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about to find out how good Modulus Customer Service is

H

Hoover

Inactive
Nov 2, 2007
4,388
96
New York City
debris.rednotebook.org
#1
Well, I'm about to find out just how good Modulus' customer service & warranty really are

...although the fact that no one picked up the phone and their voicemail box was full so I couldn't even request a callback doesn't bode well. I'm sending email as soon as I get done whining here.

Original issue was mentioned in this thread:
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=416858&highlight=shim
In short, it seemed that my 20 year old Modulus Graphite Quantum-6 SPX -- which had been my main bass for the first 12 or 15 years I owned it (original owner) but hadn't been getting much use lately -- had somehow lost its once wonderfully low action. Either that or I'd simply forgotten how it really played. But I feared it was the former, despite how inexplicable that seemed. So I finally brought it to my repair guy last night.

His exact words: "That is a catastrophic failure of graphite!"

Basically my carbon fiber neck has a huge bow in it. Exactly the sort of thing Modulus claimed (& claims) graphite necks are never supposed to suffer from. And since it's from 1988, it doesn't have the new Modulus "relief adjustment rod" so there's nothing a luthier can do about it.

Presumably there's nothing Modulus can do about it either, other than build me an entirely new neck. (Lifetime warranty on their necks, right?)

But that's what has me in a panic: This SPX model was kinda rare, and the heel (at the very least) is totally different from any current Quantum necks. I'm concerned that Modulus won't be able to make a new neck for this bass.

Okay, I'm getting ahead of myself, I'll wait to hear what Modulus says. Hopefully they'll stand behind their product 100% and Do The Right Thing and a few days from now I'll be raving about what excellent customer service they have. I'll keep y'all posted.
 
#4
Can relate my experience with them to you.I'm the original owner of my Q5, same scenario, my neck warped :bawl: Gave them a call, once confiming I was the orig purchaser, they gave me a R.A and I shipped her off to the factory. Mine is older as well, and they had changed thier neck profile from the time mine was made. They took a while, approx 3 months, but, when the bass came back, same neck profile plus a "intonation adjustment tool" was added, truss rod, to us common working bassists. Couldn't be happier with thier service.

Now, your problem is going to be a bit more difficult, being a neck through. The first option they looked at on mine, was to shave the fingerboard down to level the playing surface. Mine was too warped for that to work, hence, the new neck. With yours being a neck through, I'll be curious to see if they can do anything with it, other than shaving the fingerboard. I'm under the impression that they don't have the neck through tools that yours was formed on anymore. Will check back on this to see how progress goes for you. Best of luck to ya on this, I know EXACTLY how sickening the feeling is when your Mod neck goes south.:crying: Keep us posted!
 
#7
They're definitely hard to get a hold of. I had to talk to them a while back and sent them multiple emails and left multiple voice mails to no avail. One day, someone actually answered the phone and was extremely helpful in answering my questions.

Good luck getting your problem fixed and KEEP calling!
 
#8
Good luck, and I hope your expectations are low...or you're just luckier than me. :)

In fairness, I eventually did get a response...although that response was - seriously - "Ahh, maybe you can buy a newer Q6 on eBay and use that neck." But I'm getting ahead of myself here.

My experience: Bought a Q6, loved it, used it for over 10 years (eight of which as my only axe), and...loved it. Then, out of the blue, I noticed the same thing..."What the heck happened to my action?" And worse..."Whoa...where's the truss rod on this thing?" :D The official diagnosis, as I recall, was 'warpage of the phenolic layers'. In other words, terminal. No fix, and no way were they interested in helping. On my dollar - I made that clear up front. I loved the axe and wanted to make it happy. I asked them, through my dealer, to re-do the fingerboard, sell me a new neck, whatever... Nada. Niente. Nyet. Zilch.

Subsequently I learned that this was not an uncommon problem, particularly (double jeopardy?) on the models like mine that had no way of adjusting the neck. I was left with an unplayable instrument with no effective means of resolving the problem, and absolutely no market value.

In retrospect, I appreciate that their hands were tied. But they were still jerks about it. :D There's a way to say, "We can't help you," while still looking good.
 
#9
voodoobassist said:
Now, your problem is going to be a bit more difficult, being a neck through.
Click to expand...

No, my SPX is a bolt-on. You're thinking of the TBX, that was the neck-through.


onlyclave said:
Is Modulus Guitars the same legal entity as Modulus Graphite? You may be SOL on your warranty since the original company doesn't exist anymore.
Click to expand...

I was afraid of that.


VroomVroom said:
I learned that this was not an uncommon problem, particularly (double jeopardy?) on the models like mine that had no way of adjusting the neck. I was left with an unplayable instrument with no effective means of resolving the problem, and absolutely no market value.
Click to expand...

