Agreed. And how many of those builds he does from pieces found in the attic use people that could be building a bass for you or me?
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I don't think that is unreasonable. Not G&L, but I had a Peavey Cirrus 5 string fretless that developed cracks in the back of the neck behind the nut within a few years of purchase. I went through the dealer to handle the claim, inspect the bass, pack it up and ship it to the factory. I ended up with a replacement bass (Cirrus is neck-through).
For warranty claims on all other consumer goods I've encountered from cars to espresso machines, I've been required to go through the dealer. Why would musical instruments be any different? I think it helps weed out fraudulent claims and (hopefully) involves someone with a regular direct contact to the mfr.
Back to happier questions:
- Has anyone ever added a series/parallel switch to the split-coil on an SB-1 or SB-2? Any other P pickup I'd say "why bother running in parallel?!" but sometimes the MFD is just so...VERY...in series (which is of course why we love 'em in the first place)
- How swappable are necks between US G&Ls (as long as they are also 3, 4, or 6 bolt)?
- Are JB-4/5 control cavities routed so that most modern Jazz-bass plate-mounted preamps (East, Audere) meant to fit "all in to a Jazz, without battery compartment" work without extra routing?
Thanks!
- Has anyone ever added a series/parallel switch to the split-coil on an SB-1 or SB-2? Any other P pickup I'd say "why bother running in parallel?!" but sometimes the MFD is just so...VERY...in series (which is of course why we love 'em in the first place)
- How swappable are necks between US G&Ls (as long as they are also 3, 4, or 6 bolt)?
- Are JB-4/5 control cavities routed so that most modern Jazz-bass plate-mounted preamps (East, Audere) meant to fit "all in to a Jazz, without battery compartment" work without extra routing?
Thanks!
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Hi Lobster. Couple of quick points...
I don't feel the need to discuss the issue with the bass here. I was asking the forum how some people managed to contact Memo. Several people were kind enough to answer, in PMs or otherwise. Thank you for that! I appreciate it. It's a testament to the forum.
You are asking why I am "harassing" one person (Memo) instead of asking this forum. I am going through Memo because the dealer told me to. Maybe you feel that the dealer is wrong, shouldn't have told me to do this, pointed me to TB instead...ok. But this is what the dealer said.
Concerning "harassing"...I guess we can have different definitions of that. I wrote to him. Didn't answer. Phone him. Didn't answer. Repeated several times. Still nothing. Concerning a new bass that I paid $2 300 for. Following the process that the dealer suggested. You can qualify that as "harassing". My opinion is that if this man had answered initially, none of this would've happened. But we can have different opinions about that.
I find it interesting that you call Memo "poor Memo" and that you seemingly seem to point that I am being unreasonable or "insufferable". I'll tell you what man. Where I work, people actually call back customers. And even non customers. It's a question of respect. It's also the way that most businesses work. Because at the end of the day, these places of business exist because people (customers, like me) invest money in them so workers (like poor Memo here) can get a salary, put money in their bank accounts and feed their families. Now maybe G&L is beyond that, these QC issues and other things brought up here by me and others don't seem to stop their profits...if so, more power to them.
In my place of work, if I was like "poor Memo here" who you say is being hounded, I would speak to my boss who would resolve this in some way. Why? Not because he cares about me. Because he cares about the customers. Because he too, wants customers to continue to buy products so that he can keep getting a salary and feeding his family. Capitalism has it's issues, it's true. I'm not a fan of every aspect of it, not a fan of several aspects of it. But most business answer because at the end of the day, it's in their interest to do so.
You wrote about my "entitled" attitude concerning G&L. You are right, when a dealer tells me to contact a guy at the company to ask my question about my new $2 300 bass, I do expect some sort of answer from this guy, eventually. I do. Maybe this is the "entitlement" that you mention. I suspect in that the way G&L functions is that they answer some of this stuff and for the rest, they know that once they have your money, there is very little that can be done so they don't give XXXX. That's my opinion. And maybe it's not yours, hence your "entitlement" comment. That's cool. I think that when Fender/Gretsch was fooling around with you concerning your comments about their G2220, they were just as horrible. I would tell you that you kicked up a much bigger storm with your videos and so forth than I have with G&L. I guess you felt "entitled" to an answer about their pickups. You know what, I think you were. Because you are/were a customer. You paid into their business. I'm just surprised that you were not so concerned about the "poor Memos" of the Fender/Gretsch people who were fooling with you and all the other people they scammed, but somehow you are concerned about "poor Memo" at G&L. It's all the same thing, in my opinion.
This isn't my first go-round with G&L and their customer "service". And I'm not alone in this. No one is saying that they do this to everyone all the time. We all acknowledge that they have at times resolved things and that some people are happy. And I am happy for those who got perfect products or who got their issues resolved or who just simply resolved it for themselves. I would personally say that their products, when they have no issues, are the best in bassdom. I currently own 11 of them. That pretty much says it all! But I will take my chances buying used on TB before I ever buy new again from them. Because I trust TB members more than G&L and their customer "service". If others feel another way, fine. I harbour no bad feelings towards them at all.
You mentioned in your edit that you were "a bit of a jerk" here...I don't think so. But I did want to explain why I did and wrote what I wrote.
Have a great day, all!
John
It does seem that way, doesn't it. As to who should be handling warranty claims, or fielding 'general questions' (whatever that may mean), I don't know or care. To me it's all part of the same customer service omelet. I'm just an end consumer who doesn't expect to meet resistance when/if things go sideways. I think that's a reasonable expectation.
