Crooked neck plate?

[WillyW]

let's back up a little.

why would anyone pay CS prices and get sunburst?

 

[MultiScaleMale]

let's back up a little.

why would anyone pay CS prices and get sunburst?

Classic look and to get the relic treatment. Why would anyone put a Hello Kitty sticker on their bass? Because they like it.

 

[Mike Vee]

I'd return for sure

 

[Mike Vee]

let's back up a little.

why would anyone pay CS prices and get sunburst?

Because like 80% of old Fenders are also sunburst maybe? And it's a classic?

MAN, who would order a Ferrari in RED?

 

[blowinblue]

7ENDER

Now that's funny!

M. M.

 

[Lesfunk]

let's back up a little.

why would anyone pay CS prices and get sunburst?

Because they come with a custom fitted neck plate

 

[Yellow Bang66]

Hey, so I finally got round to getting a new CS Fender but the neck plate is crooked. Very sad that such an expensive instrument would have something like this. Would this be a deal breaker for you all and return it or would you keep it? I bought online so was not able to inspect. Obviously investing in such an instrument you have to think of resale value down the road.

View attachment 4366354

Return it & wait for it to turn up on the refurb deals site!

 

[TAZ]

If that is a CS replica of an early '70s CBS ... Then it is period correct.

 

[vid1900]

The body holes have been drilled oversized since the 50s, so that the threads in the neck bolts don't hang on the body upon tightening. So you have lots of room for adjustment there (if you don't want that cool **repaired on the road relic** look

Tune the bass down but leave some tension on the strings.

loosen the neck bolts about 2 turns each

Probably 2 of the screws are perfectly placed for a square neck plate, the other are the "outsiders". Tighten or loosen the screws until you find normal alignment. Tighten the good screws first, then the outsiders - this will keep the plate from drifting back into misalignment

 

[dalkowski]

For CS coin, no damn way.

 

[Clank Plank]

I've assembled parts basses (for far less $$ than a Fender Custom Shop) and never had a neck plate turn out crooked like that.

Same here. I'm a ham fisted amateur who thinks a hammer is a precision tool and my home brewed basses have never suffered that. Hell, I wouldn't accept that on a Harley Benton.

I like Fender, have one on the fleet and have owned others, but im not blind to the fact that they don't walk on water.

 

[MattZilla]

I agree with this. My basses (cheap to expensive) do not have THAT much slop in the body holes that they would allow a plate (and potentially the neck) to rotate THAT much. You could force the plate to the position shown in the OP but it would naturally want to relax to a straight position. Or in the case of the OP bass the plate could be forced straight but 'home' is most likely where is it now. It will find its way back home over time. I believe the body holes (and thus the neck holes) are all drilled in the positions to cause the neck plate to be crooked. Whether this is by design or error is unknown. The only other consideration I can think of is that if ONE screw hole is drilled very far off angle (not perpendicular to the body / neck) or out of square with the plate / other screws it could cause the plate to be rotated (that screw tightened first) then the other screws tightened may cause this issue.

I definitely meant to type neck holes, but agreed about the body holes also tending to have some clearance but not that much.

 

[Knavery]

That is completely unacceptable as others have said. Actually, that makes Fender look really bad. I have two production Fenders that are really well done. For a custom though? Holy crap.

 

[Lackey]

Until the OP takes 30 seconds to loosed the screws and try and straighten the plate, all the comments are just fodder for the I Hate Fender club and the I Love to Hear Myself Speak club. I have reassembled basses and had this exact thing happen, there is a surprising amount of play in the plate.

Dude these things are multiple thousands of dollars. These are legit critiques. Don't let your ostensible love of the brand color your vision either.

 

[Lackey]

The body holes have been drilled oversized since the 50s, so that the threads in the neck bolts don't hang on the body upon tightening. So you have lots of room for adjustment there (if you don't want that cool **repaired on the road relic** look

Tune the bass down but leave some tension on the strings.

loosen the neck bolts about 2 turns each

Probably 2 of the screws are perfectly placed for a square neck plate, the other are the "outsiders". Tighten or loosen the screws until you find normal alignment. Tighten the good screws first, then the outsiders - this will keep the plate from drifting back into misalignment

Yeah but... Shouldn't the Master Craftspersons in the Custom Shop do this?

 

[Knavery]

Until the OP takes 30 seconds to loosed the screws and try and straighten the plate, all the comments are just fodder for the I Hate Fender club and the I Love to Hear Myself Speak club. I have reassembled basses and had this exact thing happen, there is a surprising amount of play in the plate.

You must have a lot of money to burn.

 

[Kevin Hailey]

Interesting that they took the time to ruin relic the finish but not to put crucial hardware on straight.

 

[Spectre Gunner]

I think something else is going on rather than a crooked installation.

Take a close look at the photo and you'll see that the outer neck pocket has a 90 degree angle as it should. However, the metal plate is not a true rectangle. The right side of the plate appears to be shorter than the left side and the angle at the top left corner of the neck plate is not 90 degrees. Also, the left side of the neck plate is parallel with the left side of the neck pocket but the top edge of the plate is NOT parallel to the top edge of the neck pocket.

However, a photo can be deceiving and distortion in a photo is very common. Can you measure both the corner of the neck pocket and the corner of the plate to see if they are both 90 degrees. Perhaps Fender got a batch of defective CS neck plates?

If it is a defective neck plate then I would keep it. That makes this Fender CS bass unique and possibly more valuable like a coin with a stamping defect.

 

[Grinderman]

I've assembled parts basses (for far less $$ than a Fender Custom Shop) and never had a neck plate turn out crooked like that.

Exactly.

 

[Grinderman]

I think there might be something else going on rather than a crooked installation. Take a close look at the photo and you'll see that the outer neck pocket has a 90 degree angle as it should. However, the metal plate is not a true rectangle. The right side of the plate appears to be shorter than the left side and the angle at the top left corner of the neck plate is not 90 degrees. Also, the left side of the neck plate is parallel with the left side of the neck pocket but the top edge of the plate is NOT parallel to the top edge of the neck pocket.

However, a photo can be deceiving and distortion in a photo is very common. Can you measure both the corner of the neck pocket and the corner of the plate to see if they are both 90 degrees. Perhaps Fender got a batch of defective CS neck plates?

If it is a defective neck plate then I would keep it. That makes this Fender CS bass unique and possibly more valuable like a coin with a stamping defect.

The way the shape of plate itself appears is due to optical distortion from the phone camera lens.