Dear [bass seller]...

[jamro217]

Cha cha cha Chia! The instant relic/ eBay project kit!

 

[Watchootognbout]

The good news is that the bass really is OK. These early Kramers are quite tough - just try cracking that aluminum neck! Given the conversations I've had with the seller, I don't think they'll be selling any more instruments online, so I don't think there's anything to be gained by naming them. I really do think they're clueless in this matter, not delibrately deceptive. This thread was supposed to be my passive-aggressive way of venting.

I was going to wait until the sun came out tomorrow to take pics for the Kramer Club thread, but since a few folks have asked...

View attachment 4509750 View attachment 4509753

 

[DeepHz]

Great story! Nice passive aggressive tone. Did he at least insure it?

 

[Watchootognbout]

The good news is that the bass really is OK. These early Kramers are quite tough - just try cracking that aluminum neck! Given the conversations I've had with the seller, I don't think they'll be selling any more instruments online, so I don't think there's anything to be gained by naming them. I really do think they're clueless in this matter, not delibrately deceptive. This thread was supposed to be my passive-aggressive way of venting.

I was going to wait until the sun came out tomorrow to take pics for the Kramer Club thread, but since a few folks have asked...

View attachment 4509750 View attachment 4509753

That one bolt neck plate though........

 

[nmiller]

I love my old kramers, they're top shelf basses
1978 Kramer 450b
1978 Kramer DMZ4000
It's hard to date them, the pots are the best way IMO

Yeah, the ones from the '70s don't seem to have a serial list out there. Once you get to 1980 things clear up a bit: Serial Number Identification.

 

[truand85]

I recently had a similar experience. Bass came to me with the bridge saddles screwed in as far as they could go with the springs compressed and the saddle so far back the screw's tail end sat on the bridge plate.

I had to spend some time on setup and re-intonating took awhile. I didn't even bring it up to the seller, who never even replied to my last message confirming I received the bass. Never bothered giving me feedback either, though I took the time to. Needless to say there are sellers you're better off never buying an instrument from again.

 

[DanDBassist]

I'm not sure if it was real life or if I was hallucinating, but someone from UPS once told me that they preferred a guitar like instrument with just the case and no box. The reason was that it could be recognized as something to take extra care with.

 

[nmiller]

The reason was that it could be recognized as something to take extra care with.

There we go.

 

[sabre79]

And I get it, not everyone has experience shipping a bass. A lot of people don't realize that you need packing material inside the case as well as outside. However, most people do realize that you need some kind of packing material outside the case. Most people realize that you need a box, too. Putting two thin bands of packing tape around the case to keep it closed and wrapping the UPS tag around the handle was not the best move.View attachment 4509534

My girlfriend sent me a movie theatre sized poster of "The Nightmare Before Christmas" from Brooklyn, NY to Los Angeles, CA. It wasn't rolled up in a tube. It was as she bought it, flat on a piece of cardboard and wrapped in plastic. I received it without any flaws. No bent corners. No dings or marks of any kind on the poster itself. I was shocked by two things: Her complete innocent faith in the delivery service (UPS I believe) and the kid-gloves way they must have treated the poster in transit.

 

[FrenchBassQC]

I’ve seen some band van packing jobs where a UPS or FedX ship would be much safer.

Was the band called DHL by any chance?

 

[DanDBassist]

The reason was that it could be recognized as something to take extra care with.

There we go.

I was anticipating this.

 

[jmattbassplaya]

Strange and sad what your seller did to ship!

Once I tried to ship a bass via UPS and they griped at me because I was using a used box. They said that they would not insure it. I told them........."The bass is in a case. The case is in a box. The box is in another box." Finally, they let me ship it.

I now use FedEx Ground because they are OK with re-used boxes.

I can't believe UPS let your seller ship like that! Not right at all!

IME, UPS will try to nickel and dime you to death. I needed a piece of tape for something I was shipping and the guy behind the counter wouldn’t give me any but was requiring me to purchase their overpriced shipping tape. I went next door, got some, and came back to ship the package.

