Fender Gold Foil Bass….***

[Grinderman]

In this image/case, the line the E and A strings take over the corresponding bridge saddles look particularly off, shifted too far toward the low side of the neck. The neck alignment in the pocket is probably a tiny bit out, in the clockwise direction.

I find Fender's lack of consistency and oddball screwups in execution to be vexing.

 

[Matthew Morter]

Maybe try getting the E string as far as you can in the treble direction just by scootching it over on the saddle. Judging by the pics it looked like there was room on the saddle for the string to be scootched in that direction.

 

[satantango]

you can tell the saddles are lopsided on E and A. I'm not saying that will solve the problem but it might.

 

[SulzerType2]

I'd like to buy one of these cheap, and stick a Darkstar in it.

Might be cheaper to do it to a used Mark Hoppus signature bass? Both will need routing to make it work.

 

[jd56hawk]

The fret ends aren't sharp in the normal way, but the 'top' corners of the frets are not rounded nicely and are kinda sharp.









Gee, good thin edges are straight!

 

[Turnaround]

It's a brand new bass, he shouldn't have to do anything.
He's paying Fender, Fender isn't paying him to do their job.
The simple truth is they need to get on the ball with QC.
Maybe start by hiring someone who can actually see past their own nose.

Fender cannot help it if the neck gets bumped in shipping causing a misalignment. Happens with a lot of bolt-on neck basses, not just Fender.

 

[BlueTalon]

Fender cannot help it if the neck gets bumped in shipping causing a misalignment. Happens with a lot of bolt-on neck basses, not just Fender.

Fender can certainly help it if the bridge is in the wrong spot, though. Or the pickup, for that matter.

Take another look at the photos in the OP. The strings are in perfect alignment with the neck. The neck getting bumped out of alignment is not the problem here.

 

[slowburnaz]

Escapes me how that could be overlooked. Fender designed the thing, right?

There's nothing about the design that would require that the width be so close to the span of the strings in that position.

Kinda reminds me of the old Ric 5 string basses that had the same issue.

 

[Rolling Thunder]

Pickups are electromagnetic sensors. A string vibrating within the sphere of the pickup creates flux. That's what the pickup detects. It's not line of sight.

I noticed that my strat poles didn't exactly fall under every string. I shook my head until someone smarter (cough....Lollar) than me set me straight.

 

[jd56hawk]

Fender cannot help it if the neck gets bumped in shipping causing a misalignment. Happens with a lot of bolt-on neck basses, not just Fender.

I guess the crummy fret job happened during shipping, too.

 

[antfarm]

The one on the Thomann site looks of too.

Thomann is using Fender stock photos on the product page for this bass. In the picture, the E and A strings are not sitting in their proper positions on the bridge saddles and are shifted to the bass side.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

I don't know about the ones Fender's using but the vintage gold foils I have are some of the few pickups I've used that don't sense strings well once they're off the edge of the pickup. That said, it looks like the neck just needs to be shifted to the treble side a bit. Pretty common with bolt neck instruments. It probably just moved a little in shipping.

Loosen (don't remove) the neck screws. Shift the neck and tighten the screws back down. It's sometimes necessary to hold the neck and body in position while you tighten the screws which can seem like a three handed operation but it's doable. Don't crank down on the neck screws. They just need to be a bit past snug.

Wow. I know If I saw that bass in a guitar shop I doubt I'd bother to pick it up. You may get away with moving the string over on the saddle a few grooves or so.

 

[Turnaround]

Fender can certainly help it if the bridge is in the wrong spot, though. Or the pickup, for that matter.

Take another look at the photos in the OP. The strings are in perfect alignment with the neck. The neck getting bumped out of alignment is not the problem here.

If you moved the neck to the treble side then repositioned the strings on the bridge, I think it would likely line up fine.

 

[Lackey]

I have had 1 Fender in 25 years of playing.

Nuff said.

 

[Killing Floor]

I noticed that my strat poles didn't exactly fall under every string. I shook my head until someone smarter (cough....Lollar) than me set me straight.

different pickups can have different fields based on several factors. The way gold foil types are assembled this pickup would probably be fine.


Just to be fair, I think that installation looks wrong and it would probably bug me a little. I'm just saying it shouldn't affect the output. If it bugs you send it back because that's an expensive instrument.

 

[devnulljp]

Is it just the angle of the pic, but that bridge doesn't look like it's on straight either

 

[Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati]

Epiphone Newport bass
€386,-

Veryyy nice, thanks!

 

[SulzerType2]

I guess the crummy fret job happened during shipping, too.

Sharp fret ends are probably the product of however the bass was stored and transported. If it was in an unheated warehouse in a cardboard box then it could lead to fret sprout.

 

[Thumpin6string]

Based on the posts I've seen here on TB, these seem to have poor quality control and a lot of issues. Also, are these some new thing, or are they a reissue of some vintage Fender that I've never seen before? The pickup looks like something off of an old 70s Japanese or Italian bass.

 

[J Wilson]

At NAMM, the Squire versions of this are coming pickups with THIS: