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Hatchet job? (Ending edited and inching toward a postitive)

#261
Axstar said:
I'm so glad this video exists. I've encountered this issue before. Pole pieces, especially when it is a single pole per string, are pretty 'beamy'. You get the best, fullest, tone from having strings passing directly over them. This is most obvious if you had A and D strings running directly over the poles but an E or G string that is off-center. You still hear that E and G string, but it isn't as harmonically rich or as strong sounding.

Thanks for posting!
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I have made custom short scale basses using Squire Bronco necks. I don't use the pickups but they are single pickups with a blank white cover. I was curious about them and when I disassembled the first one it revealed a six pole strat style pickup. I was not surprised but I was surprised how good it sounded.
 
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#262
Fletz said:
I walked into his shop this morning and he was finishing up taking in a repair order from someone. I stood silently and politely with my bass in the gig bag until he finished. The other customer left and as soon as he looked up and noticed me he said, "I was just writing you back. Listen, I will do my best to get you a Fender body. I will do right by you. I will make sure it is already pre-routed." He said he used a template and then something something something. He was very apologetic. I offered to show him the bass to which he said, "no I don't need to see it." Which means he knew he did it. I told him I called Fender and they can't help us and that they said to use Warmoth. He agreed and said he'd order it up today. I told him about the LPB that was there yesterday (according to another poster here) and he asked, "but is it routed for the jazz pickup?" I said no and he said "I'll have them do it." He said he would do it free of charge and apologized profusely. When I got home I went to the Warmoth site to see if that body was still there and it's not, so I am hoping he already placed the order as soon as I left.

Long and the short is, he admitted to his mistake and is willing to fix it free of charge. This made negotiating a lot easier. ;) I'll keep you all updated.

This story may have a happy ending!
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Glad to hear this looks like it will come to a positive resolution.
 
#264
Fletz said:
went to a reputable local guitar repairman to see if he could install a j pickup on my American design Experience precision bass. He said he could and he showed me other guitars he'd repaired, built etc. No jazz pup installations but he assured me he could do it. I bought a p/j set and brought it to him. A week and a half later it was done so I picked it up. In the moment, I plugged it in and it sounded good. No ground hum or buzz. Wasn't thrilled with the rout but it wasn't enough for me to gasp in horror. I finally got home and took it out. I played for a few minutes then took a closer look only to realize he did a god-awful job lining up the pickup. First I noticed the poles didn't line up to the strings but thought maybe it was a slight bridge adjustment. Then I noticed that the jazz pickup is dramatically higher than up on the body than the precision pickups. (Not pickup height up and down but position wise into the body). See the pictures below. The blue bass is the one that I am talking about. I put the pencils on there for alignment. The black one was done by another guy when I was working elsewhere and was much closer.

What course of action would you take? It wasn't cheap and it's essentially ruined this bass. What do you think? Am I wrong?

I wouldn't hold my breath for compensation, but that's an awful installation. It looks like he had a few goes at routing before he settled on a (still misaligned) position. Name and shame is the action I'd take

UPDATED: Here is the latest where he offered to do right: Hatchet job?
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#268
9D1040CF-2167-4F07-9E1C-81FADDCBD15F.jpeg 895AD27E-2770-4AA2-9A84-4782233E4929.jpeg DD6A8AE8-47FF-4874-9688-6E5AD2EE7FA9.jpeg 1CBCD826-7A58-4A25-8D53-DDD7C55FE884.jpeg 3C05637C-5B40-492E-A3C9-2424497089F7.jpeg

Here's the happy ending:

I got a call back from the shop saying the body was going to be delivered thanksgiving week but he was traveling to visit family. So on the 28th he called me back to let me know he got it and was ready to start working on it. On the 29th I brought the abomination back to him and today he called me to tell me it was done. I picked it up and dayum, she's a beauty.
 
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#271
Turned out very nice. Glad you finally got it done. Now time to plug up that route in the old body and refinish it to your next favorite color. It is after all an American Standard body and worth repairing.

@Fletz was that bass always a fretless? I remember when you first got it but I didn't remember it being a fretless.
 
#272
B587074F-ED96-4990-801F-5319AC29381D.jpeg

60bass said:
Turned out very nice. Glad you finally got it done. Now time to plug up that route in the old body and refinish it to your next favorite color. It is after all an American Standard body and worth repairing.

@Fletz was that bass always a fretless? I remember when you first got it but I didn't remember it being a fretless.
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It was not. The jazz profile precision bass neck is now on a New American pro body:
 
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#274
Fletz said:
I told him I called Fender and they can't help us and that they said to use Warmoth. He agreed and said he'd order it up today. I told him about the LPB that was there yesterday
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So you're the one who took the LPB body I was eyeing... It was there one day and the next day, as I had my credit card in hand, it was gone. I have a green one on the way so I'm over it now. (not really mad, just tongue in cheek)
 
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#275
Fletz said:
View attachment 2830253 View attachment 2830254 View attachment 2830255 View attachment 2830256 View attachment 2830257

Here's the happy ending:

I got a call back from the shop saying the body was going to be delivered thanksgiving week but he was traveling to visit family. So on the 28th he called me back to let me know he got it and was ready to start working on it. On the 29th I brought the abomination back to him and today he called me to tell me it was done. I picked it up and dayum, she's a beauty.
Click to expand...

Wow - looks great. Just when I though I was over wanting a Jazz pup added to my 78 fretless (due largely to your horror story), now I want one again, but to the happy ending!
 
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#277
Hey, Fletz. I'm the guy who bought your LBP Warmouth body with the Tony Franklin fretless neck. I still have it and will be swapping the pickguard with a white pearl PG. I had no idea that you had to go through all this to end up with the Warmouth body but it's an interesting story. Sorry you had a bad experience with that luthier but glad to see it ended well and that he made things right.

By the way, what did you get a chance to fix the jacked-up Fender body and make it into a real bass again?
 

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