 

[pbassnut]

Years ago, a guy shipped me an all tube Fender Bassman 135 head that was in a cardboard box just big enough for the head with no padding whatsoever. As soon as I saw it sitting on my front porch, I had a pretty good idea that it was not going to be a beautiful thing. My first impression was confirmed when I picked it up and heard broken glass rattling around. The good news is that the seller more than made things right by paying for me to completely re-tube the amp. On completely the other end of the spectrum, a guy once shipped me a Crest V1100 power amp and built a crude three space wooden rack to safely ship it to me in. I already had a rack on hand for it, but could have actually used the rack he built for it to ship in.

 

[40Hz]

Your “bass face” upon receiving that shipment:

 

[Michedelic]

 

[micguy]

The short scale is the reason I got it! Actually, my ears prefer my DMZ 5000 but my hands prefer this XL-24. They're different pickups too, though.

I agree that they're pretty painless to set up. However, a previous owner installed a Badass bridge on my 5000 that has no height adjustment! I'm not sure why they even considered making such a thing... maybe I'll swap out the saddles one day for adjustable ones. At least the saddle heights are perfect as they are.

One word of advice, if you've never gigged a Lumie in winter. First off, carry it in the car, not the trunk. When you get to the gig, the absolute first piece of gear you bring in is the bass. Sometimes a club owner will tell you not to bring gear in for a while, but if the bass is already in, they'll be OK with you leaving just it inside. The whole point is to get the neck to room temperature as quickly as possible. The aluminum necks are very stable in terms of shape (they won't warp, but....the expansion coefficient of aluminum is further from steel than wood is - not only do you not want your hands to be on cold metal, but the tuning on those necks drifts a bit more with temperature than on a wood neck.

 

[nmiller]

One word of advice, if you've never gigged a Lumie in winter. First off, carry it in the car, not the trunk. When you get to the gig, the absolute first piece of gear you bring in is the bass. Sometimes a club owner will tell you not to bring gear in for a while, but if the bass is already in, they'll be OK with you leaving just it inside. The whole point is to get the neck to room temperature as quickly as possible. The aluminum necks are very stable in terms of shape (they won't warp, but....the expansion coefficient of aluminum is further from steel than wood is - not only do you not want your hands to be on cold metal, but the tuning on those necks drifts a bit more with temperature than on a wood neck.

I've found that this is the musician's equivalent of an old wive's tale; these things have no problem with changes in temperature. I would generally prefer not to put any bass in an unheated trunk regardless, but that's out of concern for the wood and finish more than any tuning issues.

 

[micguy]

I've found that this is the musician's equivalent of an old wive's tale; these things have no problem with changes in temperature. I would generally prefer not to put any bass in an unheated trunk regardless, but that's out of concern for the wood and finish more than any tuning issues.

I live in Chicago - it gets really cold here. I'm also a bit persnickety about tuning. Yes, you can get away with not being so anal about this, but having everything that I can control just right makes room for other variables to be a bit off - I play best when I'm in my "happy place"; I work to keep myself there if at all possible.

Of course, the more experience I have, the better I am at tolerating things that aren't perfect - today, the weight and neck dive of a full scale Lumie ( I think the short scale ones are better?) would probably bother me more than the other things. Back when I owned my Lumies I was a couple decades more green, and keeping them warm really helped.

Oh yeah, - one of my Lumies was a fretless. That thing always had tuning issues. Then again, it's possible it may not have been the bass.

 

[nmiller]

It gets really cold here, too, and I'm pretty concerned with tuning myself. These things are still more stable than wood, in my experience.

 

[Michael Stanley 2112]

I could re-tell my two (rhymes with beverb) stories, but it's almost painful.

In fairness to the aforementioned site, they made good on the purchases (one: "perfect condition" with missing fret inlays and checks chunks of fingerboard and one with the neck pocket sanded out [I guess they were trying to replace the neck and it didn't work] and the neck not properly centered), but I will NEVER buy a used instrument online EVER again.