jazz I bought used and it has those grooves but they were made by a previous owner who filed the nut to lower the action. The sticking out pole piece is not right. The pickguard is not right. So is this a new bass or a used one? Used basses don't normally have the plastic film on the pickups but they could. If this is a new bass and not a gray market purchase then Fender will honor the warranty and fix/replace the pickup and fix the pickguard. They will replace the neck if it is defective but that may be how they are made for all I know. If it is used or if it was modified by the retailer where you bought it then the pickguard is not Fender's problem and the pickup and the grooves may or may not be. Unfortunately, if you bought this online from the US to bypass your local Fender distributor you may not have a warranty even though it is new, or you may have to pay all the shipping to have it serviced in the US. These are the risks you take when you make gray market purchases.

The good news is that I don't think the grooves are really a problem, the pickguard can be replaced for a fairly low cost, and the pickup can be replaced but it probably can be fixed too. By all means contact Fender about what to do. I am sure they will be as helpful as they can even though you probably won't get the same service you would get if you had bought through your local distributors.

Ken

I got this from bass central and they are currently helping me out by contacting Fender. Too bad my place don't cater much for bassist, I can only get this bass online. This is my worst experience so far for online purchase. Fender sucks hard here man. And they have that tag that said "checked by X" and stuff…they let the wrong spec and a dodgy pickup to pass through? That tag is completely meaningless. This bass is new

I would give Fender a chance to respond before you lay into them.

The grooves in the board are normal and fine - that means the nut has been cut right, nice and low. It wouldn't be fine if there were grooves in the playing side of course, which would mean the nut was cut too low (and you'd have lot of buzzing in the open string).

The popping out pole piece is not fine if it's the typical P split pickup where the poles aren't adjustable.....

Looks pretty minor to me, but still worth sending back or getting a replacement PU...

LS

FWIW, I think the black pickguard looks great with the sunburst. The pickup magnet is another issue. Just have a certified Fender dealer replace the pickup, under warranty.

If the OP was expecting a tort guard (as I would, if I ordered one), it's understandable that he's not happy about it.

It pains me to see that groove dug into your fretboard. The root of the problem is the non-angled headstock design. If you must have a Fender or one of the countless Fender wannabe copies being made you run the risk of this happening. I prefer a Fender shaped headstock done right. Of course, the 'done right' part is just one man's opinion. I refuse to own a bass with a non-angled headstock. And please don't shoot the messenger. :)



M. M.

Thanks for your replies guys, feel better to know that the fretboard groove is an inherent issue. This bass comes with a D tuner, do you guys think that it is going to wear out the nut and the ebony groove more? Would it cause further problems