Anecdotally speaking, I've sent emails to many smaller builders over the years...Mike Tobias, Bill Conklin, John Suhr, the guys at Sandberg, Dan Lakin and others asking (general and specific) questions about their instruments or about how they were equipped, etc. I always got quick, informative replies from the head honchos. At times, I was inquiring about an instrument that I didn't even own yet, much less one that I bought brand new and later had issues with. Apparently, they were interested in creating good will, encouraging sales, and enhancing their reputations. (mission accomplished)
I'm wondering what's up with this dealer who told you to call Memo? From what I've gathered over the last few years of reading posts on this club and in other places, G&L specifically says to begin your warranty claim with the dealer, unless, of course, that dealer is no longer available. Is this dealer a licensed G&L distributor? If so, he knows it's his responsibility to contact G&L about the warranty. I can understand your being angry and frustrated at G&L, but maybe first your anger should be directed to the dealer who isn't doing their job.
Well said. When someone, no matter the level, doesn't have the time to reply "I've forwarded this on to someone who can help you," it's a serious problem.
You know what, I don't like what I wrote. I'm not going to edit it or take it down, but I don't like that I responded to you, Lobster, that way. I shouldn't have made it a personal response, I should've just answered why I did what I did and shouldn't have brought in what you did with Fender/Gretsch, that was out of line. It made it personal and I don't like that, hence my heartfelt apology. You've made a lot of contributions to the bass community in many ways. I appreciate your work and the efforts you have made.
I also don't like all the negative energy that I contributed to this thread. I really just wanted to find out how others have contacted Memo. Several of you have told me. Thank you. I should've just left it at that. I'm going to let this go now.
Have a good evening.
John
I also don't like all the negative energy that I contributed to this thread. I really just wanted to find out how others have contacted Memo. Several of you have told me. Thank you. I should've just left it at that. I'm going to let this go now.
Have a good evening.
John
Played a sunburst JB-5 with sugar pine body and rosewood board, seriously thinking about pulling the trigger. Biggest thing that really works for me is the neck, specifically the 1 & 3/4" nut and 17mm bridge spacing; fits my smallish mitts. I was able to play it in a way that simply isn't possible for me on a Lakland, Sadowsky, Lull, or even my current Atelier Z. The JB-5 has a good range of tones, responds really well to playing dynamics, and isn't TOO heavy.
Here is my question. In terms of both amplified tone and dynamics I prefer alder to ash. So I'm wondering whether sugar pine is more like one or the other of the classic J bass tonewoods. Without playing it in an ensemble, it's impossible for me to predict how it will or will not hold together and cut through the mix. Anybody who has experience of this latest iteration of the JB-5 care to comment?
Here is my question. In terms of both amplified tone and dynamics I prefer alder to ash. So I'm wondering whether sugar pine is more like one or the other of the classic J bass tonewoods. Without playing it in an ensemble, it's impossible for me to predict how it will or will not hold together and cut through the mix. Anybody who has experience of this latest iteration of the JB-5 care to comment?
This MIJ beast arrived this week from Osaka. Slim neck model and I love the neck profile on this. Setup was very decent and super low when it arrived but it needed a tweak once I dropped my preferred strings and tuning on it. Looking forward to a tonal exploration session this weekend.
I really dig the slimmer neck profile. Was that only made for MIJ Tributes? I'd love an L2k tribute with a 1.5" nut or even 1 5/8. The 1.75 that's standard keeps me from getting one.This MIJ beast arrived this week from Osaka. Slim neck model and I love the neck profile on this. Setup was very decent and super low when it arrived but it needed a tweak once I dropped my preferred strings and tuning on it. Looking forward to a tonal exploration session this weekend.
The 1.75" nut isn't really that bad as the L2K Tribute has a fairly shallow neck. I have quite small hands and I don't find it that much of an issue.
Yeah, I understand the "slim neck type" was a Japanese-specific profile for the Tribute models (I'd guess you can get it for Custom Shop USA models). I'm migrating away from short-scale basses and always preferred the Jazz profile so sought one of these out from Japan.
Another interesting point about this MIJ bass is that the middle switch already has the 3-position K-Mod option as opposed to a 2-pos series/parallel. Not sure if this came stock from the Japanese factory or if a previous owner has added it as there doesn't seem to be a lot of info about these models floating around. Either way, I don't prefer it over the first position which has a lot more bottom end so it probably won't get used much.
After a couple of days of tweaking and setup adjustments, I can dig out some excellent P-Bass type tones (neck humbucker in passive mode), a pretty reasonable Stingray (bridge p.u in active, slight treble roll-off, + external eq bump to add some low end) and my personable favourite being dual humbuckers in active mode with everything wide open.
The only thing it doesn't really seem to cover is a good dirty dual-single coil Jazz Bass tone, but that might give me an excuse to pick up a MIJ medium-scale Aerodyne Jazz. I played one a couple of weeks back and it was incredible.
I have a problem with the electronics on a recently-acquired L1k. The pickup switch is acting weird, to my ears. It doesn't sound like there is any difference between the settings. (And the bass control is also messed up, but that's hopefully a separate issue and I'm going to replace the pot as soon as I get the part in.)
It looks like it was basically completely rewired at some point with new caps. The tone cap is a giant paper-in-oil jobber, but I don't think these parts are causing my problem.
It looks like it was basically completely rewired at some point with new caps. The tone cap is a giant paper-in-oil jobber, but I don't think these parts are causing my problem.
I'll bet the fingers of the person who soldered up that mess look just as burned.
I just played my new Empress LB-100 in practice tonight for the first time, and wow what a bass!
This is THE sound I've been wanting for a long time. Perfect rock sound, sits perfectly in the mix… An amazing Pbass!
Sustain is great too…. And the bass is very light which is great for the duration of the practice.
I love it!
This is THE sound I've been wanting for a long time. Perfect rock sound, sits perfectly in the mix… An amazing Pbass!
Sustain is great too…. And the bass is very light which is great for the duration of the practice.
I love it!
