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Fender Quality Control???

#21
wvbass said:
A Jazz neck with a Precision label...from the factory...I'd keep it for that reason alone.
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Not only would I keep it, I would try to get Fender to come off with some paper work saying it is authentic and a factory mistake, it's the least they could do for shipping this out like this in the first place, I would think that might add value in the future. I dunno, there's probably some sucker out there that'd pay few extra dollars for something like this (maybe even me...LOL!!)
 
#33
Roger M said:
WHAT does Fender say?
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This entire thread is hearsay, because the OP is the "owner's friend." If the post below is accurate, then Fender comes as close as the probably will come to admitting the mistake:
Flad said:
I saw this on reddit this morning, in that thread the OP says he called Fender and the serial number matches a Jazz Bass, also going by the nut with I would say this is a factory error, it's a Jazz neck with a P-bass decal. I would keep it just for the one-off uniqueness of it all.
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However, if the post below is accurate and the above one isn't, then this may have been a "swap necks and return" situation. I don't think it at all unlikely that someone could have bought a American Special P and J, swapped the necks, and returns the P neck with the J body. However, I think the serial numbers are on the headstock here (not certain, though), so if Fender did confirm that it was a jazz bass serial number, then it was a Factory issue.

IMO, this looks like a Jazz width neck. I know it is a hair wider than 1.5" but it is closer to 1.5. than 1.625. Without the ruler, I would have called it a jazz width. However, I do not know the actual width of an American Special P bass.
TNID said:
Yeah, he told me he had already put it on reddit. The label is not wrong though, it is a Precision neck for sure. This nut is .125" wider than a Jazz bass. He called me just before I posted the thread and said he had just gone to GC to compare, and it's definitely a P neck. I agree that it's a pretty cool mistake, but he would rather have the correct Jazz neck.
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#34
OverTheEdge said:
(((((sighhh)))))........I meant quality control in general.......I'll be sure to literalize all my future posts from now on
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Just having fun...no offense intended. A couple further thoughts: 1) Weren't you 10 years old in 1979? 2) IMO, you should be careful ruling out an entire brand or era of basses because of a few (or several, or even many) examples of QC issues. You might overlook something that you do like. Plus, this particular problem wouldn't affect the playability or tone of this bass in any way, and it is not confirmed that it left the factory this way.
 
#36
wvbass said:
This entire thread is hearsay, because the OP is the "owner's friend." If the post below is accurate, then Fender comes as close as the probably will come to admitting the mistake:

However, if the post below is accurate and the above one isn't, then this may have been a "swap necks and return" situation. I don't think it at all unlikely that someone could have bought a American Special P and J, swapped the necks, and returns the P neck with the J body. However, I think the serial numbers are on the headstock here (not certain, though), so if Fender did confirm that it was a jazz bass serial number, then it was a Factory issue.

IMO, this looks like a Jazz width neck. I know it is a hair wider than 1.5" but it is closer to 1.5. than 1.625. Without the ruler, I would have called it a jazz width. However, I do not know the actual width of an American Special P bass.
Click to expand...

Hearsay? You make it sound like I have something to gain from fabricating the whole account. I'm not sure what else to tell you though. The serial number is on the back of the headstock, and Fender has confirmed it as a Jazz Bass identifying number. However, the nut measures out to Precision Bass width, and has been compared against other examples of the instrument, confirming by measurement and by feel that it is a Precision neck. Maybe that's a missed opportunity for an additional in-process QC check by Fender.

I didn't post this to run down Fender, I just thought other bassists would find it interesting. Mistakes happen in manufacturing. This is a fairly significant one, but still it's just a somewhat ironic mistake. If I hadn't recently bought a new bass of my own, I'd probably take this one off his hands. Such skepticism... :cautious:
 
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#39
TNID said:
Yeah, he told me he had already put it on reddit. The label is not wrong though, it is a Precision neck for sure. This nut is .125" wider than a Jazz bass. He called me just before I posted the thread and said he had just gone to GC to compare, and it's definitely a P neck. I agree that it's a pretty cool mistake, but he would rather have the correct Jazz neck.
Click to expand...

wvbass said:
This entire thread is hearsay, because the OP is the "owner's friend." If the post below is accurate, then Fender comes as close as the probably will come to admitting the mistake:

However, if the post below is accurate and the above one isn't, then this may have been a "swap necks and return" situation. I don't think it at all unlikely that someone could have bought a American Special P and J, swapped the necks, and returns the P neck with the J body. However, I think the serial numbers are on the headstock here (not certain, though), so if Fender did confirm that it was a jazz bass serial number, then it was a Factory issue.

IMO, this looks like a Jazz width neck. I know it is a hair wider than 1.5" but it is closer to 1.5. than 1.625. Without the ruler, I would have called it a jazz width. However, I do not know the actual width of an American Special P bass.
Click to expand...

Jazz width for me too. It does look a hair wider than 1.5'' but if you look on the photo, his ruler is not flush on the left side. It is nowhere close to a P width.

Does the headstock look a little odd to anyone else? It's got the narrower look of a Jazz neck but the contour of the right side in the photo looks more P-like to me. Are the American Specials just styled that way?

Something funny is going on here. I'd want to hear what Fender has to say before concluding it's a quality control issue. Anybody else sensing a hoax?
 
#40
Robus said:
Jazz width for me too. It does look a hair wider than 1.5'' but if you look on the photo, his ruler is not flush on the left side. It is nowhere close to a P width.

Does the headstock look a little odd to anyone else? It's got the narrower look of a Jazz neck but the contour of the right side in the photo looks more P-like to me. Are the American Specials just styled that way?

Something funny is going on here. I'd want to hear what Fender has to say before concluding it's a quality control issue. Anybody else sensing a hoax?
Click to expand...


A hoax? LOL, okay... You guys have fun with that idea.
 

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