Cancelled Fender Custom Shop order

[MattZilla]

No joking- from everything I’ve heard that’s been temporarily barred in that state, I’m truly surprised that the very cautious California Governor’s office were allowing anyone to be travelling from their homes to a facility to just make musical instruments even if their employer were to promise to force the workers to wear full space suits.

Fabrication of new musical instruments in a country filled to the brim with already made ones definitely meets any definition of Non-Essential Work.

It sucks that Fender would be Darrin Huffing customers into thinking that they would be exempted into being able to be fulfil any 301 Cessna Circle orders at all when they literally were barred from singing in backyards there.

 

[roller]

Another P-Bass option for the OP -- the Serek Armitage.

Jake Serek out of Chicago makes fantastic basses... mostly does complete custom orders... just a superb human being. He also offers several of his own pickup designs... and these pickups are SO COOL! Read up on his B90 pickup = excellent!

Most folks know Jake for his short-scales... and while his shorties are phenomenal, he also makes the Armitage, which is a 34-inch scale bass that's his version of the P. I've read killer things about 'em.

Valenti
Lull
Lakland
G&L
Nash
LEH Guitars
Fodera
Sadowsky

So many great options.

 

[songwriter21]

I don't understand why the Fender custom shop don't care about their customers or their reputation. After nearly 18 months of waiting and being straight up lied to by the custom shop I cancelled my order this week.
It was just a 63 Precision bass with a roasted body and a roasted maple neck painted lake placid blue.
It should have been so easy... I have purchased well over $25,000 dollars of custom shop basses and amps from music stores in the past and figured I would get something special but not anymore. They lied when after 8 months they said it would be ready in ten days, then 4 months later they said the neck had a problem and it would be another 30 days... then 3 months later they said the body was bad... So I finally cancelled the order. The music store I was dealing with was lied to as well and they will no longer be carrying custom shop stuff. I will get it done with a local boutique guitar builder instead.
Thanks for the rant....

Fender is the McDonald's of the instrument world, and their "custom shop" line makes the "premium" burgers.

Gibson is Burger King.

 

[lomo]

That’s what I love about this forum. I come for basses and I get a Latin lesson for free.

I'm here to help.... 'cause it takes a (cyber)village

 

[31HZ]

No joking- from everything I’ve heard that’s been temporarily barred in that state, I’m truly surprised that the very cautious California Governor’s office were allowing anyone to be travelling from their homes to a facility to just make musical instruments even if their employer were to promise to force the workers to wear full space suits.

Fabrication of new musical instruments in a country filled to the brim with already made ones definitely meets any definition of Non-Essential Work.

It sucks that Fender would be Darrin Huffing customers into thinking that they would be exempted into being able to be fulfil any 301 Cessna Circle orders at all when they literally were barred from singing in backyards there.

"Darrin Huffing"

 

[ToneMonkey]

It's not just Fender - a lot of components are backlogged in both musical instruments and technology in general. I ordered four Eminence drivers about two months ago. They were listed as "in stock" but after I paid they changed status to "back-ordered." I contacted Eminence and they told me the drivers would be ready by May 24 or sooner... May 24th rolls around and no drivers. Tried to e-mail the contact at Eminence and no response...crickets...

Checking Sweetwater with the search parameters set to "in stock" and it would seem that their warehouses are empty as well.

Can't really get upset about it; just ride it out. At least I'm in a position where I can drop coin on some speakers - some people I know can't even pay their mortgage.

I mostly agree with you. But one could quite understandably be less than fully pleased with poor communication. Really no excuse for that.

I'd like to offer a shout out to Warmoth, who is doing a great job of managing time delays during this pandemic. In the past, they've been pretty casual about getting parts to me in the stated lead time window, often being at least a week late. It's something I've grown to accept. I just build an extra week or two into my personal expectations because I like their work so much. During the pandemic, they padded their lead times by about two weeks right up front. They've delivered sooner every time. I really appreciate that.

I just really appreciate timely proactive communication. A vendor may not be able to control inputs that result in delays, but they sure as heck fire can communicate what they know as soon as they know it. That says all the right things to the customer, most importantly: your business matters to us.

 

[BassToGoGo]

Call bluesman vintage .
You’ll get the owner on the phone and he will build you any fender type bass you want for less than half the price of FMIC

and it’ll be killer

Another vote for Bluesman. John is down to earth and his bass do Rock!

 

[Rick_Bass]

No joking- from everything I’ve heard that’s been temporarily barred in that state, I’m truly surprised that the very cautious California Governor’s office were allowing anyone to be travelling from their homes to a facility to just make musical instruments even if their employer were to promise to force the workers to wear full space suits.

 

[klejst]

Indeed, bummer man.

 

[Sam Dingle]

Having some wait issues with a company right now. Was told a year and pushed forward a little bit. I trust them but have had the half joking talk “well if it gets to x date and no bass I’ll probably ask for my money back”

 

[JRMK]

F* Fender. Go Olinto! This all roasted Olinto P Bass and is to die for

 

[gln1955]

No joking- from everything I’ve heard that’s been temporarily barred in that state, I’m truly surprised that the very cautious California Governor’s office were allowing anyone to be travelling from their homes to a facility to just make musical instruments even if their employer were to promise to force the workers to wear full space suits.

Fabrication of new musical instruments in a country filled to the brim with already made ones definitely meets any definition of Non-Essential Work.

It sucks that Fender would be Darrin Huffing customers into thinking that they would be exempted into being able to be fulfil any 301 Cessna Circle orders at all when they literally were barred from singing in backyards there.

Ah, that explains the bad neck and bad body. Their fine craftsmen are having to make basses in their garages.

 

[AndyLES]

Sorry to hear about that.

However, some of the delay may be because of the shortages of lumber, caused by the shipping squeeze which in turn resulted from the pandemic. No excuse, of course, but that could be a partial explanation.

 

[Koshchei]

I don't understand why the Fender custom shop don't care about their customers or their reputation. After nearly 18 months of waiting and being straight up lied to by the custom shop I cancelled my order this week.
It was just a 63 Precision bass with a roasted body and a roasted maple neck painted lake placid blue.
It should have been so easy... I have purchased well over $25,000 dollars of custom shop basses and amps from music stores in the past and figured I would get something special but not anymore. They lied when after 8 months they said it would be ready in ten days, then 4 months later they said the neck had a problem and it would be another 30 days... then 3 months later they said the body was bad... So I finally cancelled the order. The music store I was dealing with was lied to as well and they will no longer be carrying custom shop stuff. I will get it done with a local boutique guitar builder instead.
Thanks for the rant....

Weird that a huge multinational would give you the same runaround that you'd expect from a small luthier who'd bitten off more than he could chew.

The "bad neck" and "bad body" arguments are particularly surprising, considering how much raw and dressed inventory Fender would have on hand. Don't they have proper environmental policies and procedures to ensure that their wood stockpile doesn't develop defects?

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Or just buy a sonic blue body and a nice neck and build a Partscaster, with exactly what you want, for a fraction of the price. #F**kFender

 

[bobba66]

I'm going to start blaming stuff on the planets. Mercury is troublesome, but Uranus is a real stinker!

 

[Hounddog409]

It's not just Fender - a lot of components are backlogged in both musical instruments and technology in general. I ordered four Eminence drivers about two months ago. They were listed as "in stock" but after I paid they changed status to "back-ordered." I contacted Eminence and they told me the drivers would be ready by May 24 or sooner... May 24th rolls around and no drivers. Tried to e-mail the contact at Eminence and no response...crickets...

Checking Sweetwater with the search parameters set to "in stock" and it would seem that their warehouses are empty as well.

Can't really get upset about it; just ride it out. At least I'm in a position where I can drop coin on some speakers - some people I know can't even pay their mortgage.

You are missing the point. They out right lied.

 

[Killing Floor]

Another option is the Fender Mod Shop. I know it’s not exactly the same because they give you a better case instead of the one with the cool logo haha.
But you could get that LPB P Bass in 2-3 weeks with the roasted neck for not much more than any other MiA P. I get that it’s not CS but it’s a nice option.

 

[FRoss6788]

You are missing the point. They out right lied.

...according to the OP...

Two sides...

 

[Thundertips]

I don't understand why the Fender custom shop don't care about their customers or their reputation. After nearly 18 months of waiting and being straight up lied to by the custom shop I cancelled my order this week.
It was just a 63 Precision bass with a roasted body and a roasted maple neck painted lake placid blue.
It should have been so easy... I have purchased well over $25,000 dollars of custom shop basses and amps from music stores in the past and figured I would get something special but not anymore. They lied when after 8 months they said it would be ready in ten days, then 4 months later they said the neck had a problem and it would be another 30 days... then 3 months later they said the body was bad... So I finally cancelled the order. The music store I was dealing with was lied to as well and they will no longer be carrying custom shop stuff. I will get it done with a local boutique guitar builder instead.
Thanks for the rant....

I waited months for an American Pro II P-Bass that I ordered, when finally I heard they got the colour I wanted in stock but a different neck, so I got it or I would still be waiting. They are so slow right now.