I'll admit this was my fault. When my original Squier neck decided to pretzel up and the truss rod died, I bought a Fender neck on eBay to drop in. Stupid me decided to sand the thick caked in poly in the neck pocket while the neck was off thinking it would help body-to-neck contact a little more. Little did I underestimate how much poly there actually was once I dropped the new neck in. I took the bass to my local tech, who did comment on how low it sat, but was able to adjust the bridge and add shims to compensate. It still looks oddly low, but plays fine. Should I be worried? Or am I simply freaking out over aesthetics
No. Shims are a fact of life with Fenders, Ernie Balls, most Fender clones, etc. Even Taylor uses a shim system for neck angle for acoustic guitars, and most people seem to think they sound alright.
Holy high action batman! Maybe it's just the camera angle. You may run out of bridge saddle adjustment if you try to lower your action. But hey, thats what shims are for.
If your bass performs well then put away the sandpaper and start . Another option: In post #4 of this Facebook group I described how I elevated the neck of my MIJ Fender VI (and why) via very cheap, good-sounding, and 100% reversible procedure. My 'VI has been modded this way for almost 13 years and it works like a charm.
^Thanks for the tip. I might just keep it as is and maybe use your solution if the looks of the bass bugs me. The action does look deceptively high in the images but its not that bad.
I prefer all of my basses have that. I love the low profile. The closer the strings are to the body, the happier I am and the easier it is to play for me. I have learned that a good neck angle is key to attaining easy playability and having nice low action. I actually put two pickguards on my Geddy so I could have the same result.
looks fine. I wouldn't worry about it. If you can still lower the action the way you like it then you're good to go! Peace