Hey there fellow talk-bassers, I am having quite the issue with my MIA 2008 fender jazz bass
I bought it brand spanking new on December 5, 2008, at my local guitar center for 499 when they were blowing out the Blizzard Pearls with outrageously good deals. When I played it the neck was strait, there were very minor issues such as poor innotation and the action was just a little high for my tastes, but nothing that I couldn’t do myself. So I brought it home, adjusted what I had to, and played around with it for a week or so with no issue before I had to head home for the holidays, it played and sounded FANTASTIC. It was left in my apartment with no roommates in Tallahassee in a climate controlled environment (I mention this incase anyone would mention perhaps a roommate played it or the humidity/air could have affected the bass while I was gone, the air inside was a consistent 70+ degrees with very little variation). The bass was left in its case, flat on the ground with my other Fender and my Ibbys. However, when I opened the case the neck banana’d up on me, and I mean bad, almost half an inch at the 12th fret and perfect at the 3rd. Despite any adjustment to the truss rod, within a matter of days, or even hours, it would warp back up on me, so I decided to bring it back to the guitar center at which I bought it. Now my good friend who is a manager over there worked on it for a few days and no matter what he tried, he got the same results and offered to take it back or replace it with a warwick passive 5 string ash bass they were blowing out (they could not locate a bass at the same price or a replacement for mine, so that option was gone). Well I called fender and they said they would replace the neck if that was the issue, and I thought hard on what to do and even did a poll on talkbass, but decided with your advice and my own opinion to go ahead and get it taken care of. Theres no fender authorized repair dealers anywhere around Tallahassee but luckily or rather unluckily for me, I have had several heart issues and was forced to withdraw from classes and go back home to south florida where there were a ton of repair shops, and took it in.
I took it to MAE down in Fort Lauderdale, and the repair guy tried to repair it without getting a new neck and needless to say, he had the same results. He finally ordered the new neck and within 4 weeks it was repaired, and when I played it there were some setup issues and when I asked the guy why didn’t he just set it up for me after putting on the new neck he told me “look you’re already getting away with murder” and wouldn’t adjust it or fix it. I already had several frustrations with his service and contacted fender. There was this horrible buzz across the fretboard and the E string was flat out dead, every note on the neck was either a buzz or a dead note. So I tried to set it up and noticed the nut was set a little high and the frets could use some filing and like I said, I contacted fender. The customer service was impeccable, the rep told me to bring it to another repair shop and they would flip the bill because it was a QC issue. Well I did that, and the repair shop worked on it and said they had it playing perfectly, so I drove down, took it out of its case, and the old issues were still present, so he asked me to give him another day with it. The repair guy calls me the next day and tells me theres nothing he can do with it, he filed down the nut, dressed and filed the frets, oiled the fretboard, etc, and still buzzing. When I went to pick it up he said he wanted to show me something, and took out a 09 american fender strat which had the same issues as my bass, and said he couldn’t fix it either and has had several customers come in with the same issues with their new fenders, strats, teles, jazzs, and pbasses. He then proceeded to tell me how fender repair techs told him that the nut and other neck issues are to be FIXED AND PAID FOR BY THE CUSTOMER and FENDER JUST PRODUCED THE BASS, IT WAS UP TO US TO MAKE IT PLAYABLE. However true to his word the fender rep flipped the bill for the bass repairs.
Not taking this lightly I called the rep and said, look this bass is pretty much unplayable, I used to do guitar tech, I can’t fix it, I took it to authorized dealers, they can’t fix it, I took it to other local shops and they deemed it almost unplayable/unfixable. He said no problem they would still fix it, and he would call me back after consulting people above him to rectify the issue. He calls me back the same day and said the tech I brought it to did not pick up and he would call me back later in the week. Well the week passes and that Monday I called him, left a message, and got no reply. Tuesday I call again, he answers, promises to fix the situation, and he would call me back or for me to call him back if I don’t hear from him in 2 days. So 2 days pass and I call him back that Friday, and got no answer, just an answering machine. Called him again that Monday, he picks up and tells me no ones calling him back from the repair tech and again wants to talk to his superiors, still nothing. I’m not giving out his name cause hes been super nice and supportive in the past and I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt. He never called back and I let a week or so pass, and still nothing.
I do plan on calling him this week, but if this trend continues, what do I do?! I have the warranty and have been trying to take full advantage of it, but im not receiving any help on Fenders side for my now unplayable bass. The buzzing is coming through on my amp, my action is not super low, and the E/D strings are dead whenever I slap them. I cannot work due to continuing health issues and cannot afford a new neck among doctor bills piling up now that my health has worsened dramatically in the last few weeks.
I wrote this thread as a kind of heads up for future Fender owners as well as current ones, Fender QC on 2 necks has been terrible, as well as a vent/need for your opinions or advice on how to fix this situation. The customer service, while excellent in the past has broken down and pretty much left me stuck with this POS and its beyond any time frame for guitar center to help me out.