(insert string of epithets here)
 
#10
Quote:
Originally Posted by onlyclave View Post
Is Modulus Guitars the same legal entity as Modulus Graphite? You may be SOL on your warranty since the original company doesn't exist anymore.



I was afraid of that.


You should be fine they just put a new neck on my 1990. as long as you can prove you bought it new they will honor it..
 
#11
That's too bad, I hope it works out for you. Since the very earliest that I subscribed to The Bottom Line mailing list (pre TB), through to today, there have been surprised posters with warped graphite necks, Moses and Modulus both. To be fair, what percentage of all necks these anecdotes represent, I don't know, but it is real and a complete contradiction to the manufactors' claims.
 
#12
grovest said:
That's too bad, I hope it works out for you. Since the very earliest that I subscribed to The Bottom Line mailing list (pre TB), through to today, there have been surprised posters with warped graphite necks, Moses and Modulus both. To be fair, what percentage of all necks these anecdotes represent, I don't know, but it is real and a complete contradiction to the manufactors' claims.
Click to expand...

I remember The Bottom Line. And I also know where Grove Street, 97404 is since I grew up on Skipper.
 
#14
Never got a response to my email to [email protected], but I finally got through to via telephone (apparently the trick is to not press #4 when prompted to do so by the automated operator, but rather press #0 and ask for Customer Service directly).

I explained the situation, they said as long as 1) I was the original owner (I am) and 2) I had already consulted a local repair person (yep) that I had fulfilled the two criteria required for them to issue a Return Authorization. So they gave me an RA#, and I'm going to ship my bass back to Modulus. They said most likely what will happen is that they'll pull the frets and sand the fingerboard in a non-uniform way that reciprocates the direction of the bow so that the net result is a flat fingerboard...then they'll re-fret it. All under warranty.

...assuming it passes their evaluation once received. Yeah, yeah, I know, my glass is half empty. But I'm trying to be optimistic about this!

Now all I gotta do is steel myself for the insane UPS fee to ship an Anvil ATA flight case from New York to California.
 
#15
Well that's cool. FYI, if you ship it next day air it has a better chance of getting there undamaged, anvil case or not. Air freight is handled differently because of it's urgency and so it goes through fewer hands than standard ground. Take it directly to UPS to ship it, not a 3rd party like The UPS Store.

Or you could use Fedex. They damage far less stuff. Either way, insurance from either carrier will cost a lot of money and any damage claim will be initially denied automatically. They rely on you not pushing back on a denied claim so they don't have to pay out on it.
 
#16
why not just remove the neck and ship it in a box?

if the neck continues to bend, will they just keep planing and refretting? seems like the economics would be more to their favor to replace the neck

Hoover said:
Never got a response to my email to [email protected], but I finally got through to via telephone (apparently the trick is to not press #4 when prompted to do so by the automated operator, but rather press #0 and ask for Customer Service directly).

I explained the situation, they said as long as 1) I was the original owner (I am) and 2) I had already consulted a local repair person (yep) that I had fulfilled the two criteria required for them to issue a Return Authorization. So they gave me an RA#, and I'm going to ship my bass back to Modulus. They said most likely what will happen is that they'll pull the frets and sand the fingerboard in a non-uniform way that reciprocates the direction of the bow so that the net result is a flat fingerboard...then they'll re-fret it. All under warranty.

...assuming it passes their evaluation once received. Yeah, yeah, I know, my glass is half empty. But I'm trying to be optimistic about this!

Now all I gotta do is steel myself for the insane UPS fee to ship an Anvil ATA flight case from New York to California.
Click to expand...
 
#17
Hoover said:
Hopefully they'll stand behind their product 100% and Do The Right Thing and a few days from now I'll be raving about what excellent customer service they have.
Click to expand...


Finally got the call: the bass is done, they shipped it back yesterday, I'll know in a week whether all was successfull...but from the sound of it, yes, Modulus stands behind their product, they Did The Right Thing, and their customer service is excellent.

(Well, except for that earlier problem about not answering emails.)


They had to completely remove the fingerboard & re-plane the top surface of the neck. Then they added additional carbon fiber structural elements to reinforce the interior of the neck so this wouldn't ever happen again. Then they mounted a new fingerboard, installed new frets, & did a set-up.

Elapsed time, exactly 14 weeks. All at no charge. 100% covered by the lifetime warranty.

Bass is scheduled to arrive here next Wednesday. My fingers are crossed.
 
#18
If you're the original owner, they'll make it right. If you're not, they won't help you so just send the bass to Jerry Dorsch (modulus co-founder, now operates graphite guitar systems) and he'll hook you up.

Graphite necks just seem to do this over time.
 

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