I bought it brand spanking new on December 5, 2008, at my local guitar center for 499 when they were blowing out the Blizzard Pearls with outrageously good deals. When I played it the neck was strait, there were very minor issues such as poor innotation and the action was just a little high for my tastes, but nothing that I couldn’t do myself. So I brought it home, adjusted what I had to, and played around with it for a week or so with no issue before I had to head home for the holidays, it played and sounded FANTASTIC. It was left in my apartment with no roommates in Tallahassee in a climate controlled environment (I mention this incase anyone would mention perhaps a roommate played it or the humidity/air could have affected the bass while I was gone, the air inside was a consistent 70+ degrees with very little variation). The bass was left in its case, flat on the ground with my other Fender and my Ibbys. However, when I opened the case the neck banana’d up on me, and I mean bad, almost half an inch at the 12th fret and perfect at the 3rd. Despite any adjustment to the truss rod, within a matter of days, or even hours, it would warp back up on me, so I decided to bring it back to the guitar center at which I bought it. Now my good friend who is a manager over there worked on it for a few days and no matter what he tried, he got the same results and offered to take it back or replace it with a warwick passive 5 string ash bass they were blowing out (they could not locate a bass at the same price or a replacement for mine, so that option was gone). Well I called fender and they said they would replace the neck if that was the issue, and I thought hard on what to do and even did a poll on talkbass, but decided with your advice and my own opinion to go ahead and get it taken care of. Theres no fender authorized repair dealers anywhere around Tallahassee but luckily or rather unluckily for me, I have had several heart issues and was forced to withdraw from classes and go back home to south florida where there were a ton of repair shops, and took it in.
I took it to MAE down in Fort Lauderdale, and the repair guy tried to repair it without getting a new neck and needless to say, he had the same results. He finally ordered the new neck and within 4 weeks it was repaired, and when I played it there were some setup issues and when I asked the guy why didn’t he just set it up for me after putting on the new neck he told me “look you’re already getting away with murder” and wouldn’t adjust it or fix it. I already had several frustrations with his service and contacted fender. There was this horrible buzz across the fretboard and the E string was flat out dead, every note on the neck was either a buzz or a dead note. So I tried to set it up and noticed the nut was set a little high and the frets could use some filing and like I said, I contacted fender. The customer service was impeccable, the rep told me to bring it to another repair shop and they would flip the bill because it was a QC issue. Well I did that, and the repair shop worked on it and said they had it playing perfectly, so I drove down, took it out of its case, and the old issues were still present, so he asked me to give him another day with it. The repair guy calls me the next day and tells me theres nothing he can do with it, he filed down the nut, dressed and filed the frets, oiled the fretboard, etc, and still buzzing. When I went to pick it up he said he wanted to show me something, and took out a 09 american fender strat which had the same issues as my bass, and said he couldn’t fix it either and has had several customers come in with the same issues with their new fenders, strats, teles, jazzs, and pbasses. He then proceeded to tell me how fender repair techs told him that the nut and other neck issues are to be FIXED AND PAID FOR BY THE CUSTOMER and FENDER JUST PRODUCED THE BASS, IT WAS UP TO US TO MAKE IT PLAYABLE. However true to his word the fender rep flipped the bill for the bass repairs.
Not taking this lightly I called the rep and said, look this bass is pretty much unplayable, I used to do guitar tech, I can’t fix it, I took it to authorized dealers, they can’t fix it, I took it to other local shops and they deemed it almost unplayable/unfixable. He said no problem they would still fix it, and he would call me back after consulting people above him to rectify the issue. He calls me back the same day and said the tech I brought it to did not pick up and he would call me back later in the week. Well the week passes and that Monday I called him, left a message, and got no reply. Tuesday I call again, he answers, promises to fix the situation, and he would call me back or for me to call him back if I don’t hear from him in 2 days. So 2 days pass and I call him back that Friday, and got no answer, just an answering machine. Called him again that Monday, he picks up and tells me no ones calling him back from the repair tech and again wants to talk to his superiors, still nothing. I’m not giving out his name cause hes been super nice and supportive in the past and I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt. He never called back and I let a week or so pass, and still nothing.
I do plan on calling him this week, but if this trend continues, what do I do?! I have the warranty and have been trying to take full advantage of it, but im not receiving any help on Fenders side for my now unplayable bass. The buzzing is coming through on my amp, my action is not super low, and the E/D strings are dead whenever I slap them. I cannot work due to continuing health issues and cannot afford a new neck among doctor bills piling up now that my health has worsened dramatically in the last few weeks.
I wrote this thread as a kind of heads up for future Fender owners as well as current ones, Fender QC on 2 necks has been terrible, as well as a vent/need for your opinions or advice on how to fix this situation. The customer service, while excellent in the past has broken down and pretty much left me stuck with this POS and its beyond any time frame for guitar center to help me out.
